The Crystal Palace

My latest feature for Discover Your Ancestors magazine tells the story of the Crystal Palace. The first Palace was the brainchild of Joseph Paxton, designed for the Great Exhibition of 1851, and was later re-erected at Sydenham. The Palace, with its wonderful gardens, sculptures, concerts and entertainments, was a great favourite with the public for many years. 
Then on the night of 30 November 1936, horrified onlookers watched as the Palace suffered a catastrophic fire, with flames reaching over 100ft high. The Palace's glory days were over.

Image: The Crystal Palace at Sydenham. Old and New London Vol. VI, Cassell, Petter & Galpin, c.1893.

The Industrial Exhibition of 1862

Two hundred and fifty years ago this month, the 1862 industrial exhibition in South Kensington opened. Following the triumph of the Great Exhibition of 1851 and Joseph Paxton’s landmark Crystal Palace, expectations ran high for this new international exhibition.

The 1862 exhibition was dogged by controversy right from the planning stages. Captain Francis Fowke’s design for the building was considered a stylistic disaster by many commentators, who could not understand why Paxton was not chosen to reprise his former sensational design.
Prince Albert’s death the previous December 1861 was a great loss to the Exhibition planners. Albert had fought to keep the 1851 exhibition as a platform for the peaceful arts, but weapons of war were permitted in the 1862 exhibition.

There was more controversy because exhibitors were allowed to choose where to site their wares and an undignified fight for space erupted amongst the nations taking part. At one point it looked as if the Americans would not appear at all because Congress refused to give any financial support for their exhibits. There was critical comment over the judging procedures, too. Some of the judges awarding prizes were also exhibitors! The organizers had decided to permit visitors to buy exhibits if they wished, so at times the exhibition seemed more like a giant bazaar than a celebration of industry.
Queen Victoria was not present at the Exhibition’s grand opening on 1 May, probably because it was a painful reminder that she and Albert had opened the Crystal Palace eleven years earlier. As in 1851, there was a ‘shilling day’ so that ordinary people could afford to attend. Some children from the London Orphan Asylum visited: their treat was paid for by members of the Stock Exchange. The young Prince of Wales and his little sisters visited on the same day.

Despite the critics, the Exhibition attracted over six million visitors to see wonders such as Charles Babbage’s calculating engine, the Bessemer process, Perkin’s revolutionary aniline dye, and the new process of chromolithography.
The original planners had hoped that the building would be used for future events, but instead much of its materials were used to build Alexandra Palace (which later burnt down). Only two years after the Exhibition closed its doors, the building’s remains were dynamited by a team of Royal Engineers from Chatham. Capt. Fowke watched the demolition of the building he created.

Images from the author's collection: View of the 1862 Exhibition. Old and New London Vol. V, c. 1895.

One of the 1862 Exhibition’s colossal domes, designed by Capt. Fowke. Record of the 1862 Exhibition, William Mackenzie, c.1863.

Lilleshall Company’s Blast Engine exhibited in 1862. Record of the 1862 Exhibition, William Mackenzie, c.1863.

A Tale of Two Jubilees

Just in case you missed it, this is the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year and lots of celebrations are planned. Only one other British monarch, Queen Victoria, has celebrated their Diamond Jubilee. Queen Victoria’s reign was from 1837 to 1901: the longest for the United Kingdom to date. Third place in the ‘royal stakes’ goes to Victoria’s grandfather, George III, who was crowned king in 1760 and died in 1820. There were many celebrations for Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897, even though the queen had been unpopular for a time following her virtual retirement from public life after the death of her beloved Alfred, the Prince Consort.

A major landmark of Victoria’s reign was the Great Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations at the Crystal Palace in 1851. But for ordinary people, perhaps the introduction of the Elementary Education Act in 1870 (which enshrined in law the principle that all children aged five to twelve years old should attend school) had a more lasting impact.

I think the most memorable event of our Queen’s reign was the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969. But great strides have taken place in medicine, too, such as the eradication of smallpox. It’s hard to say what will be viewed by future generations as the most significant event of Her Majesty’s reign. Perhaps the invention of the world wide web? What do you think?

Images: The Coronation of Queen Victoria. Cassell’s Illustrated History of England Volume VII, (Cassell, Petter & Galpin, c. 1873).
Cover of Queen Victoria and Her People, (Educational Supply Association Ltd, 1897). This positively hagiographic biography of Victoria was a Diamond Jubilee souvenir for schoolchildren. Both images from the author’s collection.

The Victorians

I finally managed to see Jeremy Paxman’s The Victorians on BBC1 last night, which discussed Britain’s industrial achievements, of which the crowning pinnacle was the Great Exhibition of 1851 . Mr Paxman also looked at the human cost of Britain’s imperial and military conquests. I was pleased he took time to look at Victorian life from the viewpoint of the lower classes as well as that of self-made men such as William Armstrong of Cragside in Northumberland.
And of course, you can discover more about life for workers in places like Manchester, Liverpool and Barrow during late Georgian and Victorian times in my book Narrow Windows, Narrow Lives.

Image: The Great Exhibition of 1851; the Crystal Palace was revolutionary in its use of glass and cast iron for building materials. Engraving by Joseph Swain, Old and New London, Vol. 5, (Edward Walford, c.1894.)

A Grand Day Out

The summer holidays are almost here! Nowadays, families can enjoy holidays all over the world, limited only by their budgets or perhaps worries about their ‘carbon footprint.’ In Victorian times, the working classes got few opportunities for holidays. Whit Monday was the great workers' playtime, but workers were not necessarily all on holiday at once. Some mill-owners gave their workforce a week’s holiday each year, but others only had one or two days’ annual holiday. Workers scrimped and saved all year for their holidays – if they didn’t work, they didn’t get paid.
Traditionally, workers were limited to local fairs and races during Wakes week. But the advent of the railways meant some lucky workers could now travel much further afield.
One especially grand day out in the summer of 1851 was a visit to the Great Exhibition of Works of Industry of all Nations at the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, opened by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on 1 May. At first, its five shilling entrance fee meant only visitors from the upper and middle classes could afford to attend, but on 26 May the fee was reduced to one shilling on Mondays to Thursdays. The lower classes could now join in the fun. The Exhibition was considered educational as well as recreational; railway outings were laid on from the great manufacturing districts such as Manchester and Liverpool.
Lancashire ingenuity was well represented inside. Workers marvelled at the very latest in cotton spinning machinery from firms such as Hibbert, Platt & Sons of Oldham, cotton goods from Manchester, and a scale model of Liverpool Docks.

Image: Nave of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Engraving from Old and New London, Vol. 5, (Edward Walford, c.1894.)