3-074-886 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Grand Fancy Fair held on the Esplanade, Bombay, in honour of the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, 1883. British royals in India: '...an occasion of great popular festivity...all the shop-fronts [were] hung with awnings or curtains, of diverse coloured stuffs. In the centre...was an octagonal pavilion for the band of the King's Own regiment...pavilions, decorated in blue and red, gave accommodation to privileged spectators. The decoration...[consisted of] festoons of palm-leaves, a fountain, a triumphal arch exhibiting two transparencies of native figures in their different costumes, and a profusion of flowers and plants. Eight powerful Jablochkoff electric lights, with a vast number of Chinese lanterns and globes, and lamps fixed among the branches of the trees, illuminated the place at night. The wares exhibited...were of great variety and tastefully arranged. The general direction and management of this Fair had been intrusted by the Bombay Reception Committee to Khan Bahadur Muncherjee Murzban, Executive Engineer to the Presidency Government; and his task was most successfully performed. Our Illustration is from a sketch by Lieutenant-Colonel J. W. Boyd, of the Commissariat Department, Bombay Staff Corps'. From "Illustrated London News", 1883.