The Thirsk Historical Play

Pageant type

Jump to Summary

Performances

Place: Grounds of Thirsk Hall (Thirsk) (Thirsk, Yorkshire, North Riding, England)

Year: 1907

Indoors/outdoors: Outdoors

Number of performances: 6

Notes

25–26 June 1907

  • Tuesday 25 June 1907, 2.15pm
  • Wednesday 26 June 1907, 2.15pm
  • Wednesday 26 June 1907, 6.45pm

Also a ‘Children’s Performance’ on Saturday 22 June 1907, 2.15pm, and two additional performances on the following Wednesday [i.e. 3 July], in the afternoon and evening.

Name of pageant master and other named staff

  • Master of the Play [Pageant Master]: De Ferrars, D'Arcy
  • Master of the Play [Pageant Master]: Hudson, Gilbert

Names of executive committee or equivalent

  • President: R. Bell, Esq., The Hall, Thirsk
  • Masters of the Play: Mr D’Arcy de Ferrars; Mr Gilbert Hudson
  • Honorary Secretary and Treasurer: Mr J.T. Farndale, Barclay’s Bank, Thirsk
  • Master of the Music: Mr A.J. Todd
  • Mistresses of the Robes: Miss Farndale; Mrs Moss; Miss Kirk
  • Directors of the Dances: Miss Pearson; Miss Crosby; Mr Bulmer; Mr Harrison
  • Scene Marshalls: Mrs Bell; Mr Clarke; Mr Lynch; Mr Warner
  • Armourer in Chief: Mr J.M. Thompson
  • Chief Jester: Mr R. Jackson
  • Dames of the Freytour: Mrs P. Anderson; Miss Barnett; Mrs Gunson; Miss Hayward; Miss Horner; Mrs Nicholas; Mrs Tweedy; Mrs Wood
  • Photographers (by exclusive appointment): Mr Clarke; Mr Scott

Notes

No names given other than the cast, patrons and the officers named above.

There is a very long list of patrons, extending over more than two pages of two columns, featuring a lot of churchmen. Sir Hugh Bell, Bart., Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding, heads the list, and there were a dozen or so viscounts, dukes, etc.

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

  • Perkins, F.L.

Notes

  • Words by F.L.P.’, i.e. F.L. Perkins, Vicar of Thirsk.
  • Arranged for the stage by Mr D’Arcy Ferrars.

Names of composers

  • Todd, A.J.
  • Doyle, Arthur Conan
  • Kipling, Rudyard

Music composed and adapted by Mr A.J. Todd, organist and choir master of Thirsk Parish Church.

Numbers of performers

213

Figure of 213 includes actors and dancers. 69 male actors; 68 female actresses; 25 female ‘wood nymphs’; 22 female ‘rose dancers’; 10 male morris dancers; 16 male maypole dancers; one ‘Dame of the Freytour’ (Mrs Barley); two ‘Attendants’.

Financial information

No specific information, but it was a ‘financial success’. The programme for the 1933 Thirsk Historical Play noted that the success of the 1907 play enabled the insurance on the church to increase from £6000 to £14000.

Object of any funds raised

  • Thirsk Parish Church
  • New cricket club pavilion

Notes

Half the funds raised were used to increase the insurance of Thirsk Parish Church; the other half were used to pay for new heating for the church. The two additional performances were held to raise funds for the new cricket club pavilion.

Linked occasion

n/a

Audience information

  • Grandstand: Yes
  • Grandstand capacity: n/a
  • Total audience: n/a

Notes

Grandstand capacity and audiences not known. However, the local press reported very good attendances: ‘To judge by the large audiences financial success has … attended the effort’; ‘The capacity of the ground was taxed on both Wednesday afternoon and evening’.1

Prices of admission and seats: highest–lowest

7s. 6d.–1s.

  • Most expensive: 7s. 6d. (all performances; numbered and reserved seats).
  • Cheapest: 1s. (Wednesday performances; admission only).
  • Additional performances for cricket club: 6d.
  • Numbered and reserved seats 7s. 6d. and 5s.
  • Tuesday afternoon admission 1s. 6d. plus 2s. or 1s .6d. for seat in grandstand.
  • Wednesday performances admission 1s. plus 2s. or 1s. for seat in grandstand.
  • Saturday afternoon ‘grand full dress rehearsal’. For children only. Admission and seats 6d.; adults in charge of parties of children 1s. Invalids 2s. 6d.
  • Additional, unplanned performances all 6d.

