Mary Neal

Mary Neal

Mary Neal CBE (5 June 1860–22 June 1944), born Clara Sophia Neal, was an English social worker and collector of English folk dances.

She was born in Edgbaston, Birmingham to a prosperous family, but in 1888 began voluntary social work among the poor of Soho and Marylebone in London, adopting the name "Mary". She began a girls' club – the Espérance Club in Cumberland Market – and seeing how much the girls enjoyed folk dances inspired her to begin collecting them. Her services to the preservation of these dances rather belatedly led to her being appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1937.

Mary Neal was also a prominent socialist and suffragette and a leading member of the Kibbo Kift.[1]

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