Diary for 1919-1949

This is a long period of time, during which the morris dancing and election of the Mayor of Ock Street was mostly dormant.  Before it, the last definite appearance of the Abingdon morris dancers was in 1910, though they may have carried on a little longer before the outbreak of World War 1.  Of the 1910 dancers, only William, James and Tom Hemmings are known to have been associated with the morris again after the war.  This account draws on various sources (listed at the end of this article) and is the first true chronological history of this period of the team’s history.  It is inevitably incomplete, but the best we can do unless more information is unearthed. 

Abbreviations are defined in their first use in the text, but the most commonly used are:

• NBH – North Berks Herald
• OJI – Oxford Journal Illustrated
• sb1 – scrapbook 1, the first ATMD scrapbook compiled in 1971 by Les Argyle from material given to him by Jack Hyde
• PHsb – Percy Hemmings personal scrapbook, which covers 1935-1949.
• JHI – Taken from the transcript of an interview of Jack Hyde when he was 81 by Mineke Cox, digitised by Jonathan Leach.

There was a homecoming parade in Abingdon on 4th August 1919, which included an address from the town mayor, a march-past and laying of wreaths, flowers and branches at a temporary memorial.  There is a 10 minute film of this event in the hands of the Imperial War Museum which has been shown in Abingdon museum and at a 100th anniversary event in 2019.  There is no sign of any morris dancing among the revelry and ceremony in the film, nor as far as we know in the local press.

Wednesday 20th Sept 1922: Cecil Sharp’s field notes record that he visited Abingdon after visiting Wheatley on this day, and made an appointment to meet William (aged 73 and near blind) and James (aged 67) to see them dance the following day at 5.30.  He must have met William on the 20th as there is a record of him having collected the Maid of the Mill tune from him singing it on this date.

Thursday 21st Sept 1922: Sharp met James and William Hemmings and collected the dances and tunes of Princess Royal, Jockey to the Fair and Curly Headed Ploughboy, plus the tune of Maid of the Mill again.  This time the tunes were played by William on the (single row) melodeon. The Curly Headed Ploughboy as collected in 1922 was similar to today’s Girl I Left Behind Me dance, whereas the version collected by Sharp in 1910 was more like today’s dance (but not identical).  The other two dances collected were similar in figures to today’s dances but not identical (e.g. Princess Royal had a half hey in some choruses which is not danced today).  The step and hand movements collected by Sharp in 1922 were quite different to today’s (1,2,3 hop not 1, hop, 2,3 as now, and hands twist twice then down and up, not up and down as now), and furthermore were different to the step and hand movements collected by Sharp in 1910 or Mary Neal around the same time.  It is a matter of debate whether James and William deliberately misled Sharp and Neal about the ‘true Abingdon step’, or whether it was simply forgotten and recreated differently later on.

November 1922: As part of a talk given to the English Folk Dance Society in London, Sharp presented the Abingdon dance Princess Royal, and then took a collection for William Hemmings which was used to buy a concertina for him. One of the metal end plates of this Jeffreys anglo concertina is inscribed “Presented to WILLIAM HEMMINGS by the English Folk Dance Society November 1922”.  This concertina, originally in the keys of F and Bflat was totally refurbished and retuned to the more morris-friendly G and C in 1997 and is still occasionally used to play for the team.

3rd January 1923: Oxford Journal Illustrated (OJI) p3 has a photo of William & James Hemmings, with the concertina presented in November 1922.  Text reads: “The Hemmings Bros., of Ock-street, Abingdon, who are the oldest Morris dancers living. The one on the left, Mr William Hemmings, is blind, and has been presented with a concertina by the English Folk- Dancing Society.”

1924:  Part III of the 2nd edition of The Morris Book (C.J.Sharp & H.C.MacIlwane) was published, including the Abingdon Princess Royal dance and tune collected in 1922.  Sharp died on 23rd June the same year.

1929: William Hemmings had been Mayor but fell into poor health in the mid to late 20s.  On 6th September 1929, two different photos appeared in the Daily Mirror and Birmingham Daily Gazette.  These appear to be of a ceremony held in the back yard of the Cross Keys in which James Hemmings assumed the title of Mayor. 

The photos were taken by a London photo agency (Fox) and the event seems to have been staged for the press.  Other photos of similar good quality seem to be of the same occasion.  

