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Lot Essay
Queen Victoria records her trip to Manchester, where she knighted Sir John Sr. and Sir John Jr., noting in her diary 'At ten we started for Manchester. The day was fine and mild and everything to a wish. Manchester is called seven miles from Worsley, but I cannot think it is so much. We first came to Pendleton, where, as everywhere else, there are factories, and great preparations were made. School children were there in profusion. We next came to Salford, where the crowd became very dense. It joins Manchester, and is to it, in fact, as Westminster to London ... The mechanics and workpeople, dressed in their best, were ranged along the streets, with white rosettes in their buttonholes ... We went into Peel Park before leaving Salford, the mayor having got out and received us at the entrance, where was indeed a most extraordinary and, I suppose, totally unprecedented sight-82,000 school children ... with their teachers. In the middle of the park was erected a pavilion, under which we drove, but did not get out, and where the address was read. All the children sang "God Save the Queen" extremely well together, the director being placed on a very high stand, from which he could command the whole park. We passed out at the same gate we went in by, and through the principal street of Salford, on to Manchester, at the entrance of which was a magnificent arch. The mayor, Mr. Potter, who went through the proceedings with great composure and self-possession, beautifully dressed (the mayor and Corporation had till now been too Radical to have robes), received us there, and presented me with a beautiful bouquet. We drove through the principal streets ... and stopped at the Exchange, where we got out and received the address, again on a throne, to which I read an answer. The streets were immensely full, and the cheering and enthusiasm most gratifying. The order and good behaviour of the people, who were not placed behind any barriers, were the most complete we have seen in our many progresses through capitals and cities-London, Glasgow, Dublin, &c.-for there never was a running crowd. Nobody moved, and therefore everybody saw well, and there was no squeezing. We returned as we came, the sun shining brightly, and were at Worsley by two." The next day Her Majesty wrote in her diary: "The mayor (now Sir John Potter, he having been knighted after presenting the Manchester address) told me last night that he thinks we saw a million of people between Manchester and Salford. There are 400,000 inhabitants in Manchester, and everyone says that in no other town could one depend so entirely upon the quiet and orderly behaviour of the people as in Manchester. You had only to tell them what ought to be done, and it was sure to be carried out.'