Ruth Herbert Lewis

{{Short description|English temperance movement activist (1871-1946)}}

{{infobox person

| honorific_prefix =

| name = {{nowrap|Ruth Caine}}

| honorific_suffix =

| image = Portrait_of_Miss_Caine_(4674326).jpg

| caption = Portrait of Miss Caine (4674326)

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1871|11|29}}

| birth_place = {{nowrap|Liverpool, England}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1946|8|26|1871|11|29}}

| death_place =

| resting_place =

| education =

| alma_mater = Newnham College, Cambridge
Trinity College Dublin

| father = {{nowrap|William Sproston Caine}}

| mother = Alice Brown Caine

| spouse = {{marriage|John Herbert Lewis|1897|1933|end=died}}

| children = 2

| occupation = {{nowrap|Temperance movement activist}}

| known_for =

| relatives = William Caine (brother)
John Roberts (brother-in-law)

}}

Ruth, Lady Herbert Lewis, OBE ({{nee}} Caine; 29 November 1871 – 26 August 1946) was an English temperance movement activist of Manx descent and collector of Welsh folk songs. She published collections of Welsh folk songs, and was a key member of the Welsh Folk-Song Society in the first half of the 20th century.

Early life and education

Ruth Caine was born in Liverpool, the daughter of William Sproston Caine and Alice Brown Caine. Her father was a Member of Parliament. She attended Newnham College, Cambridge, but as Cambridge did not award degrees to women at the time, she was given a master's degree by Trinity College Dublin.Evan David Jones, [http://wbo.llgc.org.uk/en/s2-LEWI-RUT-1871.html "Lady Ruth Herbert Lewis"] in Dictionary of Welsh Biography (National Library of Wales 2009).

Folk music

After she married a Welsh politician, she moved to Wales, learned to speak Welsh, and committed herself to learning Welsh culture. In 1906, she was one of the charter members of the Welsh Folk-Song Society (Cymdeithas Alawon Gwerin), and in 1930 she was elected to a term as president of the society.D. R. Jones, [http://www.flintshirehistory.org.uk/journal/volume37.php "Lady Ruth Herbert Lewis (1871-1946): Indefatiguable Collector of Flintshire's Folk-Songs"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822013406/http://www.flintshirehistory.org.uk/journal/volume37.php |date=22 August 2017 }} Flintshire Historical Society Journal 37(2007): 106-68. She and other Society members collected wax cylinder recordings of Welsh-language traditional songs, and published a journal of their findings.Rosaleen Graves, "Folk Song at the Celtic Congress" {{cite book|title=The Welsh Outlook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sbNDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA185|year=1921|publisher=Welsh Outlook Press|pages=185–186}}Phyllis Kinney, "J. Lloyd Williams and the Welsh Folk-Song Society" in Welsh Traditional Music (University of Wales Press 2011): 203-228. {{ISBN|9780708323588}}E. Wyn James, [http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/special-collections/subject-guides/welsh-ballads/ruth-herbert-lewis "An 'English' Lady Among Welsh Folk: Ruth Herbert Lewis and the Welsh Folk-Song Society"] in Ian Russell and David Atkinson, eds., Folk Song: Tradition, Revival, and Re-Creation (University of Aberdeen 2004): 266-283. {{ISBN|0-9545682-0-6}}

Books authored by Ruth Herbert Lewis include Folk-Songs Collected in Flintshire and the Vale of Clwyd (1914) and Second Collection of Welsh Folk-Songs Collected by Lady Herbert Lewis (1934).

Social reform

Ruth, Lady Herbert Lewis was active in the North Wales Women's Temperance Union. She also ran an all-night canteen for soldiers in Westminster during World War I. She received an OBE for her work during the war.

Personal life and legacy

Ruth Caine married Sir John Herbert Lewis in 1897. They lived in Caerwys and in London, and had two children together, Kitty and Mostyn. Ruth was widowed in 1933, and died in 1946, age 74.

Her wax cylinder recordings survive in the archives at the St Fagan's National History Museum in Cardiff, National Museum Wales,[http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/233/ Phonograph Cylinders collected by Lady Ruth Herbert Lewis], Archives, National Museum Wales (museumwales.ac.uk) and at the British Library.[http://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Ethnographic-wax-cylinders/025M-C0037X1597XX-0100V0 Ethnographic Wax Cylinders], Sounds.bl.uk. Accessed 7 January 2023. Other materials relating to Lady Herbert Lewis are at Bangor University,[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_west/6189837.stm "Rare Christmas Carol Discovered"] BBC News (18 December 2006), the National Library of Wales and Flintshire Record Office.

Both of her children, Kitty Lewis (Mrs. Idwal Jones)[http://www.archiveswales.org.uk/anw/get_collection.php?inst_id=1&coll_id=288&expand= Kitty Idwal Jones Papers], National Library of Wales. and Dr. Herbert Mostyn Lewis, carried on her work and served terms as president of the Welsh Folk-Song Society. The National Eisteddfod has an annual "Lady Herbert Lewis Memorial Competition" for adult solo folk singers.[https://www.eisteddfod.wales/competitions/folk-songs/lady-herbert-lewis-memorial-competition-those-aged-21-and-over Lady Herbert Lewis Memorial Competition] for those aged 21 and over, National Eisteddfod.