Episode 4: Mary Neal and the Espérance Club

SYNOPSIS

Clara Sophia Neal became (Sister) Mary after joining the lay Sisterhood at the West London Mission, founded in 1887 as a Methodist response to the appalling state of British slums. Tiring of religious restrictions, Mary and her lifelong friend Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence left in 1895 to form the Espérance Club and Maison Espérance, its associated dressmaking co-operative. A dance activity at the Club resulted in Mary becoming a major instigator of the Edwardian Folk Dance Revival and Cecil Sharp’s collaborator, and later rival: one of Mary’s instructors, Blanche Payling, introduced folk dancing to Thaxted in 1911. A chance encounter at the London International Festival of Theatre in 1993 led to Mary Neal’s papers coming into the possession of her great-great-niece, Lucy, who tells her relative’s life story and how she gifted the papers to Cecil Sharp House.

GUEST

Co-founder of the London International Festival of Theatre, Lucy Neal is an artist producer, writer, broadcaster, celebrant and community activist. She is also currently director of the Mary Neal Project, bringing to light the under-told stories of Mary Neal and the Somers Town sewing girls of The Espérance Club. Mary Neal CBE was Lucy’s great-great-aunt.

RESOURCES

More information about Mary Neal can be found on Lucy Neal’s website about her great great aunt. Google “Mary Neal” to locate the website.

Lucy’s interview with Simon Machin was recorded at her home on 1 August 2019.