Hathaway, George

Gender: Male

George Hathaway was part of the Young Bledington side before WWI. Between 1929 and 1937 he was leading the side.

George Hathaway (1867-1948), was a dancer with the Bledington Morris Dancers during the 1880’s, who played melodeon and tin whistle, but whose tunes were never recorded.

(George Hathaway holding the Bledington Morris dancers’ heart-shaped collecting tin)

George Hathaway was born in Bledington, early in 1867, to a family who originated from Guiting Power, although his father, John, was born at Kineton. After marrying Jane Stayt, John & Jane moved frist to Lower Swell, where their first two children were born, then to Bledington, where the remainder of their children, including George were born. George married a girl from Bledington, Amelia Hall in 1892 and the couple moved in 1890 first to Stow-on-the-Wold and then Church Icomb, where they lived with their four children and would have known fiddler John Mason.

By trade, George was an estate carpenter, until ill-health forced his retirement. When he was interviewed in the years just before his death, he remembered with affection the dancing, and recalled that the fiddler, (Charles Benfield), being the most important member of the team, was always given the first ten shillings before anyone else had a picking. The remainder was divided, each dancer getting probably about nine shillings. George died in Cheltenham hospital in 1948.

Paul Burgess (via Folkopedia)

R Kenworthy Schofield cololected tuness from GH in 1937.