The Great Exhibition of 1851

history

Warmhearted and lively, Victoria had a gift for drawing and painting; educated by a governess at home, she was a natural diarist and kept a regular journal throughout her life. On William IV's death in 1837, she became Queen at the age of 18.

Queen Victoria is associated with Britain's great age of industrial expansion, economic progress and, especially, empire. At her death, it was said, Britain had a worldwide empire on which the sun never set.

In the early part of her reign, she was influenced by two men: her first Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, and her husband, Prince Albert, whom she married in 1840. Both men taught her much about how to be a ruler in a 'constitutional monarchy' where the monarch had very few powers but could use much influence.

Albert took an active interest in the arts, science, trade and industry; the project for which he is best remembered was the Great Exhibition of 1851, the profits from which helped to establish the South Kensington museums complex in London.

Her marriage to Prince Albert brought nine children between 1840 and 1857. Most of her children married into other Royal families of Europe. Edward VII (born 1841), married Alexandra, daughter of Christian IX of Denmark. Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (born 1844) married Marie of Russia. Arthur, Duke of Connaught (born 1850) married Louise Margaret of Prussia. Leopold, Duke of Albany (born 1853) married Helen of Waldeck-Pyrmont. Victoria, Princess Royal (born 1840) married Friedrich III, German Emperor. Alice (born 1843) married Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Helena (born 1846) married Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. Louise (born 1848) married John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll. Beatrice (born 1857) married Henry of Battenberg.

Victoria was deeply attached to her husband and she sank into depression after he died, aged 42, in 1861. She had lost a devoted husband and her principal trusted adviser in affairs of state. For the rest of her reign she wore black.

Until the late 1860s she rarely appeared in public; although she never neglected her official Correspondence, and continued to give audiences to her ministers and official visitors, she was reluctant to resume a full public life. She was persuaded to open Parliament in person in 1866 and 1867, but she was widely criticised for living in seclusion and quite a strong republican movement developed. Seven attempts were made on Victoria's life, between 1840 and 1882 - her courageous attitude towards these attacks greatly strengthened her popularity.

In her later years, she almost became the symbol of the British Empire. Both the Golden (1887) and the Diamond (1897) Jubilees, held to celebrate the 50th and 60th anniversaries of the queen's accession, were marked with great displays and public ceremonies. On both occasions, Colonial Conferences attended by the Prime Ministers of the self-governing colonies were held.

Despite her advanced age, Victoria continued her duties to the end - including an official visit to Dublin in 1900. The War in South Africa overshadowed the end of her reign. As in the Crimean War nearly half a century earlier, Victoria reviewed her troops and visited hospitals; she remained undaunted by British reverses during the campaign: 'We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; they do not exist.'

Victoria died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, on 22 January 1901 after a reign which lasted almost 64 years, the longest in British history.

She was buried at Windsor beside Prince Albert, in the Royal Mausoleum, which she had built for their final resting place. Above the Mausoleum door are inscribed Victoria's words: 'farewell best beloved, here at last I shall rest with thee, with thee in Christ I shall rise again'.

CHAPTER 2

POLITICAL AND ECONIMIC REFORMS

• THE CORN LAWS

The Corn Laws (which refer to grain of all kinds) were a series of deeds enacted between 1815 and 1846 which kept corn prices at a high level. This measure was intended to protect English farmers from cheap foreign imports of grain following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. During the Napoleonic Wars, the British blockaded the European continent, hoping to isolate the Napoleonic Empire and bring economic hardship to the French. One result of this blockade was that goods within the British Isles were protected against competition from outside sources. Farming became extremely lucrative, and farming land was traded at very profitable rates.

When the wars ended in 1815 the first of the Corn Laws was introduced. This law stated that no foreign corn would be allowed into Britain until domestic corn reached a price of 80 shillings per quarter. The beneficiaries of the Corn Laws were the nobility and other large landholders who owned the majority of profitable farmland. Landowners had a vested interest in seeing the Corn Laws remain in force. And since the right to vote was not universal, but rather depended on land ownership, voting members of Parliament had no interest in repealing the Corn Laws.

