Social Victorians/Timeline/1887

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"Bloody Sunday": protest march on Trafalgar Square. Annie Besant was there, as was G. B. Shaw, who "skedaddled."

Queen Victoria's Jubilee year, along with 1897. That summer, in some way as part of it, there was a "Congress" at the Empress Theatre, in which a number of people (mostly but not exclusively women) read papers on the progress made in women's education. Those papers were collected in a volume by the Lady Warwick (Frances Evelyn Warwick, Countess of Warwick) in 1898; the "Sub-Editor" was Edith Bradley.

January 1887

Annie Besant spoke at the January 1887 meeting of the Men and Women's Club; her paper was "The State and Sexual Relations," or "preventive checks," or contraception (Bland 19).

11 January 1887, Tuesday

Joseph Gancher defended Louis Pasteur's treatment of rabies Gelfand, Toby. ("11 January 1887, the day medicine changed: Joseph Grancher's defense of Pasteur's treatment for rabies." Bulletin of the History of Medicine Vol. 76, no. 4 [Winter 2002]: .).

22 January 1887, Saturday

Ruddygore, or the Witch's Curse, opened at the Savoy Theatre. The reviews were not all positive; according to the Wikipedia article on Ruddigore, the Illustrated London News reviewed it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruddigore; accessed 12 February 2010). See "Gilbert and Sullivan's New Opera" [1], The Monthly Musical Record, 1 February 1887, 17, pp. 41–42, Retrieved on 17 June 2008," from the footnotes to this article.

29 January 1887, Saturday

Review in the Illustrated London News of the opening of Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddygore at the Savoy. Here is the review:

MUSIC

THE NEW COMIC OPERA AT THE SAVOY

The specialty of last week was the new comic opera written by Mr. W. S. Gilbert, and composed by Sir Arthur Sullivan - a piece from their associated genius being an event of equal dramatic and musical interest; the great and deserved success of their several previous works of the kind having induced eager expectation for any new essay. The co-operation of the two gentlemen referred to has been a happy coincidence, similar to that of the united labours of Scribe and Auber in their delightful works of the opera-comique class.

The production of "Ruddygore, or the Witch's Curse" is noticed in the theatrical column of this week, and it is, therefore, only necessary here to refer briefly to the musical interest of the piece, which is quite equal to that of its predecessors from the same hands. The vocal score will not be published for some weeks to come, when we shall be able to refer again to its merits; meantime, we may point to some of the pieces that proved attractive in performance, and will doubtless be permanently popular. Rose Maybud's expressive ballad, "If somebody there chance to be"; the piquant duet, "I know a youth", for her and Robin Oakapple; Richard Dauntless's robust nautical ballad, "I've shipped, d'ye see, in a Revenue sloop" (with its capital hornpipe climax); the suave love duet, "The battle's roar is over", for this character and Rose; the spirited trio, "In sailing o'er life's ocean", for the personages already named; Mad Margaret's scena, and ballad, "To a garden"; Sir Despard Murgatroyd's sententious solo, "Oh, why am I moody" (with its interspersed choral comments); the impulsive duet, "You understand" for him and Richard, the beautiful madrigal, and the several movements which close the first act are all effective in their respective styles. In the second (and last) act, the music in the scene of the animation of the portraits in the picture gallery is highly dramatic in its appropriate sombreness of style and impressive orchestral effects. This is preceded by a pretty duet (with chorus), "Happily coupled" - for Rose and Richard; and a refined ballad, "In bygone days", for the former. Sir Roderic Murgatroyd's sombre song, "When the night-wind howls" - with the surrounding choral and orchestral accessories - rises to a dramatic and musical height worthy of grand opera; and throws into strong relief the exquisitely quaint music of the subsequent duet, "I once was a very abandoned person", for Sir Despard and Margaret in their ludicrously altered aspects. The patter trio for these two and Robin; Hannah's sentimental ballad, "There grew a little flower"; and a well-contrasted finale are prominent features of the closing division of the work. The principal performers have been as well fitted with their music as with their dramatic characters, the performance of which is noted in our article, "The Playhouses"; and it must here be said that Misses Braham, Bond, and Brandram, and Messrs. G. Grossmith, D. Lely, R. Barrington, R. Temple, and others, worthily fulfilled the vocal requirements.

