The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-05-21 00:00:00

ROYALTY IN EAST LONDONi
THE QUEEN OPENS THE PEOPLES

PALACE.

The Queen went from Windsor to London on
Saturday afternoon, and opened the People's Palace
in East London. From Paddington, through Oxford-
Street, Holborn, and the City, the streets were deco-
rated and crowded with people, who warmly cheered
her Majesty as she drove with the Princess Beatrice
and Princess Christian to the scene of the ceremony.
The Duke of Cambridge, wearing his Field Marshal's
uniform, entered the Palace about half-past four;
',tit many oi the cheers given were evidently meant for
his sister, the popular Duchess of Teck, who leaned
on his arm. Sir Charles Warren, the Chief Commis.

sioner of Police, in blue tunic, heavy with silver lace,
and wearing medals for his African exploits, paced the
floor uneasily, watching for the arrival of the
Queen. The Archbishop of Canterbury came in
robes and lawn sleeves, and book in hand,
ready to commence with the introductory
prayer. The man of peace stood talking some
minutes to the man of " war " the Duke
of Cambridge—until loud cheers announced the
arrival of the Prince of Wales, accompanied by the
ever-charming and popular Princess and some of their
children. All the time, Mr. C. T. Ritchie, M.P. for
St. George's-in-the-East and President of the Board
of Trade, was pointing out points of interest in the

Palace.
About five o'clock a flourish of trumpets without
announced the arrival of the Queen. Her Majesty
was received with a salute by the guard of honour of
the Grenadier Guards. The chairman and treasurer
of the Beaumont Trustees and the chairman of thd

Drapers' Company met her Majesty at the eastern
entrance, and a procession having been formed, she
was conducted to a chair of state on a raised dais,

where the Home Secretary received her. There were
then, amongst others on the dais, the Prince and
Princess of Wales and their daughters, Princesses
Louise, Victoria, and Maud, Princess Louise (Mar-
chioness of Lorne), Prince and Princess Christian,
Prince and Princess Henry of Battenberg, the Lord
Chamberlain, and the Lord Steward. Lord Randolph
Churchill was in the body of the hall, but did not

go upon the dais.
The Queen having taken her place, the choir of the
Bow and Bromley Institute, accompanied by the
full orchestral band, sang the National Anthem, which
was loudly cheered. An address was then presented,
on behalf of the Beaumont Trustees, by Sir E. Hay
Currie, the chairman. The Queen, in reply, said:
"I thank you for your loyal and dutiful address. It
gives me great satisfaction to open this fine building
provided for the benefit of the people of the East of
London, whose lives of unceasing but honourable toil
will be cheered by the various opportunities of rational
and instructive entertainment and of artistic enjoy-
ment here afforded to them. I rejoice to think that
the noble contributions of the Drapers' Company and
of many other benevolent persons have enabled you
to carry through and complete so large and generous a
scheme. My beloved husband would have viewed with in-
finite pleasure such efforts to meet the wants and add
to the pleasures of this busy population. I thank you
heartily for your good wishes on the occasion of my
attainment of the fiftieth year of my reign. I hope
this undertaking will continue to prosper, and by
God's blessing fulfil all the worthy objects for which
it is designed." The Queen, who spoke in a very
clear, distinct voice, was loudly cheered on resuming
her seat. A gold key of the hall was then presented
to her Majesty by Mr. Spencer Charrington, M.P.,
treasurer to the trust. That most plaintive and
affecting of songs, 'I Home, Sweet Home," was sung
by Madame Albani in her best style, and then the
Prince of Wales, coming to the front of the dais,
said: "I am commanded by the Queen to declare
that the Queen's Hall is now open." This short
address was loudly cheered, and immediately part of
the "Old Hundredth" was sung by the choir.
The following gentlemen were then presented to
her Majesty by the Lord Chamberlain :—Sir Edmund
Hay Currie, Mr. Spencer Charrington, M.P., Mr.
John Rogers Jennings, Master of the Drapers' Com-
pany; Mr. William P. Sawyer, clerk of the Drapers'
Company; Captain Spencer Beaumont, representing
the Beaumont Trust ; Mr. E. R. Robson, the
architect; Mr. Walter Besant, author of "All Sorts
and Conditions of Men;" Mr. Wilberforce Bryant,
and Mr. T. Dyer Edwardes. When Mr. Jennings,
Master of the Drapers' Company, was presented, he
was directed to kneel, and the Queen knighted him on
the spot.
The procession was then re formed, and the Queen
was conducted to the site of the Technical and
Handicraft Schools, adjoining the platform where the
first stone was to be laid. The Archbishop of Canter-
bury, assisted by the Bishop of Bedford, having
offered prayer, Sir John Rogers Jennings handed
the Queen a report of the origin of the building, and
the coins of the present year, which her Majesty
placed in a glass vessel. These she deposited be-
neath the stone. The clerk of the Drapers' Company
then handed a silver trowel to the Queen, who laid
the stone' amid loud cheers, the Prince of Wales
assisting his mother in the use of the line and
plummet. The Benediction was pronounced by the
Archbishop, and her Majesty was conducted through
the Queen's Hall to her carriage, "Rule Britannia"
being performed as she passed down the hall.
As the Royal carriages were driven off, en route to
the City, where the Queen was to visit the Lord
Mayor and Lady Mayoress, there was great cheering,
which was continued all along the lines of people in
the streets. All through the ceremony, at her
arrival and on her departure, the Queen looked
exceedingly well pleased—as indeed she could not
fail to be, after the remarkably warm reception of
her by her East-end subjects.