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'''Alex Helm''' (1920-1970) was an award-winning British Folklorist, described as "one of the most important figures in the study of calendar custom and [folk] dance in post-war England".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Alex Helm|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095929548|access-date=2021-06-30|website=Oxford Reference|language=en}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Helm was born in [[Burnley]], [[Lancashire]], in 1920, becoming interested in folk dancing whilst attending [[Burnley Grammar School]]. He trained to become a teacher at St John's Teacher-training College, [[York]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Dean-Smith|first=Margaret|date=1970-03-01|title=Obituary Alex Helm 2nd March, 1920 – 22nd January, 1970|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/0015587X.1970.9716661|journal=Folklore|volume=81|issue=1|pages=63–64|doi=10.1080/0015587X.1970.9716661|issn=0015-587X}}</ref>

During the Second World War he served in the [[Indian Army Ordnance Corps]], reaching the rank of Major.

== Career ==
After the war, Helm taught at Northumberland Heath Secondary School, [[Erith]], before in 1949 moving to Danesford School at [[Congleton]], [[Cheshire]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Alex Helm Collection {{!}} Folk Play Research website|url=https://folkplay.info/collections/alex-helm-collection|access-date=2021-06-30|website=folkplay.info}}</ref>

== Folklore Research ==
Helm began to take an interest in the history of dances and dramatic traditions of Lancashire and Cheshire, in part influenced by Margaret Dean-Smith, Librarian of the [[English Folk Dance and Song Society]] (EFDSS), with whom Helm had helped to sort and index the Society's papers. Within a year of his move to Cheshire he had published research on ‘The Cheshire Soul-caking Play’,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Helm|first=Alex|date=1950|title=The Cheshire Soul-Caking Play|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4521337|journal=Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society|volume=6|issue=2|pages=45–50|jstor=4521337|issn=0071-0563}}</ref> a type of folk play that had been little studied.

During this period Helm, now a member of the Manchester Morris Men troupe, also began to research Lancastrian Morris traditions.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Helm|first=Alex|date=1954|title=The Rushcart and the North-Western Morris|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4521452|journal=Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society|volume=7|issue=3|pages=172–179|jstor=4521452|issn=0071-0563}}</ref>

Helm joined the Folklore Society in 1954.<ref name=":3" /> He soon made a study of the papers of [[T. F. Ordish]], held in the collections of the Society.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Helm|first=Alex|date=1955-09-01|title=Report on the Ordish Papers|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0015587X.1955.9717489|journal=Folklore|language=en|volume=66|issue=3|pages=360–362|doi=10.1080/0015587X.1955.9717489|issn=0015-587X}}</ref> Ordish, a 19th century folklorist who specialised on [[mummers' play]]s, had planned – but never completed – a monograph on British folk drama.<ref name=":1" />

Inspired by this work, Helm’s research expanded from [[folk dance]] and [[folk play]] into creating a geographical index of British seasonal customs, of which folk dance and folk play would form sections. For this project he worked with a group of researchers - E.C. Cawte,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Heaney|first=Michael|date=2020-07-02|title=Christopher Cawte (1932–2019)|journal=Folklore|language=en|volume=131|issue=3|pages=310–312|doi=10.1080/0015587X.2019.1699752|issn=0015-587X|doi-access=free}}</ref> Norman Peacock and Roger Marriott. The group co-authored 'A Geographical Index of the Ceremonial Dance in Great Britain', which was published as two journal articles in 1960<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Cawte|first1=E. C.|last2=Helm|first2=Alex|last3=Marriott|first3=R. J.|last4=Peacock|first4=N.|date=1960|title=A Geographical Index of the Ceremonial Dance in Great Britain: Part One|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4521603|journal=Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society|volume=9|issue=1|pages=ii–41|jstor=4521603|issn=0071-0563}}</ref> and 1961<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Cawte|first1=E. C.|last2=Helm|first2=Alex|last3=Peacock|first3=N.|date=1961|title=A Geographical Index of the Ceremonial Dance in Great Britain: Addenda and Corrigenda|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4521620|journal=Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society|volume=9|issue=2|pages=93–95|jstor=4521620|issn=0071-0563}}</ref> and ''English Ritual Drama: A Geographical Index'' in 1967.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Cawte|first1=E. C|url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/english-ritual-drama-a-geographical-index/oclc/124592?referer=br&ht=edition|title=English ritual drama: a geographical index|last2=Helm|first2=Alex|last3=Peacock|first3=N|date=1967|publisher=Folk-lore Society|isbn=978-0-903515-01-6|location=London|language=English|oclc=124592}}</ref>

