The Isle of Wight Pageant

Pageant type

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Performances

Place: Carisbrooke Castle Bowling Green (Newport) (Newport, Isle Of Wight, England)

Year: 1907

Indoors/outdoors: Outdoors

Number of performances: 5

Notes

1–5 August 1907

1 August at 2pm; 2 August at 2pm; 3 August at 2pm; 5 August at 2pm and 8pm.

There was at least one dress rehearsal, including one performed for the benefit of an audience of 3000 schoolchildren.

Name of pageant master and other named staff

  • Pageant Master: Benson, F.R.
  • Patron HRH Princess Henry of Battenburg (Governor of the Isle of Wight)
  • President: Mr Godfrey Baring, MP
  • Vice Pageant-Master: Quinton, W.H.
  • Chairman of Dramatic Committee and Archaeological Adviser: Mr Percy Stone, FSA
  • Writer of the Scenes: Miss Beryl Aitken, LLA
  • Master of the Music: Mr F. Rutland
  • Composer of the Music: Miss Ruth Aitken, ARCM; F. Rutland
  • Master of the Horse: Mr C.A. Good
  • Secretary: Mr W. Ormsby Rymer
  • Choir Director: Ruth Aitken

Names of executive committee or equivalent

Executive Committee

  • Chairman: Councillor Harry Shepard

Names of script-writer(s) and other credited author(s)

  • Aitken, Beryl
  • Stone, Percy
  • Baines, Cuthbert E.

Names of composers

n/a

Numbers of performers

1000

Financial information

  • Receipts: £2551. 11s. 7d.
  • Expenditure: £2717. 5s. 9d.
  • Deficit: £265. 14s. 2d.1

Object of any funds raised

Isle of Wight Hospital

Linked occasion

300th anniversary of Newport’s town charter

Audience information

  • Grandstand: Yes
  • Grandstand capacity: 1500
  • Total audience: 22500

Notes

Total audience was between 22000 and 25000

Prices of admission and seats: highest–lowest

£2. 2s.–1s.

  • Grand Stand Seats: £2. 2s.; £1. 1s.; 10s. 6d.; 5s.; 2s. 6d.
  • Enclosure Standing: 2s.; 1s.

Associated events

  • Special Service at Newport Church (Sunday 4 August).
  • Grand Illuminated Performance (Monday 5 August, 8pm).

Pageant outline

Prologue

Ode to Vectis by Sea Maidens, who briefly describe the history of the Isle. The Spirit of the Past exhibits her power to unfold the glories of the past.

Episode I. Vespasian on the Island, AD 46

Organised by Ryde.

A flourish of trumpets; then enter soldiers with Vespasian accompanied by British slaves carrying tin and who sing of the conquest:

So here’s to the Isle we leave behind,
Where the waves break high, and the winds drive blind,
Where cups are deep and lasses are kind,
And only the low skies lower.
Dark is the day—though we sunward fare
When your white cliffs fade in the misty air—
Isle of the maids of the flaxen hair,
And eyes of the blue flax-flower!2

Episode II. Ceadwalla, King of the West Saxons, and the Conversion of Wight by St Wilfrid, AD 685

Newport.

Saxons and Jutes carouse at table with Ceadwalla and the Queen at the head of the table. The defeated British princes look rather downcast. There is a song of Jute Maidens and various toasts. Mul, the King’s brother, asks why Winchester ‘is become so sober that half the Saxon men be as grave as priests.’ This is because of the new God. The British princes are wary lest they be massacred but also enjoy the ale, and believe the Jutes will protect them from raiders. There looks to be a fight brewing until St Wilfrid, Berwin and Hiddila are brought in as prisoners. Wilfred talks with the King and recites odes to God. The Jutes are overcome by the power of the scene. Caedwalla agrees that if Wilfrid acquiesces in the conquest of Wessex, the church will have a quarter of its land. Wilfrid agrees, provided that the British princes be spared.

Episode III. Arrest of Bishop Odo of Bayeux at Carisbrook by William the Conqueror, 1085 AD

Shanklin.

