International Agricultural Exhibition at Kilburn

D ILN 85/6/377/1

1879

The Illustrated London News, Royal Agricultural Society of England

black & white illustration from The Illustrated London News, July 1879 depicting Royal Agricultural Society show

1 illustration: b&w

type: CUT

English

file

Royal Agricultural Society of England, Victorian farmers, Agricultural exhibitions- Great Britain, Graphic Materials

<DIV STYLE="text-align:Justify;font-family:Georgia;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:16;color:#000000;"><P><SPAN><SPAN>4. &lt;B&gt;International Agricultural Exhibition at Kilburn, July 1879&lt;/B&gt;&lt;P&gt; The more forward-thinking farmer could keep abreast of new agricultural inventions and ideas during this period through the Royal Agricultural Society, founded on May 9th, 1838. With its motto ?Practice with Science? it championed the advancement of technology in agriculture and boasted many leading farmers, innovators and enlightened landowners of the day as members. Indeed, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and the Prince of Wales all served terms as its President. Through the regular publishing of journals and staging of annual shows and exhibitions, such as that illustrated above, progressive farmers with ample capital could indulge themselves in the pioneering spirit of the age.&lt;P&gt; D ILN 85/6/377/1</SPAN></SPAN></P></DIV><DIV STYLE="text-align:Justify;font-family:Georgia;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:16;color:#000000;"><P><SPAN><SPAN>6. &lt;B&gt;International Agricultural Exhibition at Kilburn, July 1879&lt;/B&gt;&lt;P&gt;The more forward-thinking farmer could keep abreast of new agricultural inventions and ideas during this period through the Royal Agricultural Society, founded on May 9th, 1838. With its motto ?Practice with Science? it championed the advancement of technology in agriculture and boasted many leading farmers, innovators and enlightened landowners of the day as members, including Sir Robert Peel, the Tory statesman and Prime Minister, and Philip Pusey, a notable Berkshire squire. Indeed, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and the Prince of Wales all served terms as its President. Through the regular publishing of journals and staging of annual shows and exhibitions the Society became a ?forum for the discussion of the latest scientific knowledge? &lt;I&gt;(Mingay, ?Rural Life in Victorian England?, p.57)&lt;/I&gt;, and it was here that progressive farmers with ample capital could indulge themselves in the pioneering spirit of the age.&lt;P&gt;Taken from the Illustrated London News supplement on July 12th 1879, this illustration shows the impressive sight that was the Kilburn Exhibition, described in an accompanying article as the ?greatest agricultural show...the world has ever seen?. Endless rows of steam-powered farming machinery - stationary, portable and traction - can be seen displayed for the critical eye of experts and enthusiasts. Visible in the crowd are top hats and fine dresses which tells something of the standard of living of this new breed of farmer and his family. Certainly there was an element of show at these gatherings; of being seen to embrace all this cutting edge thinking and machinery even if it was beyond one?s means. Exhibits sometimes departed into the fanciful, too, being described as ?curiosities of unperfected ingenuity?. It was a climate in which anything seemed possible.&lt;P&gt;D ILN 85/6/377/1</SPAN></SPAN></P></DIV>

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