The artificially high corn prices encouraged by the Corn Laws meant that the urban working class had to spend the bulk of their income on corn just to survive. Since they had no income left over for other purchases, they could not afford manufactured goods. So manufacturers suffered, and had to lay off workers. These workers had difficulty in finding employment, so the economic spiral worsened for everyone involved.  The first major reform of the Corn Laws took place during the ministry of the Duke of Wellington in 1828. The price of corn was no longer fixed, but tied to a sliding scale that allowed foreign grain to be imported freely when domestic grain sold at 73 shillings per quarter or above, and at increasing tariffs the further the domestic price dropped below 73 shillings. The effect of this reform was negligible .Several groups arose during the early and mid 1800s to fight for repeal of the Corn Laws amid other social reforms. Most prominent among these movements were the Chartists and the Anti-Corn Law League (ACLL). The ACLL began in 1836 as the Anti Corn Law Association, and in 1839 adopted its more familiar name. Despite its social reform agenda, the league drew its members largely from the middle-class, merchants and manufacturers. Their aim was to loosen the restrictions on trade generally, so that they could sell more goods both at home and around the world. After constant agitation, the ACLL was successful, and in 1846 the government under Sir Robert Peel was persuaded to repeal the Corn Laws.

CHARTISM (THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT)

The Chartist Movement had at its core the so-called "People's Charter" of 1838. This document, created for the London Working Men's Association, was primarily the work of William Lovett. The charter was a public petition aimed at redressing omissions from the electoral Reform Act of 1832. It quickly became a rallying point for working class agitators for social reform, who saw in it a cure-all for all sorts of social ills. For these supporters the People's Charter was the first step towards a social and economic utopia. In demanding so much the supporters of the charter probably ensured its downfall, for the number of demands probably diluted support for any single demand.

The People's Charter outlined 6 major demands for reform. These were: 1. Institution of a secret ballot; 2. General elections be held annually; 3. Members of Parliament not be required to own property; 4. MPs be paid a salary; 5. Electoral districts of equal size; 6. Universal male suffrage

The first gathering of Chartist delegates gathered in London on February 4, 1839. Although 53 delegates came to London, they were aware of laws forbidding gatherings of more than 50 men, and so took care that no more than that number were present at any one time. At this gathering the nature of the divisions that were to trouble the Movement were apparent, as some delegates favoured violence if necessary, some favoured a general strike, and there was even talk of electing a "people's parliament". In other words, in common with many social movements, they could figure out what they were against, but had a harder time figuring out what to do about it.

The Convention did adopt the motto "peaceably if we may, forcibly if we must", which may have frightened of those more moderate middle-class members who might have been persuaded to support their cause. Agitation continued throughout the spring of 1839, and government troops were used to ensure order in some areas of the country, notably the north.

Proponents of the charter gathered over 1,25 million signatures in support of their aims. They presented the charter and the signatures to the Parliament when it gathered in July, 1839. Though supported by future Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, the charter was rejected by the House of Commons by a vote of 235 to 46. In the wake of this defeat in the Commons, the National Convention lost its importance and finally dissolved itself in September.

With the national leadership of the Movement no longer effective, local reformers took charge. The government had many leaders of the movement arrested or detained. There were outbreaks of violence in several regions, notably at Newport, where 24 protestors were killed.

The suppression of the Chartists drew further attention to their cause, but the movement in general failed to cross class lines and gain the necessary support among members of the ruling aristocracy and landed gentry. The Chartists attempted to submit their petition to Parliament twice more, in 1842, when they claimed to have gathered over 31 million signatures of support, and for a final time in 1848. After this final failure the movement died out.

The aims of the Chartists may seem mild and eminently sensible to modern readers. But to the government of Victorian England they represented a potential for upheaval and overthrow of social institutions and entrenched authority. The violent turmoil of the French Revolution was still fresh in the minds of many in positions of authority. Rather than being swayed by the sensibilities of the Chartist's demands, they reacted in fear at the possibility of violent overthrow of society - and their own positions.

