Mary Neal

Espérance Club; the early morris revival

Born
5 June 1860, Edgbaston, Birmingham
Died
22 June 1944

Mary Neal was a social worker in London whose Espérance Club gave working girls from the dressmaking trade a place to meet. From 1905 she worked with Cecil Sharp, and her girls learned morris dances and songs and went on to teach them across the country. She was made a CBE in 1937 for her services to English folk song and dance.

Further reading: Wikipedia