Immense firework display of 1884 unrivalled?
Remember, remember… we hope you had a wonderful time on the 5th of November – the day we commemorate the Gunpowder Plot, when the York-born Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament.
But could any modern fireworks display match that presented by Messrs CT Brock & Co that took place in and around Scarborough’s Cliff Bridge grounds on July 17, 1884?
The display was prefaced by a grand chess tournament with living pieces, music from the Band of the Princess of Wales’ Own Yorkshire Regiment, and buildings brilliantly illuminated by ‘Upwards of Eleven
Thousand Jets of Gas’.
The fireworks included an ‘Ascent of two large Gas Balloons with Magnesium Light, shedding a flood of intensely dazzling rays over the sea, and discharging fireworks in mid-air, concluding with a shower of silver rain and variegated gems’, which started the display at 9.15pm.
It was followed by a ‘Silver Tree’, ‘Mines of Silver Sancissons’ and a ‘Flight of Tourbillions, forming a perfect umbrella of fire’.
If that wasn’t enough, there was a ‘Flight of Fiery Pigeons’, ‘Batteries of Jewelheaded Cobras’, ‘Mines of huge glow-worms’, a ‘Salvo of 18-inch Crystal Palace Shells, with stars of ruby, emerald, sapphire, amethyst, topaz, opal, pearl and brilliants’, plus a ‘Display of
Signal Rockets with Silver Plumes, Streamers, Peacock Plumes and Tail Stars’.
And we’re still only halfway through the programme.
There’s more: the Falls of Niagara, a ‘rushing torrent of silver spray, covering an area of 1,000 square feet, and producing a noise like a mighty cataract’, a ‘Flight of Shooting Stars’, a ‘Grove of Fiery Palms’, and a ‘Great Golden Cloud studded with Jewels’ were amongst many other tableaux that were all trumped by the grand finale, which included a ‘large Turning Sun, 60 feet in circumference’ and – wait for it – a ‘Pyrotechnic Portrait’ of military hero General Gordon, who, even as the blue touch paper was being lit, was defending Britishheld Khartoum against rebel forces – clearly the man of the hour.
So lavish is the language, you could almost believe it had been written by Woodend’s most famous resident, the poet Edith Sitwell – except she wasn’t born until three years later.
You can still, of course, buy Brock’s Fireworks today – and in 1884, they were already a venerable company, having been founded in 1698, the same century as the Gunpowder Plot.
Scarborough Museums and Galleries runs the Rotunda, Scarborough Art Gallery and Woodend.
Scarborough Museums and Galleries is a member of the Museums Association (the only organisation for all museums in the four nations of the UK, which campaigns for socially engaged museums) and adheres to its code of ethics: https://www.museumsassociation.org/campaigns/ ethics/
• Pictured is part of the original programme for the firework display at Scarborough in
1884 (photo: Tony Bartholomew).