1. 1851: The Great Exhibition

2. Outline Context I/The Exhibition II/Travelling to the Exhibition
III/Visiting the Exhibition

3. Context: the United Kingdom in 1851

4. « The great social and economic changes of the industrial revolution had bonded Wales, Scotland and England more firmly together; South Wales, Lowland Scotland and the north of England, in particular, had all become more urban and industrial in character, more liberal in politics, and more nonconformist in religion. »
 Ireland = exception
The Great Turning Points of British History, p. 169.

5. Living standards rising for most of the population BUT not equal
Top 0.5 percent of the population accounted for 25% of the nation’s income (10% today)
‘the upper ten thousand’
¾ of the population = working class
¼ = clerks and shopkeepers.

6. Nature and purpose of the exhibition
Meant to unite « the Useful, the Good and the Beautiful »
Implicit aim = to celebrate the domination of the UK as the world’s leading industrial and trading nation.

7. The Great Exhibition

8. Official name = The Great Exhibition of the Works and Industry of all nations
Organised by a Royal Commission led by the Prince Consort.
Opened by Queen Victoria

9. 1 May – 11 October 1851
First 3 weeks = ‘respectable’ public. Afterwards: ‘shilling tickets’
6 million people in four months (= 1/3 of the total population of England and Wales)

10. Source: Wikimedia Commons
The Crystal Palace
3 times as big as St Paul’s Cathedral.
245 designs by world architects examined.
Joseph Paxton ( )
Inspired by a greenhouse
panes of glass
 Not considered as architecture.
Source: Wikimedia Commons

11. Travelling to the Great Exhibition

12. « the largest movement of population ever to have taken place in Britain »
Thomas Cook  people from the Midlands to London
Rail connections between Paris and London completed the previous year  travellers in 1851.

13. + street signs, public toilets etc.
« it can be said to have kick-started the entire apparatus of the modern tourist industry: the railway journey, the package holiday, the hotel (or at least the B&B) and the restaurant were all to be transformed from elite into popular experiences »
+ street signs, public toilets etc.
The Great Turning Points in British History, p. 167.

14. Visiting the Exhibition

15. « It was officially filled with products of great size and ingenuity to shock and awe – huge blocks of coal, the largest steam locomotives, hydraulic presses and steam-hammers, a scale model of the Liverpool docks with 1600 miniature ships in full rigging; sewing machines, ice-making machines, cigarette-rolling machines, machines to mint medals and machines to fold envelopes. »
The Great Turning Points in British History, p. 165

16. Industry
exhibits
Trinkets, consumer goods (from toothpaste to furniture), machinery
!! Exhibitors were not allowed to display prices or to sell over the counter!!

17. Global communication British Empire at the centre of the Exhibition
America
Telegraph