“Victoria, by Grace of God, Queen for Sixty Years! The Occasion of our Day of Celebration is Without Parallel or Precedent.” Or: The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria

It wont, I’m sure, have escaped anyone’s attention that 2012 marks the sixtieth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, our second-longest serving monarch (for now). Plenty of newspapers have included supplements over the last few weeks to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee, and I have perused – and even kept – a couple of them myself, but I’m also lucky enough to own a copy of the Illustrated London News Diamond Jubilee Number for Queen Victoria’s sixtieth year as monarch, a hundred and fifteen years ago. 

Amazingly, very little has changed in the approach by the press to the contrasting diamond Jubilee’s. The 1897 newspapers contained pictures of key moments and events during Victoria’s sixty years, and modern newspapers have been peppered with photographs of Queen Elizabeth from her childhood to her most recent appearances. The Victorian papers also contained extremely patriotic write-ups on what a super Queen Victoria had been throughout her unparalleled reign, and I have seen similar articles over the last month in today’s press. I have a few newspapers from 1897 which lead up to the Jubilee, and they are filled with adverts for well-established brands, from soap to piano manufacturers, which include some text referring to their being favoured by the Queen, or for serving the public for sixty years (just as the Queen had.) This tactic of using public events such as this still goes on today, and I’ve taken a few snaps of newspaper adverts that I’ve seen over the last couple of weeks, both old and new here:

But I digress. If, however, you’d like to read more about Victorian advertising, click here

So, back to the jubilees; it seems that everything in today’s press was being done back then, too, apart from – or so I thought – one aspect which has saturated modern print media which is seen very rarely in nineteenth century newspapers, and that is the celebrity columnist. However, inside my 1897 Jubilee Edition of the ILN, I was delighted to find a Jubilee write-up by Walter Besant.

Walter Besant was a prominent novelist and historian who, having been born in August 1836 and died in June 1901, lived almost exclusively within the reign of Victoria (June 1837 – January 1901) Walter was also the brother of someone we have met before within this blog, Annie Besant, who campaigned for the rights of Matchgirls in the late 1880’s (read more on that here

But back to Walter; keen-eyed Londonophiles may have noticed a little monument to him on the Victoria Embankment. He was a hugely prolific writer, and from 1871 until his death he produced an incredible 47 novels, a play, and 38 works on non-fiction, including quite a lot about London history, which was his area of expertise. Therefore, he seems a natural choice to write a piece for the Illustrated London News looking back at the reign of Victoria, and what a wonderful job he did summing up the age:

From the ILN Diamond Jubilee Number, 1897
By Sir Walter Besant, KT.

Victoria, by grace of God, Queen for sixty years! The occasion of our day of celebration is without parallel or precedent. To us, who find it difficult to stand outside and to consider events in their true proportion, the period seems like a grand triumphal march. To those of us who can remember English life as it was in the forties, the changes that have fallen upon the country are nothing short of a transformation. We are transformed indeed: we no longer think as we did: our daily manners and customs are changed: our views of things are changed: from peer to peasant we are, one and all, transformed. And no one regrets the change: the younger folk, indeed, do not understand it: they have been born in the later Victorian period: to their minds things have always been as they are.

Mere figures go for nothing: that is to say, very few people can realise millions or can understand what they mean. If I set down a few it is for the sake of defining what would otherwise seem vague assertion. For instance, I propose a broad statement that during this long period there has arisen in the national mind such a spirit of enterprise, endeavour, and achievement as has no parallel in our history except in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Now, as then, people have been restless: it is a strange quality in our Anglo -Saxon race that from time to time we become restless: this restlessness has shown itself in colonisation, in emigration, is research, in discovery, in invention - in changes of every kind. As for figures then: the actual increase in the area of the British Empire during the last sixty years has been about three and a half millions of square miles: but, since mere hill and plain do not make a country richer, it is well to add that this area is peopled by at least eight millions, whom we are gradually civilising. Apart from this extension there has been created, absolutely created, out of nothing, new populations; of four millions in Australia, and nearly a million in New Zealand: with noble cities which for the splendour of their buildings and the excellence of their government, may stand beside the finest cities of the old world. In fact, there have arisen four great nations - Canada, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand - any one of which must in the nature of things become, nominally as well as actually, sovereign and independent. To my mind this is the most important political event of the century. The great problem of the immediate future will no longer be the preservation of these States under the Union Jack, but the preservation of friendship and alliance of all four, with the mother country first, and with each other next. Let it be the greater glory of this reign to lay the foundations of such an alliance: let us establish the beginnings of a sentiment, based upon common language, common origin, common institutions, such as may make enmity between any two of these new countries impossible.

A few more figures. We have lost, of our own people, ten millions by emigration. Yet we have advanced from twenty-five to forty millions. In 1837 railways were only just beginning: there are now over twenty thousand miles in these islands. The carrying power of our shipping has increased from three millions of tons to twenty seven millions. Our textile manufacturers have increased fourfold: our foreign trade sixfold. This is enough of figures: they will afford, at least, even though they are not fully grasped, an idea of progress which is astonishing and unprecedented.

The Queen in 1837

We have not achieved and maintained the extension of Empire without war: it cannot be said that the reign of Queen Victoria has been peaceful: it can, however, be said that her armies have maintained their ancient honour. We have carried on wars all over the world: we have had a great war with Russia; another in India: we have had wars in Afghanistan, Abyssinia, Ashanti, Benin, Burmah, Chitral, Canada, New Zealand and Egypt.

If the reign has not been one of peace abroad it has been one of pacification at home. The reign opened ominously: there was a depression of agriculture far more threatening than that which at present obtains. The farm labourers, by hundreds of thousands, were on the parish: they were angry and gloomy: ricks were blazing everywhere. In the towns a wild Chartism was looking forward, under guise of certain "points," to the overthrow of our institutions and the establishment of a Republic: a spirit of discontent was everywhere: of loyalty to the Crown there was none below a certain social level. What has happened? The revolutionary party has vanished: now and then one may hear a wild word shouted at a Hyde Park meeting: it evokes no response: there is no longer any party which seriously purposes any change in the Constitution: the whole nation is united in loyalty.

What has effected this change? Prosperity, partly. But the successive measures of Reform in a still greater degree. What we commonly call Reform is the extension of the franchise: a thing of importance, no doubt, but of small importance compared with the various Reforms which have affected the daily life of the people. Formerly, the mill-owner and the mine-owner took the children at six and seven years of age, and worked them all day long; in the run of the mill, sometimes at night. That power was taken from them: it was proclaimed by Act of Parliament that a man shall not have power to work a hand more than so many hours a day. Next in importance was the abolition of the debtors prison. When the Queen ascended the throne it was possible to lock up a man for life who owed a few shillings. Think of the barbarity, the stupidity of it! Think what a burden - what a terror - was taken from life when those accursed walls of the fleet and the Queen's Bench were thrown down!

