A History of Morris Dancing in Bampton
By Janet Rouse
A Bampton Archive Publication
A History of Morris Dancing in Bampton
By Janet Rouse
A Bampton Archive Publication
A Bampton Archive Publication www.bamptonarchive.org
First published June 2014 Revised May 2015 and May 2020
The front cover shows Morris Dancing in Bampton on Whit Monday (May 14th) in 1894. In the photo can be seen (l-r): Henry Radband (sword bearer), George Wells/Taylor, Joseph Rouse, probaly John Tanner, William Nathan Wells (fool), James Dewe, George Dixey, Tho mas William Tanner, Richard Decimus Butler (musician).
The author of this work acknowledges the respective copyright owners for the images and photographs used.
BCA-35/A May 2015
A History of Morris Dancing in Bampton
The Bampton Archive would like to thank Janet Rouse for her extensive research in mounting the History of Morris Dancing Exhibition and the subsequent catalogue.
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Whit Monday, May 14th 1894 Left-right: Henry Radband (sword bearer), George Wells/Taylor, Joseph Rouse, probably John Tanner, William Nathan Wells (fool), James Dewe, George Dixey, Thomas William Tanner, Richard Decimus Butler (musician)
Morris dancing was first recorded in England in 1448, in London, where it was associated with a procession of the Guild of Goldsmiths. The first Bampton (Oxfordshire) recording dates back to the 18th century and there have been Morris dancing teams in Bampton since that time. There are now three teams in Bampton and they can be seen in action on the last Monday in May, when they can be seen (and heard) from 8.30 am until after dark around the village.
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A HISTORY OF MORRIS DANCING IN BAMPTON
Morris dancing was first recorded in England in 1448, in London, where it was associated with a procession of the Guild of Goldsmiths.
1894 – Whit Monday May14th Left-right: Henry Radband (sword bearer), George Wells/Taylor, Joseph Rouse, probably John Tanner, William Nathan Wells (fool), James Dewe, George Dixey, Thomas William Tanner, Richard Decimus Butler (musician). 1
Bampton Morris Dancers 7 June 1897, outside the Talbot. Standing (left to right): George Dixey, William Nathan Wells (fool), Robert Dixey, Joseph Rouse, Richard Decimus Butler (musician), Charles Henry Tanner (ragman). Seated (left to right): James Dewe, Henry Radband (sword bearer), George Wells/Taylor, Thomas William Tanner. This wonderful picture and the caption below it was prepared by Percy Manning and it appeared in The Folklore Journal 1897. Percy Manning (1870-1917) was an antiquarian and folklorist. He was born in Headingley, Yorkshire, the son of a boilermaker. In 1880 he moved to Watford with his family where he attended a preparatory school in Hove followed by Clifton College and New College, Oxford. Percy became a fellow at Oxford; he hired Thomas James Carter, a retired brickmaker and keen palaeontologist, to go around the villages and collect photographs and information for him. He took this picture in 1897 but it was not Thomas Carter’s first visit to Bampton, he had previously been in Bampton in 1894. 2
1897 June 7th Between the Town Hall & Joyner the drapers
The six dancers left to right are:- George Wells/Taylor, Thomas William Tanner, Joseph Rouse, Robert Dixey, George Dixey and James Dewe. Beyond them at the back are:- Charles Henry Tanner (ragman), Henry Radband (sword bearer), William Nathan Well (fool), Richard Decimus Butler (musician). Taken on the same date as the last photograph, it shows the same dancers, fool, musician and ragman. It is highly likely that this picture was also taken by Thomas Carter when collecting for Percy Manning. Such clarity in what is an action picture is quite remarkable.
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2013 Ready for the first dance of the day From three of the oldest photographs in our database to the most recent one (as at March 2014). Tony Daniels’ team of dancers, along with one of their musicians, Jamie Wheeler and fool, Ray Borrett, stand in New Road ready to start another great day of dance on May Bank Holiday.
