The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley Park, London England from 23 April to 1 November 1924 and from 9 May to 31 October 1925.British Pathe (agency) Film of British Empire Exhibition, reel oneBritish Pathe (agency) Film of British Empire Exhibition, reel twoBritish Pathe (agency) Film of British Empire Exhibition, reel threeBritish Pathe (agency) Film of British Empire Exhibition, reel four
Background In 1920 the British Government decided to site the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Park on the site of the pleasure gardens created by Edward Watkin in the 1890s. A British Empire Exhibition had first been proposed in 1902, by the British Empire League, and again in 1913. The Russo-Japanese War had prevented the first plan from being developed and World War I put an end to the second, though there had been a Festival of Empire in 1911, held in part at Crystal Palace.Ian Grosvenor - "Teaching the Empire: The Weekly Bulletin of Empire Study and the British Empire Exhibition", in Martin Lawn (ed.) - Modelling the Future: Exhibitions and the Materiality of Education (Symposium Books, 2009) p. 107-8
One of the reasons for the suggestion was a sense that other powers were challenging Britain on the world stage. Despite victory in World War I, this was in some ways even truer in 1919. The country had economic problems and its naval supremacy was being challenged by two of its former allies, the United States and Japan. In 1917 Britain had committed itself eventually to leave India, which effectively signalled the end of the British Empires, while the Dominions had shown little interest in following British foreign policy since the war. It was hoped that the exhibition would strengthen the bonds within the Empire, stimulate trade and demonstrate British greatness both abroad and at home, where the public was believed to be increasingly uninterested in Empire.
Wembley Urban District Council was opposed to the idea, as was The Times, which considered Wembley too far from Central London.
A world tour headed by Major Ernest Belcher in 1922 that lasted ten months was mounted to promote participation in the exhibition, with Agatha Christie and her husband among the participants.Grand Tour: Letters and Photographs from the British Empire Expedition. HarperCollins, 2012 Belcher delivered a lecture to the Royal Society of Arts about the forthcoming Exhibition in March 1923. See (with map)
The British Empire Exhibition ran from April 1924 to October 1925, closing over the winter, and it made Wembley a household name. In 1919, the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) had become the president of the organising committee for the proposed exhibition at Wembley Park, north-west London, although the closing ceremony was presided over by his brother, the future George VI. The Prince wished for the exhibition to boast "a great national sports ground" and so exercised some influence on the creation of Wembley Stadium at Wembley Park in 1923.
Empire Stadium
A purpose-built "great national sports ground", called the Empire Stadium, was built for the exhibition. This became Wembley Stadium.
The first turf for this stadium was cut on the site of the old tower on 10 January 1922. 250,000tons of earth were then removed, and the new structure constructed within ten months, opening well before the rest of the exhibition was ready. Designed by John William Simpson and Maxwell Ayrton, and built by Sir Robert McAlpine, it could hold 125,000 people, 30,000 of them seated. The building was an unusual mix of Roman imperial and Mughal architecture.
Although it incorporated a football pitch, it was not solely intended as a football stadium. Its quarter mile running track, incorporating a straight track (the longest in the country) was seen as being at least equally important.
The only standard gauge locomotive involved in the construction of the stadium has survived, and still runs on Sir William McAlpine's private Fawley Hill railway near Henley.
Exhibition station
Wembley Park station was rebuilt for the British Empire Exhibition and a new station, Exhibition Station (Wembley), was built on a spur to connect the station to Marylebone.Wembley Stadium loop line Exhibition station opened on 28 April 1923, the day of Wembley Stadium's first FA cup final. It was later renamed Wembley Exhibition, and then, in February 1928, Wembley Stadium. It was only really used to transport spectators to Wembley events. It stopped carrying passengers in May 1968 and officially closed on 1 September 1969.
Design and construction The exhibition presented a creative challenge, in that its concept required a large number of buildings in a variety of styles. This offered the architects a unique opportunity to experiment. To simplify construction, the main building material used for the exhibition buildings was reinforced concrete, (then called "ferro-concrete"), selected for its speed of construction. Wembley Park thus earned the title of the first "concrete city" the world had ever seen. Like the stadium, the other exhibition buildings were designed by John William Simpson and Maxwell Ayrton, assisted by engineer Owen Williams. All three had considerable previous experience of using concrete.
Nearly 2,000 men were employed in constructing the exhibition buildings during 1923-1924.
The Indian pavilion had towers and domes, the West African pavilion looked like an Arab fort, the Burmese pavilion was a temple and the South African building reflected the Dutch style.
Aside from the stadium and major pavilions to house the works of each dominion, colony or group of colonies, there were four other major structures. These were the palaces of engineering, industry and arts, and HM Government Building. All of these palaces can be seen to have had a Roman Imperial character as befitted their political symbolism. At the time, the Palaces of Industry and Engineering were world's largest reinforced concrete structures.