To these acts add the abolition of flogging in the army and the navy. Remember that in 1837 every captain of a ship had it in his power to flog a man for anything, without trial - to give him three dozen or as many dozen as he pleased: there were cases in which, to make the men smart, the Captain flogged the last man down from the yards. It is wonderful that our sailors fought as they did. This Reform affected the whole of that great class from which the Army and the Navy are recruited. They can now enlist without fear of degradation. Hence, the faces, both of sailors and soldiers, are stamped with a brighter, prouder air than formerly. Again, since the whole nation had received the right of vote, it was shameful that any single man should remain uneducated. So the Education Act was passed: a man may now no longer keep his child away from school, but he has nothing to pay for his schooling. We are turning out every year boys and girls whom we have not only taught to read, but whom we have made eager and greedy readers. It is therefore fortunate that the Stamp has been taken off the newspaper and the duty off paper; for a cheap Press and cheap literature have been rendered possible for this army of readers. They cry continually for more. Journals sell by the half million. For those who desire more serious reading and and study, there are springing up everywhere free libraries, by means of which the people command for nothing the whole literature of their country, past and present. By these acts, by the repeal of the Corn Laws, by the Amendment of the Poor Law, by the Reform Act of 1867, by Cheap Postage, by Rapid Communication, by Cheaper Food Supplies, Cheaper Rent, Cheaper clothes, better lodgings, higher wages, the admission of holidays - the old discontent has been driven away so completely that it is well-nigh forgotten.

It is impossible to ignore the achievements of science. We have rendered it possible to perform any operation - the most cruel - upon a patient painlessly. What a step is this! We are carried cheaply all over the island by steam - we who formerly never left our native village! We can send messages all over the world in a moment - distance is annihilated: we can transact business without leaving our office: we can preserve speech in boxes: we can reproduce scenes acted with all the movements of the actors: our ships are scientific instruments; and our machines do things that formerly required skilled intelligence.

These things and many more on which there is no space to dwell - among others, art, music, literature - belong to and increase the Victorian glory. Great and abiding shall be the name and fame for all time of that gracious lady who welcomed and encouraged every one of these great acts for the advance of humanity! It is not the part of a Sovereign to advance personally any branch of endeavour: it is the part of a wise Sovereign to encourage all who attempt and all who succeed.

God save the Queen!

The Queen and her Statesmen.
On the 21st June 1837, the day following the death of King William IV, Queen Victoria held her first Privy Council at Kensington Palace. The first impression produced by the youthful Sovereign was most favourable. Lord Melbourne, himself instructed by Greville, the Clerk, taught her Majesty the formal part of the business, which she carried through with composure and native dignity. According to her wish, the Queen entered the Council Chamber alone. Proclamation was made, then the doors were flung open and the Queen advanced to her place. With unfaltering voice she read her solemn declaration. Thereafter she signed the oath for the security of the Church of Scotland, and the Privy Councillors were sworn. When her uncles knelt to her, the young Queen blushed up to the eyes with embarrassment, her only visible sign of emotion. She made no difference in manner to any, not even when Melbourne, with his Ministers, the Duke of Wellington, and Peel, approached her. Her only sign of dependence was an occasional glance towards Melbourne for her cue. The Queen's modesty and firmness gave happy augery of her fitness for the highest office. All her Councillors were pleased. Wellington told Greville that had it been his own daughter he could not have desired to see her perform her part better. Peel, too, was amazed and gratified. During the earlier years of her reign Queen Victoria was guided in State business with almost fatherly care by Lord Melbourne, for whom she had the warmest regard. When, at length, in 1841, his final resignation had to be given in, the parting was a trial both to Sovereign and Minister. The Premier was satisfied, however, that the Queen had an able and competent adviser on Prince Albert.

The Queen as Wife and Mother.
Endeared as she is to her people by many public virtues, Queen Victoria has come yet closer to the nation's heart by the beauty of her domestic life. At the Queen's accession the affection of the people certainly went out to the young girl thus called to fill the loftiest of positions; but when she became a wife and mother there grew up between Sovereign and people what may almost be called a family tie. This bond her Majesty greatly fostered and strengthened. It was known that apart from the pomp and state of her exalted position, Queen Victoria loved and enjoyed a simple and happy home life, where all that was lovely and of good report had entrance and encouragement. During the happy one-and-twenty years of their married life, the Queen and Prince Albert stood in the forefront of the national life, ever influencing it for good, ever setting an example of purity and virtue. The Royal couple were devoted to each other in no common way. In their tastes and pursuits they were wedded indeed. Music and the fine arts occupies their leisure moments, and it was their delight to meet in private men and women of genius. How beautiful and home-like was their reception of Mendelssohn, how perfect the "harmony" of that occasion, the great composer has himself recorded. From his account we catch one of the fairest glimpses accorded us of the Queen's widely devotion to Prince Albert and of his tender regard for her. And as the years went on and children were growing up around the Royal pair, the nation noted with a glad satisfaction that in parental duties their Sovereign and her Consort had approved themselves a shining example. Amid a court pure as the most sheltered English home, Victoria and Albert went hand in hand with their children, leading them towards the true, the beautiful, and the good.

Literature under Victoria.
Her Majesty has contributed to literature one of the most successful books of the age, "Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands." She has also assisted in another, sir Theodore Martin's "Life of the Prince Consort." The Prince Consort himself was a diligent patron of literature, and men of letters owe much to the considerateness of the Empress Frederick and Princess Alice. Women have shone conspicuously in many departments of the literary life of the epoch, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, George Eliot, and Charlotte Bronte rank among the Queen's favourite authors. The literary life of the period has no more prominent figures than Carlyle and John Stuart Mill - the one ever a fighter and an inspirer to noble ideals; the other an exact thinker, whose work has left its impress on the moral and intellectual development of the age, as has also the work of our most famous living philosopher, Mr. Herbert Spencer. To the four poets laureate of the reign - Southey, Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Mr. Austin - must be added the names of Robert Browning and Mr. Swinburne. Literary criticism in the reign has had no greater leader than Matthew Arnold, while John Ruskin has been one of our most brilliant critics of life and art. Fiction has had for its chief representatives William Makepeace Thackeray, Charles Dickens, Charles Kingsley, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Mr. George Meredith. Lord Macaulay stands out as the most popular exponent of history during the period, and, indeed, may be said to have been the first and foremost of a great band of workers upon the lines of historical research.

Science of the Reign
When the Queen ascended the throne a considerable capital of scientific knowledge had been collected. In her time it has grown with the pleasant and ever-increasing rapidity of a sum at compound interest. Science in England has become less insular and more and more cosmopolitan. The Victorian era has been a time of giants in science: but that is not the peculiarity of the period. Darwins, Daltons, Faradays, Stephensons, Kelvins, and Listers there have been in every century, but never before has the world seen the growth and organisation of a vast army of scientific workers that add their quota to the general sum and disappear nameless into the unknown.
They are as necessary to the giants as workers to the queen bee. Scientific literature is now so vast, and expanding so astoundingly, that it threatens, like an avalanche, to descend and bury its votaries.
The sum and substance of all the efforts of Victorian science has been to put the body and mind of man more at ease. Thanks to the Stephensons, the Brunels, and their disciples, to Faraday, Siemens, Kelvin, Rowland Hill, and their followers, space has been almost annihilated, and the ends of the earth brought together. Simpson, Lister, the continental descendants of the great Jenner, Parkes, and the pioneer band of English sanitarians have alleviated the sting of disease, and put our bodies more at ease. More than any nationality, Englishmen have been busy to put our minds at rest by teaching us the nature of the world we live in, and making us less the creatures of chance. The seas have been charted, the depths of space fathomed, the heavens mapped, the earth and it's plants and animals examined. Darwin, Spencer, and Huxley have replaced empirical theories by a history written in rocks, bones, and living tissue.