In memory of William Wells 1868-1953 The gift of the Morris Ring to The Bampton Morris Dancers
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1900 - Standing left-right: Henry Radband (sword bearer), William Nathan Wells (musician), David Edginton (fool), Charles Henry Tanner (ragman) Seated left-right: Thomas William Tanner, George Dixey, James Dewe, Arthur Dixey, Robert Dixey, Joseph Rouse
c1900-1908 The gentleman in the front with the handsome moustache is 'Buscot' Tanner, proper name Thomas William Tanner.
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1907
1911 Dancing at Bampton Manor Jinky Wells playing fiddle. Henry Radband with cake, Charles Tanner in the doorway with dark waistcoat; his brother 'Buscot' at number 1 position. David Edginton as fool 6
1912 David Edginton
Henry Radband
1927 Outside Haytor in Lavender Square 7
1952. Back Row:Francis Shergold, Peter Allam, George Hunt, Harry Hampton, Bertie Clarke (fiddle), Bobby Wells Front Row: Roy Shergold, George Dafter, Peter Wheeler, Rex Wheeler
When labourers walked to London for hay harvest, it was not unknown for a team to dance for London folk and collect money, free drinks and food, between working in the fields. Sometimes they could earn more money dancing than harvesting. In its formative years, the dancing was done by ‘economically challenged’ members of society and it gave them the opportunity for enjoyable, noisy and animated entertainment, which also gave them a brief taste of status amongst their peers. Because it was a public event, it formed a link and bond between the various social groups within any given community. The dancing was usually done at special events, such as a Whitsun Ale, organised by monied members and organisations of society, typically farmers and tradesmen, with the local squire expected to provide not only approval but cash, possibly timber for a maypole and a building – bower house – for use as headquarters for the dancing and for use by officials, typically during the Whitsun ale. These ales could last several days but most had ceased by the 1860. Today, we are left with a one-day event, which may or may not be on the true Whit Monday. 8
1930. “Throughout Bank Holiday, in weather that was kindly favourable, the Oxfordshire village of Bampton held high festival in traditional manner. From early morning till late at night country dances were given in the streets by two bands of dancers dressed as in old time in white suits and bowler hats bedecked with ribbons and floral garlands. As the day went on visitors arrived from other villages and towns by omnibus coach and car.� 9
1932 Flooding outside the Elephant and Castle Inn
1938 Jingy Wells playing the fiddle
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The top picture taken in 1946 in the grounds of Little Place. The lower one was taken in 1947 in the grounds of Weald Manor 11
1938 Three generations of dancers Ken Wells on the left Jingy Wells centre Bobby Wells on the right
1946 In the grounds of Little Place Ted Dixey centre, nearest the camera. Jingy Wells on fiddle
1947 Outside Farmhouse
Knapps
Roy Shergold had literally just got back home on leave during the morning and before he could go home to change out of naval uniform he was press-ganged into stepping in for a dancer who’d had too much to drink 12
1950 George Hunt as fool in the doorway of the Elephant and Castle. Arthur Kimber, Headington Quarry fool at right
1953 George Hunt (fool), Bertie Clark on fiddle, Pete and Rex Wheeler (twins) in the middle, Francis Shergold and Harry Hampton
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1953 Bertie Clark
1956 Outside the Wheatsheaf Inn. Roy Shergold fooling
1959. “The lowest spot for the Shergold side was Whit Monday 1959. Four dancers only wanted to dance: (left to right) Francis & Roy Shergold, John Knight, Peter Allam, with Jack Newton of Whitchurch Morris Men on fiddle and Russell Wortley as fool. Bobby Wells, with back to camera, as cake carrier. Bobby Wells danced after WWI until the 1930s; he never learnt to play the fiddle, Jingy, his father, would not allow it. This same year, Arnold was out with eight dancers, his final appearance with his own side until 1970. The following year Francis had six dancers and Reg Hall first played. Russell Wortley was a Cambridge man who had been coming most Whit Mondays for many years and documenting the day. It was, if I remember correctly, he that suggested getting Jack Newton to play, and that Francis found him one of the old fooling smocks. During the 1950s and into the next decade, old dancers tell me, they sometimes went out to other bookings, such as fêtes, with only four dancers. A similar situation prevails today: Tony Daniels tells me it's almost impossible to get six men out for a summer fête, so they just don't do them.” Keith Chandler 14
From the nineteenth century a typical dance side would consist of ten men; six dancers and a spare, plus fool, collector and musician. In Bampton at the end of the nineteenth century there were eleven because they had two spare dancers. The fool was generally considered the leader of the side; he made sure the dancers had the necessary space to dance, kept an eye on the man collecting money and kept the crowd amused with his verbal quips and general antics.