The exhibition's roads were named by Rudyard Kipling.
The site was also served by Britain's, and possibly the world's, first bus station, which could handle 100,000 passengers a day.
Opening ceremony The British Empire Exhibition was officially opened by King George V on 23 April 1924 Saint George's Day. The opening ceremony was broadcast by BBC Radio, the first such broadcast by a British monarch. The King also sent a telegram that travelled around the world in 1minute 20seconds before being given back to him by a messenger boy.
Exhibits
Much of the empire went on display at Wembley Park, but it had to be, of necessity, reduced to a "taster-sized" version. Of the 58 territories which composed the empire at the time, 56 participated with displays and pavilions, the exceptions being The Gambia and Gibraltar. The Irish Free State did not participate either.
The exhibition's official aim was "to stimulate trade, strengthen bonds that bind mother country to her sister states and daughters, to bring into closer contact the one with each other, to enable all who owe allegiance to the British flag to meet on common ground and learn to know each other". It cost £12million and was the largest exhibition ever staged anywhere in the world. It attracted 27 million visitors.Sunday Tribune of India (newspaper) Article on exhibition (2004)
Admission cost 1s 6d (p) for adults and 9d (p) for children.
The (in 1925 the Palace of Housing & Transport) was the largest exhibition building. It contained a crane capable of moving 25 tons (a practical necessity, not an exhibit) and contained displays on engineering, shipbuilding, electric power, motor vehicles, railways (including locomotives, see below), metallurgy and telegraphs and wireless. In 1925 there seems to have been less emphasis on things that could also be classified as Industry, with instead more on housing and aircraft. The Palace of Industry was slightly smaller. It contained displays on the chemical industry, coal, metals, medicinal drugs, sewage disposal, food, drinks, tobacco, clothing, gramophones, gas and Nobel explosives. Surprisingly the Ulster Pavilion designed by Clough Williams-Ellis was located in the Palace of Industry.Belfast Telegraph, 24 April 1924
Each colony and dominion was assigned its own distinctive pavilion to reflect local culture and architecture. The Canada Pavilion contained displays on minerals, farming, forestry, the paper industry, water power and Canada as a holiday destination, as well as, in the dairy industry section, a full sized figure of the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VIII, sculpted in butter and preserved in a refrigerated case. This pavilion was also flanked by smaller pavilions dedicated to the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railways.
The Dominion of Newfoundland pavilion was located next to the HM Government building, and featured a bronze caribou, the emblem of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. At the conclusion of the exhibition, the memorial was donated by Major William Howe Greene to the citizens of Newfoundland and displayed in Bowring Park.
The Australian Pavilion displayed sheep-shearing and boasted a diameter ball of Australian wool. It also featured a butter sculpture, of legendary England cricketer Jack Hobbs being bowled as England succumbed to the Baggy Greens in a Test match.
Rather smaller was the pavilion shared by the West Indies and British Guiana, south of the HM Government Pavilion. Each of the West Indian islands had a court in the pavilion, as did the Falkland Islands.
The Malta pavilion was modelled on a fortress with its front entrance looking like the Mdina Gate, and its rear like one of Birgu's gates. It was three stories high and had a garden. It was designed by Alberto La Ferla and Joseph Cachia Caruana.
The Palace of Arts, which was fire-proofed, contained historical room sets, as well as painting and sculpture since the eighteenth century. It also displayed Queen Mary's Dolls' House, now at Windsor Castle, which contained miniature bottles of Bass beer.
Kiosks, located both inside and outside the pavilions, represented individual companies within the empire, encouraging commercial opportunities. One such was the Pear's Palace of Beauty (see below). Since the exhibition was the first major event after the war, many firms produced a glut of commemorative items for sale.
The management of the exhibition asked the Imperial Studies Committee of the Royal Colonial Institute to assist them with the educational aspect of the exhibition, which resulted in a 12-volume book, The British Empire: A survey, with Hugh Gunn as the general editor, and which was published in London in 1924.
Railway exhibits Several railway companies had display stands at the exhibition; in some cases they exhibited their latest locomotives or coaches. Among the exhibits in the Palace of Engineering was the now famous railway locomotive, LNER 4472 Flying Scotsman; this was joined in 1925 by GWR 4079 Pendennis Castle. Several other railway locomotives were exhibited: in 1925, the Southern Railway exhibited no. 866 of their N class, which was brand new, not entering service until 28 November 1925. The 1924 exhibition included a Prince of Wales class 4-6-0 locomotive of London & North Western Railway (LNWR) design, which had been built for the exhibition by the Scottish manufacturer William Beardmore & Company. Beardmore's had previously built similar locomotives for the LNWR, which in 1923 had become a constituent of the newly formed London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS); when the exhibition closed in November 1924, the LMS bought the locomotive from Beardmore. A Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway-designed Baltic Tank 4-6-4T, number 11114, built by the LMS at Horwich Works new, was also on display and featured in postcards.