Coronation Pageant
Other names
- The Queen Comes to Mitcham
Pageant type
Notes
Information drawn from 'Survey of Historical Pageants' undertaken by Mick Wallis; with thanks to Heather Constance of Merton Heritage and Local Studies Centre.
Performances
Place: Mitcham Stadium, Eastfields Road (Mitcham) (Mitcham, Surrey, England)
Year: 1937
Indoors/outdoors: Outdoors
Number of performances: 1
Notes
12 May 1937
Name of pageant master and other named staff
- Pageant Master: Martin, Colin
Names of executive committee or equivalent
n/a
Names of script-writer(s) and other credited author(s)
- Francis, T.
Notes
Francis was a well-known local historian.
Names of composers
n/a
Numbers of performers
n/a
Financial information
n/a
Object of any funds raised
n/a
Linked occasion
Coronation of George VI.
Audience information
Prices of admission and seats: highest–lowest
n/a
Associated events
n/a
Pageant outline
Key historical figures mentioned
Elizabeth I (1533–1603) queen of England and Ireland
Musical production
n/a
Newspaper coverage of pageant
n/a
Book of words
n/a
Other primary published materials
n/a
References in secondary literature
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Archival holdings connected to pageant
- Merton Heritage and Local Studies Centre holds a copy of the programme.
Sources used in preparation of pageant
n/a
Summary
Mitcham has strong connections with queen Elizabeth I, who visited the locality on at least five separate occasions. This pageant, entirely focused on the Elizabethan age, paid tribute to those associations. It was not, in fact, the first historical pageant held in Mitcham to focus exclusively on the life and times of Good Queen Bess: there had been an earlier such performance in 1911. Like its Edwardian predecessor, this pageant was held to celebrate a coronation, in this case the ascension to the throne of of King George VI. Also like the 1911 event, the pageant focused on one of Elizabeth's visits (it is not clear which one).
The pageant was performed once, on 12 May 1937, being staged outdoors in the newly-built (1935) Mitcham Stadium on the Eastfields Road (the stadium remained in use until 1955, before being demolished and replaced by housing in 1955). the pageant script was written by T. Francis, a well-known local historian.
This was not the last time Mitcham staged an event billed as a pageant in association with a coronation. A 'Pageant of Elizabethans' was put on to mark the crowning of Elizabeth II. This does not seem to have involved any dramatic performance, however, being just a procession.
Footnotes
How to cite this entry
Angela Bartie, Linda Fleming, Mark Freeman, Tom Hulme, Alex Hutton, Paul Readman, ‘Coronation Pageant’, The Redress of the Past, http://www.historicalpageants.ac.uk/pageants/1596/