# Mabel Peacock

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{{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](/source/Edward_Peacock_(antiquary))
| relatives          = [Adrian Woodruffe-Peacock](/source/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](/source/Lincolnshire).

== Early life ==
Peacock was one of the seven children born to antiquarian [Edward Peacock](/source/Edward_Peacock_(antiquary)) and Lucy Peacock, of Bottesford Manor, [Brigg](/source/Brigg), [Lincolnshire](/source/Lincolnshire), and later of [Kirton in Lindsey](/source/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](/source/Adrian_Woodruffe-Peacock) 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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/John_Bunyan)'s ''Holy War'' and ''Heavenly Footman'' (1892), with full introduction and notes, and she was a contributor to the journals ''[Folk-Lore](/source/The_Folklore_Society)''<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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Hundred_(county_division)) of [Corringham, Lincolnshire](/source/Corringham%2C_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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mabel Peacock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mabel_Peacock) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mabel_Peacock?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.