Katharine Mary Briggs (8 November 1898 – 15 October 1980) was a British folklorist and writer, who wrote ''The Anatomy of Puck'', the four-volume ''A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language'', and various other books on fairies and folklore. From 1969 to 1972, she was president of the

Folklore Society The Folklore Society (FLS) is a national association in the United Kingdom for the study of folklore. It was founded in London in 1878 to study traditional vernacular culture, including traditional music, song, dance and drama, narrative, arts an ...

, which established an award in her name to commemorate her life and work.

Biography

Katharine Briggs was born in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the London Borough of ...

, London, the eldest of three surviving daughters of Ernest Edward Briggs, who came from Yorkshire (his family had had great success in

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron fro ...

in Halifax and Wakefield), and Mary Cooper. The other two sisters were named Winifred and Elspeth. Ernest was a watercolour artist with a specific interest in

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

scenery who often told his children stories, possibly sparking Katharine's lifelong interest in them. The family moved to Perthshire in 1911, where Ernest built a house, Dalbeathie House. Ernest died there two years later in 1913. Katharine began attending Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford in 1918, obtained a BA in 1922, and took her MA in 1926. Returning home (because of the family coal legacy, and a

colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

in Normantown, she did not need to seek work), she began writing and running plays – the entire family enjoyed theatrical productions, and it was a lifelong interest of Katharine's – while she studied folklore and 17th-century English history. She gained her PhD with a thesis on Folklore in seventeenth-century literature (''Folklore in

Jacobean Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines ...

'') after the Second World War; during the war, she had been busy teaching in a Polish refuge school and working for the medical branch of the

WAAF WAAF may refer to: * w3af, (short for web application attack and audit framework), an open-source web application security scanner * Women's Auxiliary Air Force, a British military service in World War II ** Waaf, a member of the service * WAAF ( ...

. Briggs went on to become known as a folklorist.. After her first book on British fairies, ''The Personnel of Fairyland'', she went on to write many other books on fairies and folklore, including ''The Anatomy of Puck'' and its sequel, ''Pale Hecate's Team'' (1962), ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies'' (1976), as well as a number of

children's books A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

such as ''The Legend of Maiden-Hair'' (her first published book) or ''Hobberdy Dick'', and ''Kate Crackernuts''. ''A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language: Part A: Folk Narratives'' (1970) was re-published in three volumes in 2011 as ''Folk Tales of Britain'', and is described by Philip Pullman in its introduction as the fullest and the most authoritative collection of British folktales that exists. In 1969 she was awarded the Doctorate in Literature, and made President of the

, a post she held until 1972, and which named an award in her honour. Briggs lived the latter part of her life at Barn House in

Burford Burford () is a town on the River Windrush, in the Cotswold hills, in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is often referred to as the 'gateway' to the Cotswolds. Burford is located west of Oxford and southeast of Che ...

in Oxfordshire, and died aged 82 on 15 October 1980.

Legacy

The

Katharine Briggs Folklore Award Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

is an annual book prize established by the Folklore Society to commemorate her life and work and to encourage the study of folklore.

Published books

* ''The Personnel of Fairyland: A Short Account of the Fairy People of Great Britain for Those Who Tell Stories to Children'', illustrated by Jane Moore (1953) * ''Hobberdy Dick'' (1955) – children's novel * ''The Anatomy of Puck: An Examination of Fairy Beliefs among Shakespeare's Contemporaries and Successors'' (1959) * ''Pale Hecate's Team: An Examination of the Beliefs on Witchcraft and Magic among Shakespeare's Contemporaries and His Immediate Successors'' (1962) * ''Kate Crackernuts'', illus. Jane Kingshill (1963) – children's novel * ''Folktales of England'', eds. Briggs and Ruth L. Tongue (1965) * ''The Fairies in Tradition and Literature'' (1967); US title ''The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature'' * ''Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language'' (four vols., 1970–71) * ''The Folklore of the Cotswolds'', illus. Gay John Galsworthy (1974) * ''A Dictionary of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures'' (1976); US title ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies: tc' * ''A Sampler of British Folk-Tales'', compiled (1977); also published as ''British Folk-Tales and Legends: A Sampler'' * ''The Vanishing People: A Study of Traditional Fairy Beliefs'', illus. Mary I. French (1978); US subtitle ''Fairy Lore and Legends'' * ''Abbey Lubbers, Banshees & Boggarts: A Who's Who of Fairies'', illus.

Yvonne Gilbert Anne Yvonne Gilbert (born 1950/1951) is a British artist and book illustrator. Her cover design of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's 1983 single "Relax" has been described as "one of the most famous record sleeves of all time". While much of her caree ...

(1979); US subtitle ''An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fairies'' * '' Nine Lives: Cats in Folklore'', illus. John Ward (1980); US subtitle ''The Folklore of Cats''

References

External links

* . * . * . * . * ; commemorates Briggs as scholar and former Folklore Society President. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Briggs, Katharine Mary 1898 births 1980 deaths English folklorists Women folklorists Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford People from Burford People from Hampstead Women's Auxiliary Air Force airwomen Presidents of the Folklore Society 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English writers