Edith Woodford-Grimes

Edith Rose Woodford-Grimes
Woodford-Grimes in 1917.
Born	18 December 1887 Malton, Yorkshire, England
Died	1975
Occupation	Elocution teacher; Wiccan initiate
Spouse(s)	Samuel William Woodford Grimes
Children	Rosanne Woodford-Grimes
Parent(s)	William Henry Wray; Caroline Wray

Edith Rose Woodford-Grimes (1887–1975) was an English Wiccan who achieved notoriety as one of the faith's earliest known adherents. She had been a member of the New Forest coven which met during the late 1930s and early 1940s, and through this became a friend and working partner of Gerald Gardner, who would go on to found the Gardnerian tradition with her help. Widely known under the nickname of Dafo, Woodford-Grimes' involvement in the Craft had largely been kept a secret until it was revealed in the late 1990s, and her role in the history of Wicca was subsequently investigated by historians.

The reason for Woodford-Grimes' adoption of the pseudonym Dafo is unknown, with the researcher Philip Heselton believing that it was not her craft name but a nickname given to her by Gardner, possibly being based upon his experiences in eastern Asia, where it had been used to refer to certain statues of the Buddha.

Woodford-Grimes was born as Edith Rose Wray in a house in Malton, Yorkshire, on 18 December 1887. Her father, William Henry Wray, was an implement maker at the local waterworks, whilst her mother was Caroline Wray, née Harrison. Whilst much is still not known about her early life, she became a teacher, specialising in English, Drama and Music, in later years becoming an associate of the London College of Music and the London Academy of Music.

On 16 June 1920, she married Samuel William Woodford Grimes, an Englishman who had been born in Bangalore, India in 1880, who at the time was working as a clerk in the War Pensions Office in Southampton. Subsequently, she took his surname of Grimes, and decided to turn it into a double-barrelled surname by adding one of his middle names, Woodford, to it. As researcher Philip Heselton later remarked, "This may have been pure snobbery, or she may have felt that it sounded more elegant and exclusive – more befitting a teacher of elocution." Soon after the marriage, the couple moved to a newly constructed house, 67 Osborne Road, which was found in the Portswood suburb of Southampton in southern England. Then, on 30 June 1921, Edith and Samuel's first and only child, Rosanne, was born, but within a few years Edith returned to work, as by 1924 she had gained employment once more as a tutor in English and Dramatic Literature at various student groups, something she would continue till 1934, and from 1924 she had also begun teaching elocution and dramatic art at evening classes for the Southampton Education Authority.