The Essex man who saved Christmas!

CHARLES Dickens is often credited with creating the template for a traditional English Christmas: roaring log fires, tables bowing under the weight of food, shrieks of laughter during games of Blind Man's Buff, and goodwill to all men. According to a new book, however, it's a charismatic Essex writer who truly deserves the plaudits.

All-round good egg William Winstanley kept the spirit of Christmas alive when the Puritans outlawed festivities in the 17th Century, lovingly nurtured it when the celebration nearly died out later, and ran a successful campaign to boost its popularity with a stream of books, articles, pamphlets and poems that captured the imagination of the public.

Quite simply, argues author Alison Barnes, “he saved our traditional English Christmas customs for us”. But for him, we would not be enjoying our Christmas turkeys, mince pies, decorations, games and carols.

Her book, William Winstanley - The Man who saved Christmas, not only tells his story but details the extensive preparations he and his family made in order to “do Christmas” in style at the snug farmhouse near Saffron Walden that was his childhood home and which he later inherited after the death of his mother.

Winstanley made a habit of going to the Walden November Fair, for instance, to stock up on new packs of cards and dice. By the first week in December, his home would be well stocked ready for the big day.

By the evening of December 23 a rich array of food would lie neatly on the pantry shelves: rich fruit cakes, plum puddings, sausages, brawn, pigeon pies, tubs of clotted cream, and dozens and dozens of mince pies.

Winstanley believed Christmas Day should be celebrated by showing loving kindness to the whole of creation, says Alison, so the first thing he did was to greet all his farm animals and give them extra rations.

Church played a big part, as he was a deeply religious fellow, but after the service it was time to let the good times roll.

In those days presents were left until New Year's Day, but Christmas Day involved lots of hugs and kisses, food and drink, jokes and riddles.

Games had such evocative names as Hoodman Blind, Hot Cockles, Shoe the Wild Mare, and Stool-Ball, while the entertainment also included carol-singing and story-telling. “But the greatest fun of all, he considered, was to hold a dance after supper on Christmas Day, New Year's Eve or Twelfth Night and have 'the whole Company, young and old, footing it lustily to the merry sound of the pipe and fiddle'.”

Alison writes: “First and foremost he believed that the 'Feast of the Nativity' should be a time of 'much mirth and mickle glee', when everyone rejoiced at the birth of the Divine Child and, for his sake, 'gave liberally to the poor' and 'provided good cheer for all friends and neighbours'.

“In honour of the season houses should, he thought, be decked out from top to bottom with 'Holly and Ivy, Bays, Laurel and Rosemary'. There should be 'Roaring log fires' in every room, and an especially 'jolly blaze' in the hall.”

All this had been severely frowned upon by the Puritans, “who condemned those who partook of it as 'Papists and Idolaters'. But after the return of 'Good King Charles' it was quite safe to enjoy such food again, and Winstanley exhorted his readers to offer their guests as many traditional dishes as possible so as to bring them back into favour.”

So enthusiastically did he write about Christmas “that by the late 1680s his views as to how the festival ought ideally to be celebrated had become accepted as the norm, and the traditional English Christmas that he advocated was back in fashion again”.

The story really starts, though, in the spring of 1621, when William Winstanley's lawyer father, Henry, decided he'd had enough of crowded London.

He'd often visited cousin James Wilford's Tudor manor house - Quendon Hall, south of Saffron Walden - and stayed there while he looked for a farm. By the early summer he'd fallen for vivacious Elizabeth Leader, the 16-year-old daughter of rich Saffron Walden merchant Samuel Leader.

They married in the September and lived in a beautiful farmhouse, named Berries, he'd bought in Quendon. Henry leased another 100 acres and thrived as a farmer.

The couple had four boys and four girls between 1622 and 1640. William, born in 1628, was the third son.

“In many ways the Quendon Winstanleys were a typical yeoman family: hearty, hospitable, very fond of one another and intensely loyal to Church and King,” writes Alison, who lives in the area and has been researching the clan for 25 years.

“They were rather more cultured than most farming folk of that day, however. For Henry the elder had a wide knowledge of history, the classics and English literature, and on winter evenings would either tell thrilling stories about the heroes of old or read aloud from his favourite books, such as Chaucer's Canterbury Tales or Spenser's Faerie Queene.”

He made sure the family celebrated festivals such as May Day and Guy Fawkes' Night. But, as devout Anglicans, they most enjoyed Christmas.

They kept open house at Berries for the 12 days of Christmas, with dances, games, ghost and fairy stories round the fire, and plenty of food provided by Elizabeth for relatives, friends and needy neighbours.

“These idyllic Christmas holidays of his boyhood aroused in William Winstanley a passionate love for this great festival and from an early age inspired him to find out all he could about Yuletide customs, legends and traditions.”

By the age of 14 he knew he wanted to be a writer, though to get a trade behind him he was apprenticed to his uncle, William Leader. The wealthy Saffron Walden textile dealer-cum-linen draper admired his nephew's poems and tales, however, and allowed him time to write and to make frequent trips to London to carry out research.

In the capital he met a number of influential men. His chief patron was Henry Somerset, the future first Duke of Beaufort, “who was impressed by his wit and sagacity and did everything he could to advance him in his career.

“All these men were staunch Royalists, as was William himself, and as well as talking about history, art and literature they often discussed the various atrocities perpetuated by the Puritan Parliament under Oliver Cromwell.

