The Pageant of Great Women

Pageant type

Notes

This pageant was staged in a variety of locations in England. While including some details of nationwide performances, this entry concentrates mainly on that held in the Scala Theatre in London, in November 1909. Ahead of this, the first outing for a pageant featuring great women from the past was that held at Caxton Hall (Westminster City Hall) in April 1909, which was billed as a Tableaux of Famous Women. It is likely this was a smaller series of tableaux than that which later evolved. The first large-scale public performance under the title 'A Pageant of Great Women', was held later that same year in November at the Scala, located on Charlotte Street and Tottenham Street, in Fitzrovia. Thereafter, the pageant had further major performances in London, including at the Albert Hall in December 1909; one year later the pageant was again performed in London at the Aldwych Theatre on Friday 18 November 1910. In the interim between 1909 and 1910, and in a few subsequent years, it went on to be staged in a variety of towns and cities in England including Bristol, Cambridge, Nottingham, Sheffield and Liverpool. The Actresses' Franchise League and the Women Writers' Suffrage League organized the London performances. Local suffrage groups, including local branches of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and its breakaway organisation, The Women’s Freedom League (WFL) organized the performances outside of London, most of which took place in English cities. However, performers who had appeared in London sometimes travelled to provincial theatres to take part in these shows alongside local women. This was the case at the single Welsh performance of the pageant held in Swansea in May 1910. To date, no theatrical stagings have been noted as taking place in Scotland, however a public procession featuring representations of Great Women that owed much to the pageant’s theme was held in Edinburgh, organised by an amalgam of Scottish branches of national suffrage organisations. This procession took place in Princes Street on 9 October 1909. In addition, a smaller series of tableaux, featuring a few of the performers who were prominent in the Scala performance, was put on as part of a suffrage exhibition organised by the WSPU in Glasgow during the spring of 1910. This event was held in the city’s Charing Cross Halls over three days, 27-30 April 1910.

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Performances

Place: Scala Theatre (Fitzrovia) (Fitzrovia, Middlesex, England)

Year: 1909

Indoors/outdoors: Indoors

Number of performances: 1

Notes

The inaugural, large-scale performance of this pageant was as part of a 2pm matinee show at the Scala Theatre in London on November 10, 1909. The programme consisted of a recited prologue, then three short, one-act plays that featured feminist themes and are described as follows:

'The Pot and the Kettle, by Miss Cicely Hamilton and Miss Christopher Sr John (aka Christabel Marshall); Master, by Miss Gertrude Mouillot, and The Outcast, by Miss Beatrice Harraden and Miss Bessie Hatton' (The Mail, 15 Nov. 1909, 6). A musical programme of songs, piano recital and stories followed. All these items acted as curtain-raisers for the pageant itself. The entire show ran for over four hours, finishing in the early evening. This version of the pageant was replicated, though with slight variations, in many other locations. Overall, recovered evidence indicates at least fourteen further performances took place across the UK. The preliminary elements of the show varied in different places. Songs and displays of traditional dancing were more prominent in some places. At performances where members of the AFL and, or Pioneer Players were involved heavily, several 1-act plays on feminist themes were more usually performed.

Details of known performances across the country include those listed below (not likely to be exhaustive). Where the organisations in charge of the performance are known this is noted

  • 15-17 Apr. 1909: Caxton Hall [staged as: A Tableaux of Famous Women] (Women's Freedom League, hereafter WFL). [1]
  • 11 Dec. 1909: Royal Albert Hall, London (WFL) 9.30 pm in the Great Hall.[2]
  • 5 May 1910: Albert Hall, Swansea (WFL).[3]
  • 2-3 June 1910: Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne (Actresses' Franchise League hereafter AFL).[4]
  • 24 Sept. 1910: Town Hall, Beckenham (WFL). [5]
  • 3 Oct. 1910: Opera House, Middlesbrough. [6]
  • 10 Oct. 1910: Victoria Hall, Sunderland (WFL).[7]
  • 15 Oct. 1910: Albert Hall, Sheffield (WFL).[8]
  • 20 Oct. 1910 8 p.m.: Public Hall, Ipswich.[9]
  • 26 Oct. 1910 8.30 p.m.: Guildhall, Cambridge.[10]
  • 5 Nov. 1910: Prince’s Theatre, Bristol (Women's Social and Political Union, WSPU).[11]
  • 18 Nov. 1911: Aldwych, London (AFL & Women Writers' Suffrage League, WWSL).[12]
  • 4 May 1911: Mechanics Hall, Nottingham (Pioneer Players).[13]
  • 2 Feb. 1912: Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool (WSPU; Pioneer Players)[14]

[1] This was likely an earlier version of the pageant done by Cicely Hamilton; it was held as part of a 'Green, White and Gold Fair' organized by the Women's Freedom League and held at Caxton Hall, see 'Theatrical Gossip', The Era 10 April 1909, 16.