Odo is at the centre of a heated discussion with Ralph of Wader and Countess Emma, who have offended the King by marrying (William feared an alliance between two strong powers). Odo asks the Saxon Earl whether it would be easier to leave England to fight in the crusade, and they list King William’s crimes and begin to plot. Odo warns them against this, but William with his retinue enters from Normandy and tells them of his victories. He accuses Odo, whom he left in charge, of gross mismanagement and enriching the church at the crown’s expense. William grabs Odo. Saxon serfs enter with a horse bearing gold that was discovered hidden by the Medina River. All the plotters turn on the innocent Odo and arrest him. William is hailed and all leave.

Episode IV. Grant of Charter to Newport by Isabella de Fortibus, AD 1310

Ventnor.

Bowermaidens enter laughing and talking. Adeliza is bemoaning the lack of male company and wishes she were back in Poitou and France. Isabella enters and all fall silent. She is evidently in a bad mood. Sibylla talks of the greatness of Edward I, but Isabella declares she is the ruler of Wight. The Benedictine prior enters and tells of the churches and abbeys on the island. He asks a favour on behalf of the burgesses of Meda, called Nowborough, though Isabella scorns them. She initially rejects their suit, but the Burgesses then enter and give tithes to the prior and Sir Adam. Isabella grants them a charter and the right to pasture near Parkhurst forest. A messenger enters with a message from Edward I who denies Isabella’s rights and demands taxation, refuses the right to ‘flotsam, jetsam, and ligan’, and demands that she sell her Lordship. Isabella swoons, then revives and decides to resist them. However, the prior tells of Edward’s martial greatness and advises against resistance. Isabella decides that she will bequeath the island to the Crown: ‘By my last testament: but sooner—never! Ney, I will die last lady of the Wight whate’er befalls thereafter.’

Episode V. French Raid on the Isle of Wight, AD 1377

Yarmouth.

Hugh Tyrell and archers enter at speed. Newport is ablaze, and Yarmouth and Francheville are destroyed. Women scream. Locals decry the terror. Edward III is dying and the Black Prince is dead, so no one can resist. Hugh calls the archers to defend the castle, but the priest offers to parley. The priest ultimately decides that ‘Mad are these knights all’ and sits down to devise a stratagem with bread and wine. The French commander demands ‘Vengeance for the raid of the Englishman Knolles in Normandy!’ The priest pours the Frenchman wine and advises him to take Sir Hugh prisoner rather than demanding money from the town, as the former will be more profitable. Peter de Heyno shoots the French commander with a bow, and the French retreat in confusion.

Episode VI. Discovery of Marriage of Princess Cicely of York, 1507 AD

[This scene was not performed.]

Cicely, daughter of Edward IV, it emerges, has secretly married Sir John Kyme, living on the Isle of Wight in secrecy for four years. She is now dying and asks Sir Nicholas Wadham, governor, to recognise the rights of her children by her first marriage to Scotland’s heir. She has been in hiding due to the violence of the Wars of the Roses and the Tudor succession. Cicely dies.

Episode VII. Swearing-in of the Bailiffs of Newport at the Castle Before Sir Edward Horsey, Governor of the Island, 1565 AD

Newport.

Sir Edward Horsey addresses Mistress Worsley concerning how great her dead husband, the former governor, was and asks her of the secret of his rule, to which she replies:

Three things will hold the love of Islanders.
Defend their shores; and foster commerce well;
And lastly show them hospitality.

Sir Edward takes heed, declaring ‘May sea-dogs wait at Cowes to harry all invaders’.

Episode VIII. News of the Armada Brought to Wight, AD 1588

[No town given]

Sir George Carey, governor, is disputing with Jacob Whiddon about how best to carry out the fortifications. There is a song. Jacob, in an impenetrable west country accent, describes Philip of Spain’s fleet. Music is again heard, to which Jacob replies: ‘I tell ’ee, Zir Jarge, it ain’t no toime vor veasten’ nor music. I zeed that girt Armada a-buildin’, and niver did I twitter zo!’ Despite warnings that the Armada is in the Channel, Sir George refuses to be afraid due to the courage of the islanders: ‘When hath raider met with aught but defeat that dared set foot on the Garden Isle of England?’ Gilbert Lee, the mariner, tells of his voyage from Lisbon and warns them that the Isle of Wight will be the base of attack, and Sir George thanks him. There is a further song, ‘The “Rat of Wight”’. Jacob rushes in to proclaim that ‘They be melting, the girt ships, like zea-birds in summer haze, with Lord Howard’s little cock-boats stinging them as they go, like wasps!’ There is jubilation and celebration, which leads to:

Interlude. Maypole Dance

Newport and District School Children.

