May Queens by Ruth Allen

There is conflicting information regarding the order of some Queens in EJO’s Abbey books. The following list uses the description of Jean Guthrie’s coronation in Robins in the Abbey as a main source, with help from Littlejan’s discussions in Abbey Champion – and later books, of course, for the last six Queens. The main doubt is about the relative positions of Ivy & Clover; I have resolved this in my own mind by adhering to the order in which the procession is given in Robins, but it would be equally valid to argue that as Clover is referred to by Jen as ‘the Queen after Maidie-Primrose’ in Dancer (p. 45), their positions should be reversed.

Where surnames are known I have used them, but they are not always given, and in some cases the Queen’s ‘real’ name is not known either.

I have used dates AD for the dates of the Queens’ reigns (from May to May unless otherwise stated), and taken as a starting point the mention of a ‘first glimpse’ of the Peter Pan statue (erected 1912), near the beginning of Girls of the Hamlet Club, and the fact that Easter was early in 1913 (23 March) which is also mentioned in GOHC (p. 256). This makes the internal chronology of the series fit reasonably well with the ‘real’ world – the four-week summer vacation school at Cheltenham was in 1921 – and if the Marchwood twins are crowned in May 1939 this also explains why World War 2 is not mentioned in the series.

DateNameFlowerNoYear
1913-1914Miriam HonorWhite (with forget-me-nots as border)11
May-July 1914Cicely HobartGold (with brown autumn leaves)22
July 1914-May
1915
Marguerite VerityStrawberry Pink32
1915-1916Joy ShirleyGreen (with cream ‘Traveller’s Joy’ flowers)43
1916-1917Joan ShirleyViolet54
1917-1918Muriel BayneSpeedwell Blue65
1918-1919Nesta GreenHonesty Silver (with purple border)76
1919-1920Beatrice RandallStripes (red, green & yellow, with tulips as
flower)
87
1920-1921Barbara HonorCream background with Wild Rose border98
1921-1922Rosamund KaneRed Rose (with yellow & cream roses on train)109
1922-1923Jen RobinsBeech Brown (with ‘little yellow things that
dance’)
1110
1923-1924Maidlin Di
Ravarati
Primrose (with green border)1211
1924-1925UnknownIvy (dark green with yellow & purple striped
border)
1312
1925-1926Anne (later
Manley)
Clover Pink (with dark brown clover-leaves)1413
1926-1927UnknownBluebell1514
1927-1928UnknownPoppy1615
1928-1929Grace Gray Garden  (grey background with garden border flowers ‘growing’ from the bottom edge)1716
1929-1930MollyHyacinth (pink, white & blue)1817
1930-1931UnknownHeather1918
1931-1932MayLilac (mauve & white2019
1932-1933MirryForget-me-not blue2120
1933-1934Joan Fraser (Littlejan)Marigold (orange with dark brown border &
lining; orange marigold ‘stars’ on lining)
2221
1934-1935Jean GuthrieRosemary (dark green border)2322
1935-1936Janice Raymond (Jansy)Lobelia (dark blue with lobelia flower posies on
white diamond-shapes)
2423
1936-1937Rosalind Kane (Nanta)Lavender (grey-green border)2524
1937-1938TessaLupin (lemon yellow background, blue, pink &
apricot flower spikes rising from corners)
2625
1938-1939PhyllidaWallflower (chestnut brown & yellow)2726
1939-Elizabeth Marchwood
 
Margaret Marchwood
Buttercup (green/scattered flowers & white
border)

Daisy (green/scattered flowers & yellow border)
28


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