Prologue
At
1.10pm, on a bitterly cold November day in 1866, a special train
arrived at Wolverhampton Low Level Station, which had been specially
decorated by the Wolverhampton builder Lovatt with the help of the
local architect Mr. Veall. The train carried Her Majesty Queen
Victoria together with assorted attendants; the occasion for the
visit was the unveiling of the equestrian statue in Queen Square, to
the late and much lamented Albert the Prince Consort. This was in
fact the Queen’s second visit to the town: she and Prince Albert had
paused at Wolverhampton to receive a loyal address whilst en route
for Scotland in 1851.
The
Queen’s arrival had thrown the town into consternation, for her
Majesty had already turned down similar invitations from Manchester
and Liverpool. It seems that the widows of Wolverhampton had sent
her a letter of sympathy after the Prince’s death, which moved her
so much that she declared: “If ever I go out again, my first public
appearance shall be in Wolverhampton, for the love and sympathy of
the widows have comforted me in my darkest hour”.1
As it
was, her acceptance caused something approaching panic in the
organisers, as there were only eight days between the Queen’s
acceptance and her arrival to unveil the statue.
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The statue of Prince Albert. |
The council
divided itself into committees to organise the ornamentation of
public buildings in the town. The noted local architect Bidlake
undertook many of the decorations at his own expense. Flags and
banners were hung across the streets and people hung banners out
of their windows. High Green (Queen Square) was decorated with
banners that ranged from the simple: “God Bless the Queen”, to
the tortuous: “The Silent Father of Our Kings to Be”. The main
streets were decorated with flags and garlands of flowers; flags
and buntings hung from all the town centre buildings. Near to
the railway station at which the Queen would arrive, there was
erected a great arch made from lumps of coal and bars of iron.
One of the pieces of coal weighed four tons and was decorated
with picks and shovels, the whole designed to show the source of
the area’s wealth. There were more triumphal arches that left
the coal arch looking a model of restraint. School Street had an
arch covered with items of hardware made in the town; iron
tubing, edge tools, domestic goods and japanned ware. The route
from the station to the unveiling place extended four miles. |
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Accompanying the Queen was Lord Derby the Prime Minister and
observant people also noted the bearded figure of John Brown,
the Queen’s Scottish companion, sitting in the Dickie seat of
the Royal landau. For the unveiling itself a pavilion had been
erected with crimson draping topped with a crown and decorated
with roses; in it sat 2,000 ticket holders to watch the
ceremony. The Royal party reached the square at 1.40pm. “Her
Majesty advanced and bowed again and again…with a gratified look
that could leave no doubt how highly she appreciated the
reception awarded to her”.2 |
| When the
statue was unveiled, with the sculptor Thorneycroft himself
pulling the cord, “the expression on Her Majesty’s countenance,
as the excellent likeness of the Prince came into view, betrayed
her emotion”. The Queen walked around the statue and thanked
Thorneycroft, talked to the assembled worthies and got back into
her carriage. In the evening a Mayoral banquet was held in the
Exchange. On the whole the day went well, except for the man
charged to fire a salute from a cannon in West Park who blew his
hand off in the process. He was later awarded a pension of £20
per year. |
The Mayor, John Morris being knighted by
the Queen. |
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Nationally, many saw the visit as unsuitable with London and
Manchester expressing indignation that Her Majesty, having been in
retirement from public life for five years, should choose
Wolverhampton, a town in the Black Country, to make her public
re-appearance. There was outrage in the capital’s press and Punch
added its two pennyworth with a particularly nasty and insulting
verse:-
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The Queen in
the Black Country
Gracious Queen Victoria,
Wolverhampton greets you,
Franks her unlovely face in smiles with homage as she greets
you,
Underneath her arch of coal loyally entreats you;
Wreathes nails, locks, and bolts, and near the iron trophy
seats you.
Grimy labour washes and puts on its Sunday clothes,
For holiday unwonted forges cool and smithies close,
Pale, toil-stunted children leave their nailing for the
shows,
The pale strain subterranean work idly above ground flows.
In honour of the Queen, whose very name seems strange and
odd
To many here, who know no more of a Queen than a God,
Slaving from dawn to darkness at nail hammer and nail rod,
Their backs bowed to the anvil and their souls chained to
the clod |
The affair was soon largely
forgotten but the memory of the Queen’s visit remained in people’s
minds for many years, though the statue that she had unveiled very
soon became a mess due to the atmospheric pollution. The visit
though sums up much of 19th century Wolverhampton; proud, wealthy,
perhaps slightly vulgar but above all vigorous.
* Any reader of broadsheet
newspapers may feel that the attitude of those in the south-east
remains unchanged to this day.
Notes:
| 1. |
W.H.
Jones, "The Story of Municipal Life in Wolverhampton", 1903.
p.125. |
| 2. |
The
Royal Visit to Wolverhampton", pub. Edward Roden, 1867.
Anyone interested in finding out more about the Royal visit
should visit Bantock House, which has an interesting
collection of commemorative memorabilia. |
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Return to the
introduction |
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Return to
the contents |
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Proceed to
19th Century Britain |
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