There is some bright and tuneful music for female chorus in each act; and the orchestral details, throughout, are rich in colouring and variety of detail. As in his other productions of the same class, Sir Arthur Sullivan has eminently succeeded alike in the expression of refined sentiment and comic humour. In the former respect, the charm of graceful melody prevails; while, in the latter, the music of the most grotesque situations is redolent of fun, without the slightest approach to vulgarity or coarseness - in this latter respect, how unlike some of the French buffo music of the day! The composer conducted the performance on the first night, using, in the scene of darkness (in the second act), a baton illuminated by the electric light. (Gareth Jacobs, "Ruddygore and the British Library (long)," posting on Savoynet savoynet@bridgewater.edu 5 July 2003.)

March 1887

"In March 1887 [Bret Harte] joined the Kinsmen Social Club, whose members included William Black, Edmund Gosse, and Henry James, and over the next few months he accepted invitations to become a member of the New American Club and an honorary member of both the British Authors Association and the Devonshire Club." (Gary Scharnhorst. Bret Harte: Opening the American Literary West.The Oklahoma Western Biographies. Vol. 17. Norman, OK: U of Oklahoma P, 2000. Page 189.)

8 March 1887, Tuesday

Muriel Wilson was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Miss Susan West (Tottie) Wilson and Mr. J. G. Menzies.

The marriage of Miss Susan West (Tottie) Wilton eldest daughter of Mr. A. Wilson, of Tranby Croft, Master of the Holderness Hounds, and one of the partners in the firm of Messrs. Thos. Wilson, Sons, and Co., owners of the Wilson line of steamers, Hull, to Mr. J. G. Menzies, was celebrated on Tuesday afternoon at the village church of Anlaby by the Rev. J. Foord, assisted by the Rev. E. Lambert, cousin of the bride. The day being fine, hundreds of persons went out from Hull and assembled from the surrounding districts. The admission to the church was by ticket, and the edifice was crowded in every part. Flags were plentifully displayed along the route from Tranby Croft to Anlaby, and the ships of the Wilson line lying in the Hall docks, as well as other vessels, were gaily decorated with flags.

The bridal procession left Tranby Croft Lodge at a quarter-past two o'clock, and the carriages passed between a large concourse of persons, who thickly lined each side of the road. Anlaby Church was soon reached. The bridegroom, with his best man, Mr. Stuart Menzies, M.P., had already arrived, and as the bride was escorted into the sacred edifice by her father the organ, at which Captain Hallett presided, commenced playing, and the processional hymn, "Saviour, Blessed Saviour," was sung. The bride wore a very long rich white satin train, the front draped a la grecque, bordered with rich pearl and silver embroidery, a bouquet of white liliums, the ribbons of which were tied with orange blossom; her ornaments were a large diamond star, presented to her by the bridegroom, a diamond necklace presented by her father and mother, with spray given by the tradespeople of Hull, and a diamond bangle by her uncle, Mr. David Wilson. The bridesmaids were Miss Muriel Wilson, sister of the bride, Misses Enid, Joan, and Gwladys Wilson, cousins; Hon. Rosamond Tufton, and Miss Boynton. Each wore cream brocade skirts, with grey overskirts and coats of cream satin merveilleux, pink rose bouquets, and brooches with "8th February, 1887," in diamonds, these being the gifts of the bridegroom. Mrs. Arthur Wilson wore a brown velvet and faille, trimmed with black jet, Mrs. Lycett [?] Green, green skirt, with cream cloth under-skirt. Mrs. Charles Wilson, heliotrope velvet, with waistcoat of gold embroidery. Lady Julia Wombwell wore a plum-coloured satin and velvet dress. Lady Norreys, a heliotrope faille. Mrs Hungerford, a pretty costume of grey cloth; and Lady Hothfield [? R? B?], green velvet. The service was full choral; the responses of the bride were given in a firm and audible tone, and at the conclusion of the ceremony the wedding party adjourned to the rectory, where the register was signed by the bride and bridegroom and other interested parties.

On the return of the bridal party to Tranby Croft, a luncheon followed, and later in the afternoon the happy pair left for the South, en routefor Paris. The bride's travelling dress was a skirt of white cloth edged with brown fur, a polonnaise of pale grey cloth, trimmed with brown fur, with hat to match. (“Fashionable Marriage near Hull.” York Herald 12 February 1887, Saturday: 14 [of 16], Col. 4a [of 7]. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000499/18870212/149/0014 (accessed July 2019))

15 March 1887, Tuesday

There was a heavy snowstorm in London; 5 to 6 inches fell in N.W. London (Baring-Gould II 282, n. 1).

17 March 1887, Thursday

A light, half-inch, snowfall added to the snow on the ground from two days earlier. There was a sharp frost Thursday night (Baring-Gould II 282, n. 1).

18 March 1887, Friday

Friday was sunny: "[o]ver six hours' sunshine" (Baring-Gould II 282, n. 1).

