If you have one of the medals shown in the photograph below, you have a piece of Batley’s royal history. The medal was one of 7,000 specially commissioned by the town’s Jubilee Committee in 1887, to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s accession to the throne.
The Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations were held countrywide on 20 and 21 June 1887 – with the latter date marking the actual anniversary of Queen Victoria’s accession.
With a month to go, in May 1887 Batley’s preparations were taking shape. Plans included illuminated buildings for the nights of 21 and 22 June – the Town and Market Halls were to be lit by gas jets forming a large crown with the letter V and R on either side, plus Prince of Wales feathers, and a series of stars. The Corporation also offered to supply gas at discounted prices should any tradesmen in town wish to similarly light their buildings – though in the event none took up this offer, possibly due to the late descent of darkness in mid-June!
Other plans included a public banquet, plus a tea for 1,000 of the town’s aged people (these so-called old people were 60-years-old and upwards!) Both these events were to be hosted in the Drill Hall. The scope of Batley’s ambitious plans, a demonstration of the growing town’s civic pride, meant both these functions extended beyond the two designated Jubilee days. The public banquet took place on the evening of Wednesday 22 June, and the old people’s event was the following evening.
One idea though proved a step too far, even for Batley. A public park for the town was mooted, with the Earl of Wilton agreeing in principle to donate a plot of land for the purpose. This Jubilee park never came to fruition, and the town had to wait another 22 years before the land was obtained, with the first phase of Wilton Park finally opening to the public in May 1910.
But back to 1887. Well over £300 was raised to fund the town’s celebrations (almost £45,000 at current values, which is a staggering sum), with the centrepiece being a grand procession on Tuesday 21 June. The scale was enormous involving, amongst others, multiple bands, the Batley Rifle Volunteers, civic dignitaries and organisations, various Friendly Societies, and a multitude of tradesmen displaying their wares and trades on wagons. These included products and processes as varied as dead pigs, working sausage machines and tea, to rugs, printing machines, cigar cutters, bales of shoddy and wool, women sorting rags, flat-cap wearing thinners at work, soap, a piece of coal weighing two tons, and live calves. One wagon which caused roars of laughter was that belonging to Ann Spivey, who had worked as a washerwomen in Batley for 49 years. She wore a dress as old as her business. A peggy tub and dolly (the old-fashioned pre-washing machine implements consisting of a tub and long-handled wooden tool) were fixed to the wagon, and for the duration of the procession Dan Hoosan (alias Long Dan), was on the wagon turning a mangle!
To top it all was a troop of what were described as 40 Buffalo horsemen (made up of several gentlemen and tradesmen of the town dressed in Wild West costume), headed by mill owner John William Blackburn in the role of Buffalo Bill Cody. This was not quite as bizarre as it might seem. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West was a popular circus-like touring attraction in this period. In fact in 1887, Cody took the show to Great Britain for the first time as part of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee year celebrations, playing in London, Birmingham and Salford. Queen Victoria even attended an Earls Court show. So the intrepid Batley Jubilee Committee organisers were fetching their own version of the show to town.
Batley’s children played a prominent role in the procession too, with 22 schools involved. The plans for them included the issue of commemorative medals.
Compulsory education was in its infancy and still patchily observed, only being introduced between the ages of five and ten as recently as 1880. It meant older established Sunday Schools were the primary focus for the medal distribution, with each one in the Borough asked to submit its total number of scholars. Their teachers were also eligible to receive a medal.
The combined numbers submitted from the schools totalled 6,700, but the Committee wisely upped the medal order to 7,000 to allow for an under-estimate of demand – but looking at the final tally of children involved on the day (7,070) it appears even this was insufficient!
Supplied by Commercial Street printer J. S. Newsome, the final design chosen was a Maltese Cross shaped medal, the centrepiece containing a portrait of a very youthful Queen Victoria. On the arm of the cross above her head was the royal crown and the words “Crowned 1837.” The lower arm of the cross bore the rose of England and the words “Jubilee 1887.” On the right arm of the cross was the thistle of Scotland and “1840”, marking the year of her marriage to the now-deceased Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The left arm had a shamrock for Ireland and “1819,” her birth year. The central portion of the reverse of the badge had “God Save the Queen,” with the arms bearing the words “Queen’s Jubilee,” “Batley Celebration,” “June 21st 1887” and “Mayor John Joseph Jubb.”
The medals, topped with by a white ribbon and gold fastener, were issued to representatives of the schools on the evening of Friday 18 June, so they could be distributed amongst the children and worn at the procession.
