Henry Rolf Gardiner

Henry Rolf Gardiner (1902-1971) was born on 5 November 1902, the eldest son of the egyptologist Sir Alan Gardiner and Lady Hedwig Gardiner (ne von Rosen). He was educated at West Downs School, Winchester, 1913-1916; Rugby, 1916-1918; Bedales School, 1919-1920; and St John's College Cambridge, 1921-1924, where he studied modern languages. He was involved in international youth work, 1924-1932, in particular trying to promote understanding between Britain and Germany by organising work camps, teaching and lecturing on folk dancing and leading musical tours in England, Germany and the Baltic States.

In 1932 Gardiner married Mariabella ('Marabel') Honnor Hodgkin. They had two sons and a daughter. In 1927 he took over Gore Farm, Ashmore, Dorset, from his uncle, the composer H. Balfour Gardiner (1877-1950), and in 1933 added the Springhead Estate, Fontmell Magna. Gardiner revitalised the farm and woodlands, employing organic methods. He had a vision of the estate as a 'rural university', along the lines of the Danish Folk High Schools, and the training institutions at Frankfort an der Oder (the 'Musikheim') and at Lwenberg in Silesia (the 'Boberhaus'). To this end, he organised a variety of work camps and choral and dramatic festivals, aided by a group of like-minded friends, who in 1934 constituted themselves as the 'Springhead Ring'. Christmas and Easter plays and Whitsun choral festivals soon became annual features of the life of the estate, and encouraged the development of Marabel's talents as a producer.

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