The million-peopled city
Garwood, John
1853
The Crowds of the Public who assembled to see the Spectacle.
" But, whatever might be the private opinion of the people respecting the Duke and his lying-in-state, they manifested a universal desire to witness what would probably be the last specimen of the funereal pageantry of kings in a bygone age. Many of the higher and more intelligent classes of society came, no doubt, to pay a tribute of respect to departed worth, but the overwhelming majority were mere sightseers. The train of carriages which conveyed the elite of the country to the hall of state was truly surprising. At one hour of the day there could not have been less than one mile and a-half's length of carriages waiting to set down their passengers, and the day was exceedingly rainy. Ladies, dressed in the most costly manner, might have been seen bespattered with mud, and wading through dirt with their slender shoes, because, when they had seen the sight, their carriages were unable to get sufficiently near to take them | |
123 | up at the point of egress. To many of the coachmen and footmen I gave tracts. |
"The first day of public admission commenced, and at an early hour entrance into the hall was easy; but the full tide of human beings had set in towards the Hospital, and the mass soon became enormous. The lady of my respected local superintendent, whose house overlooks the entrance of the Hospital, thus describes the scene, as it appeared from their windows :-' At about 11 o'clock, the , between the College and the green opposite, was one dense, black line of innumerable people and carriages. It soon became apparent that the police were under some measure of alarm. We could distinguish them, mounted on the iron rails and cabs, and exhorting the people to keep back. There was much screaming and evident suffering in the crowd, and the steam from them rose, as a cloud of smoke, the whole length of the road. A few minutes more, and 2 bodies were carried past, the way for them being made through the crowd by mounted police. About noon a new arrangement was adopted by opening the green, which relieved the pressure, by allow- ing the crowd to return another way. The returning crowds pressed under our windows, and we saw many women fainting with exhaustion, some with their clothes torn from them, and some who had lost one or both shoes.' | |
" At night men were set to work to erect barriers, to lay down gas, and to make entirely new arrangements for Monday. The whole of Sunday was occupied with these preparations. | |
" Monday morning opened with crowds greater than ever, surrounding the Hospital, but owing to the barriers erected, to prevent the crowds pressing too densely on one another, no very serious accident occurred. One woman who had been pressed in the crowd I saw vomiting blood in Smith- street. Another had the skirts of her gown torn completely | |
124 | away, and the soles of her shoes trodden off the upper parts. The mud had been worked up around the Hospital by the rain and the large concourse of pedestrians, so that every person was greatly bespattered by it. This almost emptied my district of men and youths. Providing themselves with a stool each, and brushes and blacking, they lined the pave- ments around the Hospital for many score of yards, and allured the returning visitors to expend a penny on the polishing of their miry shoes, each one assuring the public that theirs was the true Wellington polish, or that theirs was the genuine Victoria blacking. Soon, however, the were in the field, and secured to themselves a full share in the rich harvest my people had been reaping. Nor were these the only persons who turned a public loss into a private advantage. Correct portrait sellers and medal vendors were very numerous; and men and children earned a good large sum by holding horses, and finding carriages for those who had been in the hall. Many people opened their houses as tea and coffee-houses, and touted at the doors for customers. The public-houses in the neighbourhood were also filled to overflowing. |
" Tuesday brought greater crowds than ever to witness the splendid ceremonial. It was with the greatest difficulty that I could get from my home to my district. The broad mass of persons waiting for admission at one part of the day reached about 600 yards. So densely were they packed, that the lady of the clergyman, to whom I have before referred, saw a gentleman who had the seals of his letters melted in his pocket by the heat of the crowd. Fainting females were very numerous. My kind superintendent's house being very convenient, he generously opened it as an asylum in such cases. In the evening he was not able to count up the number of cases which had been brought in and nursed during the day. | |
"On Wednesday the people seemed to have gathered together more numerously than ever. Many who had been disappointed several times on previous days in trying to reach the hall of death, were determined to make a last effort to-day. So great was the crowd, that it reached from the College, through the Green, through , and a long distance up and down , besides those who were admitted through and the . At the close of the day, many who had come hundreds of miles to see the sight went away dis- appointed. | |
"' Having described in some measure the masses who came to witness the lying-in-state, I will now relate some of the Christian efforts made to turn this solemnity to the further- ance of the . Finding it impossible to pursue my work on my district, I gathered up a large number of tracts which had remained to me out of former months' distri- bution, and went amongst the crowd, giving them to such persons as seemed likely to profit by them. There were few cases in which they were not kindly and eagerly received. Seven hundred tracts were distributed by me in a few hours, and I went home for more. I continued it each day, and had the satisfaction of seeing many to whom I had given tracts stand in the crowd reading them. The police also were most willing to receive tracts, and to many I gave them. Several of my brother missionaries were similarly employed. Nor were some of the clergy and Christian people in the neighbourhood unmindful of this excellent opportunity of making known their Lord's will. My respected local superintendent gave away a large number of tracts; and such was the rush of the people and policemen to receive them, that his wife was compelled on Wednesday to leave the door, and go into the balcony to distribute them. Indeed, nothing could exceed the | |
126 | thankfulness with which the people in general received tracts. |
" How the people behaved on the occasion, when they were assembled in such vast masses, it must be interesting and important to know. Of this there can be but one opinion, and that is in their favour. Nothing could exceed the quietness and patience with which they waited for their turn of admission to the Hospital, nor the orderly manner in which they moved forward in subjection to the police, nor the regard and ready assistance which they bestowed on females fainting in the crowd from heat and pressure. The tedium of delay was beguiled by lively sallies of wit, and a continuous current of cheerful conversation. In such a crowd pressure was to be expected, but no serious accident occurred after the first day. Very large numbers of females had put on some articles of mourning, but it was to be gathered from the conversation, that this was partly owing to the impression that no one would be admitted to the hall without it. If the gatherings of a nation be any index of its sense of decency and propriety, England has reason to congratulate herself, and take courage. Even vice on this occasion was content to wear the appearance of virtue, or to hide itself in the recesses of the neighbouring beer-shops. | |
"But I must not forget to notice the praiseworthy conduct of the police in keeping order. Time was when the people and the police could by no means agree, but during the lying-in-state they appeared on the most friendly terms. The police joked with the people, and the people with the police, so that it was frequently very amusing to hear them. To distressed females the police were particularly attentive. Wherever there was danger they used the utmost exertions to avert it. Their arrangements were most complete and satisfactory, after the first day's admission, from which time no serious accident occurred. | |
"In conclusion, I would suggest to all men to consider whether so much orderly and peaceful behaviour, manifested by all classes of society on so exciting an occasion, and con- trasting so strikingly with popular gatherings in days gone by, may not be traceable to the socializing influence of religion, as applied to the masses through the , and a regular ministry more alive to the requirements of the people." | |