21 June dawned in Batley, cloudless, sunny, but with a very welcome refreshing breeze. A general holiday had been declared, and the streets and businesses of Batley were bedecked with flags and streamers. Even private houses had red, white and blue flags hanging out of their windows, or – failing that – red, white and blue-dyed pocket handkerchiefs. Thousands upon thousands of spectators began gathering along the designated procession route hours before the event start time.
At 12 noon the children and their teachers made their way from their respective schools to assemble in front of the Market Hall (built in 1878, most of this building was demolished in the summer of 1903), their long lines extending from there right across the Market Place. Most of the schools had banners indicating the school they were representing. Other organisations participating had different allotted places to gather before joining the procession.
A ballot took place to decide the positions of the schools, and the procession order ran as follows:
- Superintendent Airton from the West Riding police (on horseback), attended by two Constables (also on horseback).
- Batley Old Brass Band.
- Rifle Volunteers (under the command of Captain Blackburn).
- Children of four schools, as follows: Wellington Street Primitive Methodist (416); Congregational (428); Town Mission (230); Talbot Street Primitive Methodist (220).
- Salvation Army Band.
- Children of nine schools, as follows: Salvation Army (170); Wesleyan Hick Lane (446); St Mary’s Roman Catholics (260); Up Lane (248) – this was the oldest of Batley’S Sunday Schools; St Thomas’s (168); St. Andrew’s (300); Gospel Hall Mission (156); Zion Methodist New Connexion (500); Cross Bank Wesleyan (460).
- String Band.
- Children of nine schools, as follows: Staincliffe Wesleyan (240); Park Road Baptist (340); Parish Church (460); Batley Carr Wesleyan (420); Christ Church, Staincliffe (440); Talbot Street United Methodist Free Church (186); Christian Brethren (200); Broomhill Methodist New Connexion (460); Purlwell Wesleyan (322).
- Temperance Brass Band.
- Ex Mayor and Members of Corporation.
- Magistrates.
- Demonstrations Committee.
- Friendly Societies.
- Members of St. John Ambulance Association.
- Post Office Staff.
- Fire Brigades.
- Buffalo Horsemen.
- Batley Football Club.
- Batley Cricket Club.
- Adwalton and Drighlington Band.
- Trade Procession.
As indicated, procession participants used various modes of transport, from carriages, wagonettes and horses to shanks pony (that is on foot).
A few minutes after 1 p.m., a cornet player gave the signal, the National Anthem was sung, followed by the children singing two hymns – including a Jubilee Hymn – and a Psalm. Next, three cheers for the Queen rang out, before at 1.30 p.m. the children moved off in what was termed a Monstre Procession. Accompanied by their teachers, they walked six abreast, proudly wearing their commemorative medals.
The younger children, with the exception Catholic children of St. Mary of the Angels, travelled in colourfully decorated wagonettes which were bedecked with flowers, paper crowns and even curtains. Some of the children on these wagonettes represented the young Queen, others Britannia, or Her Majesties’s subjects across the British Empire. The younger St. Mary of the Angels contingent, though walking, were reported to present a very pretty appearance, attired in their regalia – though there is no description as to what this regalia consisted of!
The procession route started from the bottom of the Market Place, then made a left turn onto Commercial Street (Up Lane), along Mayman Lane, round by Clerk Green, down Wellington Street, along the other side of Commercial Street, down Branch Road, along Bradford Road, up Beck Lane, through Carlinghow, and along Blakeridge Lane. At the bottom of the latter the children divided, three to each side of the road, to allow the remainder of the procession to pass between them. This well-orchestrated move allowed the children to see other elements of the procession, much to their delight.
With the procession length estimated to stretch at least two miles from start to finish, it took 1¼ hours for it to pass any given point. The first of the schools were back at the top of Branch Road before the trades’ procession had set off. It was said Batley and the surrounding areas had never before witnessed anything like it.
Afterwards the children went to their respective schools, where they were treated to tea and buns.
In the evening, on a field close to Upper Batley Station belonging to local colliery owners Messrs. Critchley, around 15,000 people were entertained by The Batley Old Band, Adwalton Band, Batley Parish Church Glee Party and Signor Victor and his troupe – they performed acrobatic feats much to the amusement of Batley’s children.
So, if you have one of the medals depicted and described here, you are the proud owner of an antique and very special piece of Batley’s history, once worn and treasured by a Batley schoolchild almost a century and a half ago.
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