[2] ‘A Suffragette Festival’, Northern Daily Telegraph 13 December 1909, 5.

[3] Cited in an expense list relating to the pageant and held at the British Library in a collection of material relating to Edith Craig, collection ref: EC PION, PION13 (BL). Document ref: EC-N120.

[4] Flyer held at the British Library theatre collections, document ref: ET PROGS ET-D235-418, 1908-1918 (BL) Loan 125/22/8

[5] ‘Pageant of Great Women', Vote, 6 August 1910, 12.

[6] Document (fragment of a programme, undated) held in British Library Special Collections, archive ref: EC PION, PION10 (BL); ‘Pageant At Middlesbrough’, Votes for Women 23 September 1910, 15.

[7] Poster, British Library Special Collections: EC PION, PION12 (BL).

[8] Handbill, British Library Special Collections: EC PION, PION11 (BL).

[9] Pageant of Great Women’, Vote 15 October 1910, 14.

[10] Handbill, British Library Special Collections, EC PION, PION11 (BL).

[11] Poster, British Library Special Collections: EC PION, PION12 (BL).

[12] Handbill, British Library Special Collections:: EC PION, PION11 (BL).

[13] Document (seating plan), British Library Special Collections, EC PION, PION13 (BL).

[14] ‘Striking Spectacle: Mrs Pankhurst At Liverpool’, London Evening Standard, 5 Feb. 1912, 13.

Name of pageant master and other named staff

  • Pageant Master: Craig, Edith
  • Assistant Stage Manager: Mr A. F. Forde
  • Musical Arrangement: Mr J. M. Capel
  • Stage manager for the matinee: Mr Fewlass Llewellyn
  • Assistant Stage Manager: Mr Harold Chapin
  • Acting manager: Mr Lewis Casson 
  • Business Manager: Mr James Anning

Notes

Edith Craig was the 'Arranger', i.e. the Pageant Master. She belonged to a prominent theatrical family: she was the daughter of the famous actress Ellen Terry. Craig carved a career for herself as a performer, theatre director and costume designer. As well directing the pageant, she performed in the role of Rosa Bonheur. Craig is also notable as the founder of the Pioneer Players—a theatre society concerned with performing feminist dramas to a membership audience. After their foundation in 1911, the Players were involved with the production of the pageant in several places.

Names of executive committee or equivalent


Notes

For the performance at the Scala the organising committee would likely have been made up of members of the Actresses' Franchise League and the Women Writers' Suffrage League. Names have not been recovered.

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

  • Hamilton, Cicely

Notes

Cicely Hamilton, who was a well-known playwright at the time, wrote the pageant; she is best remembered for her plays on the theme of women's rights. In the pageant at the Scala, she also took the role of Christian Davies

Names of composers

  • Rameau, Jean-Philippe
  • Boccherini, Ridolfo Luigi
  • Bizet, Georges
  • Straus, Oscar

Programme of Music by the Aeolian Ladies' Orchestra, conducted by Miss Rosabel Watson:

  • ‘Rigaudon’, Rameau
  • ‘Menuet’, Boccherini
  • ‘Adagietto’, Bizet
  • ‘Alt Wiener Reigen’, Straus

Numbers of performers

50

This number (50) is an estimate of the actors involved at the Scala specifically in performance of the pageant, excluding other performers such as musicians. Except for one male performer (Mr Kenyon Musgrove in the role of 'Prejudice'), all the actors in the performance given at the Scala were adult women. The cast included professional actors who were also prominent supporters of women’s suffrage, including the well-known dramatic actress Ellen Terry (in the role of the artist, Nance Oldfield). Terry's sisters, also professional actors, took parts in addition—with Marion Terry in the role of Florence Nightingale.

The size of the orchestra is unknown. In addition to this number were the actors taking part in the 1-act plays and other pre-pageant entertainments. Overall, there were probably nearer 100 performers. In further performances outside of central London, the suffrage press was used to recruit local amateur performers.

Financial information

n/a

Object of any funds raised

The Actresses' Franchise League and the Women Writers' Suffrage League.

Notes

Performances given in London raised money for the Actresses' Franchise League and the Women Writers' Suffrage League.. In further performances of this pageant in other UK cities, any funds raised may have met the expenses of these organisations where they assisted, but the main beneficiaries were more likely local branches of national suffrage groups such as the WSPU and the WFL.