The Queen in 1887
At the celebrations consequent on the attainment of her fiftieth year as Queen, her Majesty was reviewed by her people with a lively manifestation of patriotic pride and honest friendship, which was, as someone remarked at the time, the outcome of no sudden enthusiasm, but better - of a sound popular opinion.

The Queen in 1887

Sincerity and cordiality were the notes of the people's greeting to the sovereign. Nor was the rejoicing merely British. The greeting in Waterloo place summed up the worldwide congratulation, "Victoria, all nations salute thee!" Received with the loving and loyal acclamations of her subjects all along the route of the procession to the Abbey on that June day in 1887, her Majesty cannot but have felt that the solemn act of thanksgiving to which she was proceeding was indeed no empty form. To have reigned fifty years, and in these to have won only the increasing love and respect of a worldwide Empire, is indeed a triumph which might well fill the heart of a Sovereign with the profoundest gratitude to providence. Such exercises do but exalt the worshipper. "A figure of singular dignity and interest, drawing and holding all eyes," they said the Queen appeared, as in her simple but regal array she passed to her place in the Abbey. Slowly she traversed the nave, and along the choir to the dais; alone she ascended the steps to take her seat on the chair of state. The Archbishop pronounced the invocation. The choir chanted "Te Deum." At intervals, as a sort of "leit-motif" to the service, were heard the strains of "God Save the Queen!" The nations heart was uplifted in supplication that yet larger store of years might be reserved for our beloved Sovereign. Happy the nation that sees such a day, thrice happy the nation that sees its rejoicings repeated and redoubled, as at this Diamond Jubilee of Victoria!

Sixty Years in Parliament
Parliament has greatly changed during the Queen's reign. It has changed in men and in manners. The Squire and the Nabob no longer fill its benches. With Sir Robert Peel, the merchant and the manufacturer became almost supreme, and they have followed been followed by the retail dealer, the newspaper reporter, the working man. As a club the House of Commons has ceased to be exclusive. Less than forty years ago, Mr. Glover, who, "wore a hat with a curled brim, and a rather ponderous watch-chain," was deprived of his seat because he had not three hundred pounds a year. That was the qualification for a borough member, and double the sum was required on the part of the representative of a county. But now, if you can get anybody to pay your expenses, you need not have a shilling in the world.
Dress has changed with the composition of the House. In the time of Mr. Canning, the Minister always came down in silk stockings and pantaloons or knee- breeches, and even in the last generation members thought it essential to dress for Parliament at least as well as for a Society call or a garden party. But in recent days unconventionality has been the rule, and low hats and short jackets are quite common. Old formal habits have disappeared as completely as snuff. If you want a pinch now you must get it from the doorkeeper. Since Sir Charles Russell, who "first his snuff-box opened, then the case," became my Lord Chief Justice, no man has taken snuff while addressing the House of Commons. And the mere mention of a duelling may appear absurd in these blue-book-and-biscuit days. 

Peel challenged O'Connell, and so did Disraeli. But honour is satisfied nowadays with a letter to the "Times." The House takes itself more seriously than in "the good old gentleman like times when members of Parliament had nobody to please, and Ministers of State nothing nothing to do." There were long speeches before the time of Palmerston, who on one occasion held the House for five hours, and during the Reform struggle of 1831 there was so late a sitting that old Sir Thomas Baring sent for his razor, and Bennet, the member for Wiltshire, for his nightcap. But the work now is steadier and harder than when Lord Melbourne initiated the Queen into the spirit of the Constitution. Lord Melbourne's name reminds one of her Majesty's wonderful experience. Her first Prime Minister was born in 1779. Her last may carry recollections of the glorious Victorian era far into the next century. The Queen, while always acting within the Constitution, has naturally had her favourites. She would be more than mortal and less than a woman if she had not. For Lord Melbourne she entertained almost a daughter's affection. Peel chilled her at first by his shy, apparently stiff manners, but in course of time a cordial understanding grew up between Minister and Sovereign. And even "Pam," although he shocked the Prince Consort by his frivolity, was at last esteemed almost as much at Windsor as in the rest of the country. Disraeli's chivalry won the way to the heart of the Queen, as is witnessed by the memorial tablet erected at Hughenden Church by "his grateful and affectionate Sovereign and friend"; and it is pleasant to know that in these, her great Jubilee days, she is served by a Minister for whom she has shown warm esteem. Never has Sovereign been more honoured by the faithful Commons. Yet her sex has not induced them to give new privileges in their House to women. The press has stepped from one new privilege to another, provincial papers having been admitted by the side of the London journals, and every personal peculiarity as well as every speech being noted without fear of Serjeant or Clock Tower.

The Triumph of Steam and Electricity
The most striking and by far the most palpable evidence of progress during the reign is the ever-increasing speed which the unexampled discoveries of physical science have forced into every day life. Steam and electricity have conquered time and space to a greater extent during the last sixty years than all the preceding six hundred years witnessed; so that a man may cram into ten years as much experience as his grandfather could have done in fifty. Britannia Rules the Waves this year of grace in a way that was but a poetical figure of speech in Thomson's time. Exactly four hundred years before the Queen ascended the throne, the first English vessel to cross the Atlantic reached Newfoundland. And yet there is a greater transformation in the character of an Atlantic liner today than there was between the old wooden sailing ships which existed in 1837 and the good ship "Matthew" of Bristol which bore John Cabot westwards in 1497. The "Great Western," which was the first steamer built for regular voyages between Europe and America, was launched in 1837. She was but 213ft. long, with a displacement of 2300 tons, and the old unwieldy paddle to bear her along. That was a great advance on the old fashioned barque with her white spreading sails: but think of the ocean greyhounds of today, four times her size, capable of crossing the Atlantic in less than five-and-a-half days. The broad Atlantic has, indeed, become a mere pond. The wooden vessel looks almost as antique as the caracks of the Armada. Iron has come to rule supreme; steam has made the picturesque sails of sixty years ago as old fashioned almost as a trireme. Thus in 1840 the steamers belonging to England numbered but 600; today they have increased to nearly 8500; and steam tonnage has increased from 95,807 to 6,121,555 in this year of Jubilee, against a total tonnage of nearly nine millions.
 

On land the same splendid story of progress dazzles the imagination. Think of the stage coach of sixty years ago. How infinitely antiquated it looks today, revived today as a mere amusement! And yet England resounded from end to end with the postboy's horn in 1837, and the Queen never travelled by rail until 1842. In 1837 she could not have possibly reached Aberdeen on her way to Balmoral under forty five hours; today she could cover the 540 miles on twelve hours - the quickest long-distance journey in the world. The United Kingdom could boast in 1850 of only 6621 miles of iron road; today the figures stand at 21,174 miles, while the Empire holds close on 75,000 miles of rail. Well might Mr. Kipling "confound" the romance that sees death to poetry in the banished stage coach, for is not the miracle of the railroad more wonderful than the most blazoned coach-and-four that ever spanked on the Queen's highway?
The very streets bear evidence to the presence of the god of speed. What would Dr. Johnson think if he strolled down Fleet Street today, with its network of telephone and telegraph wires above, that make it the very cradle of the world; with its endless stream of hansoms and 'buses and bicycles; with its future procession of motor-cars? Is there anything more insistent on the progress of the reign than that?

