Topical Budget: London’s May Queen, Hayes Common (1916)
ProRes digital file Black & White Mute 1916 0:59
Summary: Excitable children in their Sunday finery gawp at cameras during the parade for London’s
May Queen.
Title number: 19839
LSA ID: LSA/26283
Description: Excitable children in their Sunday finery gawp at cameras during the parade for London’s May Queen. The All-England May Queen festival was first held at Hayes Common, Bromley, in 1913, organised by a Dulwich folklore enthusiast. This film from 1916 shows that year’s May Queen, Miss Cecily Smith, sitting in a decorated cart pulled by children, preceded by other children carrying banners. She carries a sceptre, and like many of the girls is wearing white and garlands of flowers. Children gawp at the camera as they pass, before Smith receives her crown on the common.
Cast: Cecily Smith
Keywords: May Queen; May Queen Festival; Parades
Locations: United Kingdom;England;London;Hayes Common, Bromley
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