On St Catherine’s night the ropemakers of Chatham dockyard carried a woman dressed as Queen Catherine, founder of the ropery, through Chatham, Rochester and Brompton by torchlight. She sat in a chair of state borne by six ropemakers, with a band of fifes and drums in front. Dyer quotes the account from Notes and Queries.
The ropemakers’ Queen Catherine at Chatham
25 November · Chatham, Kent
No longer kept
The female representing her Majesty (who was borne in a chair of state by six rope-makers) was dressed in white muslin, wore a gilt crown, and carried in her hand a Roman banner.
From Dyer's British Popular Customs, p. 427. Read the original
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