Royal celebrations in Lindfield - Part 1
Jubilee 1935
By Richard Bryant and Janet Bishop, Lindfield History Project Group
On 3rd June 2022 the nation celebrated the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. How has Lindfield celebrated royal events in the past?
The first major event to be celebrated was Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee on Tuesday 21st June 1887. In readiness for the celebrations the village was decorated with bunting and strings of flags strung across the High Street. A triumphal arch decorated with evergreens, flowers, mottoes and lamps was erected at the site of the Old Toll Gate. Specially planted fir trees graced each side of the road from Black Hill to the parish church. Flags and decorations adorned all the shops and houses. Masters store carried the motto ‘The Queen, 50 Not Out’. On the evening prior to Jubilee Day an ox, donated by Walter Sturdy of Paxhill, was paraded on a decorated cart drawn by two farm horses to the Common, where the carcass was mounted for roasting and the fire ceremonially lit.
Celebrations commenced the next morning at 5am with three ‘firings of the anvil’ and was repeated 15 minutes later ‘awakening those who had yet to rise to greet the glorious Jubilee Day’. At 10.30am the Fife and Trumpet Band of the 1st Sussex Artillery Volunteers assembled on the Common before proceeding to the parish church which was filled to overflowing. After a short service conducted by Reverend E. d’Auvergne, with a similar service being held at the Congregational Chapel, the congregations and awaiting crowds headed by the band made their way to the Common.
On the Common, three trees were planted with ceremonial spades and much formality. Firing the anvil was repeated at 1pm signalling time for 160 leading residents, tradesmen and farmers to assemble in a large marquee for lunch.
The afternoon events commenced with maypole dancing by village children. This was followed by ‘a long programme of athletic sports and games’. The events ranged from cross-country to 100 yard races, high jump to putting the weight, and tug-of-war, together with novelty events such as egg and spoon races, three legged races and climbing the slippery pole.
During the afternoon and evening over 800 free teas were served. Boxes of sweets and toys were provided by Mr Masters for children. At 9pm the Jubilee Ox, with a piece of bread, was served to all-comers and free liquid refreshment supplied by Mr Sturdy was distributed.
As darkness descended, the village was illuminated and particularly noteworthy were the triumphal arch and willow tree on the pond’s island. The day concluded at 10pm with a grand firework display and in the distance ‘beacon fires were flashing from point to point’.
Pleasingly, the parish poor were not forgotten in the commemoration. The Mid Sussex Times reported tickets for ‘the dole’ were distributed to about 120 recipients who received beef and groceries prior to Jubilee day. Additionally 32 poor persons received a large joint of the Jubilee Ox on the Wednesday morning.
The celebratory day was much enjoyed, and most importantly a lasting commemoration was ‘a new peal of eight bells’ given to the parish church. Four of the old bells were recast, a new tenor bell given by Walter Sturdy and three others funded by public subscription. The bells rang out during the big day and in the afternoon teams of ringers rang ‘Grandsire triples containing 5,040 changes in 3 hours 7 minutes’. Originally the proposed permanent memorial had been a Jubilee Hall but there was insufficient support.
The Mid Sussex Times commented that the Lindfield celebrations can ‘truthfully be said to have taken the premier position in Mid Sussex by its manner of commemorating the auspicious event’. This programme of events was to become the blueprint for royal celebrations in Lindfield for the next hundred years.
The next major royal event was on 20th June 1897, the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria’s accession to the throne, making her the country’s longest reigning monarch. The nation celebrated with a bank holiday on Tuesday 22nd June 1897. Jubilee Day in Lindfield commenced at 5 am with the neighbourhood ‘aroused by “salvoes of artillery” from the anvils of Mr Charles Wood’; the village blacksmith whose forge was in Denmans Lane, now Happy Feet shoe shop.
A full day of events followed, with the programme being similar to the Golden Jubilee Day’s celebrations. That is to say a decorated village, church services, military bands and procession, pealing of bells, sports on the common, free tea for 1,200 people in the Reading Room, illuminations and fireworks. Mr Sturdy of Paxhill again donated an ox for the celebrations. A pleasing addition was a large bonfire made of over 1,500 faggots (bundles of wood), and timber from Paxhill, Great Walstead and Buxshalls estates. Additions to the sports programme included a potato race and tent pegging on bicycles.
All Saints Church again benefitted from Jubilee subscriptions generously given, with sufficient money being collected to purchase and install an impressive new organ made by Forster and Andrews of Hull.
1911 Coronation in Lindfield
Lindfield’s way of celebrating royal events was beginning to evolve. This continued with the coronation of Edward VII following Queen Victoria’s death, and a few years later the crowning of King George V in 1911. The latter in addition to the services, events and sports on the common was permanently marked with the erection of a drinking-trough at the junction of Backwoods Lane and High Street.
The next royal event celebrated was the Silver Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary on Monday 6th May 1935. On this occasion the firing of the anvils was at the more civilised time of 1.55pm with the day’s events having started at 11.30am when the service from St. Paul’s Cathedral was relayed by radio to the parish church. Many more listened at home.
This was followed two hours later by an assembly and procession from the church to the Common, where there was a ‘British Empire and English Period Costumes’ competition for ‘ladies and gentlemen’. Prior to the sports and events commencing on the common, Mrs Blanche Cumberlege of Walstead Place unveiled the permanent memorial, the Lindfield village sign decorated with a lime tree and the six martlets of Sussex, which stands to this day, close to the drinking-trough.
A major addition to this Jubilee Day’s events was ‘Sports on the Pond’ that comprised swimming races and dressed swimming races for men and women, mop fighting on raft, walking the greasy pole and ‘miller v sweeps’. The latter involved two contestants, one with a bag of flour, the other sat astride a horizontal pole with the aim being to knock your fellow combatant into the pond. Spectators five deep lined the pond. The day concluded with a torchlight procession, bonfire and fireworks. There was also dancing to The Silver Star Band at King Edward Hall.
On 12th May 1937, the coronation of George VI and Queen Elizabeth was celebrated in very similar fashion to the Silver Jubilee two years previously. The popular events at the pond were repeated and extended with a procession of decorated craft, beer barrel race, pirate’s race and model boat races. An addition to events on the Common was the ‘Empire Tableau presented by the Children of Lindfield Council School’.
The next event celebrated was Queen Elizabeth II coronation day and this will feature in the next article.
Contact 01444 482136 or via https://lindfieldhistoryproject.group/