2-996-016 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Banquet given at the Crystal Palace by Sir Joseph and Lady Paxton, 1860. 'Sir Joseph and Lady Paxton gave a charming fete at their beautiful residence, Rockhills, adjoining the Crystal Palace. The company included the Duchess of Sutherland, the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, the Marquis and Marchioness of Normanby, the Marquis of Stafford, the Marquis of Hartington, Earl and Countess Stanhope, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Mrs. Gladstone, the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, M.P., and Mrs. Herbert, Lord John Manners, M.P., Lady Louisa Cavendish and the Hon. Miss Cavendish, the Right Hon. Sir John Pakington, M.P., and about 300 gentlemen and ladies, including many members of Parliament and eminent scientific and literary men. After enjoying a promenade in the grounds attached to Sir Joseph's villa, the company, at seven o'clock, proceeded to the north wing of the Crystal Palace, where an elegant dinner was served, covers being laid for 350 persons. After the banquet a ball was improvised, and at ten o'clock the whole upper range of fountains in the Crystal Palace gardens were set in motion, and illumined with various coloured lights, the effect of which upon the falling water was singularly beautiful'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.