Queen Victoria’s impact on the county of Warwickshire was profound. An obvious example is that in 1838 she was successfully lobbied for Leamington Spa to use the word ‘Royal’ as a prefix. Moreover, she had visited the town eight years earlier: as Princess Victoria she stayed a night in the Regent Hotel in 1830, before continuing to Malvern.
Queen Victoria also visited Leamington in 1858. The Quarter Session Minutes held at the Warwickshire County Record Office1 give intriguing details of her visit to Birmingham in the same year. There are reports from the Chief Constable of Birmingham and the local Hospital about the aftermath of the visit. Elizabeth Hill had a fractured arm having fallen from a platform. Thomas Coudon was being treated in hospital for a severe scalp wound, having been run over by a cab, although the report states that he was intoxicated at the time! Sadly, 28-year old Alfred Robins died of severe burns caused by lighting fireworks in Aston Park.
Does anyone know the purpose of her visit to Warwickshire in that year?
1QS 39/21 pp. 600-1
Comments
Queen Victoria accompanied by Lord Leigh passed through Leamington on the way to Warwick Castle
I have a page from the Illustrated London News which carries an engraving of the Queen passing under the decorated railway bridge near the Crown Hotel in Leamington en route to Warwick. Alan Griffin.
Queen Victoria visited Warwickshire again on 23rd March 1887 when she laid the foundation stone for the Magistrates Court in Birmingham (commemorated by a plaque about it visible from Corporation Street).
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