Folklore and Felony

LIKE anthropologists, folklorists and social historians increasingly realize the importance of the individual and the study of his or her role in the maintenance of belief and society.' This represents at once an advance both from the concept of the 'folk' or 'vulgar multitudes' of certain scholars and from the no less group-dominated studies of their Marxist brethren. Unfortunately, in the absence of diaries, letters, or surviving subjects, it is difficult, and often impossible, to gain insight into the views of past periods. Exceptions, when they occur, are the more to be valued, and even fragmentary case histories may prove useful to the folklorist, ethnologist, and social historian. What follows is the case history of an individual, Joseph Brown, of Cawood, in the West Riding of Born about 1770, and dead by 1809, Brown's thirty-odd years were lived on the outskirts of proper society and were filled with folklore elements and brushes with authority, a combination of which finally brought him to the scaffold. His life was the subject of a sketch in William Hone's The Every Day Book. This was written by an unidentified 'J.P.' within some eighteen years of Brown's death. The author was a contemporary of Brown and was personally acquainted with his story, supplying many details not otherwise available. (Where it is possible to cross-check with other sources, he is almost completely reliable.)2 The sketch, coupled with newspaper accounts and contemporary legal documents, allows us at least a glimpse of a man who abused the beliefs of his time; a pioneer practitioner of 'folklore as felony.' We know that Brown, born in Collingham, Yorkshire, about 1767/68 or 1775,3 had at least one sister.4 He himself is variously described in 19th-century newspaper accounts as a 'labourer'5 or a 'flax-dresser'.6 His appearance was not prepossessing. 'J.P.' reports that '[h]is person is vividly imprinted on my memory; his face was broad, his features coarse, and he had what is called a hare-lip, which caused him to speak through the nose, or snaffle, as they term it in Yorkshire. However, the same raconteur notes that 'he contrived by a certain mysterious behaviour, to impress weak and youthful minds with feelings which bordered upon terror' and that many regarded him with fear.8 Early on, Brown was associated with the Church Porch Watch, a ceremony used by many young sparks, ahd by some older individuals on the social periphery, to determine forthcoming mortalities during the course of the year.9 The watcher ensconced him or herself in the church porch on St. Mark's Eve (April 24) to obtain the desired information.' There was always the risk of falling asleep or seeing one's own fetch, either of which events predicted death to the watcher; nonetheless, sitting the watch brought with it importance and respect.12 Of Brown himself, 'J.P.' said that '[h]e never would directly acknowledge that he watched the church; but a mysterious shrug or nod tended to convey the assertion.'13

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