Episode IX. Defence of the Castle by the Countess of Portland, AD 1642

Bembridge.

The Countess of Portland and Colonel Brett discuss how they should be holding the castle for the King, but Brett fears that his own soldiers are for Parliament. A local comes warning that Newport men have come in an attempt to take the castle for Parliament, and Brett decides to defend the castle. The locals approach the castle and order its surrender, to which the Colonel replies: ‘We know naught of the Commons of England. We hold here for King Charles.’ There is a brief discussion as to whether the King holds authority over the islands. It looks like there will be a battle, but the Countess convinces Mayor Read to offer an honourable surrender and Brett to accept it. The meagre garrison and her children march out.

Episode X. Dorothy Osborne’s Trial

Freshwater.

Colonel and Mistress Hammond with Temple enter with commissioners who are trying a case of Master Richard Osborne and his sister Dorothy, who is willing to accept all the blame. The charge is writing some ribald verses insulting Oliver Cromwell. Though the charge is trivial, she is tried. She continues to mock Cromwell to the horror of the commissioners; they are not sure if it should be a capital offence, and she is thus spared. William Temple escorts her out.

Episode XI. King Charles and the Treaty of Newport (the Same Day)

Freshwater.

The King is to sign a treaty surrendering to Parliament. The townspeople of Newport crowd around and bring him flowers. The King and Ashburnham discuss the perilous situation. The King notices his guard has been changed, and all are afraid that there will be a rescue attempt. Hammond enters and complains of the burden of having to read all the letters to the King. Rolfe addresses the King by his name (Charles Stuart) and demands that he have an answer as to whether or not he will sign the treaty. The King mocks them. The townspeople arrive chanting anti-Parliament, pro-Monarchy slogans. The commissioners enter, and the King continues to procrastinate. Eventually it becomes clear that the King will not sign. The townspeople storm the castle and the commissioners exit in haste. The soldiers attempt to remove the King, but he denies their authority. They try to revoke his parole, but he continues to deny their authority. Captain Burley and a motley rabble enter for the King. Ashburnham is dismayed at the unwise attempt to free the King and provoke Parliament. Rolfe, about to be murdered, is freed by Parliamentarian soldiers. There is a standoff between the army and the townspeople. The King returns in a coach, bowing to a lady, and it is clear that he will escape. The King departs with the crowd running after him.

Episode XII. Restoration of King Charles II and His Visit to Sir Robert Holmes, Governor of the Island

Ryde.

[No information.]

The March of the Wight Men. Grand Procession of All Performers

Key historical figures mentioned

  • Vespasian [Titus Flavius Vespasianus] (AD 9–79) Roman emperor
  • Cædwalla [Ceadwalla] (c.659–689) king of the Gewisse
  • Wilfrid [St Wilfrid] (c.634–709/10) bishop of Hexham
  • William I [known as William the Conqueror] (1027/8–1087) king of England and duke of Normandy
  • Odo, earl of Kent (d. 1097) bishop of Bayeux and magnate
  • Waltheof, earl of Northumbria (c.1050–1076) magnate
  • Forz [Fortibus], Isabella de, suo jure countess of Devon, and countess of Aumale (1237–1293) magnate
  • Horsey, Sir Edward (d. 1583) conspirator and soldier
  • Carey, [Cary] Sir George (c.1541–1616) lord deputy of Ireland
  • Wadham, Nicholas (1531/2–1609) benefactor of Wadham College, Oxford
  • Cecily [Cicely; née Cecily Neville], duchess of York (1415–1495) Yorkist matriarch
  • Hammond, Robert (1620/21–1654) parliamentarian army officer
  • Temple, Sir William, baronet (1628–1699) diplomat and author
  • Rolph, Edmund (bap. 1619, d. 1668) parliamentarian army officer [also known as Rolf, Edmund]
  • Charles I (1600–1649) king of England, Scotland, and Ireland
  • Charles II (1630–1685) king of England, Scotland, and Ireland
  • Rupert, prince and count palatine of the Rhine and duke of Cumberland (1619–1682) royalist army and naval officer
  • Holmes, Sir Robert (c.1622–1692) naval officer
  • Walker, Sir Edward (1612–1677) herald
  • Duncombe, Sir John (bap. 1622, d. 1687) politician and government official

