“The opening of the Colonial and Indian Exposition by the Queen” from “The Graphic” (8 May 1886)

Victorian Web Home —> The Royal Albert Hall —> Periodicals —> The Graphic —> Next]

The Opening of the Colonial and Indian Exposition by the Queen.

8 May 1886

wood-engraving

30 cm high by 22.5 cm wide — 12 inches by 8 ¾ inches

Illustration for The Graphic, p. 485.

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

Scanned image, formatting, and text by Philip V. Allingham.

You may use this image, and the one below, without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the images, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.

Above: Detail of Queen Victoria and her son, Prince Albert Victor, at the Royal Albert Hall: The Opening of the Colonial and Indian Exposition by the Queen, Her Majesty reading the reply to the Prince of Wales’s address in the Albert Hall. The opening occurred on 4 May 1886. The Graphic, No. 858, Vol. XXXIII, 485.

The venue was actually the thirteen-acre Royal Horticultural Gardens behind the Albert Hall in South Kensington, London. The intention of the vast exhibition was to showcase the commercial and technological developments across the Empire: British and "foreign" exhibits were purposely excluded. The Prince in his address expressed the hope that the Exhibition would "stimulate commerce and strengthen the bonds of union now existing in every portion of Her Majesty's Empire." By the time it closed on 15 October it had received 5.5 million visitors. Another view of the Exhibition featuring the Royal Procession passing through the ornate, Indian-style Jaipur Gate appeared in The Illustrated London News (May 1886).

Links to Related Material

Bibliography

The Opening of the Colonial and Indian Exposition by the Queen. The Graphic, No. 838, Vol. XXXIII (8 May 1886): 485.

Created 18 March 2025