1886 Revival

Shakespeare Morris' tradition is called Bidford, named after the village of Bidford-upon-Avon, which has been researched heavily by Philip Taylor, Shakespeare Morris' long suffering musician. 

Many villages had their own Morris tradition and Bidford's tradition was revived by D'Arcy Ferris {1855 - 1929} who was an ambitious entertainer, and was listed in the census of London in 1881 as a 'violinist and professor of singing'. He moved to Cheltenham and continued to teach, to sing and to conduct choral societies; however, he also advertised himself as a 'Designer and Director of Fetes, Festivities, Festivals, and Functions'. 

In the mid-1880s he was organising a 16th century revel of the play 'Robin Hood' in Lockinge near Wantage, which involved Morris dancing and a hobby horse. He began to research and discovered that morris dancing had ceased in the village of Bidford 25-30 years previously and decided to revive it. 

There were still people living in Bidford who knew and danced with the original side 30 years before D'Arcy's revival. These were:

• Dr George Fosbroke - The principle resident of Bidford

• William Trotman - A dancer of the original side 30 years prior

• David Millen - 'An old Morriser'

• William Richardson - From a Bidford family who were long celebrated for their proficiency in the Morris Dance and was the trainer of the team.

However there were also people who had influence outside of the village of Bidford:

• Thomas Curtis & Timothy Howard of Brackley - Tabor, Costume, Dance names

• Johnathon Harris of Bould - Bells borrowed for 1s, 6d per week {about £4.96 in modern currency}

• Thomas Carvey of Bledington - Did not want his side to know that he was in contact with the Bidford Morris

• Joe Powell of Bucknell - Pipe & Tabor player

• Johnston & Harper of Ilmington - Pipe & Tabor player

On the 05th January 1886 he gave a lecture on English customs and the origins of Morris dancing, he announced that he had revived the Bidford morris and they were being rehearsed and would take them on a tour of Shakespearean villages.

In reality, D'Arcy had relied heavily upon the help of William Trotman and William Richardson, mentioned earlier. Both provided insights to what they knew about Bidford morris; with Trotman not being a 'true' Bidforder as he had lived in Idbury, but was able to provide knowledge to the 1886 revival side of the Bledington style, which Trotman had learned as a child. Richardson on the other hand had been born and bred in Bidford and so was able to give information regarding the 'old' Bidford style.

D'Arcy had rented Morris dancing bells for the side from a man named Johnathon Harris for the price of 1s, 6d a month in January 1886. By September of that same year, Harris wanted his bells back immediately to go Morris dancing, and 10 shillings for the bells. He got his money and bells back, then offered to sell them to Ferris for 10 shillings. D'Arcy's tour with the Bidford Morris was a success and there several instances where they had to perform multiple times due to the crowd sizes but D'Arcy moved on, despite this though the Bidford side remained.

After D'Arcy Ferris left, the Foreman became a man called George Salisbury {1867 - 1890} until he died and it went to his younger brother Edwin Salisbury {1869-1931}. The Salisbury family became the new keepers of the Bidford-upon-Avon side and kept dancing out sporadically after Ferris left until Edwin revived the side again in 1904 which lasted until the end of World War I in 1918. The side wasn't revived again until 1955, as the 'Bidford Boys' by a man named John Masterson who was a school teacher from Bidford, but it folded again the mid-1960s.