Festival of Empire

View from the Canadian replica Parliament Building of the Festival at the Crystal Palace

Map of the event

New Zealand building replica Parliament Building

Canadian Building

South African Building

The Festival of Empire or Festival of the Empire was held at The Crystal Palace in London in 1911, to celebrate the coronation of King George V. It opened on 12 May.

Exhibition

Exhibitions of products from the countries of the Empire were displayed in three-quarter size models of their Parliamentary buildings erected in the grounds.

Pageant

A pageant dramatising the history of London, England and the Empire was held. Frank Bridge wrote incidental music for a portion of the Pageant: The Pageant of London for military band and male chorus, H.98 (1911).

Inter-Empire Championships

As part of the festival, an Inter-Empire sports championship was held in which teams from Australasia (a combined team from Australia and New Zealand), Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom competed in five athletics events (100 yards, 220 yards, 880 yards, 1 mile and 120 yards hurdles), two swimming events (100 yards and 1 mile), heavyweight boxing and middleweight wrestling. This is regarded as a forerunner of the British Empire Games (now Commonwealth Games), held from 1930.

Competitors included Harold Hardwick (from Australia), Malcolm Champion (from New Zealand) and John Tait (from Canada).

External links

• Souvenir book, digitized
• A 1911 postcard
• Another 1911 postcard
• History of the Commonwealth Games, from the Commonwealth Games Council for England
• History of the Commonwealth Games from 1911, from the Australian Commonwealth Games Association
• Medallists at the 1911 Games (at top of page)
• Article on the Empire Games, mentioning events held in 1911

References

• Festival of Empire: the Pageant of London (1911, Bemrose & Sons, London) (souvenir book, 163 pages, edited by Sophie C. Lomas; master of the pageants Frank Lascelles),