Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851
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Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 is an institution founded in 1850 to administer the international exhibition of 1851, officially called the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, held in The Crystal Palace in London, England.
The founding President of the Commission was Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and its chief administrator was Henry Cole.
The exhibition was a great popular and financial success, and made a surplus of £186,000. An unusual decision was made to maintain the Royal Commission as a permanent administrative body to use the profits for charitable purposes. Its revised Charter charged the Commission with "increasing the means of industrial education and extending the influence of science and art upon productive industry".
The Commissioners bought 350,000 square metres (87 acres) of land in South Kensington that was developed as a centre of educational and cultural institutions, often known as "Albertopolis". These include:
- Imperial College
- Natural History Museum
- Royal Albert Hall
- Royal College of Art
- Royal College of Music
- Science Museum
- Victoria and Albert Museum
Since 1891 the role of the Commission has been to provide postgraduate scholarships for students to study in Britain and abroad, and former scholars include 12 Nobel Prize laureates.
The Commission currently has capital assets of over £40 million, with an annual charitable disbursement of over £1.6 million.
[edit] Further reading
- Hermione Hobhouse (2002). The Crystal Palace And the Great Exhibition: Science, Art And Productive Industry, the History of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-48511-575-1, ISBN 978-0485115758.
