Festival of Empire

The Festival of (the) Empire was held at The Crystal Palace in London in 1911, to celebrate the coronation of King George V. It opened on 12 May.

Exhibition

Exhibitions of products from the countries of the Empire were displayed in three-quarter size models of their Parliamentary buildings erected in the grounds. [ [http://www.victorianstation.com/palace.html The Crystal Palace/ The Great Exhibition of 1851 ] ]

Pageant

A pageant dramatising the history of London, England and the Empire was held. [ [http://www.cocgb.dircon.co.uk/cry_pal_park.htm Crystal Palace Park ] ]

Inter-Empire Championships

As part of the festival an Inter-Empire sports championship was held in which teams from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom competed in events such as boxing, wrestling, swimming and athletics. This is regarded as a forerunner of the British Empire (now Commonwealth) Games, held from 1930.

There were five athletics events (100 yards, 220 yards, 880 yards, 1 mile and 120 yards hurdles), two swimming events (100 yards and 1 mile), plus heavyweight boxing and middleweight wrestling. [ [http://www.gbrathletics.com/commonwealth/ Commonwealth Games Medallists ] ]

For the three New Zealand competitors, see [ [http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/A/AthleticstrackAndField/OlympiadsAndEmpireGames/en Te Ara encyclopedia of New Zealand] ] . See also Harold Hardwick (from Australia), Malcolm Champion (from New Zealand) and John Tait (from Canada).

External links

* [http://www.archive.org/details/festivalofempire00lomaiala Souvenir book, digitized]
* [http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/lambeth/crystal-palace/festival-of-empire-01.htm A 1911 postcard]
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2163042543/ Another 1911 postcard]
* [http://www.cgce.co.uk/history.html History of the Commonwealth Games, from the Commonwealth Games Council for England]
* [http://www.commonwealthgames.org.au/Templates/Games_Overview.htm History of the Commonwealth Games from 1911, from the Australian Commonwealth Games Association]
* [http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Gov12_12Rail-t1-body-d12.html#Gov12_12Rail-fig-Gov12_12Rail037a Article on the Empire Games, mentioning events held in 1911]

References

*"Festival of Empire: the Pageant of London" (1911, Bemrose & Sons, London) (souvenir book, 163 pages, edited by Sophie C. Lomas; master of the pageants Frank Lascelles),