The historical setting for my work in progress, The Brass Queen, is the industrial city of Sheffield, England in 1897. The novel details the adventures of various characters as they prepare for the impending visit of Queen Victoria. Our heroine, Constance, is head of the decorating committee for the royal visit. Her obsession with hanging flower garlands and archways for the royal parade are based on the actual decorations used during Her Royal Highness’s visits to the provinces.

The real Queen Victoria did visit the city of Sheffield on the 21st May 1897. This was Victoria’s only visit to the industrial powerhouse during her long reign. The preparations for the royal visit were of the highest priority for the local townsfolk. The opportunity to see the Queen and the pageantry of the parade was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Sheffielders. Everyone who could take part in the celebrations did so. Schools closed, factories lay idle, and burly steelworkers practiced singing choral harmonies with which to entertain the Queen during her visit.

The floral decoration of the streets of the city was paramount to creating a good impression on Victoria. Fortunately, a few pioneering photographers and one filmmaker captured images of the event, including the flower garlands and archways festooning the city streets.

Here is the visit report from The Times newspaper:

“None but those who have been within the limits of Sheffield today and yesterday can realize the intense feeling of excitement which has pervaded the community and the neighbourhood and even those who know Sheffield best can hardly have recognised that usually grimy city in its gala dress of yesterday and to-day.

The place lends itself admirably to the purposes of decoration, for, in the first place, it contains few, if any buildings marked by any features of beauty which it might be undesirable to conceal and, in the second place, the steep gradients of the streets cause the strings of gaudy pennons and the ropes of artificial flowers to be particularly effective.

Moreover, these decorations have been under the management of a committee, which, while it has spared no legitimate expense, has so ordered matters that not only was there a harmony of tone in the whole and dazzling abundance of colour throughout, but also the best care had been taken that in no case should the gaiety of appearance acquired by the town interfere in the slightest degree with the view to be obtained of the Sovereign by spectators at any point of the long route of her procession.”

All this for a visit that was scheduled to last 3 hours!

The earliest original film in the Yorkshire Film Archive shows Her Royal Highness visiting Sheffield. You can watch the parade as filmed on the 21st May, 1897 here: QUEEN VICTORIA VISITS SHEFFIELD.

You can also read the full article from The Times which describes the visit in detail. It’s a fascinating insight into the city’s extensive preparations for the parade and the Queen’s opening of the new Town Hall.