“The beheading of Charles I at Whitehall on 30th January 1649 was of course the worst of these iniquities. But to William the determined efforts Parliament was making to exterminate his favourite festival seemed almost as bad.”

The Puritans hated Christmas because of its “Popish” and “Heathenish” connections, and its association with drinking, dancing and acting, “all of which pastimes were anathema to them. Between 1644 and 1647 Parliament had introduced a series of measures aimed at curbing the feast.

“This legislation had little effect on the population at large, who for several years flatly refused to give up their Christmas junketing. Finally, however, on 24th December 1652, Parliament issued a Proclamation stating that from thenceforth it would be strictly illegal to observe 'the Five and twentieth day of December, commonly called Christmas-Day'.

Markets had to keep operating, shops were told to stay open, and people informed they should go about their normal business on Christmas Day. “And the country's sheriffs and JPs were instructed to enforce this new ruling with the utmost rigour of the law.”

William, who by this time was living with wife Martha and baby Will in a house in Creepmouse Alley, just off the Market Square in Saffron Walden, took no notice!

The Winstanleys weren't able to attend Divine Service, as the doors of Quendon Church were locked by the Puritans on Christmas Days from 1652 to 1659, but the family held a prayer and carol service of their own at Berries.

Although many families ignored the prohibition, many others failed to celebrate - either because they didn't want to or because they were too scared. And even after the Restoration in 1660, when everyone was again free to mark the occasion, “it failed to regain the universal popularity that it had enjoyed in the 1630s, and was in fact in danger of dying out altogether”.

Alison reports: “William Winstanley viewed this decline of Christmas with deep dismay . . . Ever a kind benefactor to the poor of north-west Essex, he recognised how immensely important to the destitute was the feasting and entertainment provided for them yearly at Christmas by the rich. For it gave them something to look forward to in the cold, dark days of November and December, and supplied a stock of heartening memories to tide them over till spring.”

He determined to do something about it.

By the early 1660s he was one of the most sought-after literary figures in England, having published a popular book of poems and two famous biographical works: England's Worthies and The Loyall Martyrology. There was also a compendium of useful information: The Pathway to Knowledge.

It made him something of a celebrity, which in turn brought him into contact with all kinds of people. “And, making full use of his persuasive charm, he cajoled these myriad acquaintances into observing the complete religious and secular rites of the traditional English Christmas.

“His many powerful patrons, such as Lord Herbert and the Earl of Suffolk, zealously assisted him in this cause, not only keeping Christmas in lavish style themselves but urging their relations, friends and tenants to do likewise.”

Each year he produced a stream of books, articles, pamphlets and poems extolling the joys of the festival. Some were in his own name, others under the Poor Robin pseudonym.

“The series of Poor Robin's Almanacs that Winstanley published yearly from 1661 onwards were not the usual astrological almanacs but rather witty burlesques filled with poems, jokes, riddles, culinary tips, seasonal lore, snippets of Essex and London gossip and many details about William Winstanley's own family.

“This mixture of zany humour and practical information proved irresistible to the public, and from their first appearance these almanacs were runaway bestsellers, eagerly snapped up every winter by the nobility and gentry, as well as the literate working classes.”

They caught the eye of King Charles II, too.

“William had been introduced to the king soon after the Restoration by James Howard, third Earl of Suffolk, the Winstanleys' close friend,” says Alison, “and the monarch had been so favourably impressed by him that throughout the 1660s he invited the writer to attend various Court functions, at which gatherings the pair laughed and joked together and played games of cards and crambo.”

The festivities remained popular for 20 years or so after William's death in 1698, but by 1750 the traditional English Christmas had fallen into a second deep decline. “By 1800 it was virtually extinct. In 1820, however, the festival suddenly took on a new lease of life . . .”

And that was thanks to Winstanley, too.

While carrying out research on English folklore at the British Museum, the American author Washington Irving (best known for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow) stumbled across Winstanley's Christmas writings “and was instantly captivated by their evocative descriptions . . .

“Irving found the numerous Christmas rites and rituals that Winstanley depicts so inspiring, in fact, that he decided to create an imaginary English Christmas of his own into which they could be incorporated.”

He wrote five essays detailing the celebrations at fictitious Bracebridge Hall, featuring William's favourite Christmas dishes, games and pastimes, songs and poems.

“More importantly, however, these essays are permeated through and through with the same radiant joy, the same heart-warming benevolence, that are the hallmarks of Winstanley's Christmas writings.”

It proved a potent mix.

“Their popularity resulted in an immediate nationwide revival of interest in the old traditional English Christmas customs; a revival which was strengthened and consolidated in the 1830s and 1840s by Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers and A Christmas Carol.

“Dickens' brilliant descriptions of the merry Christmas that Mr Pickwick and his friends enjoyed at Dingley Dell, and of the more modest but equally convivial Christmas festivities indulged in by the families of Bob Cratchit and Scrooge's nephew, finally transformed our English Christmas from the indifferently kept festival of 1800 into the phenomenally popular feast beloved by adults and children alike that it had become by 1850, and by and large still remains today.

“This crucial turning point in the history of Christmas once again owed much to the influence of William Winstanley. Just as Winstanley's Christmas writings had inspired those of Washington Irving, so Irving's Yuletide essays inspired Dickens.”

William Winstanley - The Man who saved Christmas, is from Poppyland Publishing at £10.95.

ISBN 9780946148820. www.poppyland.co.uk