Linked occasion

n/a

Audience information

  • Grandstand: No
  • Grandstand capacity: n/a
  • Total audience: n/a

Notes

The Scala Theatre was demolished in the late 1960s. Around the time of the pageant taking place, the Scala Theatre had capacity for 1,139 spectators. The press of the time reported 'a large audience' in attendance. ('The Scala’, The People 14 Nov. 1909, 4).

Prices of admission and seats: highest–lowest

The performance of this pageant at the Scala was widely publicised in the suffrage press and admission costs in advertisements are always described as being ‘at ordinary theatre prices' (see for example, Votes for Women, 15 October 1909, 6)

Suffrage supporters were warned that if they wanted to secure the cheaper seats they would have to arrive early for it was anticipated that these would easily sell out quickly (The Common Cause, 2 Dec. 1909, 5)

Associated events

There were no associated events for the pageant held at the Scala; however, in other UK cities the pageant was, in a few instances, accompanied by other fundraising events such as bazaars. The performance held at the Albert Hall in December 1909 was part of a Yuletide Festival – likely a fundraising spectacle held in the run-up to Christmas. Public demonstrations also featured, as we have seen in Edinburgh for example.

Pageant outline

Prologue

A prologue by Laurence Housman, spoken by Margaret Halstan. This introduced the main characters of Justice, Prejudice and Woman who are seen in a tableau.

Opening Scene [Justice Enthroned]

The scene opens with the female figure of 'Justice' seen enthroned; a woman enters pursued by the male figure of 'Prejudice'. The woman kneels before Justice who asks her 'Why dost thou cling to me?' She answers, 'I cry for freedom'. Prejudice interjects and addressing Justice states 'she speaks but stammering foolishness, not knowing what she asks'. Prejudice continues in this vein stating:

She is a very child in the ways of the world,

A thing protected, covered from its roughness—

The woman protests asking, 'Have I not felt its roughness, suffered and wept?' Justice bids her be quiet and to 'let him accuse'. Prejudice then continues to do so, ending by declaiming that if the woman had freedom she would 'sell it/For a man's arm round her waist!' The woman then addresses Prejudice and makes a lengthy and angry defence of the plight of women generally, which ends with her saying:

... Oh, think you well

What you have done to make it hard for her

To dream, to write, to paint, to build, to learn—

Oh! think you well! And wonder at the line

of those who knew that life was more than love

And fought their way to achievement and to fame!

The speech given by the woman then conjures figures from the past who are representative of female achievements.

Learned Women Enter

Figures representing women from history, famous for their scholarly inclinations, enter; they include Hypatia, St. Teresa, Lady Jane Grey, Madame De Stael, Madame Roland, Mlle. De Scudery, Jane Austen, George Sand, Caroline Herschell, Madame Curie and a 'Graduate'.  Hypatia leads the group, then follows St Teresa; in turn, the 'Woman' introduces each of the historical figures as they arrive, ending with a 'girl graduate of a modern day'.  Here, the Woman addresses Prejudice to describe the graduate and declaims:

Working with man as eagerly and hard—

And oft enough denied a man's reward.

And though you barred us from the realms of art—

Decreeing Love should be our all in all—

Denying us free thought, free act, free word—

Yet some there have been burst the silken bonds

(Harder to burst than steel) and lived and wrought.

The published script contains no stage directions; it is assumed the learned women either leave the stage or move to another part of it while the next group enters.

The Artists Enter

Led by the poet Sappho, the following artists enter Vittoria Colonna, Angelica Kauffmann, Vigée le Brun, Rosa Bonheur, Margaret van Eyck and Camargo. Once again, the Woman introduces each of them, until a final figure enters. This last is the fictional actress 'Nance Oldfield', played in the pageant by Ellen Terry. In the pageant, Terry reprised the role of Oldfield—for she had played her before in a production staged in 1891. Nance is a fictional character based upon the real-life actress Anne Oldfield ((1683–1730). The Woman announces Nance saying, 'Come we last of all/ To the living art of the actor—/Nance Oldfield'. Nance then addresses Prejudice herself stating:

By your leave,

Nance Oldfield does her talking for herself!

If you, Sir Prejudice, had your way,

There would be never an actress on the boards.

Some lanky, squeaky boy would play my parts:

And, though I say it, there'd have been a loss!

The stage would be as dull as now 'tis merry—

No Oldfield, Woffington, or Ellen Terry!

Prejudice then responds in a dismissive fashion, saying he requires proof. The Woman answers that he shall have this.