Musical production

100 voice choir and band of the Royal Fusiliers under Bandmaster O’Keefe. Pieces included:
  • ‘Nunc Dimittis’.
  • ‘The “Rat of Wight"

Newspaper coverage of pageant

Isle of Wight County Press
The Times
Western Times
London Daily News
Manchester Courier
Nottingham Evening Post
Hampshire Advertiser
Portsmouth Evening News
Dublin Daily Express
Hull Daily Mail
Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser
Gloucester Citizen
Western Gazette
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette
Leeds Mercury
Nottingham Evening Post
Lichfield Mercury
Sheffield Evening Telegraph
Yorkshire Post
The Era
Lincolnshire Echo
The Graphic
Otago Daily Times

Book of words

Text of the Dialogue: A Pageant Illustrating the History of the Isle of Wight Will Be Presented at Carisbrook Castle. Newport, 1907.

Price: 6d.

Other primary published materials

  • County Press Programme of Episodes. Newport, 1907. Price: 1d.

References in secondary literature

n/a

Archival holdings connected to pageant

  • Letters from Percy G. Stone, Merstone, I.W., to John H. Oglander about the Pageant. OG/CC/2262 A–F.

    Isle of Wight Records Office, Newport

  • Programme. ELD 87/38/20/7.

    Isle of Wight Records Office, Newport

Sources used in preparation of pageant

  • Diodorus Siculus. Bibliotheca historica
  • Bede. Ecclesiastical History. c.731.
  • Chronicle of Oderic Vial [Probably Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History]
  • Speed’s Chronicles.3
  • Froissart’s Chronicles. c.1370-90.
  • Monstrelet’s Chronicles [Chroniques d'Enguerrand de Monstrelet]
  • Contemporary MSS (unnamed).
  • Civic Records (unnamed).

Diodorus Siculus was used in Episode I.

Summary

Historical pageants were always demonstrations of civic defiance or loyalty towards authority, emphasizing the importance of a place in wider national history, of which the 1907 Historical Pageant of the Isle of Wight is a prime example. As a pageant heavily connected with the Royal family at Osborne House, the pageant was a demonstration that the island’s loyalty to the English monarchy was not a foregone conclusion and that it depended on long-term patronage and acceptance of the island’s unique situation and history—rather than being merely an afterthought to the story of the Sceptred Isle. The Isle of Wight, by the early twentieth century, had become another fashionable tourist spot on the south coast, boosted by the Royal Family’s visit there each August.

Planned at the end of 1906 to coincide with the 300th Anniversary of Newport’s town charter, the pageant got off the ground quickly with £150 of the £500 guarantee fund already raised by February 1907.4 Guinea subscriptions would guarantee a ticket in the grandstand.5 F.R. Benson—referred to as ‘the prince of pageant inspirers and organisers’6—was commissioned as pageant master. He was also working on the Romsey Pageant (July 1907) in nearby Hampshire, with the County Press reporting: ‘it is to be hoped that he will meet with no less loyal and enthusiastic support on the part of all who have undertaken to assist in the production of the Island pageant next month.’7 The Daily Telegraph reflected a general mood of interest among the national press, wishing ‘the venture every success… because it will add to the popularity of a most delightful resort, and add also to the knowledge all of us should possess of a stirring Island story.’8 Such a sentiment was reflected by the County Press, covering the dress rehearsal in front of 3000 school children: ‘A Pageant at Carisbrooke Castle! What more fitting stage could there be found for the revivifying of the Island’s past than the historic pile in the Island’s very heart, itself the original stage of so many stirring scenes!’ The paper went on to ‘prophesy that when the pageant comes to be enacted in all its completeness next Thursday it will be in every way worthy of the Island, of the honoured past it seeks to revive, and of the venerable Castle in which it takes place.’9

