Eliza Gutch
Eliza Gutch (née Hutchinson) (1840-1931) was an English author, contributor to Notes and Queries,[1] and founding member of the Folklore Society. She made immense contributions to the establishment of folklore and dialect studies.
Eliza Gutch | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 July 1840 Little Gonerby-cum-Manthorpe, Lincolnshire, England |
| Died | 17 March 1931 (aged 90) Holgate Lodge, York, England |
| Occupation | Writer, folklorist |
| Nationality | English |
| Period | 19th century |
| Genre | Folklore |
Personal life
Gutch was born on 15 July 1840, at Manthorpe Lodge in Little Gonerby-cum-Manthorpe, Lincolnshire, as Eliza Hutchinson. Her father, Simon Hutchinson, was a land agent in Little Gonerby.[2]
On 22 January 1868, she married York solicitor John James Gutch.[1] They had four children: Bertha (b. 1869), John (b. 1870), Wilfrid (b. 1871), and Clement (1875-1908). She was widowed in 1881.
Career
Gutch had an abiding interest in the history and folklore of the region of England in which she lived. She was a founder member of the English Dialect Society in 1873, and a prolific contributor to the journal Notes and Queries under the pseudonym "St Swithin", a reference to her date of birth.[1] It was from her suggestion in a February 1876 issue of Notes and Queries that the Folklore Society was formed in 1878, with Gutch as a founder member.[1]
Her knowledge of folklore was utilised by Joseph Wright in his English Dialect Dictionary, to which she contributed her findings on the folklore of both Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.[1] Gutch herself collected the materials for, and edited three volumes of, the County Folklore series, and wrote a number of shorter articles on folklore.[3] [4]
Eliza Gutch was the last private owner of Holgate Windmill, and her children sold the Mill on her death to the City of York Council for preservation as a historic site. She died at Holgate Lodge on 17 March 1931.
Works
- Gutch, E; Folklore Society (1901). County folk-lore, vol. 2. Printed extracts, no. 4: examples of printed folk-lore concerning the North Riding of Yorkshire, York and the Ainsty. London. OCLC 1128324081.
- Gutch, E; Peacock, M. G. W; Folklore Society (1908) County folk-lore. v.5 Examples of printed folk-lore concerning Lincolnshire. London: Nutt. OCLC 1110253433.
- Gutch, E; Folklore Society (1912). County folk-lore, vol. 6. Printed extracts no. 8: examples of printed folk-lore concerning the East Riding of Yorkshire. London: David Nutt. OCLC 931356221.
References
- Jacqueline Simpson (Editor), Steve Roud (Editor) (2003). A Dictionary of English Folklore. Oxford University Press
- Peacock, Max. The Peacock Lincolnshire word books, 1884-1920, Barton on Humber : Scunthorpe Museum Society, 1997, p.8. ISBN 0-907098-04-5
- "In Memoriam: [Mrs.] Eliza Gutch, (1840-1931)". Folklore. 41 (3): 301. 1930. JSTOR 1255895.
- Miller, Stephen (2013). "The County Folk-Lore Series (Volumes 1–7) of the Folk‐Lore Society". Folklore. 124 (3): 327–344. doi:10.1080/0015587X.2013.829665. ISSN 0015-587X. S2CID 159913100.