Frank Lascelles
Frank Lascelles, date unknown 
Pageant of South Africa, postcard, 1909 Frank Lascelles, born Frank Stevens in Oxfordshire in 1875, was another notable pageant master during the high period for pageants at the start of the twentieth century.
There is a plethora of material in the Clarke collection relating to Lascelles, perhaps more than any other pageant master, demonstrating his influence on Clarke’s own work.
Lascelles produced sixteen pageants, and was one of the only pageant masters to produce a pageant outside of Britain. Indeed, it is this that sets Lascelles apart from others.
The English Church Pageant Addenda, 1909He produced pageants in South Africa in 1909 and in Calcutta in 1912. Lascelles was celebrating the influence of Britain throughout the world, in a way previous pageants did not.
This perhaps fostered a sense of cohesiveness within the individual localities of Britain, and helped people envision the country acting as a whole entity; something useful in the lead up to World War One.
Lascelles’ other famous pageant came in the form of the English Church Pageant at Fulham Palace in 1909. Over 178,000 people made it to the performances, showing the popularity of pageants during the early twentieth century.
This exhibition featuring the David Clarke Collection, has been researched and compiled by Fraser Simpson, MA student History Department, King’s College London.