The Saintly Women Enter

St Hilda, Elizabeth Fry, Elizabeth of Hungary and St Catherine of Sienna enter and are introduced briefly.

The Heroines Enter

The Woman introduces a succession of historical figures known for their heroism including, Charlotte Corday, Flora Macdonald, Kate Barlass and Grace Darling. Justice enquires of Prejudice 'Art answered yet?'; to which Prejudice declaims the following statement in verse:

Nay, hear me, goddess, hear me!

Give her her freedom, she will strive to rule.

Her brain will reel beneath the sense of power—

She will grow dizzy, grasp at what she knows not!

'Tis man's to reign. 'tis woman's to obey.

The steady outlook, the wide thought are man's.

So nature has ordained—she cannot rule.

In response, the queens then enter

The Queens Enter

Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, Zenobia, Philippa of Hainault, Deborah, Isabella of Spain Maria Theresa, Catherine II of Russia and Empress of China Tsze-Hsi-An enter and are introduced in succession. In response, Prejudice remains implacable and states:

All these have ruled because man let them rule,

And not against his will. Come we to that,

Force is the last and ultimate judge: 'tis man

Who laps his body in mail, who takes the sword—

The sword that must decide! Woman shrinks from it,

Fears the white glint of it and cowers away.

In response the Woman states: 'O bid him turn and bid him eat his words'.

The warriors then enter.

The Warriors Enter

The following historical figures enter, Joan of Arc, Boadicea, Agnes of Dunbar, the Maid of Saragossa, Emilia Plater, Rhani of Jhani, Christian Davies, Hannah Snell, Mary Ann Talbot and Florence Nightingale (played by Marion Terry). The Woman introduces each and the achievements of these historical characters are described briefly in what she says. In respect of Nightingale, the Woman states:

And see she comes, our Lady of the Lamp!

No soldier she, yet not unused to war

Nor fearful of its horrors—death and wounds

And pestilence—well hast thou fought them well,

O Lady on whose shadow kisses fell!

At this, a silence falls, then prejudice 'slinks away'. The Woman declares that she has 'silenced him' and asks Justice for judgement.

The Woman kneels before Justice who replies to her request with the following verse:

I give thee judgement—and I judge thee worthy

To attain they freedom: but 'tis thou alone

canst show that thou art worthy to retain it...

Thou hast much to learn.

The Woman states that she will learn; Justice replies: 'Go forth: the world is thine... Oh use it well!/ Though hast and equal not a master now.' The Woman then determines to speak with 'him' as an equal, and Justice councils that her words 'should be just and wise'. The pageant ends with a long speech by the Woman on the themes of freedom and self-fulfillment.