So much for facts and figures. What does this literal quickening of life portend? Is it not that figurative quickening which makes the whole world kin; every part of it feeling the pulse-beat of every other part instantaneously; so that seas divide no more, and diverse tongues create no Babel? For the network of liners and rail and cable with which England more than any other power has covered the earth makes the division of the world into separate kingdoms as arbitrary as the lines if latitude and longitude on a schoolboy's globe.

Queen Victoria 1897 Jubilee Portrait

Editorial Note
This remarkable Record Number of a Record Reign may be accepted as one of many evidences of the abundant enterprise of the First Pictorial Newspaper. THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS was established more than fifty-five years ago, and from its First Number until now it has consistently claimed to be the Best as well as the Oldest Illustrated Journal in the World.

The unique position of THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS as a complete record of the best art of the day has only been maintained by the outlay of vast expenditure on the part of its proprietors. A number of distinguished artists have regularly contributed to its pages, and money has been poured out lavishly in sending special correspondents to every corner of the globe. That this judicious outlay of money and talent has been abundantly recognised by the public is proved by the fact that THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS can claim to have the largest circulation of any illustrated paper, and is everywhere recognised as an old and valued friend.

***

I thought I would include the editorial above, just in case anyone is unfamiliar with the ILN. I have written a few posts containing excerpts from their pages, and they really are a superb chronicle of the age. If you’re interested in owning an original edition then look on eBay, you will, in all likeliness, be able to pick one up for as little as £15.

And now, I wish a very happy Jubilee weekend to all – and don’t forget to buy your souvenirs; your purchases could provide the opportunity one hundred and fifteen years hence for history bloggers writing of the second Elizabethan age to come up with a post describing the nick-nacks we bought, and how it all started in the middle of the Victorian age…

"...Sang with Striking Effect the National Anthem, Which was Succeeded by Lusty Cheers for her Majesty..." Or: Some Diamond Jubilee Details:

This isn't a real blog post as such, but I have some information that some may find interesting sitting in a folder on my computer, and I thought I may as well share it, since it's no good hidden away, and hopefully people may enjoy reading it or even get some use out of it;

Advertising using the Queen

Recently I was asked to provide someone with a little information about the celebrations that occurred in London for Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee in 1897. My instructions were to find out what food people were eating, what music they were listening to, special events they may have attended and such like, and I was only too happy to help. (I was writing my advertising post at the time - which you can find directly beneath this one - and had been looking at plenty of instances of 'jubilee mania' which resulted in advertisers using the image of the Queen to push their products)

Much like Victoria ’s golden jubilee in 1887, the country went through a period of ‘jubilee mania’ in 1897 for her diamond jubilee. I discovered plenty of articles letters describing the flooding of the market with what, by the sound of it, can only be described as ‘tat’. Jubilee toothpicks, combs, handkerchief’s, ash trays and the like swarmed the cities, which seemed to annoy a lot of people, but, on the whole, the country (from what I found, anyway) appears to have been in celebratory mood for the jubilee.

It does seem that Britons were far more patriotic then than they are today, (possibly because they had an Empire to cheer about) but along with the usual stories of flags, Chinese lanterns, bonfires and fireworks that were put up, and watched in most cities and towns, I managed to find some useful snippets in what I think are probably the best barometers for the public opinion, and the best source of detail for events such as these – old newspapers.

 

So, here are some little details I managed to sniff out from old newspapers with regards to Queen Victoria's Diamond jubilee. I have separated them into sections for slightly easier reading;

General Celebration:

At the instance of Mr. Wootton Isaacson, M.P., the Secretary of State for War has promised that the Indian and Colonial contingents, together with the Guards and bands, will parade through 16 miles of the East End of London some convenient day after the Jubilee Celebration. Information has already been received of arrangements to light no fewer than 720 large bonfires from elevated points throughout the United Kingdom on Jubilee night. Yorkshire alone is providing more than 100 bonfires. Sussex and Somerset have each planned 60 to correspond with the number of years of the Queen's Reign. In another case a similar idea is to be carried out by erecting a bonfire 60ft. in height. Even the small county of Radnor has arranged for 40 bonfires.

 

Good Deeds, Food & the Celebrations for the Less Fortunate:

In connection with the Princess of Wales's Fund for the poor, the Bethnal Green Committee have arranged that lodgers in lodging-houses and the outcast poor of their parish shall be all entertained in one building, and that the dinner shall consist of roast beef, two vegetables, plum pudding, bread, lemonade, and oranges. One half ounce of tobacco and a clay pipe will be given to each man. An orchestral band will play during dinner, and the room will be decorated. There will be other dinners at various places for persons not in that category.

 

Provision will also be made for dinners, to families in their own homes. Local tradesmen will be employed, but samples of all food to be given will be inspected beforehand. The dinners will be distributed by voluntary helpers to the people in their homes, with coals, &c., to cook with, and will consist of meat, potatoes, puddings, bread, butter, and tea.

By desire of the Lady Mayoress, the Ragged School Union will feed the crippled children, and the names of applicants may be sent to 37, Norfolk Street , Strand . There will be one large dinner for crippled children at the People's Palace, the rest being provided for at their own homes. Mr. Wheatley, of the St. Giles's Christian Mission, has been asked to deal with cases of the wives and families of persons in prison. Blind people will be provided for through the Indigent Blind Society, of 27, Red Lion Square , or the National Blind Relief Society in Chelsea . A preliminary meeting of music-hall managers, artists, and others was held at the Tivoli yesterday, Mr. Vernon Dowsett presiding, for the purpose of taking steps to celebrate the Long Reign. It was agreed that the celebration take the form of a benefit performance, the charity to be aided being the Queen's Jubilee Institute for Nurses. This idea was taken up with enthusiasm by the large and representative gathering. It was decided to hold a matinee performance at the Tivoli on the 28th inst., the use of the theatre being freely granted for the occasion.

 

CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT AT GRAYS-INN.