Chartism failed for a number of reasons; most obviously, it failed to gather support in Parliament - not surprising when considering the threat it posed to the self-interest of those in power. Equally important, it failed to gather support from the middle-classes. The demands of Chartism were too radical for many of the middle-classes, who were comfortable enough with the status quo. The repeal of the Corn Laws helped improve the economic climate of Britain, and there was less interest in radical reform. As well, the mid-19th century spawned a variety of social-reform groups with special aims, and the Chartist movement lost many of its members to these other groups.

Although the Chartist Movement failed to directly achieve its aims, a good case can be made that the movement itself was not a failure at all, but a powerful force that resulted in an increased awareness of social issues and created a framework for future working-class organizations. Many of the demands of the Chartists were eventually answered in the electoral reform bills of 1864 and 1867. It also seems likely that the agitation for reform that the Chartist Movement helped bring to the forefront of British society was responsible for the repeal of the Corn Laws and other social reforms.

THE GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1851

The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations was the first international exhibition of manufactured goods, and it had an incalculable effect on the course of art and design throughout the Victorian Age and beyond. It was modelled on successful French national exhibitions, but it was the first to open its doors to the world.

The Exhibitions chief proponent and cheerleader was Prince Albert. The Prince Consort envisaged a self-financing event, and encouraged a reluctant government to set up a Royal Commission to oversee the exhibition, to be held in Hyde Park, London. The Commission called for architectural submissions for the exhibition hall, which was to cover an area of over 700,000 square feet. Over 200 submissions were received, but the Commission rejected them all in favour of its own plan, which was universally reviled as ugly and expensive. This latter objection proved all too true, for when the Commission called for tenders for the materials alone, they were appalled to learn it would cost up to 150,000 pounds.

Then another plan surfaced, by Joseph Paxton. Initially the Commission rejected Paxton's plan, but he took out newspaper ads to raise public support, and the Commissioners were forced to bow to public pressure. Paxton's innovative design called for a glass and steel structure, essentially a giant greenhouse, made of identical, interchangeable pieces, thus lowering materials cost considerably. Paxton's design was adopted, with the addition of a dome to allow space for some very tall trees in Hyde Park.

Rival architects claimed that the building was unsafe, and would collapse from the resonance set up by the feet of large crowds. So an experiment was set up. A model structure was built, and workmen walked back and forth in time and then haphazardly. Then they jumped up in the air together. No problem. As a final test, army troops were called in to march about. The test building passed the trial, so work proceeded on the real thing.

There are some quick facts and figures about Paxton's amazing creation: The main building was 1848 feet long and 408 wide, enclosing 772,784 square feet (19 acres), an area six times that of St. Paul's Cathedral. In addition, the structure contained 4000 tons of iron, 900,000 feet of glass, and 202 miles of sash bars to hold it all together.

Amazingly, the building, dubbed the "Crystal Palace", was ready on time and on budget. In fact, due to presale of tickets, the exhibition was ensured a profit before it even opened on May 1, 1851. There were 17,000 exhibitors from as far away as China, and over 6 million visitors viewed goods ranging from silks to clocks, and furniture to farm machinery. The French were the big winners in terms of awards, a fact which did not go unnoticed by the British press. The profit from the exhibition was used to purchase land in Kensington, where several museums were built, including the forerunner of the Victoria and Albert Museum, which carries on the spirit of the exhibition in its displays devoted to art and design. In fact, the road where several of these museums were built was called Exhibition Road .As for the Crystal Palace itself, it was dismantled at the end of the exhibition and reassembled in Sydenham, South London. There it stayed as a tourist attraction until it burned down in 1936. In spite of this fact, one could get a sense of what this amazing building was like, by visiting the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, and taking a look at the Palm House.