Associated events

None known

Pageant outline

Prologue

This scene features heralds and jesters. The chief jester recites the verse prologue, beginning ‘Good folk of Thirsk and neighbours kind, / Come and behold our play, / Mingled with histories grave you’ll find, / Imaginations gay!’

Scene I. Britons and Norsemen, AD 630

A group of Norsemen, led by the high priest Coifi, have captured some British prisoners and are about to sacrifice them. This is the will of Thor, whose name they associate with Thirsk and nearby Thorlby, Thormanby and Thorkleby. As they prepare the sacrifice, the Christian missionary Felix arrives, and tells them to stop the sacrifice. He claims that his god, ‘who giveth life by death’, loves them. They ask for a sign, which he gives. He tells them to collect leaves from ‘Thor’s own [oak] tree’, and find one that does not bear the mark of the cross. Of course, they all do, and Felix then shows them the lines of crosses on their own hands. They all fall down to worship Felix, but he tells them not to, but to worship the Christian god instead. The Britons and Norsemen sing hallelujahs together.

Scene II. The Domesday Inquest. Norman and Saxon, AD 1087

The scene opens with a chorus of Saxons who are unhappy about the Norman conquest. Baron de Ferrars addresses the crowd, explaining how great Norman England has become, but the crowd respond feebly. Ferrars is carrying out the Domesday survey. Thanes Orm and Tor pledge loyalty to the king and tell Ferrars what land they own, followed by Thane Waltheof. The chorus of Saxons end the scene, as Ferrars leaves:

Let us away! These Norman Earls
Care nought for us, poor Saxon churls.
And yet, perchance, their base-born King
Will bring to birth some nobler thing.
An English realm, where all are free,
Where poor and rich shall equal be;
Where child and mother without fee
May pass unharmed from sea to sea.
Tom, bring your mattock; Bill, your hoe,
Each bondman has his work to do.
Weary the toil, the day full long,
Ere curfew rings our Even-song.

Scene III. English and Scots. The Border Wars. The Battle of the Standard, 1138 AD

(Set at Sward of Thirsk Castle.) This scene features barons Walter L’Espec, Bernard de Baliol, Robert de Ferrars, William de Percy, Robert de Brus and Roger de Mowbray, together with Archbishop Thurstan of York and Ralph, Bishop of Orkney. The scene opens with Lady Adeliza, unsure of Roger de Mowbray’s love. Mowbray then appears; he clearly loves Adeliza. They flirt, but are interrupted by a messenger who calls Mowbray away to meet the Archbishop of York. The Scots army is marching south, and the barons are conferring. They each explain how many men and horses they have. Advice from Baliol and dr Brus is that the Scottish chiefs cannot be negotiated with, and so there must be war. Preparations are made for this, and the archbishop makes a speech urging them to fight. He, though, is too old to fight. The soldiers sing ‘Men of England’ [an adaptation of ‘Men of Harlech’]. A minstrel sings the ‘Song of the Bow’ [Arthur Conan Doyle’s words, from Songs of Action]. Mowbray comes to the archbishop and explains that the Scots have been beaten. The archbishop says that he can die content, and Adeliza says that she can live content.

Scene IV. Barons and King. Destruction of Thirsk Castle, AD 1174

This scene also features Roger de Mowbray and Lady Mowbray. It is set outside Thirsk Castle. It begins with Lady Mowbray awaiting the return of her husband, who has rebelled unsuccessfully against the king. He returns, with the news that Thirsk Castle is to be destroyed. A loyal retainer, Adam de Piketon, asks Roger whether he and the others should resist the ‘minions of the King’, but Roger tells them not to. His people can take their spoil from the castle holds, but asks them to leave the stones, which can be used to rebuild the church. The crowd sings the ‘Mowbray Song’.

