Gwen Lally

Gwen Lally (born Gwendolin Rosalie Lally Tollandal Speck, 1 March 1882 – 14 April 1963) was an English pageant master, actor, theatre producer, playwright and lecturer. Lally regularly defied gender conventions and often chose to wear 'masculine' clothing that was typical of the era, such as trousers and a top hat. As the first woman pageant maker she produced many historical pageants for smaller towns and organisations as well as major city pageants which involved casts of thousands.

Early life Lally was born at 20 Perham Road, Fulham, London, to 'gentleman' Jocelyn Henry Speck and Rosalie Hughes Dalrymple. She was the eldest of three children. As a child she had a passion for Shakespeare and acting, and became an actress despite parental opposition.

She grew up on the Oxfordshire/Warwickshire border where her father, who had taken holy orders, was curate at Banbury (1887-1890) and vicar of Wroxton (1892-1907). There, she frequently contributed to church and village entertainments. In 1901, she performed as Olivia in Twelfth Night along with Frank Stevens (later pageant master Frank Lascelles) at a fete in Banbury in aid of Banbury National Schools.

Career In 1906, Lally began her career at His Majesty’s Theatre, London, under the management of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree. She also worked in touring theatre and music halls, and at the Old Vic. She claimed "the distinction of being the only actress who has never worn skirts on the stage". However, in 1907 she appeared in the Oxford Historical Pageant in the role of Queen Eleanor.

As a director and producer she worked at repertory theatres in Leeds, where she had her own repertory company at the Little Theatre, and Westcliff on Sea. In 1926 she directed the Village Drama Society's summer school in Bath and in York in 1927. She was also an adjudicator at the Yorkshire Women's Institute Drama Competitions.

Lally wrote two plays, acting in both of them: Pierrot Philanders (1917) and The Great Moment (1918).

Lally is best known as a pageant maker, and the first woman to succeed in this work. Pageant of Ashdown Forest, Kent (1929). A.A. Milne wrote the finale and his son Christopher Robin was a child performer. The Spirit of Warwickshire, Warwick Castle (1930) Tewkesbury Pageant (1931) Battle Abbey Pageant, Sussex (1932) Runnymede Pageant (1934), which featured future Air Transport Auxiliary pilot Veronica Volkersz Pageant of England, Langley Park, Bucks. (1935) Pageant of Birmingham: the centenary of the granting of the City of Birmingham's Charter of Incorporation in which 8000 people took part (1938) Pageant of Dudley (1951) Malvern Pageant, Worcestershire (1951) Pageant of Poole, Dorset (1952): involved 1500 performers

Egham Museum in Surrey holds some of the Runnymeade Pageant costumes in their collections.