1927, students storm University College
1927 ragTwo weeks of revelry characterised the rag of November 1927. It began when University College students briefly captured Reggie and filled his body with rotten apples before returning him to King's.
The response was swift: a contingent of women King's students drove to University College at dawn chanting, 'For Reggie!' while their colleagues stole in via the rear entrance and captured a bust of UC's founding genius, Jeremy Bentham.
The following day, King's students goaded their rivals by parading the bust outside University College.
Battle of Gower StreetHostilities recommenced a week later centred on the University College quad: the ammunition a variety of rotten eggs, fruit and vegetables.
At least six students were injured and taken to nearby University College Hospital for treatment following the commencement of hostilities at 2 pm.
King's were quickly reinforced by lorries carrying Covent Garden market refuse but many of their contingent, including Reggie, were in effect trapped after police ordered the shutting of the Unversity College gates.
University CollegeOnly a last minute scramble and the hauling of Reggie over the gates saved the King's commander-in-chief from the ignominy of capture and ransom.
As with the rag of '22, the College authorities responded with a public tightening of discipline and a warning that 'any further disturbances created by the students of the college with students of University College will be regarded as a breach of discipline and treated accordingly'.
In this exhibition
- Origins and mascots
- The heyday of the rag
- The 1920s
- The great rag of 1922
- 1927, students storm University College
- Communists, students and the rag of 1929
- A close, trunk call, 1931
- Women and the Rag
- Later rags