• 1. James Hemmings wearing the Mayor’s sash and holding the Horns which are decorated with flowers, as is his hat.  A head and shoulders version of this was in the Birmingham Daily Gazette with the text ‘The “Morris Mayor” of Ock Street, Abingdon – Mr James Hemmings – with the bullock’s head and horns which are the emblems of office.  The custom dates from 1700.’
• 2. Harry Thomas with a fiddle, Tom Hemmings wearing a bowler hat decorated with flowers and with a handkerchief in each hand, James Hemmings drinking from the cup which is being held by his wife Caroline. Jim Hemmings is holding up the sword. Also in the photo are two other ladies (Ada Thomas & Mrs. E. Phillips) and a Mr. Young in the background. A cropped version of this photo appeared in the Daily Mirror with the text ‘Morris dancers given a refresher of home-brewed beer at Abingdon, Berks on the election of the “Morris” mayor, the position having belonged to the same family for 230 years. Mr Hemmings is the present holder.”
• 3. Tom Hemmings dancing, with decorated bowler hat and hankies but no bells; James Hemmings in the Mayor’s sash, hat and bells holding a walking stick; Harry Thomas playing a fiddle (he was later more often seen playing a melodeon). There are various onlookers, including Jim Hemmings, Jack Hyde and Vic Paynton, the landlord of the Cross Keys.
• 4. Jim Hemmings with sword and the collecting tin, Harry Bedford holding the Mace, Sid Phillips, James Hemmings, Mr Young, Ernie Constance holding the Horns, Fred Painton, Tom Hemmings, HarryThomas playing fiddle, Caroline Hemmings (James’ wife), Florence Hemmings (Tom’s wife). The horns and collecting tin are both marked 1700: they were not so marked in the earlier photo from 1910.
• 5. James Hemmings is seemingly teaching a young girl to dance (probably Phyllis, Tom’s daughter). Tom Hemmings is in the background with Harry Thomas playing the fiddle (and smoking). Someone not in morris kit is holding the horns. A teenage girl and seven younger children are sitting down (some half hidden). James and Tom are dressed the same as in the photos above.

14th April 1934: The Morris Ring was inaugurated with 6 foundation members and soon several more inaugural members, one of which was Wargrave, founded by Major Francis Fryer.   

“Late in 1933 a land-owner, Major Francis Fryer, and “his man” Reginald Annetts, who had become interested in English folk-dancing while living near Newbury, moved to Wargrave Hall. Here they found neither country-dance movement nor Morris Club in existence, but regular (and separate) weekly practices for both kinds of dancing were soon begun by him to the sound of his pipe and tabor – making the pipes himself out of bamboo. Various local men and estate employees took part in the Morris practices, and visitors sometimes put in an appearance. Three local men proved to be stayers – John Gillet, Tom Jones, and Rae Jones, and later Fred Coxhead, who had done a good deal of dancing with Fryer and Annetts in the Newbury district, joined the Club.”  [This text from ‘The Kennet Morris Men – A Foolish History’ by Peter de Courcy,  http://www.kennetmorrismen.co.uk/About_Kennet.php but very similar text is in a Morris Ring cutting in our sb1.  Major Fryer was soon to be involved with Abingdon, and in the early 1950s Reg Annetts, John Gillet and Fred Coxhead would also dance with Abingdon.]

18 January 1935: North Berks Herald (NBH) p1

• LAST MORRIS MAYOR OF OCK-STREET
• DEATH OF MR J. HEMMINGS
• FUNERAL OF WELL-KNOWN ABINGDON MAN

“The last of the Morris Mayors of Ock-street, Abingdon, Mr James Hemmings, died at his residence, 123 Ock-street, last week at the age of 80 years.

Mr Hemmings was descended from an old Abingdon family, both himself and his wife, who was formerly a Miss Randall, having been born and bred in the town. Their families had been resident in Abingdon for over five generations. Mr Hemmings was born and always lived at 123, Ock-street, and from his father inherited a love of Morris dancing.

With his five brothers, his father and several friends, they formed a Morris group that was popular and always in demand in Abingdon and the district. Their dancing was the prominent feature of the old May Day revels, the last of which took place in Abingdon about 40 years ago. One brother, Mr H. Hemmings, is still living. Their regalia, including horns (those of the original ox roasted on the Bury in 1700), sword, cup, bells, etc., are now in the possession of Messrs Morland.” [The horns had been in the posed photos taken in the early 1930s and would be out in the Silver Jubilee procession in May 1935, so this may just have been a place of safekeeping.]

Monday 6th May 1935: There was a Silver Jubilee procession in Abingdon and one photograph exists showing 6 Abingdon morris men taking part in it (in High Street).  They are dressed in normal ‘best suits’, but all are wearing top hats with ribbons and a few flowers, and four are wearing bell pads.  In the front row are Henry Hemmings carrying a cup and what seems to be a wooden spoon, Percy Hemmings carrying the horns (decorated with flowers), and Jim Hemmings wearing the Mayor’s sash, with a collecting tin round his neck and carrying a sword which seems to be wrapped in cloth or ribbon.  In line behind them are Tom Hemmings (carrying what seems to be a fleece), Harry Thomas (with melodeon just visible) and (probably) Ray Hemmings.  Another photograph, almost certainly taken on the same day, shows a group in what is probably Ock Street: Henry Hemmings with cup, Harry Thomas with melodeon, Jim Hemmings wearing sash carrying the sword and collecting tin, Percy Hemmings with the horns, and Tom Hemmings with bladder and a fleece on the same stick.   

Percy Hemmings personal scrapbook has a handwritten statement that following the 6th May 1935 Silver Jubilee Pageant and  procession, some men ‘decided that they would get together and revive the old morris dancing in Abingdon once again.  Their names being: Henry Hemmings, Percival Hemmings, Charles Hemmings, James Hemmings, Tom Hemmings, Raymond Hemmings, Frederick Wiblin who married Miss Hilda Hemmings sister of James Hemmings, Harry Thomas musician, Charles Brett, Harold Matthews, John Mooring great nephew to Henry Hemmings, Jim Allen (the Fool)’. [Most of these, but not all, were either Hemmings or their relations.  Henry Hemmings was the brother of the recently-deceased James and William.  Tom and Jim were sons of James and Ray was his grandson.  Percy and Charles were sons of Henry.]

