From a Photograph] [by Russell & Sons.
THE RIGHT HON. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN.
Born in London in 1836. He was educated at University College School, and afterwards joined his father, who was a member of the firm of Nettlefold and Chamberlain, screw manufacturers, of Birmingham. He was elected Chairman of the Birmingham Education League in 1868, member of the Town Council in the same year, and of the School Board in 1870; of the last he became Chairman in 1873. He was Mayor of Birmingham during the years 1874–75-76, and has represented that town in Parliament since 1876. He accepted the Presidency of the Board of Trade with a seat in Mr. Gladstone’s Cabinet in 1880, and in 1886 the Presidency of the Local Government Board, but resigned in March of that year when his political chief declared in favour of Home Rule for Ireland. After the general election of 1895 he became Secretary of State for the Colonies in Lord Salisbury’s Administration. He is the Leader in the House of Commons of the Liberal wing of the Unionist Party. He married (as his third wife) Miss Endicott, an American lady, in 1888.
And here let honour be rendered to whom honour is due. From the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Chamberlain, emanated the action which gave the event its Imperial character—the invitation of the Colonial Premiers and the representative detachments of men from the various forces of Colonial and other troops serving under her throughout our world-wide Empire. |Colonial Premiers Invited.| A brilliant military pageant might have been effected by the employment only of the troops of our regular army; but we have other forces across the seas, small it may be in numbers, but magnificent in physique and all that constitutes martial efficiency, whose presence on such an occasion would add lustre and a peculiar significance to the great function.
Meanwhile our grey old London set about adorning itself for the great event. To transform a working city like London into a temporary fairyland is a task of herculean proportions, but it was done! The Corporation voted £25,000 to a decoration fund, and the most moderate estimate fixes the cost of London’s holiday garb at £250,000. Venetian masts appeared suddenly in all the streets along which the procession was to make its way; and as the fateful day drew near, festoons of flowers and loyal inscriptions were suspended from these. Cunningly concealed in the hanging bouquets of flowers were electric lamps destined to make the streets even more brilliant at night than they were in the daytime.
From a Photograph] [by York & Son.
THE DECORATIONS IN ST. JAMES’S STREET.
The actual route literally blazed with colour.|The Decorations.| Flags were at a premium and so were coloured stuffs and flowers, for the Jubilee had asked more than the supply, and in many cases the North country mills were working day and night to make good the deficiency. When at last the great city had finished her toilet, not even her own children recognized her.
St. James’s Street sat at the head of all, a perfect poem of decorative beauty. There were two massive Corinthian pillars at either end, their capitals of gold surmounted by large globes, their bases adorned with choice growing palms and flowers. Forty venetian masts capped with the Imperial crown stood on each side of the street, and from mast to mast were laced festoons of evergreens, from which hung baskets of rare flowers, birds in flight, and globes of red, white, and blue glass, which sparkled in the sunlight and turned the roadway into a pathway of quivering light.