The Prince of Wales then proposed the Lord Mayor's health in a brief speech, in the course of which he said that it must be especially gratifying to his lordship to preside at such a dinner, seeing that he was well acquainted with the colonies, being a colonial merchant of high repute, and having visited, if not all, at any rate most of our great colonies.
The Lord Mayor briefly acknowledged the compliment, and said this meeting was one of the most gratifying incidents of his year of office.
CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE.
July 18th, 1881.
Of many movements originated by the late Prince Consort, and carried forward by the Prince of Wales, the advancement of technical education is one of the highest national importance. Without going into past history, it is sufficient to say that of late years some of the Guilds of the City of London have been awakened to a sense of their duties in training artisans, for which purpose they were at first mainly founded. The Corporation of London has aided the movement, but in a more limited way. At first the efforts were directed to the encouragement of technical education in existing schools and colleges by pecuniary grants. But subsequently the Institute has been enabled to establish schools of its own, and to assist in development of technical instruction, not in London only, but in many large provincial towns.
The Institute had been incorporated in 1880, and in May of that year the late Duke of Albany laid the foundation stone of the Finsbury Technical College, the first building in the Metropolis exclusively devoted to this practical training. In Lambeth and other districts similar schools have been instituted; but it was thought advisable to found a Central Institute for systematic teaching the practical applications of science and art to the trades and industries of the country. Hitherto the training of artisans has been mainly dependent on the customs of apprenticeship in the various handicrafts; upwards of twenty of the City Companies, including nine out of the twelve greater Guilds, had subscribed largely, and had entered the associated Institute, when the Prince of Wales was invited to become the President. By the influence of the Prince, as President of the Royal Commissioners of 1851, a site for the proposed central College was granted at a nominal rent, on the estate at South Kensington. To lay the foundation stone of this building, the Prince, accompanied by the Princess of Wales, came on the 18th of July, 1881.
An address having been delivered by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Selborne, Chairman of the Committee of the Institute, the Prince of Wales delivered the following speech, which more clearly presents the whole subject, and brings out its national importance:—
"My Lord Chancellor, my Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen,—I thank you for your address, and beg leave to assure you that it gives me much satisfaction to attend here to-day to lay the foundation stone of an institution which gives such forcible expression to one of the most important needs in the education of persons who are destined to take part in the productive history of this country.
"Hitherto English teaching has chiefly relied on training the intellectual faculties, so as to adapt men to apply their intelligence in any occupation of life to which they may be called; and this general discipline of the mind has on the whole been found sufficient until recent times; but during the last thirty years the competition of other nations, even in manufactures which once were exclusively carried on in this kingdom, has been very severe. The great progress that has been made in the means of locomotion as well as in the application of steam for the purposes of life has distributed the raw materials of industry all over the world, and has economized time and labour in their conversion to objects of utility. Other nations which did not possess in such abundance as Great Britain coal, the source of power, and iron, the essence of strength, compensated for the want of raw material by the technical education of their industrial classes, and this country has, therefore, seen manufactures springing up everywhere, guided by the trained intelligence thus created. Both in Europe and in America technical colleges for teaching, not the practice, but the principles of science and art involved in particular industries, had been organized in all the leading centres of industry.
"England is now thoroughly aware of the necessity for supplementing her educational institutions by colleges of a like nature. Most of our great manufacturing towns have either started or have already erected their colleges of science and art. In only a few instances, however, have they become developed into schools for systematic technical instruction. This building, which is to be erected by the City and Guilds of London, will be of considerable benefit to the whole kingdom, not only as an example of the institute devoting itself to technical training, but as a focus likewise for uniting the different technical schools in the Metropolis already in existence, and a central establishment also to which promising students from the provinces may, by the aid of scholarships, he brought to benefit by the superior instruction which London can command. While studying at your institution, they will have the further advantages that the treasures of the South Kensington Museum and the numerous collections in the City may bring to bear on the artistic and scientific education of future manufacturers.
"Let me remind you that the realization of this idea was one of the most cherished objects which my lamented father had in view. After the Exhibition of 1851, he recognized the need of technical education in the future, and he foresaw how difficult it would be in London to find space for such museums and colleges as those which now surround the spot on which we stand. It is, therefore, to me a peculiar pleasure that the Commissioners of the Exhibition, of which I am the President, have been able to contribute to your present important undertaking, by giving to you the ground upon which the present college is to be erected, with a sufficient reserve of land to insure its future development.
"Allow me, in conclusion, to express the great satisfaction which I experience in seeing the ancient guilds of the City of London so warmly co-operating in the advancement of technical instruction. I am aware that several of them have for some time past in various ways separately encouraged the study of science and art in the Metropolis, as well as in the provinces; and it is a noble effort on their part when they join together to establish a united institute with the view of making still greater and more systematic endeavours for the promotion of this branch of special education. By consenting at your request to become the President of this Institute I hope it may be in my power to benefit the good work, and that our joint exertions, aided, I trust, by the continued liberality of the City and Guilds of London, may prove to be an example to the rest of the country to train the intelligence of industrial communities, so that, with the increasing competition of the world, England may retain her proud pre-eminence as a manufacturing nation."
After this address, the ceremony of laying the foundation stone was completed. A medal to commemorate the event had previously been struck at the Royal Mint.