Empire Day celebrations in Scopwick(Click on image to enlarge)
On the 12 February I published a picture of the Royal Oak, Scopwick, thought to date back to the early 1900s, sent in by reader David Butler. The above picture was also sent in by David and probably dates somewhere between 1902 and 1916. It depicts the villagers of Scopwick celebrating Empire Day.
Empire Day
The idea of celebrating Empire Day was first considered in 1897, towards the end of Queen Victoria's reign. The purpose of Empire Day was to "remind children that they formed part of the British Empire and that they might think with others in lands across the sea, what it meant to be sons and daughters of such a glorious Empire", and that "The strength of the Empire depended upon them, and they must never forget it". Only the Victorians could come up with such a patriotic idea. In fact, the first Empire Day did not take place until 24 May 1902, the date of the Queen's birthday, and over a year after her death on 22 January 2001. Even then it was not officially recognised as an annual event until 1916, although many schools across the British Empire were celebrating it before then. One New Zealand school journal from 1910 records: "This is the 'Union Jack', and now that Empire Day has come round once more, you will hear its history. It is really a coloured picture from a history-book, telling of things that happened long before you were born". Millions of school children throughout the British Empire would salute the union flag, and sing patriotic songs like Jerusalem and God Save the Queen. They would hear stories about such heroes as Clive of India, Wolfe of Quebec and 'Chinese Gordon' of Khartoum. The children were allowed to leave school early to take part in the many marches, maypole dances, concerts and parties. In Britain an Empire Movement was formed by an Irishman, Lord Meath, the watchwords of the Movement were "Responsibility, Sympathy, Duty and Self-sacrifice. By the 1950s the Empire was in decline and in 1958 Empire Day became British Commonwealth Day and in 1966 changed again to become simply Commonwealth Day. The date was also changed to 10 June, the official birthday of the present Queen. The final change came in 1977 when the date was changed to the second Monday in March. The Queen still sends a special message to the youth of the Empire via a radio broadcast to all Commonwealth countries. In Canada, several million loyal Canadians still celebrate what is known as Victoria Day on the last Monday before 24 May.