Scene V. The Commons and the King. A sequel to the Wars of the Roses, AD 1489

There are only three characters in this short scene: Earl Percy, an attendant and a hermit of Thirsk. It is set on the road from Topcliffe to Thirsk. Here Percy and the attendant meet the hermit. Percy is on his way to demand a tax from the people of Thirsk, demanded by King Henry, and the hermit predicts violent resistance from the townspeople.

Scene VI. [no title]

This is set in ‘Thirsk Market Place in olden times’, i.e. 1489, shortly after Scene V. It features the Earl of Northumberland, various townspeople and monks, soldiers, and the hermit, as well as Christopher Lumley, the borough bailiff. It opens in the market, where the bailiff is issuing penalties to traders who have been selling rotten meat. One of the malefactors, Richard Brittain, says that the bellman should be punished, because he delays ringing the bell for so long that the meat goes off before the market starts. Nevertheless, Brittain is fined. There is a long comic scene in which the market officials—the ‘searchers’—are presented to the bailiff and constable and explain their jobs. The bell is eventually rung to start the market, and the barber sings an old Thirsk ballad, ‘The Barber of Thirsk’s Forfeits’.

Then the Earl of Northumberland arrives, and proclaims the new tax raised by Henry VII. As the hermit had predicted in the last scene, the crowd reacts violently, killing the earl. The crowd sings ‘The Dirge’.

Scene VII. United England. The Defeat of the Armada, AD 1588

Set in the gardens of Thirsk Hall, this scene features the Earl of Derby, who is Lord of the Manor of Thirsk. Also the countess of Derby, Sir Thomas Hoby, Sir Christopher and Lady Lascelles, Lady Sheffield, Lady Catherine Ayscough, Lady Bellasis and a number of citizens of Thirsk. Sir Thomas Hoby and Sir Christopher Lascelles proclaim the good news of the defeat of the Armada. A messenger brings further details. Morris dancers and woodland nymphs enter and sing ‘The Children’s Song’ (reproduced by permission of Rudyard Kipling and the secretary of the Empire Day Movement). Further details emerge. The scene ends with maypole dancing and ‘The Farewell Song’, followed by the national anthem.

Key historical figures mentioned

  • Felix [St Felix] (d. 647/8) bishop of the East Angles
  • Ferrers, Henry de (d. 1093x1100) magnate and administrator
  • Balliol, Bernard de (d. 1154x62) baron
  • Ferrers, Robert de, first Earl Ferrers [earl of Derby, earl of Nottingham] (d. 1139) magnate
  • Thurstan (c.1070–1140) archbishop of York
  • Ralph [Ralph Nowell or Nouell] (d. in or after 1151) bishop of Orkney
  • Mowbray, Sir Roger (I) de (d. 1188) magnate
  • Brus [Bruce], Robert (I) de, lord of Annandale (d. 1142) baron and soldier
  • Percy, Henry, fourth earl of Northumberland (c.1449–1489) magnate
  • Stanley, Henry, fourth earl of Derby (1531–1593) magnate

Musical production

  • ‘Song of the Bow’, from Arthur Conan Doyle, Songs of Action (Scene III).
  • ‘Men of England’, adaptation of ‘Men of Harlech’ (Scene III).
  • ‘The Children’s Song’, Rudyard Kipling (Scene VII).

Newspaper coverage of pageant

Not known. There are press cuttings, undated and from unknown publications, in the back of the presentation booklet in Thirsk Museum.

Book of words

The Thirsk Historical Play. Thirsk, 1907.

Other primary published materials

n/a

References in secondary literature

n/a

Archival holdings connected to pageant

n/a

Sources used in preparation of pageant

n/a

Scene III: Aeldred of Rievaulx, John and Richard of Hexham.

Summary

The Thirsk Historical Play was performed in the grounds of Thirsk Hall in June 1907. There was an afternoon performance on Tuesday 25, and two performances, one in the afternoon and one in the evening, on the following day. Although smaller than the large-scale pageants of the Edwardian period—there were only 213 named performers—Thirsk also had a grandstand, published a book of words, and raised a significant sum of money. Special reduced fares were available from any station in Yorkshire, and special trains were run by the North Eastern Company on both days. The size of the grandstand and capacity of the pageant ground are not known, but according to the local press, attendances were very good, indeed close to capacity.