1965 Francis Shergold’s team at Burford Fête Standing:- Francis Shergold, Roy Shergold, Frank Purslow (musician), Pete Allam, Jim Buckingham. In front, Pete Wheeler, Christopher Collett and Cyril Smith
1966 Left to right:Jim Buckingham, Pete Allam, Cyril Smith, Jasper Walsh, Francis Shergold, Roy Shergold and young Christopher Collett sitting in front
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In 1968 Francis Shergold’s team did a 10 day tour of Ireland. The coach was filled up with wives, girlfriends and supporters from Bampton and from Swindon Folk Club. Hughes Coaches from Bampton took everyone to Holyhead, the coach came over on the ferry and then took us all around Ireland. Jim Hughes drove the coach. The cost of £27 included the coach, ferry crossings, bed and breakfast throughout and dinner on four of the ten nights. It was common for a dance side in a village to be composed from one extended family of brothers, fathers, cousins etc. If you read Jingy Wells’ MMS in the D ring folder on the table (or at the back of this catalogue) you will find in 1887 all six dancers, the sword bearer and the fool were brother/ nephew/ cousin. “Between the years 1660 and 1900 Morris dancing was performed on uncounted occasions by thousands of individuals in more than one hundred and fifty one discrete communities in the English South Midlands, yet the encounter with the written word has been minimal.” (quote from ‘Ribbons, Bells & Squeaking Fiddles by Keith Chandler) William Nathan ‘Jingy’ Wells, also known as Jinky by some people (1868-1953), a Morris dancer and musician in Bampton, wrote in 1914, a wonderful account of dancing in Bampton at that time and about dancing here as told to him by his grandfather and uncles. Most of this account, along with a further addition in June 1937, I have copied, just as it was found, and it’s 16
in the folder on the table and at the back of this catalogue. It is a most interesting and enlightening read and I urge you to take a seat and read it.
1973 Bobby Wells hands over to Reg Hall the fiddle that was used by his father, Jingy Wells 2004 Tom Bower playing for Lawrence Adams’ side. This was possibly first time a Bampton set danced to pipe and tabor since the 1850s
2002 Colin Bathe playing for Mathew Green’s side
2009 Jamie Wheeler playing for Tony Daniels’ side The musician was someone who provided an audible means of rhythm. “The melodeon was widespread in rural England at least by 1880, so it’s not surprising that it found its way into the Bampton Morris. While Jingy (William Nathan Wells) nearly always played the fiddle, in wet weather he used a melodeon. When Jingy gave up playing Squire Francis Shergold used to play the mouth organ sometimes. There was a fiddler in the Morris 17
before Jingy but the pipe and tabor, also known as the Whittle and Dub, or even whistle and drum, was far more common. The pipe / whittle / whistle had three holes.�
Reg Hall Roly Brown Arnold Woodley, Frank Purslow, Andrew Bathe
Jingy Wells
Francis Shergold
Reg Hall
Musicians In the nineteenth century, a musician would have had a personal repertory of tunes he could play, but not all would be suitable to accompany Morris dancers. Tunes in 6/8 and 4/4 time work best. Above all, there has always been a need for a strong beat, loud enough to be heard over six sets of bells. Before 1840 the most common accompaniment was a combination of two instruments, played together by the same man, that being a three-holed pipe called a whittle 18
(also known variously as a whistle, or wit or fife) and a tabor (also known variously as a drub or drum). There have been more musicians through the C20th and into the C21st than the few shown in these pictures.
