Pageants 669
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The Pageant of Leyton
There is very little information on this pageant, which told the story of the Parish of Leyton from earliest times through to the granting of the town charter in 1926. -
A Pageant for Coronation Year 1953
A previous pageant on the History of British Music from 1200 to 1682 had been held in St John’s College in 1951 as a part of the Festival of Britain celebrations. Two years later, the Coronation of... -
East Horsley Pageant
In the interwar period, village pageants were notably popular in Surrey. This is an example of one such pageant. Staged just once, it was like many such pageants closely associated with the local p... -
Islington Pageant
Many boroughs and suburbs of London staged pageants in the interwar period: other examples included Harrow (1923), Walthamstow (1930 and 1934), Wimbledon (1925) and Streatham (1936). Whilst few det... -
‘The Legends of Harston’
Village pageants were popular in the interwar period, especially in the south and east of England. This is an East Anglian example. Its content is interesting, since it was concerned not with telli... -
Bishopthorpe Pageant
The Bishopthorpe Pageant was one of a number of pageants held in North Yorkshire over the summer of 1930, including at Pickering and Nun Monckton. The pageant was written by F.L. Perkins, local vic... -
Historical Pageant of Littleham-cum-Exmouth
This seems to have been quite a small-scale pageant about which very little information survives. It illustrates the persistence of the pageant movement into the 1980s. -
Shute Historical Pageant
This is an example of a pageant put on by a school. Staged at Shute School, Devon, in July 1936, the pageant seems to have been devised as well as performed by the pupils themselves (though one mus... -
A Chapter of the Ancient History of Tonge
Billed as a ‘miniature pageant’ this was a very small-scale affair. It was likely performed just once, on 12 May 1937, and seems to have been connected to the 1937 Coronation Celebrations (Herne Ba... -
Jubilee pageant at Dudwick
This was a village pageant held to mark the Silver Jubilee of king George V. Perhaps appropriately, given this context, the pageant paid considerable attention to royalty, featuring kings Alfred th... -
History of Yarm
Many pageants were held in association with the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II; this is one example (see entries for Sandy and Warwickshire). It was staged by the Yarm branch of the Women’s Insti... -
Shebbear Pageant
The Shebbear pageant was a small event. It was performed by locals and staged by Ernest Martin, social historian, adult education lecturer and author of The Secret People (1954), a study of the his... -
Walter Scott Pageant
This pageant took place at Mellerstain House, near Gordon in Berwickshire. There were many events in 1932 that marked the centenary of Walter Scott's death, and in the late 1920s and early 1930s hi... -
Church History Pageant, Great Bookham
Churches were involved in the pageant movement from the outset. For parish churches like St Nicolas, in Great Bookham, pageants offered a means of celebrating the long continuities of Christian wor... -
Pageant of Cannock Chase
Many pageants were held in association with the 1951 Festival of Britain. Masterminded by the prolific Lawrence Du Garde Peach, this was planned as fairly large-scale outdoor production. As it turn... -
A Pageant of Bishopsgate Ward
The 'Pageant of Bishopsgate Ward' was performed as part of the bicentenary celebrations of the Central Foundation Girls' School, formerly known as the Bishopsgate Ward School. The school had presen... -
A Pageant of Nursing
In May 1950, Countess Mountbatten announced the launch of a fund by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) to provide advanced training for nurses. The Countess became president of this special fund. T... -
Pageant of Newhaven
This was a small-scale wartime pageant, staged sometime in 1944. It was held to coincide with the centenary of the Victoria Primary School. Its focus was the history of the port and fishing village... -
The Tower Hill Pageant and Tattoo
Held outdoors by the moat of the Tower of London, this was a pageant to raise funds for the Tower Hill improvement project. Concluding with an historical display by the 2nd Battalion, Royal Fusilie... -
Pageant of London (South of the Thames)
Staged in the grounds of the Crystal Palace, at Sydenham, this pageant was a celebration of the history of London—but specifically that of south London. This perhaps reflected a feeling that the hi...