April 1887

In the May issue of London Society, Mrs. Humphry says, "At a recent 'afternoon' there was much to delight the gossip-lover. Almost every one there had been 'talked of' in one sense or other. One had written a 'risky' book; another had most innocently committed bigamy, and did not at the moment know with any degree of exactitude who was the lady whom he really was bound to love and cherish, owing to the suspected existence of a previous husband of one of his two wives. This was all very interesting indeed. Quite as much so was the fact that two deadly enemies had accidentally met on this occasion. The few words they exchanged when they unluckily encountered each other in a blocked doorway were of a forcible description, both belligerents being men. There must have been extraordinary vitality about these short speeches, for in the course of ten minutes they had increased from a dozen words into a dialogue that would 'play' for quite ten minutes at the Court Theatre. A very vivid imagination on the part of the various raconteurs may possibly have accounted for some of this gourd-like growth." (Humphry, Mrs. "Social Echoes." London Society: A Monthly Magazine of Light and Amusing Literature for Hours of Relaxation. May 1887. Vol. LI (January–June 1887): 685).

16 April 1887, Saturday

Emma Nevada sang Amina in La Sonnambula at Covert Garden (https://www.msu.edu/~graye/emma/chronolo.html).

29 April 1887, Friday

Emma Nevada sang Gonoud's Mirella at Covent Garden (https://www.msu.edu/~graye/emma/chronolo.html).

May 1887

The papers delived at the Men and Women's Club meeting for May 1887 were by Henrietta Muller and Kate Mills and were on the subject of "family limitation" (Bland 17).

25 May 1887, Wednesday

Derby Day.

According to the Morning Post, <quote>The Hon. Mrs. Henry Forester's dance, at 13, Carlton-house-terrace. / Lady Goldsmid's first evening party. / Mrs. Charles Waring's ball. / Chevalier and Mrs. Desanges' at home, at 16, Stratford-place, 4 to 7. / New Club Dance. / The giand pianoforte designed by L. Alma Tadema, R.A., with paintings by E. J. Poynter, R.A., on view at Johnstone, Norman, and Co.'s Galleries, 67, New Bond-street. Admission on presentation of card. / Epsom Races: Derby Day.</quote> ("Arrangements for This Day." The Morning Post Wednesday, 25 May 1887: p. 5 [of 8], Col. 5B).

28 May 1887, Saturday

Red Shirt and other native performers from Buffalo Bill's Wild West visit the Savage Club at the Savoy.

29 May 1887, Sunday

Whit Sunday

30 May 1887, Monday

"Taking advantage of the Bank Holiday, nearly 100,000 persons on Monday visited the American Exhibition, where Buffalo Bill gave three performances." (Illustrated London News (London, England), Saturday, June 04, 1887; pg. 632; Issue 2511, Col. B)

June 1887

26 June 1887, Sunday

There was apparently a regular celebration of Arthur Collins' birthday, 26 June, by Bret Harte, George Du Maurier, Arthur Sullivan, Alfred Cellier, Arthur Blunt, and John Hare (Nissen, Axel. Brent Harte: Prince and Pauper: 239. [2]). Choosing 1885–1902 as the dates because those apparently are the dates of the close relationship between Harte and Collins, ending in Harte's death in 1902.

July 1887

7 July 1887, Thursday

"Wilde is known to have dined at Upper Hamilton Terace," where the Van der Veldes lived (actually, they lived at 15 Upper Hamilton Terrace) (Axel Nissen, Bret Harte: Prince & Pauper. Jackson, MS: U P of Mississippi, 2000: 216).

13 July 1887, Wednesday

(Six days after July 7): Oscar Wilde <quote>entertained [Bret] Harte and the Van de Veldes at an "at home," which also featured Buffalo Bill Cody, Lady Wilde, Lady Neville, and Lady Monckton</quote> (Axel Nissen, Bret Harte: Prince & Pauper. U P of Mississippi, 2000: 216).