Key historical figures mentioned

  • Hypatia of Alexandria (c.355–c.415) mathematician, astronomer and philosopher
  • De Cepeda y Ahumada, Teresa [Saint Teresa of Ávila] (1515–1582) Spanish mystic, writer and reformer of the Carmelite order
  • Grey [married name Dudley], Lady Jane (1537–1554) noblewoman and claimant to the English throne
  • Staël von Holstein, (Anne-Louise) Germaine [née (Anne-Louise) Germaine Necker; known as Germaine de Staël], Baroness Staël von Holstein in the Swedish nobility (1766–1817) writer and salon leader
  • Roland, Marie-Jeanne [née Phlipon] (1754–1793) writer, political figure and salon leader
  • de Scudéry, Madeleine (1607–1701) novelist and social figure
  • Austen, Jane (1775–1817) novelist
  • Sand, George [pseudonym of Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dudevant, née Dupin] (1804–1876) novelist
  • Herschel, Caroline Lucretia (1750–1848) astronomer
  • Curie, Marie [née (Maria) Skłodowska] (1867–1934), physicist, chemist, Nobel Prize winner
  • Sappho (c. 610 BCE–c.550 BCE) poet
  • Colonna Vittoria, (1492–1547) poet and social figure
  • Kauffman, (Anna Maria) Angelica Catharina (1741–1807) history and portrait painter
  • Le Brun, Elisabeth Louise [née Vigee, known as Madame Elizabeth Vigee le Brun] (1755–1842) painter
  • Bonheur, Rosa (1822–1899) painter
  • Camargo, Marie [Marie-Anne de Cupis de Camargo] (1710–1770) ballet dancer
  • Hild [St Hild, Hilda] (614–680) abbess of Strensall–Whitby
  • Fry [née Gurney], Elizabeth (1780–1845) penal reformer and philanthropist
  • Von Ungarn, Elizabeth [Elisabeth of Hungary] (1207–1231) princess and catholic saint
  • Benincasa, Catherine [Saint Catherine of Siena] (1347–1380) , Dominican nun, mystic, patron saint of Italy
  • Corday, Charlotte [also known as Marie-Ane-Charlotte Corday d’Armont] (1768–1793) assassin of the French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat
  • MacDonald, Flora (1722–1790) Jacobite heroine
  • Darling, Grace Horsley (1815–1842) heroine
  • Elizabeth I(1533–1603) queen of England and Ireland
  • Victoria (1819–1901) queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and empress of India
  • Queen Zenobia (c.240–after 274) queen of the Palmyrene Empire
  • Philippa [Philippa of Hainault] (1310x15?–1369) queen of England, consort of Edward III
  • Isabella I [Isabella the Catholic] (1451–1504) queen of Castile (1474–1504) and of Aragon (1479–1504), consort of Ferdinand II of Aragon (Ferdinand V of Castile)
  • Maria Theresa [Maria Theresia] (1717–1780) archduchess of Austria and queen of Hungary and Bohemia, empress of the Holy Roman Empire, consort of emperor Francis I
  • Catherine II [formerly called Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste, also known as Catherine the Great] (1729–1796) empress of Russia
  • Tsze-Hsi-An(b. 1834–1908) empress of China
  • Jeanne d’Arc or La Pucelle d’Orléans [Saint Joan of Arc, also known as the Maid of Orléans] (c.1412–1431) heroine of France, Catholic saint
  • Boudicca [Boadicea] (d. AD 60/61) queen of the Iceni
  • Dunbar, Agnes, countess of Dunbar or of March (d. 1369) consort of Patrick Dunbar, seventh earl of Dunbar or of March
  • Lakshmi Bai, Rani [queen] of Jhansi (c.1835–1858) leader of the Indian Rebellion
  • Davies [née Cavenaugh], Christian [Catherine; alias Christopher or Richard Welsh; called Mother Ross] (1667–1739) female soldier
  • Snell, Hannah [alias James Gray] (1723–1792) sexual impostor,
  • Talbot, Mary Anne [also known as John Taylor] (1778–1808) female soldier
  • Nightingale, Florence (1820–1910) reformer of Army Medical Services and of nursing organizations
  • Terry, Dame Ellen Alice (1847–1928) actress
  • Douglas, Catherine [Kate Barlass] (fl. 1430s) member of the Douglas family, heroine

Musical production

An orchestra played music live; the musical director was Mr J. M. Capel.

Newspaper coverage of pageant

  • London Daily News
  • The Sketch
  • The People
  • Votes for Women
  • Common Cause
  • Sheffield Evening Telegraph
  • The Mirror
  • The Scotsman
  • The Daily Record

Book of words

Hamilton, Cicely. A Pageant of Great Women. London, 1910.

The suffrage bookshop, in London, published the pageant in November 1910. As well as the script, the book contains a great many black and white photographs of performers.

Other primary published materials

  • Souvenir programmes were produced for individual performances across the country, some of which can be examined in the collections held at the British Library. The original performance at the Scala carried a programme and a surviving copy is available within special collections at the British Library, archive ref: EC PION, PION10 (BL)

References in secondary literature

n/a

The Pageant of Great Women and other dramatic texts written in support of the cause of female suffrage have attracted a significant amount of scholarship, mostly undertaken by theatre historians. The secondary literature outlined below is not exhaustive:

  • Anderson, Christine, A. (Per)forming Female Politics: The Making of the 'Modern Woman' in London. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Kansas, 2008.
  • Cameron, Rebecca. 'From Great Women to Top Girls: Pageants of Sisterhood in British Feminist Theater', Comparative Drama, Volume 43, No. 2: Summer 2009, 143-166.
  • Cameron, Rebecca. "A somber passion strengthens her voice": The Stage as Public Platform in British Women's Suffrage Drama' Comparative Drama, Volume 50, No. 4: Winter 2016.
  • Carlson, Susan. 'Suffrage Theatre: Community Activism and Political Commitment', Mary Luckhurst (ed.) A Companion to Modern British and Irish Drama. Oxford, 2006, 99-109.
  • Cockin, Catherine. Edith Craig and the Theatres of Art. London, 2017
  • Cockin, Catherine. 'Cicely Hamilton's Warriors: Dramatic Reinventions of Militancy in the British Women's Suffrage Movement', Women's History Review, Volume 14 (2005), 527-542.
  • Cockin, Katharine. 'Women’s Suffrage Drama', Maroula Joannou & June Purvis (eds.) The Women’s Suffrage Movement: New Feminist Perspectives. (Manchester, 1998, 127-139.
  • Crawford, Elizabeth (ed.) The Women's Suffrage Movement: a Reference Guide, 1866-1928. London, 1999, 266.
  • Farfan, Penny. Women, Modernism and Performance. Cambridge, 2004.
  • Gardner, Vivien, and Rutherford, Susan. The New Woman and her Sisters: Feminism and the Theatre 1850-1914. Hemel Hempstead, 1992
  • Robinson, Eise. 'Reifying Whiteness in Cicely Hamilton's A Pageant of Great Women, Theatre Symposium 29 (2022), 86-99
  • Stowell, Sheila. A Stage of their Own: Feminist Playwrights of the Suffrage Era. Ann Arbor, 1992.
  • Tickner, Lisa. The Spectacle of Women: Imagery of the Suffrage Campaign 1907-14. London, 1987.
  • Whitelaw, Lis.The Life and Rebellious Times of Cicely Hamilton: Actress, Writer, Suffragist. London, 1990.

