| Main Performers | Noel Pemberton-Billing - speaker
Gertrude Tomalin - performer
Paula St Clair,
Mackenzie Fairfax,
Harry Dearth,
Jeanne Jouve - vocals,
H L Balfour - organ |
| Set List | Organ Recital (H L Balfour),
'My Ain Folk', Laura Lemon (Paula St Clair),
'Land of Hope and Glory', Elgar (Mackenzie),
'Long Shore', Sanderson (Harry Dearth),
Aria: 'Mon Coeur S'ouvre A Ta Voix', Saint-Saens (Jeanne Jouve, Ethel Attwood),
'God Send You Back to Me', Emmett Adams (Paula St Clair),
'The Company Sergeant-Major', Sanderson (Harry Dearth),
'Four By The Clock', Mallinson (Jeanne Jouve),
'Love Went A-Riding', Bridge,
Speech (N Pemberton-Billing),
Recitation: 'The Firing Squard' (Gertrude Tomalin),
Speech (N Pemberton-Billing) |
| Performance Notes | The Vigilante journal was published by Noel Pemberton-Billing.
"Mr Billing , MP, speaking at a meeting of the Vigilante Society at the Albert Hall on Saturday, put the following resolution: 'That this meeting views with dismay and alarm the pernicious influence of the naturalized and unnaturalized enemies in our midst, and calls upon his Majesty's Govenrment to take immediate steps to de-naturalize all enemy born subjects and intern them forthwith and further, to take power under the Defence of the Realm Act to provide that all aliens shall for the duration of the war exhibit on the lapel of their coats an emblem of their nationality.'
Mr Billing said that the time had come when public pressure must be brought to bear upon those in authority. There was hardly a Government Department that did not house some Hun. The aliens in this country were doing an immense amount of harm, and while the best of our man-power was away and small businesses had been shut up so that their owners might answer the call, hundreds of these businesses had been taken away by what were called friendly aliens. He wanted the British Empire to be preserved for British people.
Speaking of what is known as the 'hidden hand' in this country, Mr Billing said he had heard many rumours as to who was behind him in the recent libel action. The names of Mr Bottomley, Lord Northcliffe, and Mr Lloyd George had been mentioned. They had nothing whatever to do with it. What was behind him was the clean heart of the British people. He believed that the Government only wanted a definite expression of public opinion and all Germans would be interned." (The Vigilante, 1918)
Guests in the audience included: Captain Sherwin Spencer and Lord Alfred Douglas.
The British Film Institute hold original footage of the Royal Albert Hall when Pemberton-Billing spoke at this meeting (BFI identifier 255434) as part of a longer film reel called, 'Pemberton Billing and the 'Vigilantes', released 1918.
BFI description:
"After the famous trial huge crowds flocked to hear him speak at the Albert Hall, London, over 8,000 people being present" (699). The Albert Hall, with a notice outside reading: 'The Vigilantes. Saturday Next at 3. Mass Meeting. Pemberton Billing MP. Subject, - "A Cleaner Britain" (The Ideal We Are Fighting For). Admission free by ticket. Apply 5, St James's Place, SW1' (712). CS notice (725). People going into the meeting (736). |
| Related Archival Material | Handbill (RAHE/6/1918/16) |