The Life of King Edward VII / with a sketch of the career of King George V

by J. Castell Hopkins

DISTRIBUTES PRIZES, PRESENTS AND COLOURS

New colours were presented to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers by the Prince as they were embarking from Portsmouth for India, on August 16th. On May 24th, 1881, he presided at the festival dinner of the Royal Hospital for Women and Children in London, contributed one hundred guineas to its funds and was able to announce donations totalling £2000. At King's College, London, on July 2nd, His Royal Highness, accompanied by the Princess, distributed the annual prizes and pointed out the history and merits of the institution. On July 18th the Prince, accompanied by the Princess of Wales, laid the foundation of a City and Guilds of London Institute, established for the technical training of artisans, and delivered a speech of considerable range and length. He also accepted the Presidency of the Institute. The seventh annual meeting of the International Medical Congress was formally opened by the Prince, accompanied by the Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia, on August 3rd. He was received by a Committee composed of distinguished medical men such as Sir W. Jenner, Sir William Gull, Sir James Paget and Sir J. R. Bennett and, during the ceremony, spoke upon the progress made in late years by medical science.

The death of Dean Stanley on July 18th of this year was felt as a personal and severe loss by both the Prince and Princess. The former had no warmer or wiser friend; the latter no greater admirer in the highest sense of the word. It was fitting, therefore, that His Royal Highness should take the lead in raising a suitable Memorial to the distinguished Churchman and he attended and spoke earnestly at a meeting called in the Chapter-house of Westminster Abbey, for that purpose, on December 13th. Dean Bradley presided and there were also present Archbishop Tait of Canterbury, the Marquess of Salisbury, Earl Granville, the Duke of Westminster, the Marquess of Lorne, Mr. J. Russell Lowell, the American Minister, Lord Chief Justice Coleridge and others. In his speech the Prince spoke of his intimate friendship with Dean Stanley over a period of twenty-two years, of their association in the East and of the great charm of his companionship. "As the Churchman, as the scholar, as the man of letters, as the philanthropist and, above all, as the true friend, his name must always go down to posterity as a great and good man and as one who will make his mark on a chapter of his country's history."

During the next few years the public events of the Prince's career continued along very much the same lines, varied by some rapid trip to the continent, or visit to the country home of some noble friend, or a shooting excursion to some place where game was plentiful and companions congenial. The central events, aside from his promotion of the Fisheries and other Exhibitions, were the visit to Ireland in 1885, the support given to an Empire policy by his patronage of the Imperial Institute and similar concerns, his active connection with the Masonic Order and his conduct of the Jubilee of 1887. The International Fisheries Exhibition grew out of a comparatively small affair at Norwich in which the Prince of Wales had taken an active interest. In July 1881, as a result of his initiative, a meeting was held in London, a committee was formed and the preliminary work done. In February 1882 a second meeting occurred and further organization was effected with the Queen as Patron, His Royal Highness as President and the Duke of Richmond as Chairman of the General Committee. The Exhibition was finally opened on May 13, 1883, by the Prince of Wales, who had around him most of the members of the Royal family, the Foreign Ambassadors, Her Majesty's Ministers and other distinguished persons, His address defined the reasons for the enterprise in a sentence: "In view of the rapid increase of the population in all civilized countries, and especially in these sea girt kingdoms, a profound interest attaches to every industry which affects the supply of food; and in this respect the harvest of the sea is hardly less important than that of the land." In results he thought the Exhibition should enable practical fishermen to acquaint themselves with the latest improvements in both their working craft and life-saving systems. It was a great success. The total visitors numbered 2,703,051 and there was a financial surplus of £15,243. Of this, two-thirds was put aside to assist the families of fishermen who had lost their lives at sea, and £3000 was used to organize a Fisheries Society in order to keep up the interest in the subject and encourage the study of ways and means to help the fishermen.