Archival holdings connected to pageant

  • The British Library holds several copies of the book of words. The British Library Special Collections holds a large collection of associated documents donated through personal accessions. This includes copies of programmes, associated correspondence and collected news clippings. The Women's Library at LSE holds several postcards carrying images of pageant performers, see object refs: TWL.2002.615-618.

Sources used in preparation of pageant

n/a

It is alleged that Cicely Hamilton obtained the idea for the pageant from a cartoon work by the artist and illustrator, W. H. Margetson, which featured the characters of Justice and Prejudice. The cartoon was meant to illustrate the efforts of the Women Writers’ Suffrage League and was first displayed at a women’s suffrage exhibition held in Knightsbridge in 1909 (see Votes for Women 19 August 1910, 5).

Summary

By 1909, the women’s suffrage campaign in the UK was in turmoil. Political stalemate over the issue of the female franchise had given rise to the establishment of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1905, whose members were dubbed ‘suffragettes’. By 1909, the more militant tactics of the WSPU were causing a lot of controversy and public opinion became sharply divided on how best to respond to the combativeness of the suffragettes. Some WSPU campaigners had been imprisoned by this point, and their now famous hunger strikes, and subsequent forced feeding, were ongoing. Moreover, activities that involved women breaking the law and causing public disorder also divided opinion among suffrage activists themselves. The integrity of the suffrage movement thus came under threat. Divisiveness was countered by initiatives such as the Pageant of Great Women. For this aimed to educate and bring supporters of the female franchise who had differing views on how best to protest the cause, together, as witnesses to a dignified public performance. The pageant’s content was educational, artistic, and aimed to show women of status and talent from bygone ages in positive lights. In this way contemporary women could be shown to be worthy inheritors of such status and certainly capable of exercising the right to vote.

Alongside such a positive message there can be no doubt that the writer of the pageant and those who were involved with its performance at the Scala also aimed to counter the negative views then circling around the issue of the female franchise and the behaviour of some more radical protesters. Certainly, the writer—Cicely Hamilton—was only briefly a member of the WSPU and had long left the organisation by 1909.1 Indeed, during 1908, Hamilton proceeded to be a founder member of both the Actresses' Franchise League (AFL) and the Women Writers' Suffrage League (WWSL). In 1909 she wrote the propogandist play How the Vote Was Won and followed this with the Pageant of Great Women. It is evident that the issue of how best to publicise the cause was greatly on her mind during this time. Nonetheless, Hamilton correctly anticipated that political reform, if granted, would prove to have limitations for bringing about radical change in the social status of women. According to Harriet Blodgett, the pageant really anticipated Hamilton’s ‘waning enthusiasm for the suffrage cause’ as the best counter to any deficit in women’s abilities to be autonomous citizens.2. Whether this is a correct surmise of Hamilton’s stance, or she remained largely true to the cause, her pageant became a successful cultural event and a unifying force for different suffrage organisations. Moreover, it proved to have a longer-term influence on the development of the historical pageant itself.

Following the Scala premiere, the Pageant of Great Women evolved to be a popular vehicle that brought countless members of suffrage groups together in a variety of places across the UK, both as participants and audience. These women quite clearly believed in the pageant’s ability to rally audiences to the cause. The synthesis of drama with political propaganda evidently was a popular combination. Many performances of the pageant, beginning with that staged in the Scala, were put on in combination with other suffrage plays. Hamilton and other playwrights were committed to combining their political message with theatre and were active in this field through the WWSL and AFL. The expertise of the AFL’s members as public speakers was soon in demand and in addition, they offered training in public speaking skills to other suffrage societies.3 Such activities by the AFL were in the forefront of campaign tactics of the time and considered by the movement overall to be important. Undoubtedly, the pageant was especially influential in demonstrating the skills of AFL members.

