Mary Neal (born Clara Sophia Neal; 5 June 1860 – 22 June 1944) was an
English social work
Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...
er, suffragette and collector of English
folk dance
A folk dance is a dance that reflects the life of the people of a certain country or region. Not all ethnic dances are folk dances. For example, Ritual, ritual dances or dances of ritual origin are not considered to be folk dances. Ritual dances ...
s.
Neal was born in
Edgbaston
Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically in Warwickshire. The Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of Edgbaston and Nort ...
,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, to a prosperous family. Her father was David Neal, a button manufacturer. In 1888, she began voluntary social work with the
West London Methodist Mission of
Hugh Price Hughes
Hugh Price Hughes (8 February 1847 – 17 November 1902) was a Welsh Methodist clergyman and religious reformer. He served in multiple leadership roles in the Wesleyan Methodist Church. He organised the West London Methodist Mission, a key Me ...
, helping the poor of
Soho
SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...
,
Fitzrovia
Fitzrovia ( ) is a district of central London, England, near the West End. Its eastern part is in the London Borough of Camden, and the western in the City of Westminster. It has its roots in the Manor of Tottenham Court, and was urbanised in ...
, and
Marylebone
Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary.
An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...
in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, taking the name "Sister Mary". Neal set up and ran a "Club for Working Girls" at the mission's
Cleveland Hall, and also wrote for the Mission Magazine. According to
Emmeline Pethick, who worked with her in the Girls' Club, Neal had "a strong sense of humour and a profound aversion from unreality; she had also a sharp tongue".
Neal said of the Girls' Club,
The Girls' Club was a great success, but in the autumn of 1895, Neal and Pethick left the mission to set up their own
Espérance Club for girls in
Cumberland Market, as they wanted to escape from the mission's institutional constraints and to experiment with dance and drama. They also started the Maison Espérance tailoring establishment to provide employment.
In 1905, Neal met
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 ...
at the Hampstead Conservatoire. She and Sharp began to collaborate during a revival of English folk music, in which Neal felt that the working girls of London would be able to reclaim their heritage. The girls of the Espérance Club became in demand as teachers of folk music in London and further afield and they also put on several public performances in London.
Neal and
Lily Montagu, who sponsored a club for Jewish working girls, bought a house in
Littlehampton
Littlehampton is a town, seaside resort and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the English Channel on the eastern bank of the mouth of the River Arun. It is south south-west of London, west of Brighton and ...
,
Sussex
Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
, in 1925 and called it "Green Bushes",
and it became a holiday home for girls. She also went to the United States between 1910 and early 1912 to promote folk dancing.
Neal became a socialist, following
Keir Hardie
James Keir Hardie (15 August 185626 September 1915) was a Scottish trade unionist and politician. He was a founder of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, and was its first Leader of the Labour Party (UK), parliamentary leader from 1906 to 1908. ...
and
Edward Carpenter
Edward Carpenter (29 August 1844 – 28 June 1929) was an English utopian socialist, poet, philosopher, anthologist, an early activist for gay rights and prison reform whilst advocating vegetarianism and taking a stance against vivise ...
. In 1899, she attended the London
International Congress of Women. In 1906, Neal and Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence went to a meeting in the Chelsea home of
Sylvia Pankhurst
Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (; 5 May 1882 – 27 September 1960) was an English Feminism, feminist and Socialism, socialist activist and writer. Following encounters with women-led labour activism in the United States, she worked to organise worki ...
, where the
Women's Social and Political Union
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom founded in 1903. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and p ...
(WSPU) was established. Neal joined the WSPU, and later she joined a group for women and men, militants and non-militants started with
Agnes Harben and others, the
United Suffragists.
Neal was a leading member of the
Kibbo Kift youth organisation. She was a
justice of the peace in West Sussex in 1934, dealing with child delinquency, and also became a member of the
Howard League for Penal Reform
The Howard League for Penal Reform is a registered charity in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest penal reform organisation in the world, named after John Howard. It was founded as the Howard Association in 1866 and changed its name in 1921 ...
. Her services to the English folk song and dance movement led to her being appointed
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(CBE) in 1937.
Bibliography
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* Kathryn Atherton: ''Mary Neal and the suffragettes who saved morris dancing'', Barnsley ; Yorkshire, PA : Pen & Sword History, 2024,
References
Citations
Sources
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External links
"The Mary Neal Project", Mary Neal's grandniece recently unearthed Mary Neal's autobiography, Mary Neal Project documents Mary's life and donated her autobiography to the Cecil Sharp HouseNew Esperance Morris, Women's Morris Side in London, continuing the tradition of Mary Neal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neal, Mary
1860 births
1944 deaths
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Women of the Victorian era
English folk dance
British suffragists
English social workers
People from Edgbaston
International Congress of Women people