3-070-671 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Garden Fete at Chelsea Hospital for the Royal Army Coffee Taverns Association, 1883. 'A Good View of the top of the Royal Tent; Under Military Management; a Distant View of Royalty; Free from the Cares of Royalty; The Soldier's Friend - and - His Enemy; Every Little Helps; Foreign Support; 90 in the Shade; "Well Screened" - A Trophy from the Bazaar; Distributed about the Grounds Gratis - An Acceptable Form of Bringing an Embarrassed Charity Before the Eyes of the Public; The Moore & Burgess Entertainment...[A] grand military musical fete and garden party took place in the grounds of the Royal Hospital at Chelsea in aid of the Army Coffee Taverns Association...[An] attractive feature in the programme was provided by the Moore and Burgess Minstrels, whose familiar semicircle, on the broad walk in front of the Royal pavilion, presented a grotesque appearance in the brilliant sunlight. Their varied performances of ballads, plantation melodies, and comic songs, accompanied by the indispensable n*gger "business," appeared to give especial delight to the crowd of red-coated pensioners in the courtyard of the hospital'. From "Illustrated London News", 1883.