Nonetheless, where audiences for suffrage drama is concerned, it is doubtful if the views of any audience members at this pageant performance in 1909 were transformed by the event. Rather it is more than likely that audiences, especially that which filled the Scala, were made up of the already converted; for the pageant was widely advertised and recommended through the suffrage press. It is notable nonetheless that the Scala’s audience was large, and indeed further productions held during 1910 also attracted sizeable audiences. This level of interest indicates the widespread support that women’s suffrage had—a popularity that detractors always denied.

Cicely Hamilton began her career in drama as an actress, but soon took up writing. It is of interest that she turned her pen from the dramatic format of the play to the relatively new type of drama represented by the historical pageant. In so doing she was following a growing trend for indoor pageants held in theatres. Within this spin-off of the pageant movement, which flourished until at least the late 1920s, the Pageant of Great Women was a notable and successful example. Intrinsic to its success was the fact that it could easily become a mobile performance that travelled around the country. The women it featured were national and indeed global heroines. In this way it was not simply a metropolitan production that toured: for the pageant format was flexible and could, when necessary, include and give more prominence to women who had any special local significance in the places where it was performed.4 This fact was undoubtedly part of its appeal to Hamilton and the producer Edith Craig who used the pageant format to conjoin the arts with politics in a highly successful way. The success of the matinee held at the Scala kickstarted the Pageant of Great Women as a nationwide phenomenon.

In terms of structure, the pageant’s narrative had both a thematic and chronological format. Although the issue of the franchise is never directly addressed it is inferred through the argument that women need freedom to make their own decisions. The legal case for women to have the vote is certainly suggested by the emblematic figure of Justice who must enter combat with the single male figure in the play—Prejudice. The case for woman’s right to self-determination is made by ‘Woman’ who counters Prejudice and pleads with Justice. The tableaux of characters called forth by Woman were arranged in six separate groups each showcasing different attributes. The first of these were ‘learned women’ and the earliest example of a scholarly woman was demonstrated by the figure of Hypatia—a philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician who lived in Alexandria under the Roman Empire during the fifth century AD. How and why the playwright selected the examples of women from the past is not known, but it is obvious that Cicely Hamilton was knowledgeable about this subject. A common criticism made by anti-suffrage detractors was that all human experience through the ages demonstrated that women were not intellectually capable of understanding politics and of exercising a vote. The women presented as scholarly exemplars—beginning with a learned woman from the ancient world and ending with a contemporary female graduate—easily contradicted such views; it is no accident that Hamilton placed this group as the lead in the pageant.

The scholarly group were followed by a group of women artists that was again led by a woman from antiquity—the poet Sappho—and ended with the figure of the actress ‘Nance Oldfield. Ellen Terry memorably played this fictional character. Terry was a high-profile supporter of women’s suffrage and reprised this role especially for the pageant. It was a part she had long made famous. Although fictional, the character of Nance performs an important part within the pageant’s narrative as has been explained by one theatre historian as follows: 

Oldfield is distinguished in Cicely Hamilton's A Pageant of Great Women as the only actress in the catalogue of role models in the arts and the only 'great woman' to speak. Nance’s monologue includes the lines:

‘By your leave,Nance Oldfield does her talking for herself!

If you, Sir Prejudice, had had your way,

There would be never an actress on the boards.

Some lanky, squeaky boy would play my parts:

And, though I say it, there'd have been a loss!

The stage would be as dull as now 'tis merry—

No Oldfield, Woffington, or—Ellen Terry!’5

In making this comment the author brings attention to the fact that Nance Oldfield is the only one of the great women who has a speaking role. All the others are introduced by the character of ‘Woman’ who provides commentary on their achievements. According to Katherine Cockin this was probably a deliberate dramatic strategy to ‘render the silence as subversive and unsettling as the speech of Oldfield/Terry.’6 Further groups of women are cast in leadership roles, whether these be women who inspired piety or great queens and warriors. All potential female talents are put on display. The case for female suffrage is successfully made and Justice grants that women must have liberty to make their own decisions.

