Victorian Times

Euijin Kang- Isaac Lucero

Great exhibition
evaluation
The Great Exhibition of
Crystal Palace opened on May 1 st
of 1851 by Queen Victoria
originally the idea of Queen
Victorias husband, and it took
place in Hyde Park, London. The
Great Exhibition of the Works of
Industry of All Nations was
created
with
world
peace
promotion in mind with over
15,000 contributors and around
100, 000 objects displayed along
for more than 10 miles, the
British occupying about half the
display area. This all took place
in a glass building, as the name
suggests, and the construction
of this building was started on
August 1, 1850, and now is an
incredible feat in engineering in
itself. At first, it had costed 3
shillings for men and 2 shillings
for
women
to
enter
this
wonderful attraction, but was
revised to only a shilling for
everyone on May 24 with
Saturdays being reserved for
invalids. Queen Victoria was also
seen
visiting
this
rare
phenomenon frequently.
There were various
wonders in the building with
objects such as a stiletto or a
defensive
umbrella,
hearing
tools for the deft and tangible
ink for the blind, velocipedes,
colts
repeating
fire-arms
(although the idea was world
peace), massive hydraulic press
that could lift metal tubes
weighing
a
considerable
amount, and more, or as the
Queen put in her diary, every
conceivable invention. There
were also some unique things
from specific countries that
grabbed peoples attention such
as the French, who was the

1851
largest foreign contributor, with
beautiful objects with visual
impact and machines that
create these objects, Chile who
sent a lump of gold weighing 50
kg, the famous Koj I Noor
Diamond (although it failed to
sparkle), Switzerland with gold
watches and fake, soft animals
that was stuffed with cotton.
The
building
was
uniquely fascinating as well with
a spectacular fountain made of
pink glass reaching to 27 feet,
places where light refreshments
were sold, and rooms where you
could wait in blissful silence for
a penny. By the end of it all, six
million people had entered the
exhibit and this project ended
with a 186, 000 pounds profit.
This superb exhibition ended in
October 11th.

The Great Exhibitions interior with the

fountain appearing in the background.

First ever chess

tournament
appears
The London 1851 chess
tournament
or
the
first
international chess tournament
occurred in May 26, which the
organizers believed to be a
unique opportunity as the Great
Exhibition could allow many to
come much more easily than
usual. This idea was proposed
and
managed
by
Howard

Staunton and he also created a

Chess Parliament in addition
to this event in order to
standardize moves and other
rules. The amount of the reward
was 500, a considerable
amount,
with
many
subscriptions made for this
event. However, many of the
invitees were unable to play
which forced the committee
promoted E. S. Kennedy, Edward
Lowe, James R. Mucklow, and
Alfred Brodie to play in the
internationals instead of the
provincial. In the end, Anderssen
won the match with the
organizer Staunton gaining a
disappointing 4th place.
The first match was a
best out of three games, with
draws not counting. The winners
of this match were Adolf
Anderssen,
Jozsef
Szen,
Bernhard
horwitz,
Howard
Staunton,
Eligah
Williams,
Fames R Mucklow, Hugh A.
Kennedy, and Marmaduke Wyvil.
The second match was best out
of seven and the losers playing
the consolation matches. The
winners of the second rounds
were Adolf Anderssen, Howard
Staunton, Elijah Williams, and
Marmaduke Wyvil. The Semifinals were the most anticipated
as Anderssen and Staunton
played against each other, with
many claiming to be the most
important match in the whole
tournament,
with
Adolf
Anderssen winning along with
Marmaduke Wyvil. The last
match turned out to be Adolf
Anderssens win with 4 1/2
points and Marmaduke Wybil
having a score of 2 1/2.
Therefore, Adolf Anderssen of
Germany won the sixteen player
tournament becoming the best
player in Europe.
Immediately after this
tournament,
Staunton

challenged Anderssen to a 21
game match for 100 pounds
which was agreed upon by both
sides
but
was
postponed
because of Stauntons bad
health and Anderssens work.
This tournament was criticized
because of its knock out system
making this a pure chance for
people to compete against each
other and with multiple players
who were suggested missing.
The
match
was,
however,
assuredly a historical moment in
chess history.

