12 



THIRD PERioo-1862 TO PRESENT TIME. 



The Agricultural papers of the day gave great 

 prominence to eulogistic descriptions of the New 

 Agricultural Hall at Islington, and the first Show of the 

 Smithfield Club held therein. Some exhibitors even 

 described it as an escape from Pandemonium and the 

 shades of night, and yet the premises at Baker Street had 

 been a great advance upon the preceding ones in which the 

 Show had been held. But the sight of the arched glass 

 roof, with a span of 125 feet covering, at a height of 75 feet, 

 a hall of about 80,000 square feet, or nearly two acres in 

 extent, with galleries 36 feet wide all round it, and a second 

 hall 100 feet square, was calculated to evoke enthusiasm, 

 and the Mark Lane Express of the day truly observed, 

 " Whatever may come of it, however the public may take 

 to the locality, there is no manner of question but that the 

 Building Company has done its duty. Grand in its 

 conception, ample in its proportions, and admirable in its 

 arrangements, there are few places more perfectly adapted 

 to its purpose than the Agricultural Hall." 



Amid the general congratulations, however, it was a 

 subject for regret that Mr. Jonas Webb had not lived to 

 see the completion of the building in which he had taken 

 so much interest, and many kindly references were made 

 during the week to his memory and the great business 

 qualities which had been so freely devoted to carrying out 

 the erection of such a splendid building, and a fund was 

 started to provide some memorial of him. 



What one paper described as the " House-warming," 

 was worthy of the new building. Not only the Heir to 

 the Throne, H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, but a striking 

 assemblage of Royal personages visited the Show. These 

 included H.R.H the Crown Prince of Prussia, H.R.H. 

 the Duke of Brabant (now King of the Belgians), and 

 H.R.H. the Prince Louis of Hesse (the late Grand Duke 

 of Hesse), also H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge, H.R.H. 

 the Duchess of Cambridge, and H.R.H. the Princess Mary 

 of Cambridge (the late Duchess of Teck). On being 

 conducted round the Show by Lord Feversham, the 

 President for the year, the Stewards, and Hon. Secretary, 

 His Royal Highness expressed himself as being pleased 

 with the building and the arrangements. 



The general public also attended in such crowds that 

 its success was at once assured upwards of 132,000 

 people visiting the Show. 



