Imperial London
Celtic London
Roman London
Saxon Norman & Pre-Tudor London
Tudor London
Stuart London
The Fire of London
London From the Great Fire to 1900
Buckingham Palace
St James' Palace
Kensington Palace
Marlborough House
York House
Clarence House
Westminster Abbey
St Paul's Cathedral
The Temple Church
Ecclesiastical Buildings in London
St Margaret's, Westminster
St Martin's-in-the-Fields
Roman Catholic Churches
10 Downing Street
Whitehall
The House of Lords
The House of Commons
Foreign Embassies & Consulates
Legal London
The Inns of Court
Criminal London
Metropolitan Police Courts
London Police
London Prisons
London's Seamy Side...
Hospitals in 1900 London
St Bartholemew's Hospital - "Barts"
Guy's Hospital
St Thomas' Hospital
The London Hospital
Workhouses
Coroners' Courts
Bedlam
London Cemeteries & Undertakers
Bank of England
The Bankers' Clearing House
Famous Fraud Cases
Insurance Companies
The Royal Mint
The Stock Exchange
Lloyd's
Commodity Exchanges
The London Docks
Dockers in 1900 London
London Shipping in 1900
The Custom House
The Tower of London
City of London Churches
The Record Office, Fetter Lane
Cheapside
The Royal Exchange
City Guilds
Guildhall
Mansion House
Gastronomic London - 1900
Railways & Tramways
Omnibuses & Cabs
The General Post Office
The Central Telegraph Office
The London Fire Brigade 1900
Tower Bridge & Other London Bridges
Charles Dickens - Romantic London
London Houses of Famous People
Publishers in 1900 London
Art in London, 1900
Science in 1900 London
London Museums
London Libraries, 1900
Philanthropic London, 1900
London Schools
Fashionable Clubs in 1900 London
London Hotels
London Barracks in 1900
Theatrical London in 1900
London Squares & Parks
London Zoo in 1900
Journalism in 1900 London
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Enjoy this London Barracks in 1900 chapter from "Imperial London", a unique view of London and its inhabitants, first published in 1901, by Arthur H. Beavan...
London Barracks in 1900
Wellington and Blucher at the Battle of Waterloo - Allposters.com
Barracks.
Not exactly fashionable London, but connected with it.
Compared with Paris,
Berlin,
Vienna, or any other continental capital, barrack accommodation in London, considering
its size and the contemplated increase of its permanent garrison, is ridiculously
inadequate.
They are easily enumerated.
In the Chelsea-bridge road, over-looking the Royal Hospital grounds, are the Chelsea
barracks, a long and monotonous brick structure, broken only by towers in the
centre, and faced by a formidable, and apparently unscalable iron railing.
These barracks are chiefly intended for the Foot-guards; and the fine parade-ground
at the back witnessed many stirring scenes at the outbreak of the South African
War, notably, when King Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, paid a surprise visit
there to see the men before they left for the front, and later, when the Duke
of Connaught formally inspected them, bringing with him a farewell message from
Queen Victoria.
Facing St. James' Park in
the Bird-cage Walk, are the well-known Wellington barracks, first occupied by
troops in 1814, the military chapel at the end of the spacious parade-ground,
noted for its impressive musical services, being opened in 1813.
These barracks, like those at Chelsea, are intended for the Guards Brigade, which
practically, so far as infantry is concerned, furnishes the London garrison, and
which by seniority took the premier place in the Army Corps whereof it formed
a portion in South Africa.
Knightsbridge barracks, for the Household Cavalry, the newest, and externally
the most attractive-looking in London, replace some painfully plain brick buildings
that for many years were an eyesore to the fashionable Kensington Gore, close
by.
The present buildings were erected in 1879-80, and are supposed to be the best
of their kind in Europe.
Attached is a fine riding-school; and a handsome wing is devoted to the officers'
quarters, whose mess-room, etc., is on the north side, with an imposing frontage
to the Park drive.
In the very centre of the main building is an oblong parade-ground, round which,
over the stables, are apartments for the troops.
Hidden away off Church Street, Kensington, are two small and very old-fashioned
barracks - one for cavalry, the other for infantry.
At the back of the National Gallery
in Orange Street is the St. George's Recruiting Department, whither are ultimately
led with solicitude begotten of the bounty received for them, the recruits picked
up by the indefatigable recruiting-sergeant so constantly seen round about the
National Portrait Gallery and Trafalgar Square.
In Ordnance Road, not far from the Eyre Arms in St. John's Wood, are some small
barracks.
Nearly at the top of the interminable Albany Street, are the Regent's Park
barracks for the Household Cavalry, who periodically exchange quarters with the
mounted troops at Knightsbridge.
There is a spacious parade-ground, but the buildings are a type of what the Government
thought good enough for the troops in the reign of George IV, the rooms low with
bare walls, no, paper, no curtains, carpets, or chairs, badly lighted, and with
inadequate dining accommodation - in fact "exactly like a barrack."
The officers' rooms, as in other London barracks, are privately supplemented in
the way of comforts, the articles supplied to officers' quarters being restricted
to "two chairs, one table, one poker, one shovel, and one pair of tongs."
(Officially stated in the House of Commons,
1901.)
The Waterloo barracks for infantry are extensive stone-built erections on one
side of the Parade in the Tower of London,
with very comfortable quarters for officers, whose mess is famous for its excellence.
Lastly, in Dalston, at Shrubland Road, N.E., near the London Fields, are the Tower
Hamlets barracks.
Except on very special occasions, such as a Jubilee, a Royal funeral, or a
"Welcome Home" from war, military spectacles in London are few and far
between.
There is, however, one such, though on a small scale, that is religiously observed
every year - the Trooping of the Colour on the Horse Guards' Parade, followed
by the Massing of the Bands at St. James' Palace.
They are attractive sights, and are the culmination of fashionable militarism
in London.
It is uncertain when the Trooping of the Colour in honour of the Sovereign's birthday
began, but it probably originated with George I, who delighted in watching his
grandson, the Duke of Cumberland, drill a regiment of boys on the Horse Guards'
Parade-ground, a locality associated with martial displays ever since the Restoration
of 1660.
The Colour is "trooped" with many stately and time-honoured details,
too numerous to mention here, and after a march past the Royal spectators, the
line of troops is re-formed, a Royal salute is given, and the "trooping"
closes; when the united bands of music march off to Friary Court, St.
James' Palace, and there discourse sweet sounds for some time until the guns
in the Park boom forth a Royal salute, and "God save the King" winds
up the pleasant function.
There is also an annual and very interesting Trooping of the Colour, usually in
June, on the ground of the Hon. Artillery Company at Finsbury.
Next:
Metropolitan Theatres - Variety Theatres - Concert Rooms - Exhibitions: Theatrical London in 1900
An actor who knows his business ought to be able to make the London telephone directory sound enthralling... Donald Sinden |
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