By the kindness of the Treasurer and Masters of the Bench of Grays Inn a Jubilee entertainment was given to nearly two thousand children on Saturday afternoon and evening, in the gardens of their Inn. That the fete was of an unconventional character may be inferred from the fact that the cards of invitation were allotted to eight of the poorest schools in the neighbourhood of the Inn , between three hundred and four hundred working women being also included.In the organisation and superintendence of the proceedings a prominent part was taken by Mr. M. W. Mattinson, Q.C, the Treasurer, Mr. Hugh Shield, Q.C, Mr. John Rose (Police-court Magistrate), Mr. S. Macaskie, Mr. F. W. Musgrave, the Steward, and Mr. Dornthwaite, Chief Clerk. At the beginning a Jubilee mug was given to each child, and it was well that it was of unbreakable material, otherwise the exuberance of the children when they found themselves within the grounds, so different from their ordinary surroundings, might have produced a good deal of inconvenience.An hour or so was spent in amusement before tea. to which the children, grouped according to their schools, sat down upon the grass, an ample supply of bread and butter and cake being provided; while elder visitors (not a few of whom brought babies) were accommodated in a marquee. The entertainments included a couple of Punch and Judy shows, conjuring, the eccentricities of a "Nigger" troupe, swings, and see-saws, not one of which was for a moment unattended, and music by a good band in uniform. Music, of course, suggested dancing, and the "steps" which almost invariably accompany the playing of a barrel organ in the streets of the poorer quarters of London were reproduced by many of the children, especially the girls, in a remarkable manner. The weather was delightfully fine, the bright sunshine being tempered by a pleasant breeze; numbers of the youngsters in consequence found their chief diversion in gambolling on the grass or rolling down the slopes by which two sides of the gardens — or "walks'' as they were termed in days gone by — are enclosed, which they did with all the abandon of which children released for a time from brick-and-mortar environments are capable.On a grassy terrace a series of sports were indulged in, consisting of races for boys and girls, separately and "mixed," potato picking, egg and spoon contests, &c. The difficulty was, however, to keep a clear course, as no area was enclosed at all, and the ladies and gentlemen who undertook this duty had their hands more than full in checking the encroachment of the non-contestants— encroachment pardonable enough when it was considered that the intruders ranged in age from four years up to about three times that figure.On leaving, each boy and girl, who had previously received a large mince pie, was presented with a bag of sweets. The gardens — containing many very fine trees— were decorated with flags and Chinese lanterns, remnants of the more ambitious entertainment which the Benchers gave on the previous evening.
  - London Standard - Monday 28 June 1897

A GIGANTIC TEA PARTY.

Of the many free meals with which the school children and the poor of the Metropolis have been regaled in commemoration of the Queen's long reign, none, perhaps, was more numerously attended than that given yesterday afternoon at Olympia to the school children in the parish of Hammersmith. Four o'clock was the time fixed for the tea to commence, but fully an hour before that time several thousand children, presenting a clean and smart appearance, gathered in Blythe Road , completely blocking the thorough- fare leading to the Olympia Annexe. The meal, which consisted of a plentiful supply of tea and milk, bread and butter, and plum and currant cake, was served in the spacious building which was lately utilised for roller skating. Tables, heavily laden with huge piles of bread and butter and cake, were stretched a few feet apart in line from one end of the building to the other. The building was stocked with 5000lb. of bread, 500lb. of butter. 1200lb. of sugar, 5000lb. of cake, 150lb. of tea, and 1500 gallons of milk. The children — boys and girls together — who numbered upwards of 12,000, and all of whom live within easy distance, marched in procession to the building. They were regaled in batches varying in number from 3000, to 3700. The hands of the clock had turned six before the last batch, which numbered nearer 4000 than 5000 children had been feasted. There being still a quantity of food left, the Committee decided to admit several hundred poorly clad children, who had neither been invited nor attended the schools, but who had gathered outside the gates, an invitation which was promptly accepted. For the amusement of the school children a variety entertainment was provided in the grounds, which was followed by a cycle carnival organised by some of the residents in the district. Later in the day the groups were visited by the Lady Mayoress, who, accompanied by her two daughters — evinced much interest in the games indulged in. Prior to her departure the children were massed round the band-stand in the grounds, and on the signal being given, sang with striking effect and great heartiness three verses of the National Anthem, which was succeeded by lusty cheers for her Majesty, with which the proceedings were brought to a close. The arrangements were admirably carried out under the supervision of Mr. John C. Piatt, who was assisted by the local clergy and several of the leading inhabitants.
  - London Standard - Friday 02 July 1897

Public Opinion:

AN OLD SOLDIER TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING POST.

SIR, — The Jubilee has been the means of flooding the shop windows with wares of every sort and kind bearing the National emblems: Jubilee mugs, walking-sticks, charms, photograph frames, links, watches, pins, clocks — nothing is lacking; but it is too lamentable to see the terrible errors which have been made in carrying out the heraldic part of the designs. It has, alas! too long been evident that heraldry is almost forgotten by this generation, for it almost seems that the chief necessity in colouring the national emblems is to do that which is the reverse of right. To represent the historic Union Rose of York and Lancaster, so long the badge of England (and now taking its part in the Union badge), as a garden variety of red or white, or to omit the double treasure within which the Scotch lion should perform his gymnastic feats, are merely minor errors. Again, we frequently see the Irish harp on a green ground instead of the Royal blue; also the colours of the lions and of the ground on which they disport themselves reversed. I noticed at a certain store in the vicinity of Albert-gate the red St. George's Cross in the Union flag shown blue, St. Patrick white on red, and St. Andrew blue on white. Surely, when one sees these flagrant mistakes, it is time that some steps should be taken to prevent unscrupulous tradesmen from foisting on a credulous public these despicable parodies of the National insignia. Has not the Earl Marshal of England the power to forbid or punish such desecration? or, if not, cannot Parliament confer such power on him ? Now that her Majesty's uniforms have ceased to clothe the sandwichmen, could not some little attention be paid to this misuse of the Royal Arms and badges? Truly there are a few bright exceptions, amongst them a well known Bond Street firm, who are making the most laudable efforts to ensure the strictest accuracy in design, and their Jubilee souvenirs are most instructive, being quite an education to those not well versed in the intricacies of heraldry.

 — Yours, &c,

  -  Morning Post, 4^th June, 1897

 

 

HERALDRY. TO THE EDITOR OE THE MORNING POST.

SlR,—

Some special form of decoration should be given, with her Majesty's permission, to the window in which her Majesty stood when she was proclaimed our Queen. The window is one of many on the east side of St. James's Palace, and remains exactly as it was 60 years ago. It is the most interesting spot in London , and is really unknown to the present generation. Being historical, it deserves to be marked by some token on Jubilee Day worthy of its associations, while there is evidence in existence which should satisfy even Lord Rosebery and Sir John Lubbock that the window in question is known by —

Yours, &c,

 

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING POST.

SIR,— I am surprised that the kindly and beautiful thought of the Princess of Wales to have us hungry persons in London for one day has not been caught up enthusiastically all over the Kingdom. Surely if this can be undertaken for so vast a number as the poor of London it could with much less trouble and expense be arranged for every town and village in England at any rate, if not in Scotland and Ireland also. It would be something for all to remember, and would surely give pleasure even to the Queen herself to feel that there was one day in her Reign when there was not a hungry person in the United Kingdom. Is it not worth an effort?

   - Morning Post - Thursday 03 June 1897


JUBILEE WASTE.