The international range of the pageant’s content is of note for this mirrored the scope of the women’s suffrage movement, which was certainly active in many counties across the world at the time. Of interest too is the fact that some of the characters featured were women of colour. The ethnic diversity of this pageant as compared to many of its contemporaries is worth mentioning for it underlines the avant garde spirit at large in pageant dramas. That said, it must be admitted that these characters, such as the Chinese empress Tsze-Hsi-An, were played by white actors.7

Among multiple dramas in support of the suffrage cause the Pageant of Great Women is especially memorable given that it was performed many times in a variety of places. Indeed, the known performances of the pageant may not be exhaustive. The last note of a performance so far recovered is that given in Liverpool in February 1912 when the pageant was opened with an address given by Mrs Pankhurst;8 but it is possible there were more between then and the outbreak of war in 1914 that found audiences in public halls across the UK. These may have been full-scale dramas or, like that held in Glasgow in April 1910, performances that were abbreviated to fit within larger public events aimed at garnering publicity and raising funds for local branches of suffrage organisations. Certainly, in its full-length form, this must have been an expensive production to stage: fifty or more participants all required costuming, and at least some of these costumes were elaborate. Furthermore, this number of performers needed a sizeable stage. In some examples of the pageant held in provincial cities, children were brought in as performers, adding to the extravagant nature of the performance. Yet there was sufficient faith in the pageant’s ability to pull in audiences to override any expense considerations. At one point the pageant was even staged in the Royal Albert Hall’s largest auditorium (December 1909).

The success of this pageant is certainly testament to the commitment of suffrage campaigners and the audience members who turned up in their thousands. More than this though, it demonstrates the level of popularity then at large for the historical pageant, which had seamlessly developed to encompass new, hybrid forms one of which was the move towards holding pageants indoors on the professional stage or public hall.9 These types of theatrical performances may have, like the Pageant of Great Women, combined the efforts of amateurs alongside professionals. Certainly, the pageant’s Bloomsbury-based director, Edith Craig, was involved alongside her theatre society—the Pioneer Players—in performances held in Nottingham (1911) and Liverpool (1912). As prominent members of the AFL, Ellen Terry and her daughter Cicely Hamilton also loaned their services to performances outside of London: they both acted in the performance held in Eastbourne, for example, with Hamilton taking the principal role of ‘Woman’.10 The two performed alongside fifty women residents of Eastbourne.11 Doubtless such famous names added some cachet to the local event.

A further development relevant to the history of historical pageants, but arising from Hamilton’s idea, was the use of pageants as a form of specifically political education. As we know, following World War One this kind of theatrical initiative was taken up by diverse politically motivated groups. Everything from the Co-operative movement to the Conservative and Unionist Party employed the pageant format to tell their own interpretation of the past. The inspiration for this use of pageants almost certainly stems from Cicely Hamilton’s popular suffrage pageant which presented a potentially controversial argument within a format that was certainly less contentious. Yet until quite recently this influence was probably forgotten, and the part played by the Pageant of Great Women on the development of historical pageantry itself, at a critical phase in the movement’s evolution, merits still further attention. Renewed interest in the British women’s suffrage movement has encouraged attention on the artistic output that this campaign inspired, most notably through this pageant. Indeed, there has been a retrospective performance of it in the twenty-first century, held in Hull in 2011.12 It also provided inspiration for a public march organised by Glasgow Women’s Library in 2015.13 Without doubt, within the annals of historical pageantry this is a noteworthy example of how pageants provided education alongside entertainment.


Footnotes

1. ^ Harriet Blodgett, ‘Cicely Hamilton, Independent Feminist’, Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 2 (1990), 99-104.

2. ^ Ibid., 100.

3. ^ Rebecca Cameron ‘“A somber passion strengthens her voice": The Stage as Public Platform in British Women's Suffrage Drama’, Comparative Drama, 50 (2016), 293-316.

4. ^ Ibid., 310.

5. ^ Quoted in Katharine Cockin. ‘Ellen Terry, the ghost-writer and the laughing statue: the Victorian actress, letters and life-writing’, Journal of European Studies, June-September 2002, 151+. Woffington was a celebrated actress in the eighteenth century.

6. ^ Ibid.

7. ^ Elise Robinson, 'Reifying Whiteness in Cicely Hamilton's A Pageant of Great Women', Theatre Symposium 29 (2022), 86-99.

8. ^ London Evening Standard, 5 Feb. 1912, 13

9. ^ We still know comparatively little about this trend, which seems to have left little documentary traces but continued after WW1. One example is the pageant held in Her Majesty’s Theatre in Carlisle in 1920.

10. ^ ‘Actresses Franchise League’, Eastbourne Gazette, 8 June 1910, 6.

11. ^ Ibid.

12. ^ For example, in Hull in 2011.

13. ^ See https://womenslibrary.org.uk/event/march-of-women/

How to cite this entry

Angela Bartie, Linda Fleming, Mark Freeman, Tom Hulme, Alex Hutton, Paul Readman, ‘The Pageant of Great Women’, The Redress of the Past, http://www.historicalpageants.ac.uk/pageants/1629/