In his scrapbook Percy Hemmings describes himself as ‘secretary 1936-49’.  Also from around this time (estimated to be 1935 or 36 or early 37) there are some photos of dance practice in the back yard of the Happy Dick.  There are four dancers (Tom, Ray, Henry and one other [?Percy] with hats, bells and hankies, plus Jim with the horns.  A musician is not visible in these photos.  [George Hemmings, another brother of Tom, Jim and Ray, was named as landlord of the Happy Dick in the 1924, 1928 and 1931 Kelly’s Directories and Ray was its landlord later on. Apparently, George, Tom and Jim Hemmings were the only ones who remembered the old dances. ]  

Saturday 5th September 1936: From 4th-6th September 1936, a Ring meeting was held at Wargrave Hall, hosted by Major Fryer and the Wargrave morris team.  Dancers from various teams camped on the lawn, and on the Saturday went on a dancing tour to nearby towns, one of which was Abingdon.  The story goes that William ‘Jinky’ Wells from Bampton who was with the Ring tour recognised Henry Hemmings who was watching with his son Percy, and persuaded him to dance a jig.  This was the day that Francis Fryer first met the Abingdon morris, and he arranged to pay a follow-up visit.  One of the Ring dancers that visited Abingdon that day was Len Bardwell, who would later join the Abingdon team in 1953.

Monday 31st October 1936: Major Fryer’s album has a photo of James, Henry & Tom Hemmings bearing this date.  They are in plain clothes but Henry and Tom are holding hankies.  This would be the date of Major Fryer’s follow-up visit, in which he was accompanied by Kenworthy Schofield, a Cambridge morris man and keen morris collector.  After Abingdon, they also visited Eynsham, who were also in the process of re-forming their morris team.

Wednesday 12th May 1937: This was Coronation Day and there was a pageant and procession in Abingdon.  As in 1935, the Abingdon morris joined in the procession and there is a newspaper photo entitled ‘The famous Ock Street Horns’.  In the photo are Jim Hemmings with sword, Harry Thomas with melodeon, Percy Hemmings with horns, Jim Allen in white coat with a bladder, and one other.  All are wearing hats with plain ribbons but no flowers.  Percy Hemmings’ scrapbook contains many press photos of the pageant and procession from NBH Friday 14th May 1937, including bun throwing, but no report of any actual morris dancing.

Sb1 has a photo which identifies: Harry Thomas, Harold Matthews, Jim ‘Ducky’ Allen, Jim Hemmings, George Hemmings (Ray’s brother), John Hemmings (Ray’s son, boy in short trousers);  George Wake (Tom’s brother in law), ‘young lady visitor’, Tom Hemmings, Mrs Saunders.  Harry Thomas is wearing a cap and holding a melodeon, all the others except young John are wearing identical top hats with ribbon around the base but no flowers.  The ribbons on the hats and the Fool’s coat and bladder are the same as those in the newspaper photo marked 12th May 1937, so it is likely that this photo was taken on the same day.

There is another group photo taken on Coronation Day as all are wearing the same decorated hats with no flowers.  It is probably in the yard of the Happy Dick and shows: Tom Hemmings (with beer), three ladies (all wearing hats), Ray Hemmings; ? George Hemmings, Percy Hemmings (holding bladder), Jim Hemmings with a young girl on his knee, Harry Thomas with melodeon (and fag).

It is said that this appearance on Coronation Day alerted Francis Fryer to the re-forming of the Abingdon morris, and prompted him to invite them to dance at Wargrave Hall.

Saturday 29th May 1937: Abingdon morris danced on the lawn of Wargrave Hall, in the interval of a country dance party.  According to Major Fryer they took 12 over: 6 dancers, fool, hornbearer, mayor with sword and collecting box, musician, spare man, etc.  There are several photos of this event, some taken by Major Fryer and some by Alec Tofield, a stalwart of the Berkshire EFDSS and later South Berks morris (based in Newbury).  [Alec’s son Bruce danced with Abingdon and Oxford University in the 1960s and 70s].   Fryer’s photographs are dated on the rear, and some also have brief descriptions.  The Abingdon contingent included: hornbearer (usually Percy Hemmings), musician (Harry Thomas), fool (Jim Allen), Jim Hemmings holding the sword and 6 dancers, which included Tom Hemmings (‘no1 dancer’) and in many photos Henry Hemmings the mayor (wearing the sash).  In one photo Percy Hemmings is dancing ‘the Squire’s Dance’ over the sword, which Fryer describes as the opening dance – it looks like the present-day Broom Dance.  The dancers are wearing hats decorated with flowers and ribbons, and bell pads, but otherwise are in their normal ‘best clothes’ – in most cases a suit, white shirt and tie.  The dancers just took off their jackets when dancing.

On Tuesday 1st June 1937, the Wargrave men practised Abingdon morris, according to a letter from Fryer to Kenworthy Schofield dated the following day.  Fryer’s comments on the Abingdon demonstration dancing the previous week were that there were so many different steps and no unanimity, but there was “a great amount of real dancing about the whole thing”.

