Mayflower 350 (Southampton, 1970)

In 1920, Southampton had held one of Britain’s largest anniversary celebrations of the Mayflower voyage – only Plymouth could make a challenge to that supremacy. By the time the 1970 commemoration came around, however, Southampton’s Devonian rival had stolen something of a march. Already, by mid-1968, Plymouth had brought in a public relations company to help them plan their event – Southampton, on the other hand, was still holding meetings in late 1969 to consider the scope of a celebration. Only a small amount of financial support was forthcoming from the city council, which they had received from the private company that struck the commemorative medals for the anniversary. If the Council was not completely forthcoming with support, that did not stop the city’s mayor, Kathie Johnson, from going on TV to ‘battle’ Plymouth’s own about which port could claim the most historic importance!

Due to the enthusiasm of a local civic committee, however, there were a range of events. An exhibition of documents in the Maritime Museum, arranged by the City Record Office, gave a proper narrative of the Pilgrim Fathers all the way from the late sixteenth century to the commemoration of 1970. More commercially, a ‘holiday travel and leisure exhibition’ put on in the Guildhall by the Chamber of Commerce featured a model of the Mayflower II that had sailed in 1957, and the Barmen’s Guild even came up with a ‘Mayflower 350’ cocktail – mead, whiskey and ginger ale, complete with a Mayflower stirrer (and selling for 5 shillings and 6 pence).

Arthur Jeffery, a local historian and marketing man, also put together a glossy illustrated pamphlet, Where Great Adventures Start, in which local authors told a proud history of Southampton from the distant to recent past. On the 14^th August 1970, the Rev Kenneth Slack preached at a special civic service in the Guildhall. The next day saw the central event, when a civic procession of 120 people (including American dignitaries) travelled the 350 yards from St Michael’s Square to the Pilgrim Father’s Memorial (erected 1913) for a small ceremony. About 1,500 people gathered to hear speeches by the new Mayor, Lydia Ironside; music by the Band of the Hampshire Constabulary; and a speech by Joseph N Greene (representing the American Ambassador) about the ‘noble and important part’ Southampton had played in Anglo-American relations. The final afternoon and evening of the commemoration involved a tug of war, folk dancing, children’s games, a Blue Eagles helicopter display, and ended with fireworks seen by several thousand in Mayflower Park.

Southampton City Council Minutes - ‘2433. Mayflower, 1970’, Entertainments and Publicity Committee (2nd October 1969), 11.

‘Mayflower hope – medal finance’, Southern Evening Echo (April 14th 1970), 15

‘Mayflower debate ‘frustrates’ Mayor’, Southern Evening Echo (29th January 1970), 1.

Sheila D. Thomson, ‘The Mayflower Story’ in Southampton in 1620 and the “Mayflower”: An exhibition of documents by the Southampton City Record Office to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower from Southampton in 1620 (Southampton, 1970).

Arthur Jeffery (ed), Where Great Adventures Start (Southampton, 1970).

‘Ceremony where Mayflower first set sail’, Southern Evening Echo (15th August 1970), 12.