Katharine Mary Briggs

This article is about the English folklorist. For the American psychologist, seeKatharine Cook Briggs.

Katharine Mary Briggs(8 November 1898 – 15 October 1980) was a British folklorist and writer, who wroteThe Anatomy of Puck,the four-volumeA Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language,and various other books onfairiesandfolklore.From 1969 to 1972, she was president of theFolklore Society,which established an award in her name to commemorate her life and work.

Biography

Katharine Briggs was born inHampstead,London,the eldest of three surviving daughters of Ernest Edward Briggs, who came fromYorkshire(his family had had great success incoal mininginHalifaxandWakefield), and Mary Cooper. The other two sisters were named Winifred and Elspeth. Ernest was a watercolour artist with a specific interest inScottishscenery who often told his children stories, possibly sparking Katharine's lifelong interest in them. The family moved toPerthshirein 1911, where Ernest built a house, Dalbeathie House. Ernest died there two years later in 1913. Katharine began attendingLady Margaret Hall, Oxfordin 1918, obtained aBAin 1922, and took herMAin 1926.

Returning home (because of the family coal legacy, and acollieryinNormantown,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 and17th-century English history.She gained herPhDwith a thesis on Folklore in seventeenth-century literature (Folklore inJacobean Literature) after theSecond World War;during the war, she had been busy teaching in aPolishrefuge school and working for the medical branch of theWAAF.

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, includingThe Anatomy of Puckand its sequel,Pale Hecate's Team(1962),An Encyclopedia of Fairies(1976), as well as a number ofchildren's bookssuch asThe Legend of Maiden-Hair(her first published book) orHobberdy Dick,andKate Crackernuts.A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language: Part A: Folk Narratives(1970) was re-published in three volumes in 2011 asFolk Tales of Britain,and is described byPhilip Pullmanin 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 theFolklore Society,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 inBurfordin Oxfordshire,and died aged 82 on 15 October 1980.

Legacy

TheKatharine Briggs Folklore Awardis 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 titleThe 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 titleAn Encyclopedia of Fairies: [etc]
• A Sampler of British Folk-Tales,compiled (1977); also published asBritish Folk-Tales and Legends: A Sampler
• The Vanishing People: A Study of Traditional Fairy Beliefs,illus. Mary I. French (1978); US subtitleFairy Lore and Legends
• Abbey Lubbers, Banshees & Boggarts: A Who's Who of Fairies,illus.Yvonne Gilbert(1979); US subtitleAn Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fairies
• Nine Lives: Cats in Folklore,illus. John Ward (1980); US subtitleThe Folklore of Cats

External links

• "The letters and papers of Katharine Mary Briggs".UK:Archives Hub..
• Katharine Briggs Papers,Special Collectionsat the University of Southern Mississippi (de Grummond Children's Literature Collection)
• "Ernest Edward Briggs and Katharine"(genealogical entries and biographical sketches).NZ:Stowell. Archived fromthe originalon 5 February 2013.Retrieved5 February2006..
• "Briggs"(PDF)(biographical sketch).University of Leeds..
• "The Katharine Briggs Folklore Award".The Folklore Society.;commemorates Briggs as scholar and former Folklore Society President.
• Katharine M. Briggsat theInternet Speculative Fiction Database
• Katharine Mary BriggsatLibrary of Congress,with 36 library catalogue records