Description:A Coronation tea for the children on the lawn at Armitage Lodge. The tea was provided for participants of the procession from Handsacre to Armitage at the commencement of a full programme of activities and amusements celebrating the Coronation of King George V and Queen Mary culminating with firework display at 9.45 p.m.
On the extreme left is the Rector’s footman in livery. Next but one to him is the butler Frederick Christian wearing a straw hat. Fourth from left and wearing a straw hat and facing the camera is Mr Frederick Gardner. Dispensing tea and wearing a large hat is one of the two Miss Liversage’s who, with her father and sister taught in the school. The man on the right wearing a medal is thought to be John Peate.
At the time of this photograph Armitage Lodge was the home of the Rector, Rev. Edward Samson, his wife and two unmarried daughters, and ten live-in house servants. The 1911 Census dated just two months earlier lists Frederick William Christian, aged 34, as a footman and Hubert Henry Clay, aged 50, as butler. Frederick's promotion must have been very recent when this photograph was taken.
This picture is from an album of photographs taken by Thomas Harvey Boycott (1876-1949) who lived with his widowed mother, Fanny Maria, whose family had lived at Handsacre Hall as farmers, together with his unmarried aunt, Sarah Elizabeth Harvey. Thomas was a Clerk at Lichfield District Probate Court and a skilled amateur photographer. The album was a parting gift from Harvey and his mother to the Rev. R.E. Grice-Hutchinson (1885-1976) who was Curate of Armitage with Pipe Ridware 1909-1913.