NOTE TO USERS The original manuscript received by UMI contains pages with slanted print. Pages were microfilmed as received. This reproduction is the best copy available NOTE TO USERS The cassette is not included in this original manuscript. It is available for consultation at the author's graduate school library. From the Provinces: The Representation of Regional Identity in the British Music Hall, c. 1880-1914 by Nicole Amanda Gocker A Thesis submitted to the Department in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Queen's University Kingston, Ontario, Canada June, 1998 O Nicole Amanda Crocker National Libtary Bibliothbque nationale 1+1 of,,, du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services seMces bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. nie Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 OFtawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Lîbrary of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or selI reproduire, prêter, distn'buer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfichelfilm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othhse de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimes reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son oennission. autorisation. i i A bstract This thesis examines the representation of regional identity in the British music hall, c. 1880-1914. It analyses the portrayal of the Wh, Scottish, English and Welsh in music hall song, costume and performance by examining advertising, photographs, art work, sheet music and contemporary accounts. This analysis reveals that the representation of regional identity in the music hall helped to construct notions of community which were based on tradition, custom and rural nostalgia. During this period Britain became increasingly more national, homogeneous, standardised and urbanised. The music hall refiected audience concem about these changes through the presentation of regional comunities which maintained their distinctive heritage through costume, language, tradition and regional character. At the same the, however, these music hall representations constructed a space for regional difference within the larger national community of the United Kingdom and its Empire. The representation of regional identity in the music hall offered audiences an image of Britain that was based on both division and inclusion, diversity and unity. iii Acknowledgements I am grateful for the assistance of the staff of the Music room at the British Library, the archives of the Theatre Museum in London, and the Music division of the National Library of Canada. Thank you to Dr. Sandra den Otter and to the Queen's School of Graduate Studies and Research for making this project possïble. I wouid also iike to thank Jenn, Kate, Jamie, Ross and Kyla, dong with the other lads and lasses of the History gang at Queen's University. nia& to my Mends and my family, most especially my weli- diuffed Dad and my fantastic Aunt Lynne. I am, however, most indebted to Chris who provided indispensable support each and every day. iv TabIe of Contents i i iii Table of Contents iv Chapter One: Introduction 1 Chapter Two: Paddy and Kathleen: The Representation of the Irish in the Music Hall Chapter Three: Jock and the "Queen Amang the Heather": The Representation of the Scottish in the Music Hall 64 Chapter Four: The Factory Lass and the Country Bumpkin: The Representation of the Regional English in the Music Hall 92 Chapter Five: Where Was Wales? The Representation of the Welsh in the Music Hall 116 Chap ter Six: Conclusion 128 Bibliography 132 Appendix: Figures, Examples and Contents of the 148 Cassette Recording Chapter 1 Introduction During the blitz, in January 1942, as Londoners sat in the dark waiting for the blackout to end, Max Beerbohm helped many of them to pas the time away with a BBC broadcast entitled "Music Halls of My Youth." Mter reminiscing about the great stars and the good old days of the music hall, Beerbohm conduded the progamme by saying: Perhaps you will blarne me for having spent so much of my the in Music Halls, so hivolously, when I should have been sticking to my books, buming the midnight oil and compassing the larger latitude. But 1 am impenitent. I am inclined to think, indeed 1 have always thought, that a young man who desires to know all that in all ages and in ail lands has been thought by the best minds, and wishes to make a synthesis of all those thoughts for the futw benefit of mankind, is laying up for himself a very miserable old age. 1 Beerbohm, however, need not have been so defensive of his interest in the music hall and his neglect of the "larger latitude." More recently, historians have looked to music hall entertainment as an important gauge of the attitudes, beliefs and values of the workiig classes; indeed, work