Friday 18th June 1937: NBH 25th June 1937 reported ” MORRIS DANCERS – A meeting was held on Friday when 16 people formed a Morris dancers’ ring with the intention of reviving the customary dances and processions. The following officers were elected: Mayor, Mr. Henry Hemmings; president, Major Fryer (Wargrave Hall); treasurer, Mr. James Hemmings; secretary, Mr. Percy Hemmings. Twelve people joined as dancers.”

Monday 21st June 1937: Mayor’s Day dancing (without the election) was held in the evening.  This date comes from Fryer’s photographs, although the NBH of 25th June 1937 p4 says it was on the Tuesday, which would have been the 22nd.  According to a press clipping the pubs visited were Warwick Arms, Cock & Tree, Crown & Thistle, Ock St Horns and White Horse, and the dances included Jockey to the Fair, Curly Headed Ploughboy and a Nutting we will go.  There are several photos of this event, most of which were taken by Francis Fryer.

1. Lined up outside the Warrick’s Arms (the shop next door is Barguss second-hand shop).  On the back Fryer has written “I (F.E.F) had the honour of dancing in the team throughout the evening as they were a man short, but am not in the photo, as I took it myself.  Abingdon, June 21st 1937 after a lapse of 25 years or so.”  In a letter to Mary Neal, Fryer identified those in this photo as:  Jim Mooring (a young bricklayer, very keen, who might be leader one day), John Grimsdale (lorry driver), Harry Thomas (musician, a carpenter), Percival Hemmings, Harold Matthews, Charles Brett, Charles Hemmings (Percival’s brother), Tom Hemmings (leader), Jim Allen (Fool), Henry Hemmings, James Hemmings.  [John Mooring, John Grimsdale, Harold Matthews, Charles Brett and Tom Hemmings are holding hankies, have bells on their legs, and are thus the 5 dancers, with Fryer making up the required 6.  Percy Hemmings was hornbearer, Henry Hemmings the mayor and Jim Hemmings was holding the cup.  Charles Hemmings is in the background and the only one not wearing a decorated hat.  Apart from hats, bells and hankies the others are not wearing any morris kit.]
2. In procession in Bridge Street, outside the Crown & Thistle and heading into town.  Jim Allen, the Fool, is leading the procession in a long white coat.  The Mayor, Henry, is walking alongside the horns.
3. In the Market Place, group photo.
4. Lined up outside the Ock Street Horns.  In his photo album, Major Fryer has dated this photo and identifies (left to right): Percival Hemmings, Charles Hemmings, John Grimsdale, Harry Thomas, John Mooring, Jim Allen (fool), Tom Hemmings, Harold Matthews, Henry Hemmings, Chas Brett, James Hemmings.  Only Percy has white or light trousers but he has no bells.  Jim Allen is dressed in the Fool’s coat.  Henry is with sash, sword and cup. All others except Charles have hats and bells but are wearing suit jackets and trousers.

Wednesday 30th June 1937: NBH 25Jun1937 p4 report of Mayor’s Day also states: “At the end of this month the Abingdon dancers are performing at Tilehurst, and we shall hope to see much more of them in the future.”  A letter from Fryer to Kenworthy Schofield dated 29th June refers to upcoming dancing at “Highcroft”, Tilehurst, with a cold supper afterwards at the Roebuck hotel.  Tilehurst is just outside Reading, and this may have been one of Major Fryer’s EFDS events. The Roebuck is still a hotel on the edge of Tilehurst.

2nd July 1937 NBH p4 reports: “At a meeting of the Abingdon Moms Ring Dancers, who are reviving the ancient Morris tradition, it was decided to invite all persons who may be sufficiently interested to help with the expenses of the club by becoming hon. members at a sum of 5s per year. Full particulars may be obtained from the hon secretary Mr P. Hemmings, 4, Legge’s Cottage, Abingdon, Berks.” This is the first time the name of the team is given as Abingdon Moms Ring Dancers, though there is no record of them becoming members of the Morris Ring beforehand.  There is also no record of any hon. members willing to give them 5s per year.

Monday 2nd August 1937:  A Bank Holiday show in the Abbey Grounds was put on by the Abingdon and Eynsham morris teams, together with a ‘scratch’ team led by Dr R. Kenworthy Schofield.  There are two posed Abingdon team photos from this date, and the most noteworthy thing is that they are all wearing white trousers, white shirts, white shoes (or cricket boots), top hat with ribbons and flowers, bells, and a ribbon belt with trailing ribbons.  [This upgrade of the team’s kit is no doubt due to the influence (and probably money) of Major Fryer, and it is a useful tool in identifying photos from this period.  If the dancers are wearing white trousers then it is no earlier than August 1937.  A sash and armbands were added to the kit in 1938.]  Sb1 identifies the dancers in these two photos as:

1. Percy Hemmings, Charlie Brett, Harry Thomas, Francis Fryer, Tom Hemmings, Stanley Drew (not in kit), Jim Hemmings; Darby Wiblin, Harold Matthews, John Grimsdale, John Mooring; Henry Hemmings (mayor), Charlie Hemmings, Jim ‘Ducky’ Allen
2. Henry Hemmings (mayor), Jim ‘Ducky’ Allen (fool), Charlie Brett, Jim Mooring, Darby Wiblin, Percy Hemmings (with horns), Harry Thomas (with melodeon), Harold Matthews, John Grimsdale, Tom Hemmings

There are several photos of the dancing on this day, including some country dancing as well as Abingdon and Eynsham morris.  NBH 13th August 1937 p4 describes the event, and again refers to the Abingdon Morris Ring Dancers.