The aim of the pageant was to raise funds to increase the amount of insurance on Thirsk Parish Church. The disastrous fire at Selby Abbey in October 19062 had made the churchwardens at Thirsk nervous about under-insurance: according to an architect, the church at Thirsk should be insured for £16000, but at this stage the sum was only £6000. Although the churchwardens could afford to increase the sum to £10000, they wanted in addition to raise a capital sum of £100, which could be invested to produce a return of £3 10s. per annum, and this would enable the sum insured to be increased to £14000. A pageant seemed to be the ideal way of achieving this: the organisers heard that a pageant at nearby Helmsley ‘some years ago’ had raised more than £200 over two performances, and at Sleight, near Whitby, £140 or £150 had been made in a single day.3 Although there is no specific information about the receipts, we know that the Thirsk Historical Play was a ‘financial success’. The book of words for the next Thirsk pageant, in 1933, reported that the insurance on the church had indeed been increased as a result of the efforts of 1907.4

The pageant presented eight scenes from local history, ending in 1588 with news of the defeat of the Spanish Armada. It had originally been intended to include a scene depicting ‘the humours and excitements of an election of the type that is now happily over’, apparently set about 50 years earlier, but this never materialised. The script was written by F.L. Perkins, the vicar of Thirsk. Like many who wrote pageants in this period, Perkins was concerned to emphasise the role of his town in the national story. He noted that ‘[t]he history of Thirsk provides ample theme for pageantry and play ... From pre-Roman times Thirsk has been a town of importance, playing its part in county affairs, and helping largely in incidents that have been of national import and contributing to the country’s history.’5 Perkins’s script was adapted for the stage by D’Arcy Ferrars,6 who was styled ‘master of the play’. Ferrars had a long experience of managing festivals, going back to the 1880s. Born in Bath in 1855, Ferrars’s early career was as a musician. He was involved with the Kyrle Society, which promoted arts, crafts and open spaces. Ferrars was interested in morris dancing and old English sports, and formed the Shakespearean Bidford Morris Dancers troupe.7 In 1884 Ferrars organised Christmas ‘pastymes and merry dysportes’ at Billesley Hall in Warwickshire. Known by his birth name of Ferris until 1888, Ferrars produced the Ripon Millenary Festival in 1886, celebrating what was supposed to be the 1000th anniversary of the Yorkshire town’s charter. The self-styled ‘Master of ye Revels’ oversaw what was variously known as a ‘festival’ and an ‘old English pageant’;8 he was also involved in repeat festivals in the town in 1896 and 1906. At Thirsk in 1907, there were ‘old time dances’ in the intervals between the scenes, which probably reflect Ferrars’s involvement and influence.

In 1907 Ferrars was heavily occupied with organising the Liverpool pageant, which was, unsurprisingly, on a much larger scale than the Thirsk Historical Play. He seems to have found it difficult to recruit performers in Liverpool, where there were also concerns that the grandstand would not be filled.9 It was difficult for the over-committed Ferrars to give enough time to Thirsk, and his visits were confined to three weekends. One local reporter remembered that ‘[t]he carelessness that characterised the early stages of preparation is illustrated by the fact that on one occasion when he [Ferrars] had come from Liverpool to superintend the rehearsal of a scene only two of its personnel were present in addition to the principals.’10 With only a fortnight to go until the ‘children’s performance’ scheduled for 22 June, a local man, Gilbert Hudson, was drafted in to organise the rehearsals. The son of the York diocesan registrar, Hudson apparently worked very hard and successfully with the ‘inexperienced material’ that comprised the cast, and was rewarded with joint billing as ‘master of the play’, with Ferrars, in the printed book of words. At the end of the evening performance on Wednesday 26 June, which was scheduled to be the last, Hudson was presented with a case of pipes and a silver match box, for which the performers had contributed. Although Hudson thanked Ferrars in his speech, Ferrars later admitted that the success of the pageant was down to Hudson. Asked to compare Thirsk with other pageants, Ferrars ‘said that Thirsk compared very favourably with its rivals’, but ‘avoided comparison’ with Ripon, noting that ‘Ripon had been doing this sort of thing for 20 years, and when they had no big festival they were doing something in a smaller way’.11