on the music hall has allowed historians to broaden their perspectives and further examine the "larger latitude" of La te nine teenth and earty twen tieth-century life. The music hall has offered a wealth of evidence to historians studying such topics as class consciousness, gender construction and racial stereovpe, but despite the signüicant number of Irish, Scottish, English and Welsh characters and songs presented to audiences, üttle work has been done on regional and national representation. This is especially surprising considering the current trends among British historians to explore issues of 1 S. N. Behrrnan, Conversation with MW (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1960) 21 9. community, regionalisrn, nationalism and notions of British identity: topics now especiaily relevant not only because of Irish, Scottish and Welsh nationalism and separatism but also because of Britain's dianguig relationship to the European Community and the inaeasing sense of a 'global community.' 2 The changes that took place in Britain at the tum of the last cenîury may in fact seem very farniliar to modem ears. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth cenhiry, Britain became increasingly more centraiised, homogeneous and national; small communities gave Wray to the larger metropolis; the rural population dedined and urban areas grew as huge nunibers continued to flock to the cities; 3 inaeased consumerism, transportation and communication systerns helped to standardise the nation; and local custom, laquage and dialed diminished. 4 The music hall has rightfully been implicated by some historians as an important part of this process of standardisation and homogenisation, as music hail owners fomed 2 For recent historical work on British identity see: Laurence Brockfiss and David Eastwood. eds.. A Union of Multi~leIdentities: The British Mes. c. 1750-c.1850 (Manchester: Manchester UP, 1997); Linda Colley, Entons: Foraina the Nation 1707-1837 Vintage ed. (London: Vintage, 1996); Roy Porter, ed. Mvths of the Enalish (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992); Keith Robbins, Nineteenth-Centuw Britain: Intearation and Diversitv (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1988); Raphael Samuel, ed., Patriotisrn: The Makina and Unmakina of British National ldentitv 3 vols. (London: Routledge, 1989); Raphael Samuel and Paul Thompson. eds. The Mvths We Live Bv (London: Routledge, 1990). 3 The number of people engaged in agriculture in mgland fell by 34% between 1871 and 1911. The percentage of the population living in urban areas in England and Wales rose from 65% in 1871 to alrnost 80% in 191 1: AIun Howkins, Resha~inaRural Enaland: A Social Historv 1850- 1925 (London: Harper Collins Acadernic. 1991 ) 171 ,201 : P. J. Waller. Town. Citv~ndNation: Encjand 1850-191 4 (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1983) 8; For more on rural decline see: Jan Marsh, Back to the Land: The P9';tciral Im~ulsein Enaland. from 1880 to 1914 (London: Quartet Books, 1982); For more on urban growth see: Gareth Stedman Jones, Outcast London 2nd ed- (London: Penguin Books Ltd., 1971). 4 See Jose Harris, Private Lives. Public Soirit: Britain 1870-191 4 (London: Penguin 60oks Ltd., 1994); Robbins Nineteenth; For thedecline of local and rural diaIects see Patrick Joyce. Visions of the Peoole: Industrial Enaland and the auestion of class 1848-1914 (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1991). national syndicates and music hall stars went on national tours. But the music hdalso provides important evidence of the working-dass reaction to these trends, as in the face of growing 'sameness', regional 'dialect acts' extolled and trumpeted difference. If, for example, you were to hdyou.rsel£ in Cardiff in June 1898, you might entertain yourself at the popular Empire music hall with an amazing variety of amusements: The programme aJl round is a very fine one, but of course the great attraction is Piper Findlater, V.C. Tt was late in the programme when he appeared, his advent being heralded by the playing of "See the Conquering Hero Cornes." koudly did he mardi round the stage playing "The Cock of the North" on his bagpipes. Then he played "The Haughs of Gomdale," and there were more cheers. The finest part of the show, however, was the really admirable dancing of George ~lilorn,who executed two Highland dances with wonderful ski11 and precision. Pat Rafferty [an Irish comic singer] sang three smart songs and danced in his own dever and original way. The Welsh Quartet te sang ''The Boys of the Old Brigade" in rousing style and then gave "The Banks of AUan Water" with rare effort. Ted Hanley sang with great gusto, and Carola and Thomas, the musical acrobats and humorists, their trapeze performances being both amusing and daring.