Title: Bacon’s Coronation Procession Chart.
Description: London: G. W. Bacon & Co., 1911. Map printed in red, green, blue and black with hand-colored routes, 11.5” x 16” (sheet size 18” x 24”), folding into gray printed covers, 6.5” x 3.875”. [With] 1 ticket on blue and white stock, filled out in manuscript, 5.5” x 7.625”. CONDITION: Very good, light wear and .5” to 1” separations beginning at margins along some old folds.
A rare map showing the procession routes for the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary in June of 1911, accompanied by a ticket to the coronation service for a prominent young woman whose affair with the future Prime Minister contributed to her husband’s rise in power.
Beneath the royal coat of arms in red, and flanked by “Notes for Intending Spectators” on coronation day (June 22nd) and the “Royal Progress” (June 23rd), this map shows London from Lancaster Gate to London Bridge, and King’s Cross to Sloane Square. Routes are indicated in pink (“First Route, June 22nd”); blue (“Second Route, June 23rd”); and purple (Third Route, June 29th”), and a key at the top left defines the scale and the various symbols for barriers, crossing points, tramways, the Underground, ambulance stations, and drinking fountains. Below the map is a “Reference to Stands,” with over eighty numbered establishments set up along the route, from King George’s Hospital and the Yorkshire Society School to the London City Council and the House of Lords.
Accompanying the map is a ticket to the coronation service at St. Paul’s Cathedral on June 29th, admitting “Miss M. Hamar Greenwood,” née Margery Spencer (1886–1968). Spencer married Hamar Greenwood, who became a prominent politician, just a month before the coronation. Politically ambitious, Margery had an affair with future prime minister David Lloyd George—nicknamed “The Goat” for his licentiousness—which probably influenced Lloyd George’s decision, in 1914, to arrange two salaries and a baronetcy for Greenwood.
Born in New York, George Washington Bacon (1830–1922) was a mapmaker and publisher. In 1861, Bacon moved to London and established a series of businesses, but in 1867 went bankrupt. He founded the publishing firm G. W. Bacon & Co. in 1870, and in 1893 purchased the map business of James Wyld. Around 1900, G. W. Bacon & Co. was purchased by and incorporated into the Scottish publishing house of W. & A. K. Johnston. Maps using the Bacon imprint were produced as late as 1956. Around 1967 W. & A. K. Johnston’s name was changed to Johnston & Bacon.
No examples recorded in OCLC, nor do we locate any through Google searches.
REFERENCES: MacLaren, Roy. Empire and Ireland : The Transatlantic Career of the Canadian Imperialist Hamar Greenwood, 1870–1948 (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015), p. 83.
Item #7677
Seller ID: 7677
Subject: Maps