3-071-064 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Mr. Gladstone at Leeds: the Torchlight Procession, 1881. The British Prime Minister in Yorkshire. 'The torchlight display that evening in the streets of Leeds was rather marred by a drizzling rain which set in at nightfall; but it was a novel sight, well devised and admirably executed. The army of three thousand torch-bearers was systematically organised, and each ward furnished an elected captain. The men received their torches from head-quarters, lighted them at the word of command, and lined the route along which Mr. Gladstone drove to Spring Bank, casting their light upon the equipages and the crowds of people pressing against the barriers. A band of music headed the procession, which, the carriages having passed between the lines, formed in the rear, the torch-bearers walking four abreast...tens of thousands of men and women thronged the streets inspecting the illuminations and following the movement of the torches...The streets were crowded with factory people, who cheered vehemently as they saw Mr. Gladstone pass amidst them...All the people in the West Riding factory districts, as well as those of South Lancashire...seemed eagerly desirous of bidding him a hearty welcome'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.