23 July 1887, Saturday

"At this late period of the London season, it frequently becomes the duty of families residing in town, before their own departure for change of scene or change of air, to receive the visits of friends from the country, and sometimes to conduct them to the sights and amusements which have already been made familiar to themselves in preceding months. The Colonial and Indian Exhibition of last year, and those of former yers at South Kensington, which remained open till October, were naturally thronged by provincial visitors during the late summer and autumn; and it will probably be the same with the American Exhibition, including the romantic "Wild West" and the performances of "Buffalo Bill." There is, however, one important annual feature of the metropolitan attractions, for people of a certain degree of social and intellectual pretensions, which disappears at the end of July; the pictures at the Royal Academy, the merits of which were abundantly discussed here in May, are to be viewed yet another week, before their dispersal to the ends of the kingdom. Many ladies and gentlemen with a taste for art, or with an idea that they are bound to qualify themselves for remarks upon this safe topic in the social convese that may await them , make a point of coming to London almost for the purpose of seeing the Academy Exhibiton. Their frank and eager curiosity, with their warmly expressed admiration of favourite works, affords a refreshing contrast to the fatigued indifference of Londoners, who have endured the toils of a variety of private and public entertainments, not to speak of business, professional work, and politics, since the beginning of February, and who are now craving repose. The latter may undeservedly get the discredit of a nil admirari temperament, and of insensibility to the sublime and beautiful, when they are only physically and mentally tired." (Country Cousins at the Exhibition.Illustrated London News (London, England), Saturday, July 23, 1887; pg. 103; Issue 2518, Col. C)

30 July 1887, Saturday

On Saturday 30 July 1887, the ILN reports the following about an event the prior week: "The new Welcome Club, in the grounds of the popular American Exhibition, was opened last week. Within sight of the switch-back railway, and within sound of the music of the band, a picturesque little club-house has been erected, furnished and provided with every comfort, and, as its name implies, offering a hearty welcome to its guests. Only gentlemen are admitted as members of the club, but each member may bring with him a lady guest; one part of the building has been set apart for their sole use, and is called the Ladies' Pavilion. The inviting entrance-hall, approached from the garden by a flight of steps and a covered verandah, is delightfully cool and shady, even in the hottest weather. Here is an attractive buffet, draped with electric-blue plush and Oriental fringes, where American iced drinks may be obtained in endless variety. It is furnished with the deep saddle-bag settees, and is decorated with a pretty terra-cotta wall-paper; an electric lamp of beaten brass is in the centre of the ceiling, and there are artistic wall-lights, in ormolu, with plaques of blue and white enamel. To the left of the entrance-hall is a cool and spacious dining-room, where an excellent menu is served by a competent chef, from five in the evening till half-past eight. On the opposite side of the entrance-hall is the smoking-room, where all the furniture is of American walnut wood, used in combination with dark green morocco. A soft Axminster carpet covers the floor, and the walls are decorated with works of art, including water-colour drawings by Mr. T. B. Hardy and Mr. Dudley Hardy. Here, too, is a paino, for those who care to divert the intervals of smoking by musical interludes. The Royal Pavilion, intended specially for the use of the Royal Princes and Princesses, is a charming little place, effectively decorated, in the Louis XVI. style, with white carved-wood furniture, covered with satin and brocade. The colouring here is highly artistic. The arrangement of the satin portière which drapes the door is particularly noticeable, harmonising with the tapestry wall-covering, the dark dado, the cabinets of satin-wood [lb at hyphen], and the mirrors, with their white carved frames. Passing across a wide, shady terrace, which is bright with flower-beds, and is amply furnished with tempting seats, the visitor reaches the Ladies' Pavilion, which forms a separate bulding. It is a very pretty room, tastefully furnished, with the dainty accessories befitting the use of ladies. A piano fills one corner, in another is a Chippendale writing-table. Glass bowls of roses are placed here and there, while engravings from Tadema and Millais look well upon the pale-blue wall-paper, above a dado of silk tapestry. In fact nothing has been forgotten, and the lady visitors may well look forward to spending many pleasant hours in their Welcome Club pavilion. The whole of the furnishing has been designed and executed by Messrs. Oetzmann, of Hampstead-road, in a manner doing great credit to the artistic taste and workmanship of that firm. The members of the Welcome Club gave a very successful garden-party to their friends one day last week, when numerous distinguished guess were present; among others were Lord and Lady Lamington, Lord Northbrook, Lady Dorothy and Miss Neville, the Countess of Scarborough, Lord and Lady Rothschild, Lord Ronald Gower, Lady McPherson Grant, Lady Louisa Cunningham, and Sir Philip and Lady Cunliffe-Owen." (The Welcome Club.Illustrated London News (London, England), Saturday, July 30, 1887; pg. 131; Issue 2519, Col. C)

August 1887

29 August 1887, Monday

Summer Bank Holiday

September 1887

"In September of the same year Lady Houghton and her children were staying at Crewe Hall, with 'Uncle Crewe.' The children were convalescing from the bouts of scarlet fever they had had at Fryston. At Crewe their mother suddenly contracted the same disease. Within a few days she was dead" (Pope-Hennessy Lord Crewe 26).

October 1887

31 October 1887, Monday

Halloween.