TO THES EDITOR OF REYNOLD’S NEWSPAPER

Sir,-A well-known mustard maker who had piled up quite a heavy fortune by inflaming the membrane of millions of stomachs, and by extracting cold on the chest with counter irritation, was once asked how it was that he had made so much wealth out of an article of which people ate so little in comparison to their food. He answered, “I have lived and made money by what people waste, not by what they eat." Anyone who has studied the use and abuse of the mustard-pot will feel the force of this remark. Now, sir, it seems to me that this applies not only to condiments but to the more solid necessaries of life. The forthcoming Jubilee throws the matter into a very lurid blaze of light. Everybody seems to have over estimated the attractive power of the great jubilee extravaganza. The men who rushed to secure sites for seats, so as to make a corner in them, and so reap unearned wealth, also cried out that London would be virtually in it state of famine for two or three days, as it would be impossible to secure any provisions except at famine prices. As a consequence there is already a tendency to "barden" the prices of poultry and fish. It does not mean that the farmers who grow the poultry or the fishermen who catch the fish will reap any particular benefit. It simply means that the men who deal in the market will buy at the ordinary prices and deal "at Jubilee prices." The provisioning of London is a simple matter at ordinary times, and, if we allow for an influx of a million people, that would only (under ordinary circumstances) mean a fifth of the second day's supply. But it has to be borne in mind that there will be a large outflow from London . The City man and the well-to-do – especially those who have let their windows well – will get away from the crowd and go away to the seaside or seine other place. Thus I argued with a well-known caterer. He simply laughed at me. He said, "I should have thought that a man of the world like you would have known by this time that we do not cater for appetite. We cater for waste." Upon listening to his arguments I could feel the force of them. They were to this effect. If you keep an hotel, and have a big crowd, you cook according to an average. What is left goes into the cold stock or the stock pot. But on the Jubilee Day you are sending provisions to places where nothing ever fed before save the sparrows or the rats; you are sending it to the churchyards, the vacant places called “no man's land": you are sending it to the dingy recesses of lawyers' offices, tailors' shops, fishmongers' slabs, banking houses, china, merchants, half demolished buildings, railway bridges and arches, wharves and public buildings, and even newspaper offices. What can they do with "the cold" but waste it?

When a man puts a proposition like that to one the answer is not ready on the spur of the moment. My caterer continued. "The contract is sixty or a hundred lunches. My price, bar liquor, is six shillings a head: no poultry or fish. Well they say they will have poultry and fish, and then I say ten shillings a head, or, if it is a swell place, a guinea." "But," I answered, “who can eat a guinea's-worth of lunch?" “My good sir," he replied, “- they do not eat it. But I cannot weigh it out to an ounce. I am obliged to send whole joints, whole fowls, salmon, or whatever it may be. In some cases it may be they won't eat half of it, in some cases not a third; but it is there. I cannot take it back, and they have got to pay for it. Just the same with wine, &c. It is opened and it is left. I cannot take it back. So you must not calculate upon the extra, supply for a million of people, but for the supply for three times the amount really needed."

In this way only can the anticipated food famine prices be accounted for. The sufferers for this gigantic piece of nineteenth-century folly will he the unfortunate frugal house keeper who does not care a jot about the Jubilee. If the wasted pieces could be collected and given to the very poor some good might come out of it. We have the proposition of the Princess of Wales to feed the poor on a certain day. The idea is laudable enough, but at the same time it is ridiculous. In such cases, as a rule, the least deserving generally get the bounty. The duty of selecting the poor is usually left in the hands of the local clergy. In such cases the poor represent the poor of the particular parson's parish The very poor, who are too poor to go to church and too proud to vaunt their poverty in public, get nothing. To give at man who has to starve for the greater part of the year a dinner bigger than he wants on one particular day is a mistake. He gorges more than is good for him and he feels the bitterness of his position more acutely for many days afterwards.

Much better would it be to give him a few loaves at bread or a joint, which would afford him a moderate meal for several days afterwards, A Jubilee banquet, even to the poor, is waste.

           - Reynolds's Newspaper - Sunday 13 June 1897

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING POST.

Sir, — I hope it is not too late for some consideration to be given, in connection with the Jubilee rejoicings, to the loyalty of the Irish Militia, who during the Crimean War and Indian Mutiny formed so large a portion of our Army. The Irish Militia gave hundreds of its best men to the Regular Service during those times. Their courage and discipline has never been called in question. Would it not, therefore, be a suitable time to recognise their services, and also that of the English, Scots, and Welsh Militia by some distinctive badge? The officers, non-commissioned officers, and men cannot now be very many who were "out" during the Crimean War and Indian Mutiny, and the cost to the country would be very small in comparison with the gratification it would create in the Constitutional Force of the country, and it would also tend to allay any ill-feeling which may have been engendered by the Volunteer medal given to the English, Scots, and Welsh Volunteers.

— Yours, &c

Organization of Events:
THE PRICES OF SEATS. A prolonged investigation conducted yester-day along the whole line of route showed that the prices paid for seats depend simply on what is offered. From Buckingham Palace to Cockspur Street it may be said that seats are priceless, but that is because they are mostly in clubs, whose members have balloted for their places months ago. In Trafalgar-square the stands erected by the Board of Works and the County Council were, to the privileged persons who had a churn on them, cheap indeed. On the County Council stand seats could be obtained by a favoured few as low as 20s: but ordinary members of the Council and various Labour leaders, prominent Municipal enthusiasts, and the like, had to pay 50s. per seat. In the Strand prices have fallen, and are continuing to fall. Every shop window competes with its neighbour: but, unless there is a convenient lunch within reach, the public have fought shy of paying the extravagant prices asked at first. From twenty guineas per seat on the first floor, prices have dropped to two guineas, and there are ample indications that today no reasonable offer will be refused for any seat left unlet. "No reasonable offer," in most cases, seems to mean not less than a guinea. The windy weather yesterday seemed to have a most sobering effect also on those who would have purchased seats in any of the larger open-air stands around the churches in that part of the route between the Strand and St. Paul 's. Restaurants, which had, in addition to convenient seating facilities for luncheon, were the only places where prices were maintained at a high figure. Even in St. Pauls churchyard there were still seats to let, but a determined resistance is there offered to any reduction in price, and five guineas per seat remained the lowest terms on which a place could be had from which to witness the scene of the religious service and the illuminations that are to follow. These low charges only concerned very high-placed seats.

In Cheapside and King William Street the market, in the language of the Stock Exchange, is "firm." and two guineas at least have to be paid for a top floor window. Over London Bridge prices have come down tremendously, and seats may be had for as little as 10s. They are not very good places, but a substantial glimpse of the Procession may be had. The competition of occupants of grand stands and windows on the other side of the river is very keen, and it is easily possible to arrange terms to suit the slenderest purse. This is the condition of affairs all through the southern portion of the Royal route, and there is no doubt that on Tuesday morning it will be feasible to obtain seats in good positions for anything in the way of cash which may be offered. There are great complaints by those who have been at the expense of erecting elaborate structures at the losses they are certain to sustain. In one case no less than 10,000l was expended before a seat was sold, and a loss was expected by Tuesday night of at least 2000l. The particular stand mentioned is in a very prominent position. The consensus of opinion among the agents interviewed yesterday was that the various syndicates who had dealt in these seats had scared the public at first by their high charges, and been themselves guilty of paying too much for the sites they occupied.  - London Standard 19^th June 1897