Talbot creates
instantaneous
photograph

Recently, William Fox

Talbot discovered a way of
instantaneous
photography
through a series of experiments
in Britain. For many years Talbot
has worked for this innovative
idea. Instant photography could
be the beginning of many great
things.
Talbot says that his
discovery has been sought after
for many years. He calls his
thinking process talbotype. In
his experiment he was able to
expose
a
few
inches
of
newspaper for about 1/2000th of
a
second
using
spark
illumination. The process uses a
printable plate and muslin
screen to achieve quality middle
tones of plates.

Mr. William Fox Talbot, the celebrated

chemist, linguist, and photographer, can
be clearly seen here holding his camera.

Earlier this decade Talbot

gave us an insight to a possible
future with many innovative
ideas through an article he
published in 1844 called The
Pencil of Nature. He talked about
many prototypes and ideas he
had
involving
instant
photography. Though growing
older,
Talbot
continues
to
impress with many growing and
developing inventions.

Window Tax
repealed

In July 1851, Great Britain

repealed the Window Tax. The
Window Tax was put into place
in 1696 under King William III.
This tax should have never been
put in place, and should never
be proposed again. Another tax
like this must never be put on
again.
The Window Tax was a
tax where a citizen of Britain
had to pay taxed based on how
many windows there property
had. For every window, two
shillings were charged. For
properties with 10-20 windows,
4 extra shillings were charged
and properties with more than
20 windows were charged 4
extra shillings. As outrageous as
this is it was not imposed until
this year.
Recently, I attended a
party at a friends house. The
home had zero windows due to
the window tax. I took a look
outside, curious, and saw the
entire street without windows.
Although many people view it as
not a big deal, many reports of
insanity have been linked to the
lack of windows. A sharp rise in
insanity reports have occurred
since the window tax and are a
leading reason for why the tax
was banned. As a country, it is
our duty to never let something
like this happens again.
Over the lifespan of
Great Britain, many taxes have
been put in place, but none like
the Window Tax. Although many
believe it was just another tax, I

disagree. Many people believe it

not to be outrageous due to the
fact that people in poverty were
exempted. In return, I would tell
these people that although that
system is there, the reason that
these people are in poverty is
because they had to pay the
window tax in the first place.

Sanitation
problem
In Britain, more than half
the population lives in cities
making them very overcrowded.
This creates a big problem for
sanitation; much of the trash, if
not all, is on the streets, fated to
never be picked up. A step we
can take as citizens is to throw
away trash in the proper places.
The
government
can
also
provide trash cans and help
expand the cities to create
homes for citizens without them.
Another problem is the
horrific sanitation which has
been an epidemic for many
years. For example, two years,
Cholera spread and killed many
people due to bad sanitation
and improper disposal of trash.
An epidemic like this could have
been easily avoided with proper
hygiene and correct removal of
garbage. Since the plague
Britain as a country learned
much, but not enough.
Britain is facing a time of
great growth in population and
presently holds 25% of the
worlds population. Many people
face the bad side of this because
they are forced to live in dirty
houses, or homes built for
people with no homes. These
dirty, desolate buildings are the
heart of the problem. If the
government puts into effect, a
program designated to expand
the city dirty house populations
should plummet and disease
among
them
should
be
annihilated. The program could
be expensive but if put in
immediately it would prove to be
very helpful.

Kang 3
Works Cited
Becerra, Julio. "London 1851: The First International Chess Tournament!" Chess.com. 22 Apr. 2009. Web. 23
Nov. 2015.
"London (1851)." London (1851). Web. 23 Nov. 2015.
Picard, Liza. "The Great Exhibition." The British Library. The British Library. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.
"The Victorian Environment." The Victorian Web. 17 Apr. 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.
"What Was the The Window Tax?" History House. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.
"William Henry Fox Talbot (1800 - 1877)." BBC News. BBC. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.