"The American Exhibition, which attracted all the town to West Brompton the last few months, was brought on Monday to a dignified close. A meeting of representative Englishmen and Americans wsa held in the Trophy Room, under the presidency of Lord Lorne, in support of the movement for establishing a Court of Arbitration for the settlement of disputes between this country and the United States. Resolutions in favour of the principle of international artibration were adopted. Mr. Bright, Lord Granville, Lord Wolseley, and other distinguished public men wrote expressing sympathy with the cause." (Illustrated London News (London, England), Saturday, November 05, 1887; pg. 537; Issue 2533, Col. C.)

November 1887

5 November 1887, Saturday

Guy Fawkes Day

8 November 1887, Tuesday

The next-to-the-last performance of the original run of Ruddigore was done at the Crystal Palace, as was the last, on 9 November. ("At the Play", The Observer, 6 November 1887, p. 2 and The Times, 8 November 1887, p. 1)

9 November 1887, Wednesday

The last performance of the original run of Ruddigore was done at the Crystal Palace, as was the last, on 9 November.

13 November 1887, Sunday

"Bloody Sunday": "the name given to a demonstration against coercion in Ireland and to demand the release from prison of MP William O'Brien, who was imprisoned for incitement as a result of an incident in the Irish Land War. The demonstration was organized by the Social Democratic Federation and the Irish National League." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1887)) "Then, on 13 November 1887, although a meeting called by the Metropolitan Radical Association in protest against the government's failure to tackle unemployment is banned, a mass demonstration in Trafalgar Square goes ahead anyway. This leads to a riot in which one person dies, 200 are hurt and 400 arrested. The event is named 'Bloody Sunday'." (http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/guide19/part04.html).

In his My Life and Loves, Frank Norris describes it, though he has the wrong date?:

All this while the discontent of the working classes in Great Britain, as in Ireland, grew steadily and increased in bitterness. In London it found determined defenders in the Social Democratic Federation. Mr. H. W. Hyndman had started this association a couple of years or so before as a follower more or less convinced of Karl Marx. The first time I heard Bernard Shaw speak was at a meeting of the Federation, but I had left it before he joined and he left it soon afterwards. On a Monday early in February, 1886, the Federation called a meeting in Trafalgar Square which ended in a riot. The mob got out of hand and marched to attack the clubs in Pall Mall and soon proceeded to loot shops in Piccadilly and hold another meeting at Hyde Park Corner. The ringleaders were arrested and tried: they were Hyndman, Williams, Burns and Champion. Williams and Burns, both workingmen, were bailed out by William Morris, the poet. Hyndman seemed to me an ordinary English bourgeois with a smattering of German reading: he was above middle height, burly and bearded; Champion, the thin, well-bred officer type with good heart and scant reading; Williams, the ordinary workingman full of class prejudices; and John Burns, also a workingman, but really intelligent and thoughtful, who afterwards proved himself an excellent minister and resigned with Lord Morley rather than accept the world war. In spite of deficient education, Burns was even then a most interesting man; though hardly middle height, he was sturdy and exceedingly strong and brave. He had read from boyhood and we became great friends about the beginning of the century through the South African War. Burns was an early lover of Carlyle, and the experiences of a workingman's life had not blinded him to the value of individual merit. In many respects he stood on the forehead of the time to come, and if his education had been equal to his desire for knowledge, he would have been among the choicest spirits of the age. Even in 1886 I'm glad to say I rated him far above most of the politicians, though he never reached any originality of thought." (Vol. 2, p. 387)

December 1887

12 December 1887, Monday

The Men and Women's Club met and Robert J. Parker read his paper, "The Contagious Diseases Act" (Walkowitz 292, n. 87).

25 December 1887, Sunday

Christmas Day

26 December 1887, Monday

Boxing Day

Works Cited

• Gelfand, Toby. "11 January 1887, the day medicine changed: Joseph Grancher's defense of Pasteur's treatment for rabies." Bulletin of the History of Medicine Vol. 76, no. 4 (Winter 2002): .
• Humphry, Mrs. "Social Echoes." London Society: A Monthly Magazine of Light and Amusing Literature for Hours of Relaxation. May 1887. Vol. LI (January–June 1887): 685
• Warwick, [Lady] Frances Evelyn, Countess of. Progress in Women's Education in the British Empire, Being the Report of the Education Section, Victorian Era Exhibit, 1897. London: Longmans, Green, 1898. Google Books, retrieved 14 March 2010.
• Gray, Eugene F. "Chronology of Events in the Life of Emma Nevada." Emma Nevada: An American Diva. https://www.msu.edu/~graye/emma/chronolo.html (retrieved 14 April 2010).