Welsh Society
THE latest meeting of the Loughborough Welsh Society saw an excellent presentation by Ron Jones from Nottingham.
Ron’s talk was about the “Great Exhibition 1851” which was held at Hyde Park in London.
The country at the time had a population of about 27 Million and suffered in the main from poor Training and Education.
It was felt by some of the leading members of society that there was a need to bolster the community; and having cast their eyes across the Channel, were aware that the French had already held a number of “Exhibitions”.
Among the Prime Movers in England were Henry Cole and Prince Albert, who proposed an International Exhibition.
There were of course many in opposition, who foresaw the hurdles of Finance and a Venue.
There was obviously “Nimbys” in those days as well. However the scheme went ahead and an estimated cost of £100,000 was agreed.
A Design Competition was held, which attracted 245 entries, all of which were rejected!
Finally Joseph Paxton’s entry was agreed, which proposed an Arch Transept that would enable the trees to stay.
The building contained some 300,000 panes of glass, took 6-7 months to build, and was opened in May 1851 by Queen Victoria.
All the exhibits were catalogued, and amongst the original Exhibitors were such familiar names as Wilkinson Sword, Spear and Jackson, and Chubb.
Many countries agreed to participate and probably the best were France and India, in fact France won more Medals than anyone.
Admission to the exhibition was originally set at 3 Guineas - far beyond the means of the ordinary working people; later reduced to 5 shillings, and finally to one shilling on a Friday.
Many firms from all over the country exhibited and arranged for their workforce to attend; a gentleman by the name of Thomas Cook arranged a number of Tours and Train Trips.
Some problems occurred with many sparrows being attracted to the trees and ventilation problems caused by the large attendance.
The Exhibition was a great success, attracted 6 Million visitors (92,000 in one day), made a profit of £186,000, and finally closed on 15th October 1851.
Joseph Paxton bought the building, and moved it to Sydenham; alas it was destroyed by fire in 1936.