New Heroines for New Causes: How provincial women promoted a revisionist history through post-suffrage pageants

Abstract

The selection and promotion of powerful role models was a major source of inspiration during the suffrage movement, with figures such as Joan of Arc invoked as justifying women’s rights. This research shows the tradition continued post-1914, but with a different focus. Well over a hundred amateur pageants of noble women were staged with a changing pantheon reflecting women’s new roles and aspirations.
These events were staged by both religious and secular groups throughout Britain, but were most common in the small industrial towns of the Pennines, the South West and North East where Nonconformity was strong. The pageants varied from a couple of dozen performers to a thousand, with newspapers frequently praising their elaborate costumes and historical accuracy. Though certain formats and characters appeared regularly, narrative choices often reflected the organisers’ tastes, sometimes introducing local heroines or reclaiming the Bible as a source of inspiration for powerful women.