Francis Fryer wrote an article describing this “August Bank Holiday traditional English dance show from 3pm to nearly 9pm with a break for tea” given by Abingdon Morris Ring Dancers, Eynsham and a scratch team led by R. Kenworthy Schofield, Squire of the Ring, with men from Greensleeves (London), East Surrey and Wargrave, plus some others who arrived later from an EFDSS vacation school at Stratford.  The Abingdon procession consisted of the regalia party: Henry Hemmings (mayor, 82 years old), Harry Thomas (musician), James Allen (fool), James, Percival, Raymond and Charles Hemmings, plus young Johnnie Hemmings (mascot); then the dancers: Tom Hemmings (leader), Charles Brett, Frederick Wiblin, John Grimsdale, Harold Matthews and John Mooring.  Major Fryer mostly played for the scratch team.  Eynsham also performed a mummers play three times over the day.  Kenworthy Schofield and Len Bardwell danced a double jig.  There was some country dancing in the evening.  The men were Fryer’s guests for tea and supper at the Railway Inn.

Saturday 18th September 1937:  Tour of Wantage, Wallingford, Shinfield, Wokingham and Wargrave, reported in an unidentified press cutting.  In Fryer’s photo album there are photos of the ‘Abingdon Morris Ring Dancers’ performing in the first first four of these locations.  An addition to the team here is young John Hemmings (son of Ray) as ‘mascot’ in full kit, but wearing a tie.  Fryer wrote a report of this tour, summarised as:

Leaving Abingdon around 2pm the team visited Wantage, Wallingford, Shinfield, Wokingham and Wargrave.  About half an hour was spent at each place and usually 3 dances (4 at Wallingford) were done from the repertoire at the time of Curly Headed Ploughboy, Jockie to the Fair, A-nutting we will go and Princess Royal.  Dancing was in the streets and market places except at Shinfield (on the village green). At Wargrave the audience included members of the EFDSS senior examining staff who were on a weekend conference there.  Collection was made for the Wells-Kimber fund to help two famous old dancers and the tour raised £4/4/0 (4 guineas) for this.  It collected £3/12/1 in total but also sold 168 post cards at 2d each which after deducting their costs (9/4 per 100 cards) added 11s11d to the total raised. 

[Several photos of Abingdon morris at the time were printed as post cards, including the two team photos from the August Bank Holiday.]

A letter from Fryer to Kenworthy Schofield refers to practice at the ‘Dick’ not being possible in winter, as the stable is in very bad repair.  He has some plans for renovating it, and Stanley Drew has used his architectural knowledge to come up with a low cost solution.  [This confirms that Abingdon morris practices up to autumn 1937 had been at the Happy Dick, no doubt outside in the yard.  Other letters from Fryer at this time imply that practices were on Mondays, and quite regular.]

[The following is a summary of three letters in the Vaughan Williams Library online archive, outlining only matters relevant to Abingdon morris in them.]

• 15th February 1938:  Fryer wrote to Mary Neal, describing how Abingdon had been re-formed and how they were trying to put together the old dances.  He asks Mary Neal about the differences between the Abingdon dances in the Esperance Book (1911) and what is being danced in the 1930s.  He also sends her two photographs and describes the members of the Abingdon team.  [Mary Neal had not been active in collecting folk dances since before the first world war.]
• 21st February 1938: Mary Neal replies to Fryer, sending him some photos and cuttings, and offering to meet the Abingdon team some time.
• 1st March 1938:  Fryer thanks Mary Neal for her reply.  He lists the dances that have been revived so far in Abingdon as Jockey to the Fair, A Nutting we will go, Princess Royal, The Curly Headed Ploughboy, Maid of the Mill (still being pieced together), The Girl I Left Behind Me, and ‘Greensleeves’ (what is now known as the Squire’s Dance).  Sally Luker was known of, but not danced currently.  Fryer asks Mary Neal’s advice on whether the older collected versions of these dances should be regarded as more correct than what was currently being danced in Abingdon.
• 2nd March 1938: Fryer sends a postscript saying that he was at an Abingdon practice the previous night, and among other things lists the figures in a what would be in today’s terms a double-length Girl I Left Behind Me [the most likely explanation is that whoever was leading this dance forgot to call the finish the first time round!]

Saturday 12th March 1938: Abingdon attended the Ring Meeting at Cecil Sharp House (London) and Major Fryer proposed a toast to Mary Neal ‘instead of the more usual one (to Cecil Sharp) in honour partly of Abingdon’s first appearance at a Ring Meeting’.  [Text quoted was from www.maryneal.org which does not appear to be available any more]  This toast had been planned in advance as a letter from Fryer dated 2nd March stated he would be delighted to be asked to propose a toast of “Miss Neal” at the coming Ring Meeting.  He refers to the teaching at a Ring Meeting and has explained to Abingdon that they are not expected to teach the Abingdon dances, but they may be asked to do so in the future.  He says they will open their demonstration with the mayor saying “The fool shall show the dancers their steps and my son shall dance over my sword tonight” (i.e. Percy Hemmings would do the Squire’s (Broom) dance over the sword).