THE FIRST REFORM ACT (1832)

 

In April 1831 Grey asked William IV to dissolve the Parliament so that the Whigs could secure a larger majority in the House of Commons. Grey explained this would help his government to carry their proposals for parliamentary reform. William agreed to Grey's request and after making his speech in the House of Lords, walked back through cheering crowds until they all arrived at the famous Buckingham Palace.
After Lord Grey's election victory, he tried again to introduce parliamentary reform. On 22nd September 1831, the House of Commons passed the Reform Bill. However, the Tories still dominated the House of Lords, and after a long debate the bill was defeated. When people heard the news, Reform Riots took place in several British towns; the most serious of these being in Bristol in October of the year 1831.
On 7th May 1832, Grey and Henry Brougham met the king and asked him to create a large number of Whig peers in order to get the Reform Bill passed in the House of Lords. William was now having doubts about the wisdom of parliamentary reform and refused.
Lord Grey's government resigned and William IV now asked the leader of the Tories, the Duke of Wellington, to form a new government. Wellington tried to do this but some Tories, including Sir Robert Peel, were unwilling to join a cabinet that was in opposition to the views of the vast majority of the people in Britain. Peel argued that if the king and Wellington went ahead with their plan there was a strong danger of a civil war in Britain.
When the Duke of Wellington failed to recruit other significant figures into his cabinet, William was forced to ask Grey to return to office. In his attempts to frustrate the will of the electorate, William IV lost the popularity he had enjoyed during the first part of his reign. Once again Lord Grey asked the king to create a large number of new Whig peers. William agreed that he would do this and when the Lords heard the news, they agreed to pass the Act.
Many people were disappointed with the 1832 Reform Bill. Voting in the boroughs was restricted to men who occupied homes with an annual value of £10. There were also property qualifications for people living in rural areas. As a result, only one in seven adult males had the vote. Nor were the constituencies of equal size. Whereas 35 constituencies had less than 300 electors, Liverpool had a constituency of over 11,000.

THE SECOND REFORM ACT (1867)

On the death of Palmerston in July 1865, Earl Russell (he had been raised to the peerage in July 1861) became prime minister. Russell, with the once again tried to persuade Parliament to accept the reforms that had been proposed in 1860. The measure received little support in Parliament and was not passed before Russell's resignation in June 1866. William Gladstone, the new leader of the Liberal Party, made it clear that like Earl Russell, he was also in favour of increasing the number of people who could vote.
Although the Conservative Party had opposed previous attempts to introduce parliamentary reform, Lord Derby's new government were now sympathetic to the idea. The Conservatives knew that if the Liberals returned to power, Gladstone was certain to try again. Benjamin Disraeli, leader of the House of Commons, argued that the Conservatives were in danger of being seen as an anti-reform party. in 1867 Disraeli proposed a new Reform Act. Lord Cranborne (later Lord Salisbury) resigned in protest against this extension of democracy. In the House of Commons, Disraeli's proposals were supported by Gladstone and his many followers and, consequently, the measure was passed.
The 1867 Reform Act gave the vote to every male adult householder living in a borough constituency. Male lodgers paying £10 for unfurnished rooms were also granted the vote. This gave the vote to about 1,500,000 men which was quite remarkable for that period.
The Reform Act also dealt with constituencies and boroughs with less than 10,000 inhabitants lost one of their MPs. The forty-five seats left available were distributed by: giving fifteen to towns which had never had an MP; giving one extra seat to some larger towns - Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds; creating a seat for the University of London; giving twenty-five seats to counties whose population had increased since 1832.

THE THIRD REFORM ACT (1884)

The 1867 Reform Act had granted the vote to working class males in the towns but not in the counties. William Gladstone and most members of the Liberal Party argued that people living in towns and in rural areas should have equal rights. Lord Salisbury, leader of the Conservative Party, opposed any increase in the number of people who could vote in parliamentary elections. Salisbury's critics claimed that he feared that this reform would reduce the power of the Tories in many of the rural constituencies.
In 1884 Gladstone introduced his proposals that would give working class males the same voting rights as those living in the boroughs. Although the bill was passed in the House of Commons it was rejected by the Conservative dominated House of Lords. Gladstone refused to accept defeat and reintroduced the measure. This time the Conservative members of the Lords agreed to pass Gladstone's proposals in return for the promise that it would be followed by a Redistribution Bill. Gladstone accepted their terms and the 1884 Reform Act was allowed to become law. This measure gave the counties the same franchise as the boroughs - adult male householders and £10 lodgers - and added about six million to the total number who could vote in parliamentary elections.