THE PRINCE ENCOURAGES EXHIBITIONS

In replying to an address from the Executive Committee at the closing of the Exhibition, on October 31st, the Prince had suggested that other Exhibitions might very well be held dealing with the three great subjects of Health, Inventions and the Colonies. The first subject dealt with was that of Health. Owing to the death of his brother, the Duke of Albany, on March 28th, 1884, the Prince could not do much more than initiate the project but it was carried on by the Duke of Buckingham as Chairman of the Committee. Its active progress was marked by the inauguration of the work of the International Juries by the Prince of Wales on June 17th. Like the Fisheries and the "Colinderies" which followed it in 1886, the "Healtheries" proved ultimately a great success. Meanwhile, minor incidents were occurring. On March 1st, 1882, as Colonel of the Corps, the Prince presided over the 21st anniversary dinner of the Civil Service Volunteers and spoke at some length upon the importance of the Volunteer force. Others present on the occasion were the Dukes of Manchester and Portland, Viscount Bury, Lord Elcho and Colonel Lloyd-Lindsay. On March 10th, 1883, the Duke of Cambridge, Commander-in-Chief, called a meeting in London to consider what could be done with the neglected British graves in the Crimea and the Prince of Wales, who had felt the matter keenly during his visit of years before, moved a Resolution declaring that immediate steps should be taken in the matter. He spoke with earnestness, contributed £50 toward the project and was supported by General Sir W. Codrington, Admiral Sir H. Keppel, General Sir L. A. Simmons and Lord Wolseley.

The new City School of London, on the Thames Embankment, was opened by His Royal Highness on December 12th, 1882, accompanied by the Princess of Wales. On May 21st 1883 crowded memories of his Indian tour were revived by the opening of the Northbrook Club for the use of Native gentlemen from the East Indies. In his speech the Prince referred with gratitude to his "magnificent reception" in India and expressed his strong approval of the establishment of a place where natives of that Empire could meet together for purposes of relaxation and intercourse. The City of London College, intended chiefly for young men who could only attend evening classes, was inaugurated on July 8th of this year. The Princess was also present. In the House of Lords on February 22nd, 1884, the Prince made one of his very few speeches in that Chamber—although a frequent attendant at its sessions. It was in connection with a motion presented by Lord Salisbury for the appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire into the housing of the working classes. His Royal Highness declared that a searching inquiry was very necessary, expressed his pleasure at having been named a member of the Commission, referred to his own experiments at Sandringham, and expressed the hope that measures of a drastic and thorough kind would result. Three days later, accompanied by the Princess, their three daughters, and Her Royal Highness the Marchioness of Lorne, the Prince of Wales visited the Guards' Industrial Home at Chelsea Barracks and distributed the annual prizes.

On March 15th, not for the first time, he presided at the annual meeting of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and spoke strongly of its valuable and important work. Other speakers were the Dukes of Argyll and Northumberland, Admiral Keppel and Lord C. Beresford. The Guilds of London Institute was opened on June 25th and the speech made by the Prince was more elaborate than usual. He was well supported by Lord Carlingford and Mr. A. J. Mundella, M.P. An important and interesting incident of this year was the action of the Prince of Wales in presiding over a densely-crowded meeting in the Guild Hall, London, called to celebrate the Jubilee of the abolition of slavery in British countries and to consider the past and present work of the Anti-Slavery Society. On the platform were many distinguished men in every sphere of the national life and the speech of His Royal Highness was probably the longest he had ever delivered. It was a succinct history of the abolition of slavery in various countries and colonies and contained many expressions of warm approval toward those who had worked to that end—the extension of "the sacred principle of freedom." Sir Stafford Northcote, Archbishop Benson of Canterbury, Mr. W. E. Forster, M.P., Cardinal Manning and others spoke, and it was afterwards announced by the Lord Mayor that the Prince had consented to become Patron of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society.

The unveiling of the statue of Charles Darwin in the Museum of Natural History on June 9th, 1885, evoked a brief speech and a reference to "the great Englishman who had exerted so vast an influence upon the progress of branches of natural knowledge." On July 4th the Prince and Princess attended the opening of the new building of the Birkbeck Institution in London and the former spoke upon its objects and character. On July 5th of the previous year he presided at the annual dinner in aid of the Railway Guards' Friendly Society and referred in his speech to its nature and valuable work. More than £3300 was subscribed, to which the Royal chairman gave his usual contribution. The Convalescent Home at Swanley was opened on July 13th 1885 and the Prince was accompanied by his wife and daughters. A visit was paid two days later to Leeds and the Prince and Princess stayed at Studley, the seat of the Marquess of Ripon. Various addresses were received at the Town Hall and from thence the Royal visitors went to the Yorkshire College, which the Prince duly inaugurated amid much state. At the succeeding luncheon he spoke of the great importance of the industrial educational work which this institution was carrying on. "I have for a long time been deeply impressed with the advisability of establishing in our great centres of population, colleges and schools, not only for promoting the intellectual advancement of the people, but also for increasing their prosperity by furthering the application of scientific knowledge to the industrial arts."