''English Ritual Drama'' is now seen as a seminal work, being the "first systematic attempt to list every known occurrence of the folk play in Britain and to provide a source for each location".<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Cass|first=Eddie|date=2011-04-01|title=Alex Helm (1920–1970) and His Collection of Folk Performance Material|journal=Folklore|volume=122|issue=1|pages=1–15|doi=10.1080/0015587X.2011.537126|issn=0015-587X|doi-access=free}}</ref>

== Recognition and influence ==
In 1968 Helm was awarded the Coote Lake Medal of the [[The Folklore Society|Folklore Society]], for "outstanding research and scholarship" in the field of Folklore Studies. Whilst never a field collector, he was hailed for his "great ability to interest and stimulate others, and to guide them with his deep and growing knowledge",<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Cawte|first=E. C.|date=1970|title=Alex Helm 1920-1970|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4521870|journal=Folk Music Journal|volume=2|issue=1|pages=72–73|jstor=4521870|issn=0531-9684}}</ref>

Helm died in 1970: his life and work being "cut short as he reached his peak".<ref name=":4" />

Helm had a considerable influence on later customs researchers in England, particularly through the geographic approach he advocated. His argument that folk dance and folk play should be studied as rituals or customs - as opposed to the literary approach adopted by earlier scholars like [[E. K. Chambers]] - became the adopted model (although one criticised by later researchers).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" />

Helm's research papers - including correspondence, manuscript notebooks and working papers for his research on seasonal customs<ref name=":2" /> - are now held in the Special Collections of UCL.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Search Results|url=https://archives.ucl.ac.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=HELM|access-date=2021-06-30|website=archives.ucl.ac.uk}}</ref>

== Selected publications ==
Helm, Alex (1950). "The Cheshire Soul-Caking Play". ''Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society''. '''6''' (2): 45–50. [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]] 0071-0563.

Helm, Alex (1954). "The Rushcart and the North-Western Morris". ''Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society''. '''7''' (3): 172–179. [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]] 0071-0563.

Helm, Alex (1955-09-01). "Report on the Ordish Papers". ''Folklore''. '''66''' (3): 360–362. [[Doi (identifier)|doi]]:10.1080/0015587X.1955.9717489. [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]] 0015-587X.

Cawte, E. C.; Helm, Alex; Marriott, R. J.; Peacock, N. (1960). "A Geographical Index of the Ceremonial Dance in Great Britain: Part One". ''Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society''. '''9''' (1): ii–41. [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]]0071-0563.

Cawte, E. C.; Helm, Alex; Peacock, N. (1961). "A Geographical Index of the Ceremonial Dance in Great Britain: Addenda and Corrigenda". ''Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society''. '''9''' (2): 93–95. [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]] 0071-0563.

Helm, Alex (1965-06-01). "In Comes I, St George". ''Folklore''. '''76''' (2): 118–136. [[Doi (identifier)|doi]]:10.1080/0015587X.1965.9716997. [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]] 0015-587X.

Cawte, E. C; Helm, Alex; Peacock, N (1967). ''English ritual drama: a geographical index,''. London: Folk-lore Society. [[ISBN (identifier)|ISBN]] [[Special:BookSources/978-0-903515-01-6|<bdi>978-0-903515-01-6</bdi>]]. [[OCLC (identifier)|OCLC]] 124592.

Helm, Alex (1981). ''The English mummers' play: With a foreword by N. Peacock and E.C. Cawte''. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Brewer. [[ISBN (identifier)|ISBN]] [[Special:BookSources/978-0-85991-067-5|<bdi>978-0-85991-067-5</bdi>]]. [[OCLC (identifier)|OCLC]] 633313812.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Helm, Alex}}
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:1970 deaths]]
[[Category:British folklorists]]
[[Category:People from Burnley]]
[[Category:People educated at Burnley Grammar School]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]
[[Category:British people in colonial India]]

Alex Helm - Revision history

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