Historian Arthur Nicholls continues his look at famous visitors to Kendal in years gone by:

IN 1906, Princess Christian (Helena) attended the Mary Wakefield Music Festival on its 25th anniversary and gave out the prizes.

The Prince of Wales (Edward VIII) came in 1927 and laid a wreath on the war memorial. Staggering along a line of ex-servicemen, he went to the town hall where he signed the Visitors Book and was presented with a box of K Shoes. Looking tired, he bade a hasty farewell after 35 minutes and left the town, disappointing the crowds, many having waited some five hours to see him. K Shoes was graced in 1935 with a visit to Netherfield Works by the Duke and Duchess of York.

In 1953, the vivacious Queen Salote of Tonga came to England for Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. She stole the hearts of the people by her happy disposition while riding in an open carriage, even in the rain. After the coronation, she went for a holiday in the Lake District and stopped off in Kendal where she was given a rousing reception.

Our Queen visited the town for two hours in 1956 during her regal tour of the country, lunching in the town hall. She paid another flying visit in 1985 when she launched a nuclear submarine in Barrow and opened the new Territorial Army Centre on Aynam Road in Kendal.

Princess Alice opened the YWCA on Stricklandgate in 1960, and Princess Margaret Rose opened the Abbot Hall Art Gallery in 1962.

Turning now to ‘lesser’ mortals. Politics was taken very seriously in Kendal in earlier days, and 1818 saw the entry into Kendal of rivals for the post of Member of Parliament; Henry Brougham for the Whigs and Lord and Colonel Lowther for the Tories. Violent political riots broke out in the streets, fuelled by drink supplied by both parties, resulting in personal injuries and damage to property before peace was restored.

Emmeline Pankhurst came to the town in 1911 to promote the Suffragette cause, and in 1934 Oswald Mosley addressed a large meeting on Gooseholme for his fascist Blackshirt movement.

Religious faith was very important and George Fox probably brought Quakerism to Kendal about 1645. In a visit in 1652 he preached in the town hall and was presented with a valuable roll of tobacco. His radical preaching generated opposition and persecution but Quakerism survived to be a major influence on municipal affairs and commerce.

Stephen Brunskill brought Wesleyan Methodism in 1787, preaching from a little roofed balcony at the Working Men’s Institute in the Market Place. William Wilberforce saw people flocking to the Gospel.

John Wesley paid the first of many visits in 1753 and was disgusted with people coming late and sitting without prayer. But after his preaching the congregation followed him to his inn asking him to speak to them again.

William Wordsworth came to meetings of the Kendal Literary and Scientific Institute where geologist Adam Sedgwick kept his audience spellbound for more than two hours.