Norfolk Federation of Women’s Institutes Pageant
Other names
- Pageant of Norfolk History and Legend
Pageant type
Performances
Place: Earlham Park (Norwich) (Norwich, Norfolk, England)
Year: 1926
Indoors/outdoors: Outdoors
Number of performances: 2
Notes
10 June 1926 at 2pm and 7pm
Name of pageant master and other named staff
- Writer [Pageant Master]: Smith, L.
Lamport, MA
- Producer: Mrs Jenkins
- Musical Director: Mr Maddern Williams
- President: Evelyn L. Suffield
Names of executive committee or equivalent
n/a
Names of script-writer(s) and other credited author(s)
- Smith, L. Lamport, MA
Names of composers
n/a
Numbers of performers
n/a
Financial information
n/a
Object of any funds raised
n/a
Linked occasion
n/a
Audience information
Prices of admission and seats: highest–lowest
n/a
Associated events
n/a
Pageant outline
Afternoon Performance
Episode 1. The Martyrdom of Edmund, King of East Anglia
Episode 2. The Entry of the Ports of Blakeney, Cley, and Wiveton into the Hanseatic League
Episode 3. The Laying of the Foundation Stone of Ditchingham Church Tower
Episode 4. The Flemish Weavers at Great Massingham
Episode 5. The Earl of Leicester and Amy Robsart
Episode 6. John Rolfe Weds Princess Pocahontas
Episode 7. Lord Astley Before the Battle of Edgehill
Episode 8. A Fete at Earlham, 1750
Episode 9. Nelson is Welcomed by the Yarmouth Corporation
Evening Performance
Episode 1. Boadicea
Episode 2. Queen Eleanor opens Great Melton Fair
Episode 3. The Love Story of Margery Paston
Episode 4. Margaret Paston and Edward IV
Episode 5. Anne Boleyn
Episode 6. Kett’s Rebellion
Episode 7. Queen Elizabeth at Kimberley
Episode 8. A Masque at Oxnead
Key historical figures mentioned
- Edmund [St Edmund] (d. 869) king of
the East Angles
- Dudley [née Robsart], Amy, Lady Dudley
(1532–1560) gentlewoman
- Dudley, Robert, earl of Leicester
(1532/3–1588) courtier and magnate
- Pocahontas [Matoaka, Amonute; married
name Rebecca Rolfe] (c.1596–1617) Algonquian Indian princess
- Rolfe, John (1585–1622) colonist and
entrepreneur
- Astley, Jacob, first Baron Astley of
Reading (1579–1652) royalist army officer
- Nelson, Horatio, Viscount Nelson
(1758–1805) naval officer
- Boudicca [Boadicea] (d. AD 60/61) queen
of the Iceni [also known as Boudica]
- Eleanor [Eleanor of Aquitaine], suo jure
duchess of Aquitaine (c.1122–1204) queen of France, consort of Louis VII,
and queen of England, consort of Henry II
- Margaret Paston (1421/2–1484)
- Edward IV (1442–1483) king of England
and lord of Ireland
- Anne [Anne Boleyn] (c.1500–1536) queen
of England, second consort of Henry VIII
- Kett, Robert (c.1492–1549) rebel
- Elizabeth I (1533–1603) queen of
England and Ireland
Musical production
n/a
Newspaper coverage of pageant
n/a
Book of words
- None known
Other primary published materials
- Norfolk Federation of Women’s Institutes Pageant. Norwich, 1926.
References in secondary literature
n/a
Archival holdings connected to pageant
- Copy of Programme in Norfolk Heritage Centre, Norwich Millennium Library, Reference, C791.62
Sources used in preparation of pageant
n/a
Summary
Women’s Institute Pageants were highly popular during the 1920s and early 1930s, with the WI’s ‘county’ pageants being particularly successful. Other County Women’s Institute pageants were held at Oxfordshire (1926), Staffordshire (1928), Berkshire (1928), Dorstet (1928), Warwickshire (1930), Northamptonshire (1930), Hampshire (1930), and Northamptonshire (1948). The Institute already possessed many of the organisational skills which made for successful pageantry, on top of skills in costume-making and catering—which the Institute encouraged. The Norfolk Federation of Women’s Institute Pageant drew on a total of thirty-five local branches of the Women’s Institute and was patronized by the Queen. Due to the large number of branches who wished to take part, the pageant included different scenes during the afternoon and evening performance, with the first performance focusing on the history of the county told from a largely male perspective and the second performance retelling Norfolk’s history from the perspective of women. The pageant’s success was evidently eclipsed, however, by the much larger Norwich Pageant held in July 1926 at the Newmarket Road Ground.
Footnotes
How to cite this entry
Angela Bartie, Linda Fleming, Mark Freeman, Tom Hulme, Alex Hutton, Paul Readman, ‘Norfolk Federation of Women’s Institutes Pageant’, The Redress of the Past, http://www.historicalpageants.ac.uk/pageants/1388/