Barton, Stephen

Dancer

Collection date: Apr 1913

Area: Yorkshire

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Stephen Barton of Helmsley sword dance (1861-1933): Aged 51, Stephen sang one of the Helmsley tunes to Sharp on 4 April 1913 (FT2853) but couldn’t remember others. He said he had started dancing 30 years previously (i.e. 1883) and that dancing had ceased 18 years previously (c1895). The local vicar Rev CN Gray had tipped off Sharp that there was a recent dance team (his postcard 6 Dec 1912) and Sharp was able to write up his interview with Barton as Folk Dance Notes 3/67-71 but did not publish the Helmsley dance.

Stephen Barton was born in Helmsley in the April qr 1861, 5th of 6 sons of William Barton, stone mason, and his wife Christiana. In each census from 1871 to 1911 Stephen lived in the High Street at Helmsley and he was a plumber by trade. He never married but lived with other family members over the years. Stephen died in July qr 1933 (Helmsley 9d 429) aged 72.