Marie Hartley (29 September 1905 – 10 May 2006) was writer or co-writer and illustrator of some 40 books on the social history of the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales is an upland area of the Pennines in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Yorkshire, England, most of it in the Yorkshire Dales National Park created in 1954. The Dales comprise river valleys and the hills ri ...

Life

Hartley was born into a prosperous family of wool merchants at Morley, near

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

. She attended

Leeds College of Art Leeds Arts University is a specialist arts further and higher education institution, based in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a main campus opposite the University of Leeds. History It was founded in 1846 as the Leeds Schoo ...

and then the

Slade School The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

in London, where she specialised in wood engraving. On her return to

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

she settled in the market town of

Wetherby Wetherby () is a market town and civil parish in the City of Leeds district, West Yorkshire, England, close to West Yorkshire county's border with North Yorkshire, and lies approximately from Leeds City Centre, from York and from Harrogat ...

. During the 1930s and 1940s she set up in partnership with a local writer,

Ella Pontefract Ella Pontefract (1896 – 23 February 1945) was the writer of six books on the social history of the Yorkshire Dales related to disappearing rural traditions. Pontefract and her partner Marie Hartley developed a rigorous transcription method f ...

, illustrating books on the Dales and Yorkshire. The two women published six books on Yorkshire life and customs before Pontefract died in 1945. Subsequently, Marie Hartley was joined by

Joan Ingilby Joan Alicia Ingilby MBE (11 December 1911 – 27 October 2000) was a British poet, historian and collector. Her books recorded life in the Yorkshire Dales and she was a co-founder of a museum founded on the artefacts that she and Marie Hartley had ...

. Marie Hartley spent 75 years gathering material which related to disappearing rural traditions of Yorkshire. The women travelled across the county collecting stories, written material and artefacts, all of which they brought back to the 17th-century cottage they shared at

Askrigg Askrigg is a small village and civil parish in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It is part of the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. The village and its parish are located in Upper Wensleydale, west of Leyburn ...

Wensleydale Wensleydale is the dale or upper valley of the River Ure on the east side of the Pennines, one of the Yorkshire Dales in North Yorkshire, England. It is one of only a few Yorkshire Dales not currently named after its principal river, but th ...

. In the early 1970s they donated their collection to the former North Riding of Yorkshire County Council. In 1979 this gift formed the basis of the collection now housed in the

Dales Countryside Museum The Dales Countryside Museum is a local museum for the Yorkshire Dales National Park in Northern England. Run by the National Park Authority, it tells the story of the people who have lived and worked in the Yorkshire Dales for over a 1,000 year ...

Hawes Hawes is a market town and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England, at the head of Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, and historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The River Ure north of the town is a touri ...

. They wrote the "groundbreaking" ''Life and Traditions in the Yorkshire Dales'' (1968), and ''The Old Hand Knitters of the Dales'' (1951) which showed how important knitting is. These two are considered to be classics. The archive of their documents and photographs remains in the care of the

Yorkshire Archaeological Society The Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society (YAHS), formerly known as the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, is a learned society and registered charity founded in 1863. It is dedicated to the study of the archaeology, history and people of ...

, whose Silver Medal they won in 1993. Both were appointed

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

in 1997, and in 1999 received honorary degrees from the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

. Ingilby died in 2000 aged 89.

Works

Works by or about Marie Hartley with Ella Pontefract and Joan Ingilby

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartley, Marie 1905 births 2006 deaths English centenarians People from Morley, West Yorkshire Alumni of Leeds Arts University Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art British travel writers Members of the Order of the British Empire Writers about Yorkshire British women travel writers Women centenarians