The 1923 May Queen was Katherine Phillips. Whilst there is no report in the Batley News about the May Queen ceremony, which was traditionally held on the first Sunday in May, because the office lasted for a year she did play a prominent role in the Whitsuntide procession, held on 22 May. This pageant was another major event in parish life.
The report of the Whitsuntide procession (with spellings and punctuation largely as written, with the exception of some minor corrections in square brackets) read:
The Whitsuntide procession on Tuesday of Batley Catholics was the largest for a good many years and, as a pageant, eclipsed any similar event since the war. Over 500 children and many members of the congregation took part, and the route taken from St. Mary’s Church school was by way of Cross Bank Road and Beck Lane to Carlinghow, Bradford Road, Balk Street, Blakeridge Lane, Upper Commercial Street, Wellington Street, Clerk Green, and Cemetery Road to the starting place. An admiring crowd watched the marshalling of the procession and the streets were lined by admiring spectators.
The most imposing feature of the pageant was a gorgeous representative of “The Mysteries of the Rosary.” Miss Teresa Murphy, daintily dressed in white silk, was the Queen of Joyful Mysteries; Miss Annie Malone[y], in white silk with red trimmings was the Queen of Sorrowful Mysteries; and Miss Katherine Mara, in white silk [with] yellow trimmings, the Queen of Glorious Mysteries. They were attended by little page boys in cream serge suits, trimmed in various colours. The pageant also included four older boys attired respectively as St. George, St. Augustine, St. David, and St. Andrew. Four younger lads in Highland costume attended St. Andrew, and the other “Saints” had as attendants little boys attired as monks. The whole formed a delightful ensemble.
Miss Katherine Phillips, who made a charming May Queen, was dressed in white silk trimmed with silver, and her train of brocaded silk lined with blue and swan’s down was carried by two dainty little girls, Ellen Lynch and Catherine Levitt. Her maids of honour were Kittie Bottomley, Nora Riding, Agnes Sheridan, Alice Sword, Kittie Costello, Hilda Ball, Maria Judge and Kathleen Munns. The ex-May Queen Miss Phyllis Doyle, had as train bearers Margaret Hunt and Delia Nicholson, and her maids of honour were Agnes Kilkenny, Annie Woodhead, Jane Brazil, Agnes Judge, Annie Munns, Margaret Phillips, Mary Black and Mary Colleran.
A delightful characterisation by children of the babies’ class was of Bo-Peep and Little Boy Blue. Master Jack Meredith as Boy Blue, was attended by “little toddlers” in pretty blue costumes, and little Miss Ellen Buckley represented Bo-Peep. Miss Eileen Deasy, characteristically dressed as a Fairy Queen, had a train bearer Master John Hughes, and was attended by 24 little boys in cream serge shirts, and a number of daintily attired little girls.
Dressed in white silk voile with a white and green satin train, Miss Agnes Kelly was a picturesque Maid of Erin. Her train bearers were Annie Kelly and Maggie Lloyd, and her attendants Margaret Connell, Annie Farrar, Sarah Munns, Bridget Mullins, Annie Riley, Margaret Lloyd, Mary Tarpey, Kathleen Judge, Catherine Kilroy and Alice Colleran.
The Queen of Wild Flowers, Miss Nora Brearley, in a dress and train of white satin trimmed with silver and swan’s down attracted much notice. She had as train bearers Kittie and Mary Cunningham, and eight prettily dressed maids of honour. Queen of the Lillies was Miss Mary Gallagher, whose attendants wore wreaths of flowers on their heads. Miss Lily Oldroyd was a beautiful Queen of Roses and Miss Agnes Mara was pretty as Queen of Forget-me-Nots.
The procession was headed by Messrs. T. Murphy and T. Durkin representing the congregation, and the Priests present were Father McBride’s and Rev. Father Russell (Birstall). The first banner was that of the parish, St. Mary and All Angels [sic], and was carried by young men wearing purple sashes and young ladies dressed in white with long veils. Other banners were those of the Guardian Angel, St. Patrick, Our Lady of Good Counsel, St. Joseph, St George, Faith of Our Fathers and the Pope. Representatives of the Guild of Agnes, the Children of Mary, the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament and the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart also carried banners, and the procession included Batley Old Band, members of the Boys’ Brigade in uniform and carrying their training rifles, parish and a number of men of the parish.
The pageantry was directed by the Reverend Mother Justina, assisted by Sisters Aloysius, Bonaventure, St. Gertrude, St. Agnes, Rupert, Maria Therese, and other Sisters of Mercy from the Convent, and the procession committee was composed of Messrs. J. Berry, secretary; Dan Kelly, Treasurer; T. Durkin, T. Murphy, Joe Munns, P. Colleran, Joe Higgins, Tom Higgins, Leo Berry, Pat Brennan, John Phillips, J. Healey, Alfred Houston, and a number of ladies.
After the procession the children had an excellent tea in the school, and each child was presented with three new pennies. A number of children then proceeded to a field in Carlinghow Hill, kindly lent by Mr. Percy Critchley, and games were indulged in for a short while before rain drove the children home. Batley Old Band rendered selections and also played outside Batley Hospital.
Postscript:
I may not be able to thank you personally because of your contact detail confidentiality, but I do want to say how much I appreciate the donations already received to keep this website going. They really and truly do help. Thank you.
The website has always been free to use, and I want to continue this policy in the future. However, it does cost me money to operate – from undertaking the research to website hosting costs. In the current difficult economic climate I do have to regularly consider if I can afford to continue running it as a free resource.
If you have enjoyed reading the various pieces, and would like to make a donation towards keeping the website up and running in its current open access format, it would be very much appreciated.
Please click 👉🏻here👈🏻 to be taken to the PayPal donation link. By making a donation you will be helping to keep the website online and freely available for all.
Thank you.
As a professionally qualified genealogist, if you would like me to undertake any family, local or house history research for you do please get in touch. More information can be found on my research services page.
Past To Present Genealogy 