On Sunday 4 June 2017, Royal Holloway opened its magnificent North Quad to the public for the first Festival of History. The festival was organised by the team at Citizens 800, a heritage lottery funded project with schools, museums and other organisations to chart the history of the relationship between the citizen and the British state over the past 800 years.
As a volunteer for the ‘suffrage’ zone, I would be greeting guests and providing historical facts in costume as a suffragette. The festival was made up of three other zones: the American revolution, the English Civil War, and Magna Carta. Each zone was staged as historical encampments, complete with teams of re-enactors in full costume. The re-enactors performed drills and hosted an interactive pike drill for children.
When I wasn’t schmoozing with the public, I had the opportunity to take part in some of the activities the festival was offering. I made an embarrassingly bad ‘Votes for Women’ rosette. I was also shown how to deal with unruly ruffians, by retired army Captain Sue Kirk and her team of martial artists, who were performing demonstrations throughout the day. Should an unscrupulous scoundrel now try to ambush me, I am equipped with the skills to neutralise them with an umbrella.
The festival also included mini-plays performed by theatre and heritage company Time Will Tell. The actors put on four plays throughout the day. In the afternoon, I had the chance to catch ‘Deeds Not Words’, a short play which focused on the Suffragette rally at Hyde Park in 1908, performed in Royal Holloway’s chapel. The play focussed on the perspectives of two characters: a middle-class woman, and a domestic servant. The play was acted beautifully and effectively captured the appeal of the suffrage movement to women from different class backgrounds.
Finally, I ended my day by attending Fern Riddell’s talk, ‘The Weaker Sex? Suffragette Violence’. For me, this was the highlight of the day. Riddell drew attention to the startling acts of violence the suffragettes were responsible for, including arson and bombings. She explained that this aspect of the movement has been hidden and censored in history. I found the talk utterly fascinating and it has given me much food for thought in how I view the suffragettes, many of whom I have idolised since I was a child.
The Festival for History was a stunning event that packed in so much- re-enactments, talks, children’s activities and more. I had a splendid day and I was delighted that about a thousand people attended. Concepts of citizenship, equality and liberty were communicated to children in a fun, interactive way, and at least two parents asked me to explain suffrage to their young boys, to introduce them to the concept of gender equality. Moreover, it was wonderful that Royal Holloway opened its doors to the public, and built a bridge between academia and the local community.
Katie Carpenter is a PhD student in the Department of History at Royal Holloway, University of London.
This post was originally published on Katie’s blog: What Katie Did in Academia.