Monday 20th June 1938:  The election of the Mayor of Ock Street tool place for the first time for many years, probably the first time in that century.  The polling station was Harry Thomas’s house in Mayott’s Road (just off Ock Street) and voting cards were issued to all residents of Ock Street.  Voting tool place between 6 and 8pm, and the result was Henry Hemmings 153 votes, Tom Hemmings 44 votes.  This is reported quite extensively in an unidentified press cutting in Percy Hemmings’ scrapbook [PHsb] and also in NBH 24th June 1938, pages 1 & 2.  There are photos of the election itself and the chairing of the mayor  that followed, where the dancers are not wearing morris kit.  According to the NBH article:

“After the declaration of the result, the newly-elected Mayor was chaired to the “Cock and Tree,” where his health was drunk. The Morris Dancers then put on their regalia and danced him in, up and down Ock-street.

The regalia consists of the Ock-street horns, mace, sword, sash, and cash-box, while each of the dancers wears a silk top hat, decorated with red, white and blue ribbon, and artificial flowers, traditional coloured belt sash and arm ribbons and leg bells, also with traditional colours. Each dancer holds two white handkerchiefs as he performs his dances and the Fool wears a smock, red knecktie and carries an ox bladder and tail with which he whips up the lazy dancers.

On Thursday the dancers gave an exhibition at a fete in the Abbey House grounds. On Saturday afternoon they will dance round the town from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. , and conclude the festivities with the annual supper.”

[This is the first mention of the mayor’s chair, and also the first mention the sash and arm bands being part of the morris kit.]  A letter from Fryer to Kenworthy Schofield the next day reports that Harry Thomas was working at Burnham Beeches and could not make it, so Fryer played the music.  There was no fool but Jack Mooring danced in front of the procession.  Some dancing took place in the garden of the Cock & Tree.

Tuesday 21st June 1938: There was more dancing on the Tuesday from 8.30, Major Fryer again playing, and the dances were A Nutting we will go, Curly Headed Ploughboy, Princess Royal, Girl I Left Behind Me, and “Three Meet” (the Squire’s Dance).  Collection was £1/12/3. Fryer took Reg Annetts and Tom Jones from Wargrave as Abingdon were short of a full side. 

Thursday 23rd June 1938:  The Abingdon team danced ‘at a fete in aid of the church building debt in the Abbey House grounds’.  This time Harry Thomas was fetched back from work at Burnham Beeches so he could play for this.

There is a photo in Mary Neal’s unpublished autobiography ‘As a Tale that is Told’ that is dated June 1938 and attributed to Major Fryer, Wargrave Hall.  It shows Harry Thomas playing while seated, Percy Hemmings holding the horns and cup, and Henry Hemmings holding the sword and collecting tin.  A print of the same event but also including 6 dancers was marked on the rear “Abingdon Morris dancers at the bottom of Park Road, Abingdon, Spring Road end, 1940”, but the marking is in biro and so must have been done some years later, probably in error.  There are also two similar photos at the same location in Percy Hemmings scrapbook: one of Harry Thomas (again seated), Jim Allen in fool’s kit, Percy Hemmings with horns and cup, Henry Hemmings with sword and collecting tin; the other photo has these same four, plus maybe 5 dancers (if it’s 6, then one is hidden) with Tom Hemmings at no 1. 

Saturday 25th June 1938:  The Abingdon team danced around town in the afternoon, and finished with ‘the annual supper’.  There are no photos of this dancing, and only advance references to it in press cuttings about the election and in a letter from Fryer to Kenworthy Schofield (Fryer was not present at this Saturday dancing).  Although the supper is referred to as ‘annual’ and ‘customary’ in the two press cuttings, there are no details of this happening before.  For this year at least, the election and the extended ‘dancing-in’ of the mayor were separate events.

Monday 1st August 1938: Abingdon and Eynsham gave a show in the Abbey Grounds.  There is a posed photograph of the Abingdon and Eynsham teams (both with sashes), and several photos of the dancing.  The dancers are all wearing white trousers, white shirt and white shoes, with sash, belt and arm bands.  According to Len Bardwell there was a feast after the Bank Holiday dancing, in the Railway Inn with ladies invited too.  Len went in 1938.  There was another in 1939 which he didn’t attend. [but there is no record of any Bank Holiday show in 1939, so perhaps he was referring to Mayor’s Day 1939]

Some time in 1938, Abingdon attended the Berkshire EFDS Day of Dancing at Wargrave Hall, but we can’t trace the actual date.  There are photos of Henry Hemmings dancing a jig; Henry Hemmings with Jim Brooks; ‘Nobby’ Clark (horns), Henry Hemmings (mayor), Harry Thomas (melodeon); and several ones of the team dancing on the lawn (taken by Jim Brooks of EFDS).