CHAPTER 3

ART AND DESIGN

GARDENS AND GARDENING

The Victorian age, the age of industrial revolution and squalid city slums, was also the age of a popular explosion of interest in that most British of occupations, gardening. And not just as a private pastime. For the first time, a concerted effort was made by authorities to provide extensive public gardens. There was a reason for this benevolent behaviour by the well-to-do. They believed that gardens would decrease drunkenness and improve the manners of the lower classes. Intellectuals and the upper classes also encouraged gardening as means of decreasing social unrest.

In 1840 the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew passed from crown control to the government, which meant a transfer from enthusiastic amateurs to professional gardeners.

Kew was opened to the public in 1841, over royal opposition (the queen was fond of exercising there). In 1848 the striking Palm House was built, a result of improved glass and iron manufacturing techniques. The Palm House is a gigantic greenhouse 363 feet long, 100 feet wide and 60 feet high. As a side note, Joseph Hooker, director of Kew from 1865-85, is credited with popularizing the ubiquitous rhododendron in Britain.

The expanding British Empire opened up far-flung corners of the globe to avid gardeners, and a sort of collector-mania spread throughout Britain. Avid botanists combed the globe for new and exotic plants to bring home. One of the results of this frenzy of collecting was another craze, bedding out plants. The concept of bedding plants was Aztec in origin, but in the hands of Victorian enthusiasts it became a British passion. The bedding out craze, together with improved greenhouse design, resulted in a fashion for massed beds of vibrantly coloured plants laid out in intricate mosaic patterns.
Inevitably, this passion for exotic plants created a reaction in favour of traditional British plants and garden forms, particularly the parsonage, or vicarage garden. Strangely, the number of parsons who have had a strong influence on British garden history is quite high. The vicarage garden was a showpiece of 1-3 acres, planted, not with colourful exotics, but with a homogenous mix of traditional plants, such as wisteria.
The most influential gardener of late Victorian times was William Robinson, author of The English Flower Garden, perhaps the most influential work in British garden history. Robinson, and later Gertrude Jekyll, emphasized a natural look, with creepers and ramblers, hardy shrubs, roses under planted, herbaceous plants and bulbs. Two later examples of this natural style can be seen at Hidcote and Sissinghurst.
Another Victorian garden phenomenon was the London square. London squares were developed by 19th century property developers. Here, the houses backed onto a green space where children could play in full view of the houses. The squares were the focal point for a communal social life. This green-space garden was run by a resident's committee, funded by subscriptions from all the householders. As years went by and pollution increased, only the plants that could adapt could survive, particularly the plane tree, which "took over" many of these squares. Examples of these London squares exist at Bloomsbury, Belgravia, Pimlico, Brompton, Kensington, Notting Hill, and Cadogan Place.

• THE GOTHIC REVIVAL

In reaction to the classical style of the previous century, the Victorian age saw a return to traditional British styles in building, Tudor and mock-Gothic being the most popular. The Gothic Revival, as it was termed, was part spiritual movement, part recoil from the mass produced monotony of the Industrial Revolution. It was a romantic yearning for the traditional, comforting past. The Gothic Revival was led by John Ruskin, who, though not himself an architect, had huge influence as a successful writer and philosopher.

Most popular architectural styles were throwbacks; Tudor, medieval, Italianate. Houses were often large, and terribly inconvenient to live in. The early Victorians had a predilection for overly elaborate details and decoration. Some examples of large Victorian houses are Highclere Castle (Hampshire) and Kelham Hall(Nottinghamshire).
In late Victorian times the pendulum, predictably, swung to the other extreme and the style was simpler, using traditional vernacular (folk) models such as the English farmhouse. This period is typified by the work of Norman Shaw at 'Wispers' Midhurst, (Su).

(Sussex).

Not just styles changed. The Industrial Revolution made possible the use of new materials such as iron and glass. The best example of the use of these new materials was the Crystal Palace built by Joseph Paxton for the Great Exhibition of 1851.