One feature of the Thirsk ‘historical play’ was the speed with which it was organised; this was commented upon in the local press and the published book of words. The first public meeting in connection with the play was on 16 February 1907, and little was actually done until April. A handbill was circulated after the February meeting, advertising for performers to appear in the pageant: at these stage these would include ‘British voters’ for the un-performed election scene. It seems that there was some local scepticism about the likely success of a pageant at Thirsk, but press reports suggest that it did not disappoint. There is a selection of press cuttings at Thirsk Museum, all of which emphasise the impressive results that could be obtained in a short space of time with amateur performers. Rather patronisingly, Ferrars told the Darlington and Stockton Times that

I think it is perfectly marvellous, considering these people are tradesmen with no opportunity or time or training at this kind of thing, that they should go on and do so well as they have. In a town of this size what chance have they of trying any dramatic work? You haven’t even a good assembly room, let alone a theatre. There is not a hall that will hold a £10 house. I think it is perfectly marvellous.12

The standard of performance varied, but it was laced with humour and interventions in the local dialect which kept the spectators amused. The audience was probably grateful for the changes that Hudson made after the dress rehearsal, reducing the length of the pageant so that it was now below three hours in length, as well as enhancing the continuity between the scenes.

As noted above, at the end of the Wednesday evening performance of the pageant, there was a presentation to Gilbert Hudson. This was not the last performance, however, as an additional one was subsequently arranged, at a reduced admission price of 6d., to raise funds for a new cricket pavilion. The rearranged performance was scheduled for the Saturday following the pageant, but bad weather caused its postponement until the following Wednesday, when again two performances were eventually given. This time the pageant closed with a torchlit procession through the streets of Thirsk and neighbouring Sowerby, with the pageanteers in their full costumes. This ended with speeches and the national anthem, before the crowd dispersed.13

The Thirsk Historical Play was an early example of ‘pageant fever’ in the north, and although it was on a relatively small scale, it is notable for having involved some important figures in historical pageantry. D’Arcy Ferrars went on to produce the pageant at Worsley, near Manchester, in 1914, and was involved, along with Cecil Sharp, in the revival of sword dancing in the Edwardian period. Gilbert Hudson went on to be pageant-master in Pickering in 1910 and Scarborough 

http://www.historicalpageants.ac.uk/pageants/1354/

in 1912. F.L. Perkins’s script was used again, with some modifications, in another performance of the Thirsk Historical Play in 1933.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Press cutting, n.d. Thirsk Museum.
  2. ^ The Times, 22 October 1906, 8.
  3. ^ Press cuttings, n.d. Thirsk Museum.
  4. ^ The Thirsk Historical Play (Thirsk, 1933), 3.
  5. ^ This and other material comes from the book of words, unless otherwise stated.
  6. ^ Roy Judge, ‘Ferrars, Ernest Richard D’Arcy de (1855-1929)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004): http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/57233 (accessed 5 January 2016).
  7. ^ Roy Judge, ‘Merrie England and the Morris 1881-1910’, Folklore 104 (1993), 124-43; Roy Judge, ‘D’Arcy Ferris and the Bidford Morris’, Folk Music Journal 4 (1980-81), 443-80.
  8. ^ See the 700-page Ripon Millenary: A Record of the Festival (Ripon, 1892), available in the British Library and online at https://ia600301.us.archive.org/23/items/riponmillenaryre00harr/riponmillenaryre00harr.pdf. See also D’Arcy Ferris, Ripon Millenary Festival 1886: A Review of the Old English Pageant (extracted from the record of the festival, 1886, in British Library).
  9. ^ On the Liverpool pageant, see Matthew Vickers, ‘Civic Image and Patriotism in Liverpool 1880-1914’ (unpublished DPhil thesis, University of Oxford, 2000), 43-75.
  10. ^ Press cutting, n.d. Thirsk Museum.
  11. ^ Ibid. Thirsk Museum.
  12. ^ Press cutting, n.d. Thirsk Museum.
  13. ^ Press cuttings in Thirsk Museum.

How to cite this entry

Angela Bartie, Linda Fleming, Mark Freeman, Tom Hulme, Alex Hutton, Paul Readman, ‘The Thirsk Historical Play’, The Redress of the Past, http://www.historicalpageants.ac.uk/pageants/1226/