Oldham Catholic Schools Procession (1904)

Catholic schoolchildren lead a Whit Friday procession in honour of Our Lady.

This elaborate Whitsun procession would have been a keenly-anticipated opportunity for Catholics, who were in the minority in Edwardian Britain, to proclaim their faith. Wearing beautiful new white dresses (which would have stretched a poor family's budget), the little girls from St Anne's are followed by older girls in historical costume and the statue of the Virgin Mary on a bier.