Morris Dancing was alive and well in Kingston 1870/80s as reported by Dr Finny [2] who wrote:

"One Old Kingstonian, who is now nearly eighty, remembers when as a boy he and seven others, with 'Jack in Green' and a piper who also beat a drum, dressed themselves up and "went about the town 'gigging' on May Day." They went from house to house and did simple traditional dances which he learnt from the others, and they sang:

The first of May is Gala Day,

Give us a penny and we'll go away.

"The authorities at Kingston have decided to continue the annual great cattle fair, but to abolish the three days' pleasure fair. Alderman Marsh stated that every year there had been some serious case of infectious disease among the people attending the fair, and some of the inhabitants had probably suffered from the infection brought by the travelling caravans."

“And to many the most attractive feature of the programme will be the very pretty May Day festival, which will be carried out under the direction of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Davey. In order to secure that this part of the proceedings shall be done in the good old style, Mrs. Davey has kindly undertaken to to go down to Knutsford, in Cheshire, where on May Day the whole ceremony of the crowning of the May Queen, with attendant threading of the Maypole and the Morris dancing, is still kept up, and it will be reproduced as nearly as possible here on Whit Monday.”

"Later in the morning, as the time for the procession draws nigh, one-half the town is

busily engaged in dressing the other half. The Morris Dancers, who - headed by the master of ceremonies on horseback - make a brave show in their snow-white shirts and floral chaplets, require a good deal of attention, and even more, of course, has to be given to the large number of children who take part in the procession."

"The Crowning of the May Queen, with Maypole and Morris Dances, by the children of the Royal County Theatre Pantomime Company, was a feature of the afternoon’s amusements eagerly looked forward to by young and old, and when the gaily dressed procession arrived and made the grand tour of the arena before ascending the stage in the centre, one could not help feeling that the Merrie Month of May was in reality with us.  For some time prior to the arrival of “Her Majesty” and court the ribbons of the Maypole had been untwisted and held min position by Mrs. Peter Davey and Mr. J. E. Edgcome, but at this point the clouds gathered blackly in the sky, and cold north-westerly winds blew ominously across the ground. Rain descended as the children began their old-world Morris dance in front of the stage, and they proceeded to take the coloured streamers in hand, but the Maypole dance had scarcely commenced when the shower assumed the proportions of a deluge, and the breeze stiffened into a hurricane, positively forcing the Maypole from its place, and the large floral crown was seen toppling over. Luckily the children saw the occurrence and avoided its fall, but the rain was too heavy for a prolongation of the scene, and at Mr. Davey’s direction they all scampered away to the dressing tent. The storm lasted twenty minutes, and the refreshment and other tents were closely packed by those who were fortunate enough to get under shelter; the majority of the spectators however remained in the open, and umbrellas and mackintoshes were brought into active use."

CORONATION NOTES

TWO EDWARDS — A COINCIDENCE

While the thoughts of the Empire are becoming daily engrossed with the coming Coronation of King Edward VII.; the loyal borough of Kingston-on-Thames went back a thousand years to the time of the earliest Edward who wore an English crown. For it was at Kingston that Edward "the Elder," son of Alfred the Great, was crowned, and the Millenary of the event was to have been celebrated there with old English revelry of Maypole and Morris dance shorty before the latest Edward is anointed at Westminster.

A juxtanation of the two Edwards separated by so long an interval of English history presents an interesting coincidence of figures :—

 

King              Accession   Coronation

Edwd. the Elder   a.d.  901   a.d.  902

Edward VII        a.d. 1901   a.d. 1902

 

The date chosen by Kingston-on-Thames for its local commemoration of Alfred's son was Whit Monday, which is specially appropriate because it was at Whitsuntide that Edward the Elder was actually crowned.

The Photograph, from 1921 Historical Pageant, shows Dr Finny in his favourite Beadle's costume.

 

Dr Finny is given responsibility for organising the Pageant, a second chance to revive Morris Dancing. Fourteen days before the performance the Surrey Comet reported on the final rehearsal including Morris Dancing by the Bonner Hill schools. [10]

"The final rehearsal of the Children’s Pageant in connection with the forthcoming Coronation Festivities was held on the lawn of the barrack-square of the Depot of the East Surrey Regiment on Thursday morning, under the direction of Dr Finny, who has been working exceedingly hard to make this part of the day’s proceedings a success.

 

Judging from what took place on Thursday, there is little doubt that the performance which the selected band of children will give in Home Park on June 22 will be one of the prettiest spectacles seen in this neighbourhood for a long time. The Officers at the Depot have been exceedingly kind in allowing the rehearsals to take place on their beautiful lawn, and on each occasion the band has been present to play the incidental music. There Maypoles have been erected and the children have been well drilled in their various parts. The crowning of the May Queen is naturally a pretty scene, and the braiding of the maypoles, the country dance, the Morris dances, and the final “Sir Roger” in which the whole of the 200 children participate, present really charming pictures. All who witnessed the rehearsal came away delighted with what they had seen.Beside the dances there will be some Old English sports, and a grand finale of Britannia and her Colonies. 

A class of girls trained by Miss Lynn and Miss Watkins take the centre maypole and do some very pretty dancing. Girls from St John’s, and boys from St Paul’s are very expert with the other maypoles. Boys from St Peter’s are being trained by Sergeant Wyatt, drill instructor at the Depot, in Old English sports; St Peter’s schools will furnish a contingent of 24 girls who take a prominent part in the pageant; and from the Bonner Hill schools come the Morris dancers. St Luke’s children furnish the concluding spectacle of Britannia and her Colonies"

 

“There will be the ceremony of crowning the May Queen, dancing round the maypoles, morris and country dances and some other sports, concluding with a tableau of Britannia and Sir Roger de Coverley.”

 

The coverage of the procession from Fairfield to Home Park, over one mile in length from the leader to the last and four abreast, the May Queen being drawn in her carriage by the Merrie men, crowning of the May Queen, Maypole dancing, and finally Morris Dancing is fulsome, read the [full report here]. The Morris Dancing was scheduled as the last item, the climax to the set of may day activities copied from Knutsford. [12] The notable difference being that in Knutsford the style of Morris danced was North-West Morris where as in Kingston the style danced was Cotswold Morris.

"The trumpets sounded again and the Morris Dancers, sixty four in number, took possession of the field. Their exquisite dancing was accompanied by the jingle of the bells on their garments, and was a sight to be remembered, receiving prolonged applause."