ALTHOUGH it was only nine years since the coronation of Edward VII, the nation and indeed the world threw itself into commemorating the crowning of his son, George V, and his queen, Mary, in 1911.
After all the last minute drama of 1902, this was a coronation of glory and majesty, and it was probably the last time Britain crowned a king who, with a huge empire beneath him, really was an immense global power.
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“The coronation cannot be described,” wrote James Douglas on the front page of The Northern Echo on June 23, 1911 (above). “My eyes have been surfeited with historical colour and movement, and my ears sated with music, for six hours. I am dazzled, dazed, bewildered. The machinery of memory has broken down but… I wish to suggest to your imagination the feudal glory, the medieval romance, the noble emotion and the mystical solemnity of the ceremony.”
King George V and Queen Mary after the coronation of 1911
Douglas was one of six big name writers hired by the Echo to cover the coronation in the capital, but it was left to local wordsmiths to describe the scenes in the North-East. Most of them used the fashionable word 'monstre' to convey the enormity of the processions and tea parties they saw, particularly in connection with bicycles.
Bicycles were new, fashionable and liberating, and every town had a comic cycle parade.
For instance, in Shildon the cyclists left the market place at 9.15am. “Prizes were given for best decorated machines, best costumes and the best muster of cyclists connected with any institution in the town,” said the Echo.
1911 was the last coronation when the larger towns publicly roasted oxen.
Roasting the Darlington ox in the Market Place in 1911 and, below, a plate from which a slice of roast ox was consumed
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In Darlington Market Place, the poor thing went round and round on a spit for 13 hours before the mayor and mayoress fell on it with a special set of carvers. “There was great demand for steaks of the beef and the huge carcase, which originally weighed about 50 stones, was quickly disposed of,” said the Echo.
The sale of the meat, and special plates which still grace many trinket cabinets, sent 1,000 poor children on the train for a day at the Redcar seaside.
The crowds in Wharton Park, Durham, on the 1911 Coronation Day
In Hartlepool, celebrations started at 7.30am when 100 members of the Porpoise Swimming Club dived from the pier into sea “and rendered the National Anthem to cornet accompaniment while in the water”. The main event, though, was feeding the children with Mr Boanson’s roast ox – his father had given the ox for roasting at Queen Victoria’s jubilee in 1887.
In Middlesbrough’s Albert Park Lady Sadler carved the first slice off the coronation ox with a special pair of ivory handled carvers. “Eight smart, dapper, well equipped butchers, all in white, then took the task in hand and carved the ox up, huge pieces being taken into the fish market and there re-carved into the portions necessary for the purchasing public.”
Miners marching through Cockfield as part of the 1911 coronation celebrations
Everywhere seems to have thrown itself into the celebrations.
“Every town, village and hamlet in picturesque Weardale was en fete yesterday and everybody and everything in festal array,” said the Echo. “The castles, towers and halls, many of which bonny Weardale can boast of as the most beautifully situated residences that man could wish for, had their flags mast high, fluttering in the breeze.”
Hurworth “made merry on its ample village green”. In Middleton One Row, the “costume cycle parade proved an interesting event”. Most east Durham pit villages had tableaux parading through their streets. Pittington had a “novel kite flying competition” while Sedgefield had an equally novel decorated mail cart parade.
In Northallerton, the mayor read to hundreds of schoolchildren from the balcony of the Golden Lion Hotel the telegram of loyalty he had sent to the king; in Richmond, “rain fell in frequent showers” but it couldn’t extinguish all the little gas jets which illuminated the main buildings in the market place.
In Darlington, the mayor appeared on the clock tower balcony and conducted the bands beneath him as they performed the National Anthem. He then “unfurled a flag received from the children of Darlington, New South Wales, which was greeted with loud cheers”.
Darlington is a suburb of Sydney and may be named after William Vane, the 3rd Earl of Darlington, whose descendant was also involved in Darlington’s 1911 celebrations.
“With characteristic thoughtfulness, Lady Katharine Vane had shown her sympathy with the crippled children of the town and between 30 and 40 of these poor helpless mites were driven through the town in brakes, and taken to the park to see the attractions there,” said the Echo.
The 1911 festivities in Hurworth
Eve Boddy on a pony outside the wine and spirit merchants which her family ran on the corner of Church Street and Association Street in Shildon. The shop is dressed up for the coronation of George V
A magnificent picture of Saddler Street, Durham, dressed up for the coronation of George V on June 22, 1911
As Coronation Day darkened, the region erupted with torchlight parades, bonfires and fireworks.
On Crook’s Dovefold Hill, Messrs Pease & Partners provided enough inflammable material for a bonfire 40ft high, whereas Willington’s bonfire was strategically placed on top of a pitheap.
There was, of course, controversy…
“Much indignation was caused at Haswell by the firing on coronation eve of a bonfire that had been built to celebrate the coronation,” said the Echo. “Certain youths are suspected, and they may hear further about it. A second pile was erected and was formally lighted last evening.”
And in Darlington, the climax was reached 24 hours late…
“The Mayor of Darlington regrets that owing to certain fittings not having arrived on the ground, it was found impossible to discharge the fireworks, and we understand that the display will be given tonight in its entirety on Feethams field,” said the Echo.
An Echo picture showing Darlington's High Row crowded with people on the day of King George V's coronation in 1911. Schoolchildren assembled on High Row, on the right, before being conducted by the mayor from the town clock tower in singing the national anthem. Then they processed to South Park for games and entertainment.
These pictures are courtesy of the Darlington Centre for Local Studies in Darlington library
Above: Blackwellgate in Darlington dressed up for the 1911 coronation
Below: George H Zissler's shop in Northgate, Darlington, won an award for its flamboyant celebration of the 1911 Coronation
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