Lois Blake (21 May 1890 – 19 November 1974), bornLois Agnes Fownes Turner, was a British folklorist and "the driving force behind the revival of folk dancing in Wales."[1] She was the founding president of theWelsh Folk Dance Society in 1949.
Blake was born inStreatham, London, the daughter of Henry Fownes Turner and Amy Dickes Turner. Her mother died in 1893, and she was raised in the household of an aunt and uncle.[2]
Memorial plaque, Llangwm. The plaque was unveiled by her daughter Felicity, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Welsh Folk Dance Society.
Blake served as a nurse, driver, and cook duringWorld War I, in Serbia, Romania, and Russia. She was a member of theEnglish Folk Dance and Song Society, and while she was living in Wales made a study of traditional Welsh folk dances, and taught dances to children. She "almost singlehandedly rescued the remaining fragments of a once common Welsh tradition".[3] She was the founding president of the Welsh Folk Dance Society in 1949.[4] She was a dance judge at theNational Eisteddfod, lectured to local groups on her work,[5] and helped theUrdd Gobaith Cymru youth organization on teaching Welsh dances to young people.[6] She was admitted into theGorsedd Cymru in 1960.[2]
Turner married marine engineer Leonard James Blake in 1917. They lived mainly in Llangwm, Wales, and had two children, Felicity (born 1920) and James (born 1918). Her son died in 1945, and her husband died in 1959. She moved toBristol in widowhood, to live with her daughter, and died in 1974, at the age of 84, atMarshfield. There is a Lois Blake Memorial Trophy presented at the National Eisteddfod, for performing one of theNantgarw dances Blake documented.[14]
