Tickets to view Coronation processions for King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, 1902

Four tickets admitting the bearer/s to a seat in St. Margaret's Churchyard, two for the Coronation of of Edward VII and Queen Alexandra on 26th June 1902 and two for the Royal Progress which was set for the following day.

In fact the coronation was postponed until August 9th as the king suffered appendicitis a few days beforehand which developed into peritonitis. The local and national upset this caused is described by local farmer Elliot Woolford in his 1902 diary - see Items of Interest below.

The tickets were kept by Vernon, 6th Viscount Bolingbroke until his death in 1974, perhaps as a novelty. They do create a puzzle as the 5th viscount had died in 1899 and Vernon, his son and heir, was just a small child at the time. It seems unlikely the tickets would be intended for the Viscount's widow and her infant son, and more likely HM Office of Works had not updated their records.

The tickets were generously gifted to The Friends of Lydiard Park by a private donor in 2023.