{{Short description|English folklorist (1856–1920)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Mabel Peacock | image = MabelPeacock1873.png | alt = A white teenaged girl with long hair, wearing a dark dress | caption = Mabel Peacock, from an 1873 photograph in the collection of the North Lincolnshire Museum | birth_date = 9 May 1856 | birth_place = Brigg, Lincolnshire, U.K. | death_date = 17 July 1920 (age 64) | death_place = Kirton in Lindsey, U.K. | occupation = Writer, folklorist | father = Edward Peacock | relatives = Adrian Woodruffe-Peacock (brother) }}
'''Mabel Geraldine Woodruffe Peacock''' (9 May 1856– 17 July 1920)<ref name=":0">Death Notice, Norfolk Chronicle, 15 December 1920</ref> was an English folklorist and writer, best known for her books of folk stories and poems of Lincolnshire.
== Early life == Peacock was one of the seven children born to antiquarian Edward Peacock and Lucy Peacock, of Bottesford Manor, Brigg, Lincolnshire, and later of Kirton in Lindsey.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Davies |first=Tim |title=A Book-larnt Linkisheere Lass |url=https://northlincolnshiremuseum.co.uk/discover/a-book-larnt-linkisheere-lass/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=North Lincolnshire Museum |language=en-GB |archive-date=5 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250405012116/https://northlincolnshiremuseum.co.uk/discover/a-book-larnt-linkisheere-lass/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Her brother Adrian was a noted ecologist.<ref name="oxford">{{cite ODNB |author1=Mark Seaward |title=Peacock, (Edward) Adrian Woodruffe- (1858–1922) |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-72414 |access-date=12 August 2019 |language=en |date=23 September 2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/72414 }}</ref><ref name="brianford">{{cite journal |last1=Ford |first1=Brian J. |title=A Report of the Meeting 'John Ray and his Successors' |journal=Notes and Records of the Royal Society |date=2000 |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=5–22 |url=http://www.brianjford.com/a-00-john-ray.htm |access-date=12 August 2019 |doi=10.1098/rsnr.2000.0092 |s2cid=143047192 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=3 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603201907/http://www.brianjford.com/a-00-john-ray.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Publications == Peacock published several collections of folklore, mainly stories and poems collected in Lincolnshire.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Davies |first=Tim |title=Otchins, Ghosts, and a 'tater For Rheumatism: Mabel Peacock's Dialect Tales |url=https://northlincolnshiremuseum.co.uk/discover/otchins-ghosts-and-a-tater-for-rheumatism-mabel-peacocks-dialect-tales/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=North Lincolnshire Museum |language=en-GB}}</ref> Noting the publication of her 1897 book of folk tales, the ''Hull Daily Mail'' noted that "Miss Peacock's two previous books are well known in Lincolnshire for their pathos and humour."<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |date=1897-07-06 |title=Lincolnshire Tales |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/hull-daily-mail-lincolnshire-tales/169594112/ |access-date=2025-04-05 |work=Hull Daily Mail |pages=2 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Peacock also edited a reprint of John Bunyan's ''Holy War'' and ''Heavenly Footman'' (1892), with full introduction and notes, and she was a contributor to the journals ''Folk-Lore''<ref name=":1">{{cite wikisource|title=Obituary of Miss Mabel Peacock|date=December 1920||wslink=Folk-Lore/Volume 31/Obituary/Mabel Peacock|volume=31|page=338|editor-last=Crooke|editor-first=William|editor-link=William Crooke|scan=Page:Folklore1919.djvu/704|work=Folk-Lore}}</ref> and ''The Naturalist.''<ref>{{Cite journal |date=May 1901 |title=Notes on Lincolnshire Birds |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=to_Mnwwn3H4C&dq=%22Mabel+Peacock%22&pg=PA155 |journal=The Naturalist |pages=155}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=October 1901 |title=Notes on Mammals and Birds |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=to_Mnwwn3H4C&dq=%22Mabel+Peacock%22&pg=PA290 |journal=The Naturalist |pages=290}}</ref>
* ''An Index of Royalists whose estates were confiscated during the Commonwealth'' (1879) *''Tales and Rhymes in the Lindsey Folk-speech'' (1886)<ref>{{Cite news |date=1886-06-05 |title=Art, Literature, and the Drama |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/hull-evening-news-art-literature-and-t/169593984/ |access-date=2025-04-05 |work=Hull Evening News |pages=10 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> *''Tales fra Linkisheere'' (1889)<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fBktAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22Mabel+Peacock%22&pg=RA1-PA126 |title=Lincolnshire Notes and Queries |date=1891 |publisher=W. K. Morton. |language=en}}</ref> *"Omens of Death" (1897, ''Folk-Lore'')<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Peacock |first=Mabel |date=December 1897 |title=Omens of Death |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pRz4O5mf158C&dq=%22Mabel+Peacock%22&pg=PA377 |journal=Folk-Lore |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=377–378}}</ref> *''Lincolnshire Tales: The Recollections of Eli Twigg'' (1897)<ref name=":3" /> *"The Calenig or Gift" (1902, ''Folk-Lore'')<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Peacock |first=Mabel |date=1902 |title=The Calenig or Gift |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1254673 |journal=Folklore |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=202–203 |jstor=1254673 |issn=0015-587X |archive-date=5 April 2025 |access-date=5 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250405011345/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1254673 |url-status=live }}</ref> *"St. Mark's Eve (April 24th)" (1903, ''Folk-Lore'')<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Peacock |first=Mabel |date=1903 |title=St. Mark's Eve (April 24th) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1254279 |journal=Folklore |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=94 |jstor=1254279 |issn=0015-587X |archive-date=5 April 2025 |access-date=5 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250405011344/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1254279 |url-status=live }}</ref> *''Lincolnshire Rhymes'' (1907) *''Lincolnshire County Folklore'' (1908, edited with Eliza Gutch)<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gutch |first1=Eliza |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.20564 |title=Lincolnshire: examples of printed folk-lore concerning |last2=Mabel Peacock |date=1908 |language=English}}</ref> *"Amulets Used in Lincolnshire" (1908, ''Folk-Lore'')<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Peacock |first=Mabel |date=March 1908 |title=Amulets used in Lincolnshire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mkYKAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Mabel+Peacock%22&pg=PA87 |journal=Folk-Lore |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=87–88}}</ref> *"Death-knock in the Wapentake of Corringham, Lincolnshire" (1908, ''Folk-Lore'')<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Peacock |first=Mabel |date=December 1908 |title=Death-knock in the Wapentake of Corringham, Lincolnshire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mkYKAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Mabel+Peacock%22&pg=PA466 |journal=Folk-Lore |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=466–468}}</ref> *"Religious Dancing" (1910, ''Folk-Lore'')<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Peacock |first=Mabel |date=1910 |title=Religious Dancing |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1255394 |journal=Folklore |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=515 |jstor=1255394 |issn=0015-587X}}</ref>
== Personal life and legacy == Peacock and her sister assisted and cared for their father until he died in 1915. Mabel Peacock died in Kirton Lindsey from tuberculosis in 1920, at the age of 64.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Davies |first=Tim |date=19 November 2024 |title=Oud Taales Toud Ower Agean: Mabel Peacock, giving traditional stories a Lincolnshire twist |url=https://lincolnshirefolktalesproject.com/2024/11/19/oud-taales-toud-ower-agean-mabel-peacock-giving-traditional-stories-a-lincolnshire-twist/ |access-date=4 April 2025 |website=Lincolnshire Folk Tales Project |language=en-GB |archive-date=23 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250423203216/https://lincolnshirefolktalesproject.com/2024/11/19/oud-taales-toud-ower-agean-mabel-peacock-giving-traditional-stories-a-lincolnshire-twist/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Mabel Peacock is buried in Grayingham, Lincolnshire churchyard.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> In ''Folklore,'' William Crooke recalled Peacock as a "keen naturalist and county lover, with a lively play of humour."<ref name=":1" /> The Peacock Family Archive in the North Lincolnshire Museum holds Mabel Peacock's papers as well as her father's.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nicholson |first=Rose |title=The Peacock Family |url=https://northlincolnshiremuseum.co.uk/discover/the-peacock-family/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=North Lincolnshire Museum |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Curators Choice - Mabel Peacock's Playscripts |url=https://northlincolnshiremuseum.co.uk/discover/curators-choice-mabel-peacocks-playscripts/ |access-date=2025-04-05 |website=North Lincolnshire Museum |language=en-GB |archive-date=5 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250405011345/https://northlincolnshiremuseum.co.uk/discover/curators-choice-mabel-peacocks-playscripts/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Peacock is among the favorite authors of Sir George Bailey in A. S. Byatt's novel, ''Possession'' (1991).<ref>Byatt, AS. ''Possession'' 1991</ref> In 1998, a new edition of ''The Peacock Lincolnshire Word Books, 1884-1920,'' originally edited by Mabel Peacock and her brother Maximillian, were edited by Eileen Elder and published by the Scunthorpe Museum Society.<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 January 1998 |title=A treasure trove of Lincolnshire dialect |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/scunthorpe-evening-telegraph-a-treasure/169593400/ |access-date=4 April 2025 |work=Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph |pages=55 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Peacock |first=Mabel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xa9ZAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Mabel+Peacock%22+Lincolnshire |title=The Peacock Lincolnshire Word Books: 1884-1920 : with Additions Dating from the 18th and Earlier 19th Centuries |date=1997 |publisher=Scunthorpe Museum Society |isbn=978-0-907098-04-1 |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{Wikisource|works=both|Mabel Geraldine Woodruffe Peacock|Mabel Peacock}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Peacock, Mabel}} Category:1920 deaths Category:English folklorists Category:British women folklorists Category:People from the Borough of North Lincolnshire Category:Writers from Lincolnshire Category:1856 births