George Hathaway

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 bron, then to Bledington, where the remainder of their children, including George were born. George married a girls 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 importsnt 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