Mrs. Leeds 1850-1950: A survey of a Century

Pageant type

Notes

West Yorkshire Federation of Townswomen’s Guilds, Leeds Area Group.

Jump to Summary

Performances

Place: Civic Theatre (Leeds) (Leeds, Yorkshire, West Riding, England)

Year: None

Indoors/outdoors: Outdoors

Number of performances: 2

Name of pageant master and other named staff

  • Producer [Pageant Master]: Barrett, L.E.
  • Musical Director: Nellie Busby
  • Wardrobe Mistress: Cora E. Greaves
  • Stage Manager: Olive Clough
  • Electrician: Betty Fryer
  • Publicity: May Firth and Phyllis Barker

Names of executive committee or equivalent

Officers

  • Chairman:  Mrs. D.M. Lockett
  • Vice Chairman: Mrs. H. Hesling
  • Secretary: Mrs. I. Ward
  • Deputy Treasurer: Mrs. A. Croskery

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

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

  • The Pageant was opened on Thursday by the Countess of Scarborough with the Lady Mayoress of Leeds (Mrs D.V. Vine) and the Mayor of Harrogate (Mrs M. Fisher, JP). Opened Friday by Mrs R.H. Blackburn.
  • A large exhibition foregrounding the place of women in society since c.1800

Pageant outline

Tableau. Headingley: Education

  • 1850 Dames School
  • 1900 Elementary School
  • The tableau was performed by the Headingley Townswomen's Guild.

Tableau. Alwoodley: Historical Scene

  • 1950 School Parade

Tableau. Burley: Industry

Tableau. Chapel Allerton: Local Government

Tableau. Middleton: Social Services

Scene I. Child Welfare 1850-1950

Scene II.

  • 1850 Sairey Gamp
  • 1900 Children’s Nannie
  • 1950 Modern Mother
  • Scene III. Prison Reform
  • 1850 Elizabeth Fry
  • Scene IV. Nursing Services
  • 1850 Crimean War
  • 1900 Boer War
  • 1914 Great War
  • 1939 World War II

Tableau. Harrogate: Fashion

  • 1850 Wedding Day
  • 1900 Wedding Day
  • 1950 Wedding Day

Key historical figures mentioned

Fry [née Gurney], Elizabeth (1780–1845) penal reformer and philanthropist

Musical production

n/a

Newspaper coverage of pageant

Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer

Book of words

None found.

Other primary published materials

  • Mrs. Leeds 1850-1950: A survey of a Century. Leeds, 1950.

References in secondary literature

n/a

Archival holdings connected to pageant

  • Copy of Programme in the British Library

Sources used in preparation of pageant

n/a

Summary

The perhaps curiously-named ‘Mrs Leeds’ was not in fact a so-called pageant of pulchritude or beauty pageant which became popular in the inter and post-war periods. Along with the youth pageant Heritage (1946), the pageant was one of the last held in the city. Whilst not mounting any very radical attack on conventional gender roles, it stands as a particularly emphatic attempt to show how women had contributed to the modern history of the city. Its message seems to have been that Leeds would not have become Leeds without the efforts of the Mrs Leeds of the past. Beginning its story in 1800, the pageant dealt with the contribution made by women in a number of areas, including education, industry, and local government. Most attention of all was paid to social services, with the prison reformer Elizabeth Fry providing the focus of one scene. 

Several other pageants were organized by Townswomen's Guilds, including at Weston in Somerset in 1951.

Footnotes

How to cite this entry

Angela Bartie, Linda Fleming, Mark Freeman, Tom Hulme, Alex Hutton, Paul Readman, ‘Mrs. Leeds 1850-1950: A survey of a Century’, The Redress of the Past, http://www.historicalpageants.ac.uk/pageants/1476/