Sunday 19th September 1938:  Abingdon attended the Sunday of the Stow-on-the-Wold Ring Meeting at which Mary Neal was the guest of honour.  They did all their dances for her, ‘which gave her great pleasure’.  There is a photo from this event of Henry Hemmings wearing both the mayor’s sash and Mary Neal’s CBE medal!  [Mary Neal had been awarded the CBE in the 1937 Coronation Honours List ‘for services in connexion to the revival of folk songs and dances’.]

Thursday 24th November 1938: Percy Hemmings wrote a letter to G.Norton, director of BBC television, the letter being sent via Major Fryer.  It references Norton’s letter of 16th November, Percy Hemmings’ letter of 28th Feb 38, and in reply to Norton’s letter of 25th May 38, so there had been previous contact with the BBC.  The letter gives the story of the horns being won in 1700, and names the Hemmingses who are or were involved in the Abingdon morris.  He says he has in his possession the horns, chalice and cash box of 1700, also a sword and the mayor’s sash which was worn by his grandfather Thomas.  He says that the ox roast was paid for by a farmer called Morris, that Thomas Hemmings died in 1885 and that the dancing only lasted 3 years after his death.  He acknowledges Fryer and Kenworthy Schofield’s encouragement to revive the tradition.  He states that the election is held on the 19th June when the Mayor is chaired up and down Ock Street and on the 21st the full team dances from 8 in the morning to 8 at night, after which they feast until 11. This is roughly what had happened in 1938 but on slightly different dates.  He lists the team as Harry Thomas musician, Henry Hemmings mayor, dancers Tom, Charles, Percival Hemmings, John Mooring, John Grimsdale, Charles Brett, spare dancer Ernest Constance, President Major Francis Fryer, treasurer James Hemmings.  He describes the kit, which includes blue socks (!).  He the lists dances as A-Nutting We will Go, Curly Headed Ploughboy, Jockeys to the Fair, Princes Royal, Girl I Left Behind Me, The Mayor’s Dance, Maid of the Mill, and Sally Luker – though the last two had not yet been perfected for public performance.

Monday 1st May 1939:  Major Fryer provided the music for the newly-formed Oxford Morris Men (forerunners of Oxford City) dancing at the Plain and Broad Street.  This was filmed for newsreels and later shown on TV.

Saturday 10th / Sunday 11th June 1939: Thaxted Ring Meeting, which Wargrave and Major Fryer attended.  According to the Ring logbook, Abingdon did not attend this.  However, national press photos show that Henry Hemmings was there.  Daily Mail of Monday 12th June 1939 has a picture of Henry Hemmings, 84, putting on his bells.  Daily Mirror of 12th June 1939 has a picture of Henry Hemmings with sword and cup.  The text reports that he did a solo dance.  There is a photo of Major Fryer in a line of musicians at Thaxted amd he is wearing the Abingdon sash.

Saturday 10th June 1939:  North Berks Herald of Friday 16th  June 1939 p3 reports:

“The Summer Festival of the Oxford and County branch of the English Folk Dance and Song Society was held in the cricket ground, Headington Hill Hall, on Saturday, when there were demonstrations in addition to general dancing at the childrens’ session in the afternoon and at the adults in the evening.

Mr. Willoughby played piano accordian accompaniments during the afternoon. In the evening there were demonstrations of country dances by the Sunningwell Morris Dancers and the Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers and the Oxford Men’s Morris also demonstrated…”

This would seem to indicate that the Abingdon team minus Henry Hemmings and Major Fryer were dancing in Headington on Saturday 10th June 1939, whilst Henry Hemmings was at Thaxted, as reported in the national press.  The reference to Sunningwell Morris Dancers may refer to a school team.

Tuesday 20th June 1939:  Election of the Mayor of Ock Street was held in the evening, with Henry Hemmings getting 108 votes, Tom Hemmings 74, majority of  34.  In one national press cutting, Henry Hemmings is described as an inmate of the local almshouses.  He did a step dance before being chaired.  There is a Daily Mirror 22nd June 1939 photo of Henry and Percy Hemmings in an upstairs window with a banner declaring the result.  There is another national press cutting also dated 22nd June 1939, and the NBH of 23rd June 1939 has a photo of Henry Hemmings dancing solo.  The 1939 Mayor’s Day was probably filmed by BBC TV.

Saturday 15th July 1939:  There was a tour of Faringdon, Wantage and Grove, the latter coinciding with the annual Grove Duck Races.  There are several photos of this tour, some of which have the date and place written on the back.  The hornbearer is Jack Hyde, wearing a smart suit and hat, but not in morris kit.  He had lived in Ock Street since 1909 and knew all the dancers, but had never joined.  On that summer’s day in 1939 he had been to visit his mother in Ock Street and was intending to go to Oxford to watch the cricket in The Parks, but met the morris dancers coming out of the Cock and Tree about to go on this tour, and they persuaded him to go along with them [JHI]. The Didcot Advertiser of 21st July 1939 reports the visit to Wantage market place in the evening, followed by Grove village green and Townsend Road.  Presumably the visit to Faringdon came before Wantage.  From the photos it was quite a wet day (and it was St Swithun’s Day!).  Harry Thomas is the musician in all the photos.

