{"id":3859,"date":"2022-09-12T08:44:02","date_gmt":"2022-09-12T08:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/recordsandarchives.westminster.ac.uk\/?page_id=3859"},"modified":"2022-09-16T12:31:38","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T12:31:38","slug":"royalconnections-1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/royalconnections-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Prince Albert"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Polytechnic Institution was established under the chairmanship of Sir George Cayley in August 1838.\u00a0 The idea behind the Institution was to promote science through practical demonstrations and by showcasing new technologies and inventions to the public.<\/p>

On 9th December 1840, the Institution received its first royal visitor, HRH Prince Albert.\u00a0 The Times<\/em> of 10th December reported that the prince visited a variety of the galleries and ‘was much pleased with the operations of the diver under water, and with the practical explanation of Colonel Pasley’s method of blowing up sunken vessels’.\u00a0 It was also reported by the Athenaeum<\/em> that the prince descended underwater in the diving bell.\u00a0 Following this visit, Prince Albert agreed to be patron and the name was changed to the Royal Polytechnic Institution.<\/p>

Prince Albert paid a further visit in May 1855, this time accompanied by HM Queen Victoria.\u00a0 They saw a programme which included a telephonic concert.<\/p>

After Prince Albert’s death in 1861, his son, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), became patron of the Institution.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>

In 1881, the Royal Polytechnic Institution closed and the following year Quintin Hogg purchased the vacant premises for his educational institution which became the Regent Street Polytechnic.\u00a0 Nevertheless, the ties to the Royal Family continued.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"Image20_4\"
This engraving showing the original fa\u00e7ade, complete with a statue of Minerva on the roof, was published shortly after the Polytechnic Institution opened in 1838. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Image11\"
Drawn in 1840s, this illustration of the Great Hall (now the Old Gymnasium) gives an impression of what Prince Albert experienced during his visit. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Image30
This illustration of the Great Hall shows the diver and diving bell. A description in a programme for the institution from 1876 says the bell was made of cast-iron weighing three-tons. The interior was was supplied with air by two powerful pumps. The tank into which it descended held several thousand gallons of water and could be emptied in less than one minute.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"V&A
Medals were produced as Polytechnic souvenirs by the coining machine in the Great Hall. This example shows the heads of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The head of Minerva is on the other side.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Image119\"
The illuminated cascade was built by the distinguished French optician and lanternist Louis Jules Dubosq during his visit to the Polytechnic in the summer of 1854. Spectacular colourful effects were created in the falling water by the careful positioning of electric lamps and lenses. John Henry Pepper (Director of the Royal Polytechnic Institution) wrote that Queen Victoria and her family 'minutely examined' the working of the cascade during the royal visit.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"IMG_1371\"
On 6 July 1876, the Prince and Princess of Wales paid a visit to the Institution. The Prince of Wales was now the patron. During their visit they heard an illustrated lecture and watched seens from a magic lantern show of Alice in Wonderland. The prince also descended in the diving bell.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"PHA_6_6_41-4\"
Commemorative coins were issued for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. The smaller threepence coin features the famous 'bun head' image of Victoria, while the shilling features a contemporary image of the Queen.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Queen
Upon Queen Victoria's death in 1901, the Regent Street Polytechnic's Polytechnic Magazine published its announcement of mourning and the issue bore a black border. It is interesting to see how the comments and response to Queen Elizabeth II's death reflect those made by the Poly 121 years earlier.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"UWA1C33_1908PolyDisplay09\"
The Regent Street Polytechnic organised a pageant and a procession of 1,000 athletes for the Inauguration of the Franco-British Stadium on 26 May 1908. This took place in the presence of HM King Edward VII who can be seen, with the Queen, watching from the stands. The stadium was built for the 1908 Olympic Games. The Poly also organised the marathon trial event. The now standard distance for a marathon was set at 26 miles 365 yards so that competitors could finish in front of the Royal Box in the stadium. The marathon became an annual Poly event.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tReturn to menu<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Polytechnic Institution was established under the chairmanship of Sir George Cayley in August 1838.\u00a0 The idea behind the Institution was to promote science through practical demonstrations and by showcasing new technologies and inventions to the public. On 9th December…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3859","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3859"}],"version-history":[{"count":161,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4634,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3859\/revisions\/4634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}