Espérance Club
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The Espérance Club, and the Maison Espérance dressmaking
cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...
, were founded in the mid-1890s by
Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Baroness Pethick-Lawrence (; 21 October 1867 – 11 March 1954) was a British women's rights activist, suffragist and pacifist. Early life Pethick-Lawrence was born in 1867 in Clifton, Bristol as Emmeline Pethick. He ...
and Mary Neal in response to distressing conditions for girls in the London dress trade. The club was based at 50 Cumberland Market, in the St Pancras area of London. Mary Neal had become fascinated by the
folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
s and dances being collected by
Cecil Sharp Cecil James Sharp (22 November 1859 – 23 June 1924) was an English collector of folk songs, folk dances and instrumental music, as well as a lecturer, teacher, composer and musician. He was a key figure in the folk-song revival in England dur ...
, and invited
William Kimber William "Merry" Kimber (8 September 1872 – 26 December 1961), was an England, English concertina#Types, Anglo concertina player and Morris dancer who played a key role in the twentieth century revival of Morris Dancing, a form of traditional E ...
, a musician and dancer from
Headington Quarry Headington Quarry is a suburb and civil parish of Oxford, England. Once a separate village built on the site of a former limestone quarry, it is now fully integrated into the city of Oxford and lies approximately 3 miles east of the city centre ...
in Oxfordshire, to teach
morris dancing Morris dancing is a form of English folk dance. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers in costume, usually wearing bell pads on their shins, their shoes or both. A band or single musi ...
to the young women of the Espérance Club. Thus was born the Espérance Morris, which inspired a modern London women's side, New Esperance Morris. After donating a £1,000 legacy to the club and meeting Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Lady Constance Lytton was enthused by the women's movement and thus became a leading
suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...
activist.BBC History, Profile of Lady Constance Lytton


References


External links

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New Esperance Morris
London based women's side continuing the tradition of Mary Neal
Photograph of the Espérance Morris Dancers, ca. 1900
a
New Esperance Morris
Defunct clubs and societies of the United Kingdom English folk dance {{folk-dance-stub