William Henderson: “A Folk-Lore Student before Folk-Lore Came into Vogue”

William Henderson’s Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (1866) is one of the richest records of British folk customs furnished by the nineteenth century. Despite the significance of this collection, however, relatively little work has been undertaken to understand Henderson’s importance to folklore studies. In response, this article draws upon archival research and Henderson’s published works (including his angling memoir) to provide insights into his biography, and to trace his emergence as ‘a Folk-Lore student before Folk-Lore came into vogue’. This biographical approach facilitates an appreciation of the social and political context in which the collection was made, in particular that of the nineteenth-century industrialization of the North, in which Henderson had a vested interest. Henderson’s Notes, it is proposed, represents a negotiation between his passion for preserving tradition and his simultaneous belief in the merits of industrial progress.