Queen Victoria passes St Paul's Cathedral on her Jubilee procession

THE JUBILEE. PREPARATIONS FOR SPECTATORS.
Only here and there along the line of the route of the Royal Procession South of the Thames is there any opportunity of putting up stands; but the houses and places of business are numerous, if, in many cases, small, and here, as in many other portions of the route, the supply of seats is more than equal to the demand so far. Indeed, the occupiers who accepted the earlier offers of syndicates and speculators were wise in their generation. They have obtained better prices than are being now given. This is the district in which there has been some controversies about the eviction of poor tenants, and while there undoubtedly have been some cases of hardship, yet when the little rooms have been emptied, made clean and more inviting in appearance, and the small windows filled with stands, they will be let, if at all, at a figure which will leave very little profit for the owner. Except at the northern end of the Borough High Street the thoroughfares which will be traversed by her Majesty are all wide, with broad pavements, so that hundreds of thousands of the inhabitants of South London will be able to view the Procession. Fortunately, in this district a considerable number of religious and benevolent institutions will reap pecuniary benefit from the Commemoration. When the seat rents go to a charity or for religious purposes there are always enthusiastic friends to find a market for the tickets and thoughtful purchasers to give a preference to these places when making their arrangements. To start with, St. George the Martyr, in the Borough High Street, will garner about £2,000, a stand to accommodate some 1,200 people having been built outside the church, which juts out into the street and will afford a fine view. The prices range from 3gs. to l0gs., and the money will go towards the erection of new schools and the restoration of the church. In the Borough Road the Polytechnic has made the most of its good site. Not only are the windows being let, but a stand in the front will seat about 2,000, and the profits will go to building a gymnasium and a new workshop. On the other side the London County Council has a stand on a vacant piece of ground belonging to them, and the School Board are making use of the only site they possess on the line of route, and are covering with scaffolding the front of the Borough Road School . The Royal Eye Hospital , St. Georges Circus, the foundation stone of which was laid by the Princess of Wales some years ago, will let its many windows, and among other beneficiaries of the Commemoration will be St. Paul 's Church and St. Thomas 's Church, the Yorkshire Society School and St. Thomas 's Hospital. The Governors and staff of the last-named institution have exerted themselves with success to let seats in a large stand in front of the Hospital. The South Western Railway has repainted the arch across Westminster Bridge Road in green and gold, and seats are rising on each side of the arch, while Harrod's Stores have acquired Messrs. Atkinson's premises for the day, and will have provision for about 2,000 sightseers. On the north side of Westminster Bridge the tower of Big Ben is flanked by two large stands, which are for the use of members of the House of Commons, the officials, and journalists engaged in the Press Gallery and Lobby. These will provide about 1,700 places. Further on in Parliament Square is another great temporary structure building for the Office of Works for Colonial and Indian visitors. The London and North Western Company's Office at the corner of Parliament Street is already nearly hidden with scaffolding, and in Whitehall the Government offices are all erecting seats in front of the ground floor windows; while the roof of Dover House supports several tiers. Opposite the Home Office the Diamond Jubilee Grand Stands Company are building a large pavilion, which, when finished, will resemble a theatre auditorium, with boxes, dress circle, and promenade. In Whitehall , as in the earlier part of the route from Hyde Park Place to Cockspur Street , the demand seems to be brisk and the prices are higher. A private box for ten persons here is charged 250gs., and single seats go from 2gs. to 20gs. Another elaborate stand is at the corner of the Horse Guards Parade, which is built somewhat in the shape of the letter L, the seats at the foot commanding a view of the Procession as it turns into Parliament Street . Here the higher-priced places will be arranged like theatre stalls, and the building is supported, like the other just described, on steel girders. This stand will seat 4,000, and the charges range from 4gs. to 20gs. The Charity Commissioners' Office and the Railway Department of the Board of Trade are both utilising their frontages for the officials, and the last stands on the route are those near the new Admiralty Offices, facing the Horse Guards parade, which are also being built by the Government. Altogether the number of official seats along the line of the Procession exceeds 25,000. The carpet to be used on the Throne Dai's at the forthcoming Jubilee is the outcome of a shilling subscription from the women of England on the suggestion of the Duchess of Teck. It has just been completed. The carpet is a comparatively small one, 18ft. by 16ft., but as every thread has been tied by hand (by girls) it has occupied nearly three months in weaving alone, whilst the design involved considerable labour prior to that. Every detail has been either suggested by or submitted to and approved by his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and other members of the Royal Family, and the whole is emblematical of the Empire. It is to be exhibited by the manufacturers at Bridgnorth from Saturday to Tuesday next, when it will be forwarded to London .
  - London Standard 19^th June 1897

 

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STANDARD
Sir; — If the Managers of the Underground and other Railways in London would adopt a simple precaution on the Jubilee day, they would remove the dread of thousands of their passengers. It is simply this. To place a man in uniform, or a policeman, at the inlet door of each station; to form the passengers into a queue in the street — say three abreast. This would ensure "First come first served," prevent all pushing and crowding, give complete control of the numbers on the platforms, and make safe and comfortable what, otherwise, will be a risky undertaking.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
  -  London Standard 19th June 1897


TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING POST

Sir, — I beg to call your attention to the danger likely to arise from the over-crowding of the station platforms on the Underground Railway on Jubilee Day. The Bank Holiday catastrophe at Hampstead-heath has shown how simply such an accident may occur. Surely some means of limiting the number of passengers allowed on the platforms of such a busy station as Baker Street , for instance, might easily be arranged.

—     Yours, &c,

- Morning Post - Thursday 03 June 1897

Music:

JUBILEE MUSIC

YESTERDAY afternoon a batch of Jubilee compositions, some new, some nearly new, was given at the Queen's Hall, conducted for the most part by the distinguished composers, themselves. Dr. G. C. Martin, for a beginning, presided over a performance of his "Festival Te Deum," a work of considerable interest and real merit. Without departing from the spirit of the words – on the contrary feeling them for the most part very intimately – he has contrived, nevertheless, very cleverly to combine solemn melody with remarkable freshness and novelty of sentiment. He never for a moment permits his hearers to slacken their attention, although he secures his effects without the slightest vulgarity or cheapness. Then, again, the work impresses one as being an organic whole; part develops naturally from part, and closes again, without violence and without the least sense of scrappiness or irregularity. That, we take it, is the great danger of writing live music to words of this nature which represent so arbitrary and so many various emotions within the limits of a space so small, and we do not hesitate to say that Dr. Martin has produced a fine ecclesiastical work which, in its own appropriate place, must have a finer effect even than it had yesterday afternoon in the concert room. He has paid great attention to the orchestration, which is for the most part extremely well done, though it was possible here and there to detect a little superfluous ornament that occasionally made the music seem more gaudy than rich, a very slight fault which is amply atoned by the genuine insight and appreciation of the right means to an end which the music otherwise proves the composer to have in abundance.

Mr. Eaton Faning's setting of Sir Edwin Arnold's' "Queen Song" was next given, and may be dismissed briefly. We have mentioned this composition before in connection with a concert at the Albert Hall the other day, when it was given for the first time. Our first impressions of the work are not effaced. It "goes" in a certain sense, but it is thoroughly common and uninteresting in conception, without originality or delicacy. The most that can be said in its favour is that it has a good deal of the inspiration of the words in it – words which you instinctively feel should be sung to loud and intelligible rhythms, with an insistent accent and as obvious a melody as may be conceived. Unfortunately Mr. Frederic Cowen's Commemoration Ode, which was also given, follows precisely the same lines, to such an extent, indeed, that its opening phrases seemed, to the casual listener, to be actually only a slight variant of, part of Mr. Faning's music.