1992 Colin Bathe, Mathew Green, Roly Brown and Alistair Cook (Fred)
1969 Bill Daniels, Cyril Smith, Dave Rose, Steven Govier, Terry Rouse, Pete Allam Reg Hall on melodeon Roy Shergold fool Bob Allison with the cake and box 19
1973 Francis Shergold’s side on the steps of the Deanery
1986 Bob Allison Bob carried the cake for Francis Shergold’s side from 1962 until 1989. Bill Daniels then carried it for one year followed by Bob West who did the job for 17 years 20
Bill Hall
2007 Bob West and Francis Shergold
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Morris dancing has never taken place isolated from a community. Through the centuries documentary evidence can be found using phrases such as:“the common people; the rabble; the rural poor; literacy versus illiteracy; physical comfort versus deprivation; sobriety versus drunkenness; patronage versus customary expectation.� Keith Chandler. This strong dichotomy ran at least from the middle of the sixteenth century into the middle of the nineteenth. Then, several gradual changes had a profound influence through the countryside. A need for respectability, good manners and self-reliance was adjudged to be the right thing to exhibit by more of the not so well off. Coarse behaviour from drunken dancers and unacceptable antics by the fool meant patronage from the wealthy began to flow from Morris dancing to sports, which did not have the vulgar wit of a fool, the heavy drinking and more than the occasional fight that came as part and parcel with the Morris. The 1850s were a time of dreadful hardship amongst the agricultural community, the very community from which most dancers came, both in Bampton and other villages. The National Agricultural Labourers’ Union, set in motion by Joseph Arch, triggered much unrest between employer and employee during the 1870s, and will doubtless have pushed more patronage from Morris to sport. The village friendly societies provided some of the last opportunities for 21
dancing in the second half of the nineteenth century, when even the Whitsuntide Ales had come to an end. In 1865 The Oxford Mail, June 10th wrote of the Bampton Whitsuntide Feast Day “…a relic of bygone times ….. did not attract the attention of many persons except the juveniles.” However, Bampton was one of the few villages to cling on to its tradition of dancing annually ‘at home’. This may have been luck, because the gentry continued to sponsor the event by inviting the dancers into their homes and providing beer and allowing a collection; it may also have been because the fool, for so many years Jingy Wells, was not someone given to coarse behaviour, as was the case with so many teams in the country and he did not approve of the men getting drunk when out dancing. A few of the men who have been the Morris Fool
Terry Rouse
John (Curly) Titchener
Charlie Buckingham
Rob Fidler
David Edginton
Son Townsend
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Roy Shergold
Bill Daniels, enjoying the fruits of his dancing, Carried the cake for one year in 1990
In the early part of the twentieth century Cecil Sharp and Mary Neal, two London based people, were keen to annotate country dancing and country songs of all kinds. They also began to make Morris dancing a little more respectable by ‘booking’ teams to perform at many types of events. Jingy went to London on more than one occasion to teach the steps and the tunes.