The pageant itself had become the talking-point of the island, eagerly anticipated. Many in Newport had seen performers coming to and from rehearsals, including Saxons on bicycles smoking. On one occasion, when ‘King Charles was passing down in full dress, someone called “Hats off to the King,” and many in the crowd unconsciously responded, to the amusement of others, before they realised that they were not in the presence of a king.’10 The pageant itself, presented above all as instructive and educational, was far from dogmatically worshipful of royalty. Charles had earned his respect through acting as a worthy captive in 1645, and his prevarications on signing the surrender and ultimate escape were those of a romantic hero worthy of one of Sir Walter Scott’s novels rather than those of a man who broke his word and returned the country to Civil War. The Isle of Wight was presented, for example in the fifth episode, as defending a monarchy that was unable to protect itself from the French, and, in the fourth episode, as only surrendering the island to the monarchy after a long protracted process. As the County Press stated: ‘In the pageant not only did we learn how our forefathers solved problems of education and national defence, but we also learned how they could strike a strong blow on behalf of their homes because they possessed the trained eye which the cultivation of the arts and crafts could produce.’11 It went on to emphatically declare:

It forms, as it were, a bridge over which the spectator of to-day may pass into scenes and among forms of the Long Ago, and its influence will abide in the interest which it will have been the means of deepening in our Island story and in the sense of citizenship which will have been quickened by the contemplation of the deeds of those who enacted prominent parts of life in the bygone centuries.12

The Times, in a short notice, was equally full of praise: ‘The episodes afford scope for much dramatic, as well as spectacular, effect, and, with the assistance of several members of Mr Benson’s company, the local performers acquitted themselves creditably’, going on to praise the location and the attention to detail: ‘There are extraordinarily realistic touches in several episodes, notably in those illustrating the sojourn of Charles I at the castle’.13

The attendance was, unfortunately, somewhat lower than expected. This was in part due to the poor weather and in part due to the King’s visit to Cowes on Saturday and Sunday, with many who saw the pageant leaving early to witness the illuminations and fireworks in Cowes harbour.14 The home fleet of 39 battleships and cruisers illuminated and decked out in the harbour over the weekend proved a larger draw than what the pageant could offer, this being the height of Britain’s obsession with the new dreadnought class of warship, and also a time of developing Anglo-German naval rivalry.15

The pageant was greeted with a stony reception by the church in the person of the Reverend E. Edmund Sharpe, Vicar of Newport, who had warned in July that ‘a Pageant is an act of thanksgiving, and we hope that this feature will not be lost sight of at Carisbrooke.’16 On Sunday 4 August, Sharpe preached an even more pointed service, asking ‘what good can come out of these pageants? What object do they serve beyond the ephemeral amusement they afford for the moment?’ He also warned the congregation that the pageant was not free from the failings of communities, warning that ‘the Island, I think, is not altogether exempt from the rivalries … that almost universally exist amongst Englishmen’. He went on:

We must not lose sight of the fact that drama is a powerful force. It can be a great power for evil where coarseness, suggestiveness, or merely a low tone and standard of honour and morals are represented. But it can be … a great power for good. When used with a sense of responsibility, and a reverent desire to employ a talent from God in His service, it is able to educate, to elevate, to strengthen the moral and intellectual tone of the people, and to lead them by the emotions, as well as by the reasoning faculties, to a widening of their knowledge of men and things, and to a more robust and healthy condition of mind and character.17

Though Sharpe concluded by hoping that the pageant might bring men together in a ‘spirit of comradeship’, the sermon as a whole was a rebuke. Though the future Bishop of Portsmouth, Neville Lovett, who organised and wrote a number of pageants in Southampton and Portsmouth in the 1920s, organised the third episode, the pageant was far more concerned with national than spiritual history.18

