The Thanksgiving Day illumination of St. Paul’s

1872

Source: Illustrated London News. [Click on image to enlarge it.]

The illumination was part of the celebration of the Prince of Wales's recovery from typhoid, for which Queen Victoria and the royal party gave thanks at St Paul's on 27 February 1872. [Commentary continues below.]

Image download, caption material and formatting by George P. Landow, commentary by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Hathi Trust Digital Library and The University of Michigan Library and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.

The Thanksgiving procession had been joyous, because of the enthusiasm of the crowd, but it must be admitted that the Queen was rather disappointed when she entered the cathedral, writing in her journal later that day, "The Cathedral itself is so dull, cold, dreary & dingy. It so badly lacks decoration & colour. It was stiflingly hot & though the Te Deum Anthem by Mr Goss were fine, the service appeared to me cold & too long, excepting the concluding beautiful Hymn, which was most touching & elevating!" Perhaps the subsequent illumination made up for the uninspiring interior!

Related Material

• The Queen and the Prince of Wales passing through Temple Bar on their way to the cathedral
• Modern photographs of St. Paul’s Cathedral
• St. Paul's Cathedral, Bankside (steel engraving after W. Tombleson)
• St. Paul's Cathedral behind Blackfriars Bridge (steel engraving after W. Tombleson)
• A View of St. Paul's from the River Thames (painting by Claude T. S. Moore)
• The Pool of London (painting by W. J. Baker)
• St. Paul's Cathedral (watercolor by Mortimer Menpes)
• All Saint's Day at St. Paul's Cathedral (etching by M. C. Robinson)
• St. Paul's Cathedral (etching by William Walker)

Bibliography

Queen Victoria, journal entry, 27 February 1872 (Vol. 61, p. 52). Queen Victoria's Journals. Web. 9 March 2020.

“The Thanksgiving Day illumination of St. Paul’s.” Illustrated London News. (9 March 1872): 248. Hathi Trust Digital Library version of a copy in the University of Michigan Library. Web. 22 December 2015.

---

Victorian
Web

Archi-
tecture

London

London
Scenes

Next

Last modified 23 December 2015