THE 1937 coronation was the wireless one. The BBC did have three of its six television cameras covering the crowning of King George VI, but The Northern Echo only had ears for the radio.
On the morning of May 12, 1937, the Echo published a full page “radio guide”, which featured a map of the procession and photographs of places like Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and Trafalgar Square that the commentator would refer to.
Above: An Echo cartoon capturing the mood of the nation in 1937
Below: The front page of the Echo reporting on the coronation of May 12, 1937
It also published a schedule, showing the coverage on the BBC’s National programme started at 10am with a 15 minute weather forecast with the king leaving the Palace at 10.34am. He and his queen, Elizabeth, were to return for 3.10pm, and at 8pm he would give a wireless address – just to prove it really was the king crackling over the airwaves, the next day the Echo published a large picture of His Majesty in front of a microphone (below).
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The Echo’s Wireless Correspondent wrote: “All is ready for what an American radio commentator described to me as “the biggest show on Earth”. The BBC prefers to look upon the event as history in the making, a new page in the history of the country, a new page in the history of radio… (It will be) the longest period of continuous international broadcasting in the history of radio.”
The royal family on the Buckingham Palace balcony on May 12, 1937, after the coronation
Many places, even down to a village like Barton, near Scotch Corner, used a relay of the abbey service as the centre of their own celebrations – the first time the nation as a whole had been able to follow along to a coronation.
But the day itself was ideal of radio listening – it was, like all coronation days of the 20th Century – wet. The Echo’s main headline the following day told how the 100,000 crowd outside the palace had called the royal couple out onto the balcony three times and then said: “Stood alone and bareheaded in heavy rain.”
The Coates' shop at 16 High Street, Willington, dressed for the 1937 coronation
From Barton to Spennymoor, from Richmond to Saltburn, outdoor sports were postponed.
“The weather failed to cooperate in coronation celebrations but the North-East did its best to ignore this, and the day was celebrated with fitting patriotism in all parts,” said the Echo. “The poorer parts of the industrial towns particularly had set themselves out to make their streets gay scenes of rejoicing, and flags fluttered bravely under grey skies. Even the pitheads in the Seaham district were decorated with flags and streamers.”
It was the sort of weather that was fine only for fish, and the Echo was surprised to find red, white and blue Coronation Fish selling for 2s and 2s 6d in a shop in Redcar. “The fish, which seemed to be of the goldfish species, swam about in a glass tank. They had white bodies with dark blue, red and gold patches.”
Christine Walker's pressed glass plate from George VI's coronation in 1937
Despite the weather, many processions did proceed. For instance, in Guisborough, the historical cavalcade was moved from the park to the town centre. “In shining armour from hood to foot rode St George (the Honourable Margaret Bruce Chaloner) on a caparisoned charger, with 100 torchbearers flanking the procession, followed by a fearsome creature, the symbol of evil in the world – the dragon, with trumpeters riding abreast on prancing chargers,” said the Echo, using a Shakespearean word, caparison, referring to a highly decorated cloth placed on a horse’s back.
In Northallerton, many highly decorated costumes were hidden under waterproof mackintoshes but, said the Echo, there was still remarkable reality. It said: “A striking group was that of Messrs R Chapman and Son, of Northallerton, who staged a wagon “under the spreading chestnut tree”, in which a smith shoeing a real horse beneath an actual chestnut tree were shown.”
Members of Darlington council form up for the 1937 coronation procession. Picture courtesy of the Dalrington Centre for Local Studies
All over the region, tens of thousands of beakers were presented to children at thousands of indoor tea parties. In many places, from Low Row to Darlington’s South Park, coronation oaks were planted, although few places went to the lengths of Ingleby Greenhow where an avenue of trees was named and then saluted by a salvo of 62 sporting guns.
The curious 62 gun salute to the coronation in Ingleby Greenhow
Heighington went for a more permanent memorial and unveiled a coronation stone in the garden outside the village school, which is now the village hall – and the stone still stands.
Because of the rain outside and the wonders of the wireless inside, it feels as if the 1937 coronation didn’t come alive until the evening when the drizzle relented a little and the allure of outdoor illuminations, torchlight parades, bonfires and fireworks proved irresistible.
In Darlington, 15,000 people were in South Park to see the fireworks, the highlights of which were portraits of the new king and queen and a working model of Locomotion No 1. A thousand of those people stayed on afterwards for open air dancing, “but fur coats and mackintoshes were in evidence”, said the Echo.
Stockton’s fireworks were cancelled entirely because of the weather, but Redcar’s display had an additional feature when the coat pocket of Norman Watts, who was helping to light the fireworks, caught fire.
In Newcastle, “people danced and sang on the High Level Bridge, recently freed from toll, and the bridge was like a huge ballroom until after midnight.
“Northern wireless listeners enjoyed a broadcast from the Town Moor last night, the crackling of a huge bonfire combining with the singing of the Boy Scouts.”
So it probably was safest to be inside, out of the rain, away from the inflammatory dangers of fireworks, listening to the radio, but on one of those old valve sets, would you be able to hear the crackling of the bonfire or would you just think it was the crackling of the airwaves?
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A great street party picture from 1937 from George Street, Darlington
The Northern Echo's Coronation Walk, held in miserable conditions, for unemployed men in Middlesbrough's Albert Park
Mineral Street in Middlesbrough was famous in the 1937 coronation for its lifelike royal pageant, including sentries at the entry to the street
Every schoolchild in Darlington received a coronation mug. Picture courtesy of Carol Degnan. Below: Darlington Town Hall dressed up for the coronation. Picture courtesy of Darlington Centre for Local Studies
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