REMEMBER! NEXT WEEK’S CLASS IS ON WEDNESDAY WHEN WE WILL BE VISITING CRYSTAL PALACE PARK AND MUSEUM MEET 1.55 CRYSTAL PALACE STATION – SEE VLE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

1851: The Great Exhibition Week 4: Visitors George Cruickshank, All the World Going to See the Great Exhibition of 1851

Jeffrey Auerbach François Bédarida Emily Heady Hermione Hobhouse Sadiah Qureshi Paul Young

Visits to Great Exhibition: 6. 2m Population of Britain 1851: c. 27 Visits to Great Exhibition: 6.2m Population of Britain 1851: c. 27.5m Nominal capacity: 50,000 Foreign visitors to London 1851: c. 58,000

George Cruickshank, Piccadilly During the Great Exhibition of 1851

George Cruickshank, Manchester in 1851

1832: Reform Act 1832: Anatomy Act 1834: New Poor Law 1838-48: Chartism 1846: Repeal of the Corn Laws 1848: Revolutions in Europe

‘The organizer of the Great Exhibition sought to bring together all sectors of British society under one roof. Yet, at the same time, the arrangement of exhibits, admission prices, patterns of attendance, and latent fears of the working classes reflected and reinforced hierarchies and divisions within Victorian society.’ Jeffrey Auerbach, The Great Exhibition of 1851: A Nation on Display (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999)

‘The railways and technological improvements meant that crowds of people could come together in a way that had never before been seen. In this respect, the Great Exhibition was a huge popular festival – a real party for the people. It was the opposite of the splendid displays at Versailles or Windsor which were reserved for a small privileged circle.’ François Bédarida, A Social History of England 1851-1990 (London: Routledge, 1991)

REMEMBER! NEXT WEEK’S CLASS IS ON WEDNESDAY WHEN WE WILL BE VISITING CRYSTAL PALACE PARK AND MUSEUM MEET 1.55 CRYSTAL PALACE STATION – SEE VLE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

John Leech, ‘Memorials of the Great Exhibition. – 1851. No John Leech, ‘Memorials of the Great Exhibition. – 1851. No. I – Crowded State of Lodging-Houses’

'Season Tickets, for Gentlemen £3 3s; for Ladies £2 2s 'Season Tickets, for Gentlemen £3 3s; for Ladies £2 2s.
The first day Season Tickets only will be admitted.
On the 2nd and 3rd days £1, 4th day 5s, and the same rate for the succeeding seventeen days.
On the 22nd day the prices as follows in continuance: Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays each week, 1s. Fridays, 2s 6d and Saturdays is 5s.
No change given at the doors.’ R. Beasland, London Companion During the Great Exhibition (London, 1851)

Season Ticket

Average attendance: 45,000-60,000 on shilling days 18,000-30,000 on Fridays 6,000 on Saturdays (+ 2,000-4,000 season ticket holders daily)   Largest attendance: Tuesday October 7 - 109,915 (92,000 at same time)

John Leech, ‘Memorials of the Great Exhibition. – 1851. No John Leech, ‘Memorials of the Great Exhibition. – 1851. No. 25 – Dinner-time at the Crystal Palace’

John Tenniel, ‘The Happy Family in Hyde Park’, Punch, 1851

Agricultural workers at the Great Exhibition, Illustrated London News

Model houses, commissioned by Prince Albert, designed by Henry Roberts.

Purposes: Finding a role for Prince Albert Educating workers for new industries Educating wider public about utility/necessity of industrialisation and about industrial processes Engendering desire for goods/creating markets Educating public about taste Educating people about necessity of Empire Celebrating size and power of Empire Justifying Empire by demonstrating benefits to colonised and colonisers/British superiority Unifying British people – and separating them from others – to forge/confirm national identity Attempt to ward off industrial decline Promoting international harmony and world peace ‘Improvement’ of working classes

REMEMBER! NEXT WEEK’S CLASS IS ON WEDNESDAY WHEN WE WILL BE VISITING CRYSTAL PALACE PARK AND MUSEUM MEET 1.55 CRYSTAL PALACE STATION – SEE VLE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION