Women and the Rag
Marching womenThe involvement of women in rags drew considerable comment during the 1920s.
Under a headline 'Women and those 'Rags'', a Star reporter claimed in 1929 that most women students were disdainful of their more enthusiastic cousins.
Women preparingMiss Paul, a tutor to women students at King's, insisted portentously that 'displays of boisterousness were really exclusively men's affairs' while a senior female student proclaimed, rather unconvincingly, that 'our principle is not to take part, as the men do not like it'.
New mascot, 1923However, women clearly played a central role in 1920s rags, including the raid on University College in 1927.
Notable as well, in relating to rags, was their central role in the birth of the King's mascot, Reggie.
Dissatisfied with the giant beer bottle mascot used hitherto, the Senior Women Student, Mary Edwards, and Women's Common Room Secretary, Margaret Robinson, set out to locate a suitable replacement such as a lion, that might reflect the content of the College Coat of Arms.
They eventually paid £7 for a copper lion from a junkyard off Tottenham Court Road that was christened Reggie at a special meeting in December 1923.
In this exhibition
- Origins and mascots
- The heyday of the rag
- Later rags