The first of World's Fairs was held right here at the Crystal Palace. It was named "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations". The idea was proposed by Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert. He worked with Henry Cole, Francis Henry, George Wallis, and Charles Dilke. Lots of well-known people came like Charles Darwin, Samuel Colt, some of the Orléanist Royal Family and Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll, George Eliot and Alfred Tennyson.
EXHIBITS
EXHIBITS
- The Koh-i-Noor, which means the "Mountain of Light," was the world's largest known diamond in 1851. It was one of the most popular attractions of the India exhibit and was acquired in 1850 as part of the Lahore Treaty.
- The Daria-i-Noor, one of the rare pale pink diamonds in the world.
- The early 8th-century Tara Brooch, discovered only in 1850, the finest Irish penannular brooch, was exhibited by the Dublin jeweler George Waterhouse along with a display of his fashionable Celtic Revival jewelry.
- Alfred Charles Hobbs used the exhibition to demonstrate the inadequacy of several respected locks of the day.
- Frederick Bakewell demonstrated a precursor to today's fax machine.
- Mathew Brady was awarded a medal for his daguerreotypes.
- William Chamberlin, Jr. of Sussex exhibited what may have been the world's first voting machine, which counted votes automatically and employed an interlocking system to prevent over-voting.[13]
- Firearms manufacturer Samuel Colt demonstrated his prototype for the 1851 Colt Navy and also his older Walker and Dragoon revolvers.
- The Tempest prognosticator, a barometer using leeches, was demonstrated at the Great Exhibition.
- The America's Cup yachting event began with a race held in conjunction with the Great Exhibition.
- George Jennings designed the first public toilets in the Retiring Rooms of the Crystal Palace, for which he charged one penny.
- Gold ornaments and silver enamelled handicrafts fabricated by the Khudabadi Sindhi Swarankar from Sindh.
- C.C. Hornung of Copenhagen, Denmark, showed his single-cast iron frame for a piano, the first made in Europe.