Comments on: Battersea, the Festival of Britain and the Ku Klux Klan http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/2009/05/battersea-the-festival-of-britain-and-the-ku-klux-klan/ A blog about 20th Century London Sun, 21 Aug 2022 20:46:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Ups and downs | things magazine http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/2009/05/battersea-the-festival-of-britain-and-the-ku-klux-klan/comment-page-1/#comment-153272 Ups and downs | things magazine Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:27:13 +0000 http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/?p=916#comment-153272 [...] place to go to look up a specific musician / from Vintage views of London by Colin O’Brien / Ku Klux Klan at the Festival of Britain / London – random and unseen / Q&A with Austin Williams: Urbanist / a glass speaker / [...]

]]> By: james http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/2009/05/battersea-the-festival-of-britain-and-the-ku-klux-klan/comment-page-1/#comment-1511 james Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:24:33 +0000 http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/?p=916#comment-1511 It’s fancy dress of Nazarenos, if you look closely you can see that the hats are made of paper or card. You can also see that the eye holes have ripped on the first one.The robes are just white sheets, because you can see their sleeves. Quite effective though, very Blue Peter.

]]> By: Bill Luther http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/2009/05/battersea-the-festival-of-britain-and-the-ku-klux-klan/comment-page-1/#comment-843 Bill Luther Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:16:30 +0000 http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/?p=916#comment-843 While on my honeymoon in Malta a few years ago I saw a photo of similarly attired Maltese in the 1930′s or 1940′s which leads me to suspect they are aligned with a Spanish style Catholic procession/feast as mentioned in other comments. The headgear are way more conical, which as an American I’m way too familar with. Also absent from their garb are the Klan’s cross which is always worn above the heart.

]]> By: Alexander http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/2009/05/battersea-the-festival-of-britain-and-the-ku-klux-klan/comment-page-1/#comment-771 Alexander Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:08:55 +0000 http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/?p=916#comment-771 I agree with the last message, I think they are dressed as the catholic holy week “nazarenos” and it has been misinterpreted as the KKK.

]]> By: Thisainthip http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/2009/05/battersea-the-festival-of-britain-and-the-ku-klux-klan/comment-page-1/#comment-735 Thisainthip Fri, 29 May 2009 10:35:08 +0000 http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/?p=916#comment-735 Hi,
These guys look more like spanish “nazarenos”, members of catholic fraternities who parade during the Holy Week processions (or people disguised as them). They usually carry candles, not burning crosses. Nothing to do with racial issues. I don’t see any KKK emblems around, anyway. Probably the Klansmen were inspired by the looks of these guys. More at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Week_in_Seville
By the way, I really enjoyed this blog. Congratulations.

]]> By: Preston http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/2009/05/battersea-the-festival-of-britain-and-the-ku-klux-klan/comment-page-1/#comment-714 Preston Wed, 27 May 2009 17:25:06 +0000 http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/?p=916#comment-714 Yikes! I had no idea the KKK was in Britain too. I thought it was an American group. But then hatred knows no boundaries, eh?

]]> By: Peter Watts http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/2009/05/battersea-the-festival-of-britain-and-the-ku-klux-klan/comment-page-1/#comment-689 Peter Watts Fri, 22 May 2009 15:47:17 +0000 http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/?p=916#comment-689 Hi there

We featured this picture in Time Out a few years ago and requested information. Some correspondents claimed the white robes were for a Spanish religious order, but apparently it was actually a fancy dress parade.

George Simner, of the Festival of Britain Society, sent me a clipping from the Mirror dated October 6, 1951. It is a photo with a caption that reports: ‘It was masquarade night at the Festival Pleasure Gardens – the first of five carnival evenings. Following the band came weird procession of giants, dwarves, clowns, stilt-walkers and Ku Klux Klanners. Children took full advantage of the opportunity to get into the Gardens free by wearing fancy dress.’

The Mirror’s picture also showed a group of people ‘blacked up’ like the black and white minstrels.

According to Lee Jackson at Victorian London free admission to the Friday night fireworks display was offered to anybody in fancy dress.

]]> By: Andrew in Staines http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/2009/05/battersea-the-festival-of-britain-and-the-ku-klux-klan/comment-page-1/#comment-673 Andrew in Staines Wed, 20 May 2009 13:01:37 +0000 http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/?p=916#comment-673 This is currently (Wednesday 12.30) being discussed on BBC London’s excellent Robert Elms show. Interesting listening! btw…that’s how I’ve discovered this excellent blog.

]]> By: number8 http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/2009/05/battersea-the-festival-of-britain-and-the-ku-klux-klan/comment-page-1/#comment-672 number8 Wed, 20 May 2009 12:06:11 +0000 http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/?p=916#comment-672 Just heard about your site on Robert Elms on bbc london.

Wow. im shocked. I know there was obvious racism around in the UK up until the 80′s but never knew about the KKK being here !
Would love to know more …

poohugh: The film Days of Glory deals with a similar issue too. So much for taking heed of the lessons of WWII and defeating the ‘real’ racists huh.

]]> By: poohugh http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/2009/05/battersea-the-festival-of-britain-and-the-ku-klux-klan/comment-page-1/#comment-668 poohugh Tue, 19 May 2009 12:54:32 +0000 http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/?p=916#comment-668 Let’s not be too surprised: see this article http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7984436.stm.

You may also like to find the crappest reason for them being there in this link http://www.designcommunity.com/discussion/18366.html. There were no KKK chapters in the UK in 1951/ever (other than local nuts in Wales http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/366114.stm).

]]>