May Elliot Hobbs

In 1908, May first met Cecil Sharp, subsequently participating in folk dance demonstrations with him and becoming a close friend.^[1][3] She was a founder member of the English Folk Dance Society, and involved in its committee.^[4][1]

In 1912, she organised a folk dance demonstration in Kelmscott, at which both William Morris' widow, Jane Morris, and daughter May were present - both of whom still lived in the village.^[4] Others travelled from the surrounding villages, and further afield.^[4] Over the next two decades, Hobbs lectured and taught across the country.^[4] In 1916, she helped folklorist Janet Blunt to collect some of the Adderbury morris dances.^[1]

Hobbs became a close friend of May Morris, her neighbour in Kelmscott.^[5] The two women were both deeply concerned with rural issues and the position of women in society.^[5] They founded Kelmscott's Women's Institute in 1916—one of the earliest Women's Institutes in the UK.^[5][1] Both played an active role in the life and social activities of the village.^[5]

During World War I, Hobbs worked at the Ministry of Agriculture, and in 1917 was involved with the beginning of the Women's Land Army.^[1]

In 1928, Hobbs toured the United States, spending the winter in Boston and working on behalf of the city's branch of the Folk Dance Society.^[4] The following year, she accompanied the society across Canada.^[4] In an obituary for Hobbs, the Society's journal described her as having been "an active pioneer" for its work from its origins.^[4]

Lady Denman, Chairman of the National Federation of Women's Institutes, said of Hobbs:

I know of no one with a more thorough knowledge of English country life, nor of anyone who has such a happy gift of making an interesting and inspiring speech and keeping the attention of an audience.^[3]

May Elliot Hobbs died on 30 December 1956.^[1]

• Great Farmers, with James A. Scott Watson (1937)^[6]