A Day out in 1898

It was a grand affair.

The Annual Show of the Leicestershire Agricultural Society over wednesday and thursday the 27th and 28th of July 1898 took place on the showground site in the quadrant of Victoria Park Road and London Road. The grassed open space is still there today which is quite remarkable given pressures on such areas from urban and suburban growth.

I acquired the official Programme and Catalogue of Entries for the event some years ago and having just retrieved it from safe storage have for the first time studied it in detail.

It is a thick bound booklet which must have taken some considerable time to collate and produce and all for the price of a shilling. As with similar events there will have been a reliance on sponsorship and advertising revenues and the front and rear covers and bound spine have wordage for Grand and Upright Pianos including the Victory Model at 30 Guineas cash or 18'9" per month hire purchase, Epp's Cocoa and not forgetting the equestrian followers of the Show, a full back page for Ellimans Royal Embrocation.

The high and mighty and the great and the good all seem to be on the official guest list with the Duke and Duchess of Rutland as the presidential party as well as other nobility and those in civil and local government service.

The agenda for the two days is extensive with 12 hours plus per day for the judging of livestock and produce and concluding with a Grand Display of Fireworks by the well known Brock and Co of Crystal Palace.

As well as the sound of the thronging crowds there was also the accompaniment of the band of the Leicestershire Regiment playing popular marches, dance selections and classics.

The star attractions were however the animals and the skills and crafts of rural folk whose way of life had already changed significantly up to 1898 but with more to come.

Horses were prominent with judging classes for Hunters, both geldings and mares, representing the breeding interests of the upper classes through to working animals such as Hacks, the huge Shires, cart horses and ponies. Prizes were awarded for driving of pairs, tandem teams, singles and in show jumping in the main exhibition arena.

Cattle followed in the order of the programme with shorthorns, dairy breeds, jerseys and bulls.

Amongst the sheep breeds were Lincolns, Shropshires, ewes, rams , theaves and lambs either long wool or short wool.

Pigs also featured from boars to breeding sows.

Large tented areas were dedicated to traditional produce and must have been difficult to keep cool in the height of the summer. Cheeses, butter making, bees and honey all had strong competition for much sought after rosettes and cash prizes.

One of the largest categories was for poultry and the list of breeds shows a great variety with many possibly rare or extinct today. Dorkings, game, minorcas, black spanish, langshans, orpingtons,wyandottes, hamburghs, bantams, indian game, cochins, brahmas, plymouth rocks, aylesbury and peking ducks, rouen ducks, turkeys, geese and pigeons. The latter group covered carriers, pigmy pouters, dragons, tumblers, tipplers, fantails,short billed frilled, antwerp, magpies and homers.

Rabbits were also well represented with lop eared, belgian hares, dutch and silver greys.

Being a nation of dog lovers there was Kennel Club supervision of the dog judging classes mainly of hardy, working breeds such as fox terriers, wire haired terriers and sheep dogs.

The most interesting listings were for servants and labourers. A prize of £2 which in current money would be around £250 was to be awarded to "The shepherd belonging to the same master or mistress who shall rear the greatest number of wooled lambs, have the least loss of ewes and serves a flock not less than fifty".

A similar bounty was on offer for "The single man or woman not possessed of property who has lived the longest time and is still living in a farm house with the same masters or on the same farm as a farming servant". The winner, a Priscilla Herbert had served 8 years, 8 months and 2 weeks.

Farm labourers were similarly adjudged with a William Jackson having been in service for over 50 years to the same master without intermission and without parish relief except in sickness. He was however trumped by Thomas Stafford at 63 years service in the farm servant category.

The public attending the Show will have been drawn by the prospect of a good couple of days out and there was plenty for the town dwellers to enjoy as well as those from the agricultural community.

Many retailers and manufacturers had display stands with jewellers, umbrellas and canes, bicycles, tailors, clock makers, footwear, furnishings and furniture removals, smoking requisites, glass and china, books and stationery, sheet music, farm ciders, perambulators and even a wheeled carriage for the upwardly mobile.

The landed classes will have been intent on showing off their spending power and there was an abundance of exhibitors covering every aspect of estate, farm and country house life seeking to sell their goods and services in a two day jamboree.

Implements were displayed for a full working dairy, ploughing and cultivation, powered machines and horse drawn, harvesting and vegetable processing, seeds and fertilisers, temporary and permanent sheds and structures, livestock medicines and treatments, sheep dip, feedstuffs, guns, rat poisons, bulk timber and horse rugs.

Perhaps a visitor from the Leicester of 1898 may well be bemused and confused by what passes for an Agricultural Show today but they are still well attended and form an important annual event for many.