Curators Choice – Fair and Right Playscript

As part of the Dynamic Collections: Documenting Northern Lincolnshire’s History project, a team of volunteers have been documenting and researching the local history collections. Project member Holly shares how the team’s research into the Peacock family archive led them to a literary mystery that remains unsolved.

Folklorist Mabel Geraldine Woodruffe Peacock was born in 1856 and died in 1920. She was one of seven children born to Edward and Lucy Peacock of Bottesford Manor. Mabel wrote six playscripts that feature local dialect. In an unexpected turn of events, the team found a seventh playscript amongst the materials titled Fair and Right and authored by a ‘Lucian Wetherell’. Puzzled as to why they could find no trace of this individual, the team began gathering evidence.

Did Mabel herself write Fair and Right, using ‘Lucian Wetherell’ as her pseudonym? If the true storyline of Fair and Right would have been potentially scandalous, did the unknown author choose to use ‘Lucian Wetherell’ as a pen name to conceal their identity?

In this video, Holly discusses the project team’s research into the mystery of Lucian Wetherell’s identity.

two hands lifting paper files from a box

Curators Choice – Mabel Peacock’s Playscripts

A closer look at the six playscripts written by local folklorist Mabel Peacock of Bottesford Manor.

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Black and white photograph of a two storey house. A man in a suit is standing to the front right.

The Peacock Family

Discover the Peacocks. A family of distinguished scholars from Bottesford Manor.

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black and white image of a lady with curly hair standing next to an engraved wooden chair

A Book-larnt Linkisheere Lass

Guest contributor Tim Davies attempts a character sketch of Mabel Peacock.

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Otchins, Ghosts, and a ‘tater For Rheumatism: Mabel Peacock’s Dialect Tales

Guest contributor Tim Davies with an introduction to some of the little-known dialect stories of Mabel Peacock, with a look at the use of folklore and tradition in her writing.

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