Although there are no surviving records of Abingdon morris during the second world war, there are some press reports that show that there was some dancing in support of the war effort.  Major Fryer would have been back with the army, so Harry Thomas would have been the only regular musician.  The dog of the bagman, Percy Hemmings, apparently wore a collecting box round its neck during such war effort shows.

NBH Friday 9th May 1941 has a photo of Abingdon morris dancing during War Weapons Week.  We also have a scan of the same photo of ‘dancing on the Market Place at the start of War Weapons Week”.  The picture is in the possession of Ewart Hemmings who kindly took it out of the frame for scanning.  The date 8th May 1941 and description were written on the frame mount.  Identifiable dancers in this photo (according to EH), are: Tom Hemmings, Johnny Grimsdale, Charlie Brett, Slim Mooring, ?Charles Hemmings. Jack Hyde was pressed into service as the sixth dancer despite never having danced the morris before [JHI], as three of the dancers had been called up.

NBH Friday 3rd October 1941 has a photo captioned “Abingdon Hospital Week – The Mayor (Coun J L West) with 86 Year Old Henry Hemmings”, also one of Abingdon dancing on the Market Place.

PHsb has a press photo from NBH Friday 6th March 1942 of an Abingdon Warship Week notice on County Hall with the total collected (no reference to morris dancing)

PHsb has a press cutting of a letter to the editor of NBH and Didcot Advertiser praising Abingdon morris who danced ‘for such a good cause’ and the 86 year old Mayor who danced ‘The Brave Old Duke of York’, so presumably this is 1941 or 42 and Henry Hemmings dancing the Broom Dance (to the tune it is done to today).

NBH Friday 14 August 1942 has a photo of ‘4 generations of the Hemmings family in their Morris Dance regalia’: Henry, Percy (Henry’s son), Ray (Percy’s brother’s son), and John (Ray’s son).

sb1 has a photo marked “First time after the war 1945”.  Persons are identified as Percy Hemmings, John Grimsdale; Harry Thomas (music), Charlie Brett, Tom Hemmings, Charles Hemmings, Jack Hyde; Henry Hemmings (mayor), John Hemmings.  Dancers are all in whites and with checked sashes.  John Hemmings (now a young teenager) has a plain sash worn on the other shoulder – possibly a novice’s sash.

31st October 1945: funeral of Henry Hemmings, aged 89.  An undated press cutting in PHsb lists all the many chief mourners and says that the morris dancers bore the coffin from the gates to the church.  The funeral date was quoted by Len Bardwell, who also attended.

Harry Thomas died in December 1947.

The 1949 EFDSS calendar has a photo of Henry Hemmings.

In 1949, Jack Hyde took over as secretary (bagman) and his notebooks from this date form our official diaries for 1949-1955.  The notebook lists the members who were assumed active at the beginning of 1949 as Tom Hemmings (lead dancer), Charlie Brett, Percy Hemmings, Charles Hemmings, Ernie Constance, Johnny Grimsdale, John Hyde and Major Fryer (musician).  However, Percy and his brother Charles do not appear to have danced in 1949 or later and Ernie Constance, who had been a Japanese prisoner of war, did not re-appear until the early 50s.

There was no Mayor’s Day election in 1949, but there was dancing on Saturday 25th June 1949 and sb1 has several photos of this marked “1949 Reviving the Dances, Mayott’s Road”.  It looks like there are only four dancers (two of whom do not have white trousers), plus Tom Hemmings in the mayor’s sash with sword and cup, a fool, Major Fryer as musician and Stanley Drew as Hornbearer.  Jack Hyde’s notebook entry for this date lists Thomas Hemmings, Charlie Brett, John Grimsdale, Major Francis Fryer, Mr R Annetts, Mr Drew (Horn Bearer), and John Hyde as the participants.  Jack does not mention anyone doing the fooling, but from the photos it is probably William Hackett, an Abingdon man who fooled in 1949 and the early 50s. 

Saturday 10th September 1949: Abingdon attended the St Albans Ring Meeting and the participants were Jim Hemmings (dressed as Mayor), Tom Hemmings (Lead Dancer), Charlie Brett, Ray Hemmings, Reggie Annetts, John Gillet, John Hyde, Major Fryer (Musician), William Hacket (Fool).  Messrs Annetts and Gillet were Wargrave men who helped make up the numbers.  They probably also danced with Wargrave on the same day.  

For more details of 1949 (and the years that followed), see the Diaries for those years.

Sources of information

• ATMD scrapbook no 1 (sb1) and material in the ATMD archives
• Scans of photos from an album kindly loaned by Cecil Hemmings
• Percy Hemmings scrapbook, kindly donated by Ewart Hemmings
• Copies of material that we did not have in our archives kindly provided by Jonathan Leach (Mr Hemmings morris dancers), including the transcript of an interview of Jack Hyde.
• Material in the Vaughan Williams Library online archive  https://www.vwml.org/projects/vwml-the-full-english
• Material that was on the Mary Neal Project website www.maryneal.org but which is no longer at that address

References to other sources and to press articles are contained in the main text.  There are no detailed references here to individual published or online articles or individual communications, not all of which agree with each other: these are mostly covered by ‘material in the ATMD archives’.  Please get in touch if you want more details of those.