Writings on Chin Folk-Lore by Marie Blanche Head

Two unpublished typescript works by Marie Blanche Head on the folk-lore of the Tibeto-Burman Chin-Kuki-Mizo [Zomi] people of the Chin Hills, Burma [Myanmar]. Comprises: MS 381325/01 - 'Chins and Their Folk-Lore' / by Marie Blanche Head and MS 381325/02 - 'Folk-Lore of the Chin Hills, North West Frontier of Burma: Translated from the Original by Marie B. Head' / by Marie Blanche Head.

Marie Blanche Head (née Padday) was born in Kensington, London, United Kingdom on 3 March 1881. Her family owned the merchant firm Padday, Tenant & Co which operated from Prince of Wales Island [Penang], Straits Settlements. She married William Raleigh Head (1880-1946) of the Burma Frontier Service (later Burma Provincial Civil Service) in Colombo, Ceylon [Sri Lanka] in 1913. William Raleigh served as Assistant Superintendent, Haka and Superintendent, Chin Hills and was the author of ‘Hand Book on the Haka Chin Customs’ (Rangoon: Office of the Supt., Govt. Print., Burma, 1917). He later served as Superintendent for Southern Shan States (1922). Marie Blanche Head accompanied her husband on his travels in the Chin Hills. Following her husband’s retirement from the Burma Civil Service, Marie Blanche Head relocated to Surrey, England in around 1930. She died in Surrey, England on 13 May 1965. Marie Blanche Head was survived by a son, Walter Raleigh Trevelyan Head (b 1919).

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Donated to SOAS Library in January 2018

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