Item List (43)

The Pageant of London was a gigantic and spectacular historical re-enactment in four parts, staged 120 times over the summer of 1911. Linked to the Festival of Empire and Coronation of King George V, it was the biggest and boldest of the pageants of…

Several passengers on the Mayflower came from Billericay in Essex – including Christopher Martin, who was originally the governor of the leaky Speedwell. There had been religious dissenters in the town since the early 17th century; after the…

Plymouth - as the final port of departure for the Mayflower in 1620 - was one of the key sites for the 300th anniversary celebrations, with a full programme of events. Some events were very much aimed at the civic elite - there was a whole load of…

Several passengers on the Mayflower came from Billericay in Essex – including Christopher Martin, who was originally the governor of the leaky Speedwell. There had been religious dissenters in the town since the early 17th century; after the…

Norwich’s celebrations were talked of at least a year in advance of the tercentenary. The previous May, the Norfolk Protestant Dissenters’ Benevolent Society met for its 120th annual meeting, during which the various members discussed the…

The Liberty department store on Great Marlborough Street, today Grade II* listed, opened in 1924. After the First World War there was often a desire, despite a growing enthusiasm for Modernism in some quarters, to return to the stability of…

Interest in the Pilgrim Fathers was growing among Congregationalists on both sides of the Atlantic in the late 19th century. In 1891, the first International Congregational Council was held in London - an opportunity for Americans to tour the Pilgrim…

Written by Canon Leville Lovett and his daughter Myra, ‘John Alden’s Choice’ was the crowning glory of Southampton’s 1920 celebrations for the 300th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower. Staged four times by a large cast of 444 amateur…

The Westminster Abbey Chapter House was completed in 1255 as part of Henry III’s rebuilding of the abbey. Following the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s, the Benedictine monks left; until 1863 this ornate building was used as a meeting…

Immingham, in Lincolnshire, lies on the southern bank of the Humber Estuary. Between 1841 and 1901, the population of the village barely increased, staying at a constant of around 220-240 people. But the construction of the Immingham Docks…