Mr. Cowen's music, in truth, is here but of small merit and is only a little less common than Mr. Faning's; moreover, we are not even sure that that is really an improvement, for this other composer does his part with a will and with evident enjoyment, while Mr. Cowen seems to be afraid of handling a matter with which he has clearly little sympathy; and we prefer frank, clean corduroy to a shabby and shiny frock-coat.

Mr. Randegger's version of the 150th Psalm, also sung, was exceedingly amusing. Miss Fanny Moody was engaged for the treble solo, and she was there to sing it; but Mr. Randegger so heaped his orchestra in enormous blasts of elementary musical phrase upon her unfortunate voice that we really cannot Judge the matter, though from her manner and action she seemed to be singing very vigorously, and she certainly sang the first verse of the National Anthem at the opening of the concert very well indeed. Finally, Dr. Bridge presided over a performance of his jubilee Anthem, “Blessed be the Lord," the chief humour of which lay in the introduction of phrases into the music from "God Save the Queen," which had the delightful effect of causing the bulk of a loyal audience to pop to their feet every now and then, and to subside perplexedly when the phrase turned, under a sort of dazed impression that they were listening to occasional performances of the National Anthem. No: most of the musical flowers of this jubilee bouquet were not particularly fragrant or impressively beautiful.

  - Pall Mall Gazette - Monday 21 June 1897
           

To hark back to my previous post, and also relevant to this post, I've been out and about over the last few weeks and have not been surprised to find that the tradition of using national events to sell tat is still going strong - I've seen Queen Elizabeth jubilee tea-towels, canvas bags, oven gloves, cushions etc, etc.

It's nice in a way to know that we still hold on to some Victorian customs...

“ I Have Never Seen So Many People; Certainly Never So Many Drunken Ones.” Or: 124 Years Today: The Queen’s Golden Jubilee.

This is more an “I mention in passing…” post than an actual blog post, but in June 2012, Queen Elizabeth II will celebrate 60 years as queen with her diamond jubilee celebrations, which will see her move to within three years of eclipsing Victoria as our longest serving monarch. Monday the 4th and Tuesday 5th of June will be bank holidays, and Greenwich in London will become a Royal Borough as part of the celebrations.
But, as you may have guessed, I wont be concentrating on our current Queen’s jubilee celebrations with this post, but rather looking back at the penultimate jubilee of Victoria’s life; her Golden jubilee, celebrating fifty years as Queen, which began 124 days ago today, and lasted two days from the 20th to the 21st June1887.

The official website of the British Monarchy, royal.gov.uk contains this great description of events over the two days: 

On 20 June the day began quietly with breakfast under the trees at Frogmore, the resting place of her beloved late husband, Prince Albert.
She then travelled by train from Windsor to Paddington and across the parks to Buckingham Palace for a royal banquet in the evening. Fifty foreign kings and princes, along with the governing heads of Britain's overseas colonies and dominions, attended the feast. 

She wrote in her diary of the event: "Had a large family dinner. All the Royalties assembled in the Bow Room, and we dined in the Supper-room, which looked splendid with the buffet covered with the gold plate. The table was a large horseshoe one, with many lights on it."
"The King of Denmark took me in, and Willy of Greece sat on my other side. The Princes were all in uniform, and the Princesses were all beautifully dressed. Afterwards we went into the Ballroom, where my band played."

On the following day, Queen Victoria travelled in an open landau to Westminster Abbey, escorted by Indian cavalry. The procession through London, according to Mark Twain, "stretched to the limit of sight in both directions".

Bodies of soldiers in one colour, then another, marched past the spectators, who were accommodated on terraced benches along 10 miles of scaffolding erected for the purpose. Queen Victoria rode in the procession in her gilded State landau, drawn by six cream-coloured horses She refused to wear a crown, wearing instead a bonnet and a long dress.

The Queen took a keen interest in her Empire, and many representatives of the colonies attended the celebrations. The number of Indian princes - "men of stately build and princely carriage", noted Mark Twain - in splendid ceremonial dress, who attended to pay their respects, and the Indian cavalry which escorted the Queen to Westminster Abbey, attracted much attention.

On return to the Palace, she appeared on the balcony, where she was cheered by huge crowds. In the Ballroom she distributed Jubilee brooches to her family. In the evening, she put on a splendid gown embroidered with silver roses, thistles and shamrocks for a banquet. Afterwards she received a long procession of diplomats and Indian princes. She was then wheeled in her chair to sit and watch the fireworks in the garden.

According to the 24th June 1887 edition of ‘The Times’, celebrations took place in Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt, Philadelphia in the USA, Paris and Dieppe in France, Vienna in Austria, Berlin in Germany, Constantinople (now Istanbul) in Turkey, Oporto in Portugal, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane in Australia, and Santiago in Chile. Fete’s, processions, singing services, feasts and fireworks all took place as the empire celebrated the fiftieth year of Victoria’s reign.

In London the streets were thronged, and over 10 miles of scaffolding was used to line the route of her procession as the Queen headed for Westminster Abbey, as we have already seen. American writer, journalist and diarist R.D Blumenfeld described the day in his diary: 

Tuesday, June 21, 1887.
Wonderful day for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee celebration. I spent most of last night wandering through the streets to observe the decorations and preliminary illuminations. The gas-lit streets looked brilliant. Holborn, which with great enterprise, has electric street lighting, particularly attractive; walked from the Inns of Court Hotel in Holborn at eight o'clock this morning in order to take up my place in the window at the foot of Haymarket, opposite Her Majesty's Opera House [now Carlton Hotel], but the crowd was so dense that I could get no further than Waterloo Place, facing my window, and there I was stuck in the heat until long beyond noon after the procession had passed. I climbed up the statue of King George, but could not maintain myself and came down. But I got a good view of most of the procession. The Queen's face was hidden from me by a sun-shade. The crowd round me seemed to be much interested in a dour-faced, heavily-kilted royal gillie, who sat behind. He looked unperturbed and rather grim. A good many onlookers mistook him for the famous John Brown, but he died some years ago.

A View of The Procession

I thought the German Crown Prince [Emperor Frederick], in his silver helmet and shining cuirass, the most striking figure in the procession. The young Princes, Edward [Duke of Clarence] and George [King George V.] were a popular feature in their naval uniforms. It was my first glimpse of some of the Ministers. I had never seen Lord Herschell, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Randolph Churchill, Lord Knutsford, Mr. Matthews, the Home Secretary, nor Lord Spencer, who is generally known as the Red Earl by virtue of his enormous red beard.

In the crowd beside me stood George Giddens, an actor who is appearing at the Criterion Theatre with Mr. Charles Wyndham in David Garrick. He knew every one in the procession, and I was not obliged to refer to my programme sheet. Giddens had been invited to sit in a window of the Opera House, but could not reach it. I recognized one of the lucky ones in a window of the steamship office where I had also taken a place. This fortunate one who had come earlier was Mr. James G. Blaine, the American Secretary of State, the famous " plumed knight," who would have been President but for the disastrous phrase: "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion," which an ardent supporter of his launched against the Democratic Party, and so lost the Roman Catholic vote to Mr. Blaine.

I drove round London to-night in a curricle with Walter Winans inspecting the fireworks. I have never seen so many people; certainly never so many drunken ones.

Another Victorian event I would love to have attended. Many things have changed in this country since 1887, but Blumenfeld’s last line suggests that some things remain the same…