Alex Helm

Alex Helm (1920–1970) was a British folklorist, described as "one of the most important figures in the study of calendar custom and [folk] dance in post-war England". Helm served in India during the Second World War, before working as a teacher for the rest of his career. As a folklorist, he worked on English ritual dance and drama, publishing "A Geographical Index of the Ceremonial Dance in Great Britain" in two parts in 1960 and 1961, and English Ritual Drama: A Geographical Index in 1967.

Early life and education Helm was born in Burnley, Lancashire, in 1920, becoming interested in folk dancing whilst attending Burnley Grammar School. After finishing teacher training, Helm joined the army, His second child was born in 1953. In 1968 he was made deputy headmaster at Danesford. He was also part of a Home Office committee on approved schools. 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.

Helm joined the Folklore Society in 1954, and from 1958 was on the society's council. Ordish, a 19th-century folklorist who specialised on mummers' plays, had planned – but never completed – a monograph on British folk drama. 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 and 1961 and English Ritual Drama: A Geographical Index in 1967. 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".

Recognition and influence In 1968 Helm was awarded the Coote Lake Medal of the 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".

Helm died in 1970: his life and work being "cut short as he reached his peak".

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).

Selected publications Helm, Alex (1950). "The Cheshire Soul-Caking Play". Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. 6 (2): 45–50. Helm, Alex (1954). "The Rushcart and the North-Western Morris". Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. 7 (3): 172–179. Helm, Alex (1955-09-01). "Report on the Ordish Papers". Folklore. 66 (3): 360–362. 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. 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. Helm, Alex (1965-06-01). "In Comes I, St George". Folklore. 76 (2): 118–136. Cawte, E. C; Helm, Alex; Peacock, N (1967). English ritual drama: a geographical index. London: Folk-lore Society. Helm, Alex (1981). The English mummers' play: With a foreword by N. Peacock and E.C. Cawte. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Brewer.