Despite the Reverend Sharpe’s pronunciations, the final day of the pageant had the greatest attendance, with around 10000 spectators, including the Royal Governor and a number of American tourists.19 Early hopes that the pageant had made a profit were not realised, with a deficit of £265 being recorded, even after Benson forwent half of his £440 fee.20 Though he was universally praised for the job, he insisted on performing this act of charity, explaining that his original estimate of £1500 had not included £600 for the grandstand or £900 for transport and feeding the performers; nor could he have foreseen a £150 loss on the sale of pageant souvenirs. Nonetheless, ‘they had for the sum of £3000 provided a pageant which was a brilliant, artistic success, and which in public estimation compared very favourably with pageants costing three or four times that sum.’21 The chief patron, HRH Princess Henry of Battenburg, the Governor of the Island, gave 25 guineas towards liquidating the debts and exhorted guarantors to pay 15s. 6d. in the pound.22

In the aftermath of the pageant, a local poet, A.G. James of Newport, wrote the following lines, published in the County Press:

The Pageant passes! To their ivied tombs
Return the dear dead days with all their train
Of forms majestic, summoned not in vain
To take our willing homage. Robes and plumes,
And that romance-aroma which perfumes
Our Island story, fade from sight and wane.
Yet, though our view so briefly could retain
The Past; though this prosaic age resumes
Its right to wither every flow’r that blooms
In poet’s breast; we lose not all our gain:
For, if once more the mystic shadow glooms
Those days untombed awhile, our hearts remain
Thrones where henceforth fair memories shall reign.
Thy Past, O Vecta, fills love’s vacant rooms.23

But this did not mark the end of historical pageantry on the island. Perhaps bearing out the sentiments of the poet, in 1923 the ‘dear dead days’ would once more be brought to life through drama, when another pageant was held.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Portsmouth Evening News, 30 August 1907, 3.
  2. ^ Unless indicated otherwise, all quotations in synopses are taken from Text of the Dialogue: A Pageant Illustrating the History of the Isle of Wight Will Be Presented at Carisbrook Castle (Newport, 1907).
  3. ^ Described as such in published documentation—seemingly a catch-all reference to the work of the Tudor historian and cartographer John Speed (1551/2–1629).
  4. ^ Isle of Wight County Press, 19 January 1907, 5.
  5. ^ Isle of Wight County Press, 16 February 1907, 4.
  6. ^ Isle of Wight County Press, 3 August 1907, 5.
  7. ^ Isle of Wight County Press, 6 July 1907, 3.
  8. ^ Daily Telegraph, 19 July 1907, np, quoted in Isle of Wight County Press, 20 July 1907, 5.
  9. ^ Isle of Wight County Press, 27 July 1907, 8.
  10. ^ Isle of Wight County Press, 3 August 1907, 5.
  11. ^ Ibid.
  12. ^ Ibid.
  13. ^ Times, 3 August 1907, 15.
  14. ^ Isle of Wight County Press, 10 August 1907, 7.
  15. ^ See Paul Kennedy, Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism 1860-1914 (London, 1980); Jan Rüger, The Great Naval Game: Britain and Germany in the Age of Empire (Cambridge, 2007)
  16. ^ Newport Parish Magazine, July 1907, np.
  17. ^ Isle of Wight County Press, 10 August 1907, 7.
  18. ^ Isle of Wight County Press, 1 July 1907, 5.
  19. ^ Isle of Wight County Press, 10 August 1907, 7.
  20. ^ Portsmouth Evening News, 30 August 1907, 3.
  21. ^ Ibid.
  22. ^ Times, 11 September 1907, 4; Nottingham Evening Post, 29 November 1907, 6.
  23. ^ Isle of Wight County Press, 10 August 1907, 7.

How to cite this entry

Angela Bartie, Linda Fleming, Mark Freeman, Tom Hulme, Alex Hutton, Paul Readman, ‘The Isle of Wight Pageant’, The Redress of the Past, http://www.historicalpageants.ac.uk/pageants/1103/