1976 The Shergold Morris team had a party in November for many years. Many friends and supporters of the team were invited and Francis used to call some barn dances. Musicians on the stage here are:left to right:-Trevor Hewitt (bell-bottoms only visible), Mathew Green, Andrew Bathe, Frank Purslow, Colin Bathe, Curly (John) Titchener and Rod Stradling. 23
Starting young - Luke and Paul Fowler
1978 In the garden of Grayshott House
1982 The Shergold side at the Deanery
and 1986 outside the Talbot
Francis was given a silver salver by his team to acknowledge his 60 years of involvement with the Morris from 1935 to 1995 His wife Ann was given a lovely bouquet of flowers
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Jeff Dando & Mark Booty dancing the bacca pipes 2004 Frank Tanner & Michael Hampton
Francis Shergold and Bob Allison 25
1987 Back row:- Francis Shergold, Bob Allison (cake), Rod Stradling (musician), Martin Ferguson, Ray Borrett, Bruce Piercy, Dave Rose, Tony Daniels (behind) Billy Main (who is behind) Cyril Smith, Mark Harrison (behind) Jamie Wheeler, Jasper Walsh. Front row:- Terry Rouse (fool), Craig Godwin, Keith Rouse, Jamie Blackwell, Reg Hall (musician)
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Alec Wixey’s side by the War Memorial 1990 Jeff Dando & Mark Booty
Before every Bank Holiday Monday filled with dancing, all sides put in many hours of rehearsals. Learning to dance with a pint in the stomach is all part of the practice. This is taken at the back of the Elephant & Castle which sadly no longer exists as an inn.
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Francis Shergold’s side was invited to dance at the Folk Festival in the Royal Albert Hall in 1981. Back row:- Jasper Walsh, Reg Hall (musician), Ray Borrett, Tony Daniels. Front row:Francis Shergold, Cyril Smith, Roy Shergold (fool), Terry Rouse.
In 1996, Francis Shergold became the 8th person to be awarded the Gold Badge of the EFDSS. Seen here celebrating afterwards with ‘Nibs’ Matthews. 28
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We can point to evidence of the performance of Morris dancing in Bampton since at least the end of the eighteenth century. Generation after generation of local men turned out year by year, maintaining a tradition carried on by those (often grandfathers, fathers and uncles) who had gone before. Among those for whom the Morris was a thing of great respect, even duty, may be numbered the families of Tanner, Radband, Wells, Portlock, Dixey and Shergold. Today the Bampton Morris Dancers are known and respected throughout the English-speaking world. That wasn’t always the case. I remember Francis Shergold telling me that during the late 1950s there was actually a widespread feeling of apathy about the Morris dance tradition within the town. It was so marked, in fact, that he was embarrassed to walk down the street in his dancing whites. As a result, on Whit Monday 1959 he was able to raise only three other dancers, and had to use outsiders to act as fool and musician. All that changed the following year. Frank Purslow suggested to him that Londoner Reg Hall, who already visited Bampton every Whit Monday anyway, might be induced to act as musician. And now, more than half a century later, he still continues to play his fiddle each year. 1960 was a significant year in other ways. Long-time dancer and dance teacher Arnold Woodley abandoned his own side (consisting mainly of youngsters) and had a break from active performance for a decade, leaving Francis to carry on alone. Another of the old dance teams, from Chipping Campden, joined the Bampton dancers on Whit Monday that year, and those who were present on that occasion still have clear memories of them. From that time forwards the tradition went from strength to strength. There was no longer any question of not fielding a complete set of six dancers on a Whit Monday (although summer fêtes were a different matter). There were invitations to dance all over the country, including the Royal Albert Hall in London. In this way, Francis continued throughout the decade. Then in 1970 Arnold Woodley raised a new side, this time consisting of adult dancers, and also started teaching youngsters once again. One of these, Matthew Green, is now the leader of one dance side. So, two teams once again appeared on the streets each Whit Monday (now renamed by the government to Spring Bank Holiday Monday). Then in 1974 a strange and unexpected thing happened. Early in the year both sides were invited to dance in London. Arnold’s men persuaded him to take them, rather than the young set. Everyone who was present has a different version of events, but the upshot was a rift between dancers and team leader, and an appearance on the dancing Monday a few months later of three distinct sides. And so it continues, and is likely to do so for the foreseeable future. During the 1980s the Bampton Morris went international, with the Shergold set heading to Italy and the Netherlands and the Woodley dancers to the U.S.A. Leadership (and responsibility) passed in turn from Francis Shergold to Tony Daniels, from Arnold Woodley to Lawrence Adams, and from Alec Wixey to Matthew Green. Each team currently has a strong roster of dancers and musicians. In an ironic shift, from six dancers appearing on Whit Monday in 1960, half a century later there were almost ten times that number. Keith Chandler September 2011 30
Witney Gazette newspaper clipping from 1938
Jinky Wells was still playing for the Bampton Morris on Whit Monday aged 70. He was born in 1868 (and died in 1953). He lost much of his sight through not having conjunctivitis treated soon enough and became quite deaf as he got older but he still managed to play.
