‘Derby days at Wembley’: urban heritage, civic narratives and political continuity at the British Empire Exhibition of 1924

Abstract This article uses the Derby Borough Corporation’s exhibition at the Civic Hall at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, held in June 1924, to show how local urban heritage was combined with imperialism to create a loose ideology around which different, potentially oppositional, groups could cooperate in 1920s Britain. Working together to create a narrative of Derby’s ‘rise and progress’, politicians, civic institutions, businesses, prominent aristocratic and landed families, educational establishments and artists constructed a ‘common heritage’ to show the benefits of continuity at a time of acute political and social change.