page_title: 1862 International Exhibition
section_title: Exhibitions
hierarchical_section_title: 1862 International Exhibition / Exhibitions
caption_attribution_description: English: 1862 International Exhibition. The Nave, from the Western dome
context_page_description: The International Exhibition of 1862, or Great London Exposition, was a world's fair. It was held from 1 May to 1 November 1862, beside the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society, South Kensington, London, England, on a site that now houses museums including the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum.
context_section_description: The exhibition was a showcase of the advances made in the industrial revolution , especially in the decade since the first Great Exhibition of 1851.  Among the items on display were; the electric telegraph, submarine cables, the first plastic, Parkesine , machine tools, looms and precision instruments.
  Exhibits included such large pieces of machinery as parts of Charles Babbage's analytical engine, cotton mills, and maritime engines made by the firms of Henry Maudslay and Humphrys, Tennant and Dykes. There was also a range of smaller goods including fabrics, rugs, sculptures, furniture, plates, porcelain, silver and glass wares, and wallpaper.
  The manufacture of ice by an early refrigerator caused a sensation.
  The work shown by William Morris's decorative arts firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. attracted much notice. The exposition also introduced the use of caoutchouc for rubber production and the Bessemer process for steel manufacture.
  Benjamin Simpson showed photos from the Indian subcontinent.
  William England led a team of stereoscopic photographers, which included William Russell Sedgfield and Stephen Thompson, to produce a series of 350 stereo views of the exhibition for the London Stereoscopic Company. The images were made using the new collodion wet plate process which allowed exposure times of only a few seconds. These images provide a vivid three-dimensional record of the exhibition. They were on sale to the public in boxed sets and were delivered to the Queen by messenger so that she could experience the exhibition from her seclusion in mourning.
  The London and North Western Railway exhibited one of their express passenger locomotives, No. 531 Lady of the Lake. A sister locomotive, No. 229 Watt had famously carried Trent Affair despatches earlier that year, but the Lady of the Lake (which won a bronze medal at the exhibition) was so popular that the entire class of locomotive became known as Ladies of the Lake.
  There was an extensive art gallery designed to allow an even light without reflection on the pictures.
  The exhibition also included an international chess tournament, the London 1862 chess tournament.
caption: The nave from the Western Dome. 
   A stereoscopic view of the 1862 International Exhibition interior pub- 
  lished by the London Stereoscopic Company
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