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Dancers trained by Arnold Woodley
Keith Chandler’s notes May 20th 1986 32
An extract from the Witney Gazette 1912
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Francis 1918 - 2008
Shergold
Francis Shergold died on November 27th, just two months shy of his 90th birthday. He was widely known in the folk world as long-time leader of the Morris dance side at Bampton in Oxfordshire, a position honoured some years ago by the EFDSS when awarding him their Gold Badge. When he first started dancing, in 1935, there was only one active Morris team, that led by William 'Jingy' Wells. During his active career he saw the brief reactivation and subsequent demise (after Whitsun 1941) of the second team, led by the Tanner family; the breaking away by Arnold Woodley in 1950 to form a second side composed mostly of young boys, which continued until the end of that decade; the regrouping of that set (now with grown men) in 1970, so that, once again, two sides were competing for dance spots on Whit Monday; and, finally (to bring the situation up to the present), the breakaway group from the Woodleys in 1974, to form another set, which led to the situation of three distinct teams out and about on the dancing Monday. I rehearse all this to highlight a kind of ironic paradox. When he first joined there were half a dozen active dancers. By 1959 there was so little interest in the custom that he was forced to take out a set with only four men, using outsiders from the folk revival as musician and fool. On Spring Bank Holiday Monday this year there were more than fifty dancers spread between the three teams. And it was Francis who kept it going, firstly by being there when needed as a teenager, then assuming the responsibility of leadership upon the death of 'Jingy' Wells, and even appearing in whites long after formally passing on the leadership to Tony Daniels. In fact, famously, he told the story of how Wells, on his deathbed, had said to him, "Don't let the Morris go." Through lean times and prosperous he never did; now the Morris has been forced to let him go. The accompanying images date from 26 May 2008, and feature what was surely his final appearance with his dancers. Several images show him, walking-frame in hand, joining in the final dance-off movement of Bonny Green Garters. Over the course of seven decades he must have performed that many hundreds, perhaps thousands of times. Registered medically blind for a good number of years (though retaining some degree of vision), he was able nevertheless to recognise people he knew either by their voice, or (in my case) by my bulk! And he remained cheery throughout. Two months ago he suffered a stroke, and was taken into the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. His health deteriorated steadily, and he finally succumbed on the 27th. Some of we outsiders will have the honour of attending the annual Morris dancers' party in Bampton tomorrow evening. I would expect the mood to be a little less boisterous than usual, but nevertheless celebratory, honouring a man with a life-spanning career as dancer. In an obituary for Arnold Woodley, written thirteen years ago, I said that the Morris would never seem the same again. Those sentiments are certainly echoed here. It will carry on now but, without the presence of Francis, that sense of history, extending back to into the dim and distant past before many of we aficionados were born, will be missing, and the whole thing seem ever more rooted in the 21st century. Our sympathies are extended to his brother Roy and sister Ruth, and their children. Rest in peace. Keith Chandler - 28.11.08 52
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• I must give a huge vote of thanks to Keith Chandler. He has been extraordinarily generous allowing me to make use of years and years of his pains-taking research. He has also given me dates and names to go with the wonderful old pictures which have given so much added interest to this collection of photographs. • I would also like to thank Jamie Wheeler, Reg Hall, Mathew Green and Jeff Dando for also helping me put names and dates with several pictures.
May 2014 54