There are many Abingdon artifacts on the online auction sites Ebay and Etsy. To buy them would bring them back to Abingdon where they started out. Here are just a small sample of what was on offer.
This postcard was posted in 1910 and is from a picture by Warland Andrew. The Mayor and Council are on a raised platform on Abingdon Market Place. Before them are three men in uniform with pith helmets. Some people have umbrellas. I don’t know the event.
A stoneware ginger beer bottle from W Barnett Junior.
A tailors clothing brush from around 1920 with Advertising for E.H. Beesley Tailor, Hatter & Outfitter.
The photograph of an assured lady taken at the studio of James Brewerton, 17 High Street.
Love how so many hats were worn in those times.
There were 2 General Elections in UK in 1910. Could the event have had anything to do with that ?
In 1910, H H Asquith was Prime Minister. His family home was in Sutton Courtenay. He is buried in the churchyard there – not far from Eric Blair (George Orwell).
In May 1910, the House of Commons introduced the bill which became the Reform Act (1911) that restricted the powers of the House of Lords. However, Asquith was not a natural political reformer, and he was a firm opponent of women’s suffrage, which was another lively issue.
The speaker in the picture looks somewhat like Asquith. Could this have been a meeting about this? There are no women on the platform – they are being kept outside the place of power. I think the helmeted men facing the crowd at ground level are soldiers – one has a bugle, and were probably a security detail. The bugle suggests some sort of ceremony.
This is all pure supposition, and Chris S may well have offered a better explanation than mine. The odd thing about its being an election meeting is the presence of children. Whatever the event, the visit to the town of some bigwig has certainly drawn the crowd.
1910. King George V came to the throne. Gathering to mark his comming to the throne given that the coronation took place in 1911. A reading of the Royal Proclamation? This would explain the presence of the Tommies in home service uniform, perhaps from Royal Berkshire Regiment.
That seems a very likely explanation Mark.
I wonder if the collection of 8 or so young ladies ( long hair visible on one) wearing wide brimmed boaters in the bottom right, were St Helen’s girls ? Looks like ( flowered hat, next to them) a mistress chaperoning them.
Yes…I would think that they could well be St Helen’s girls.
Best suggestion so far, I think, Mark.