Speeches and Addresses of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales: 1863-1888

NEW HARBOUR AT HOLYHEAD

June 17th, 1880

To possess the best possible packet service between England and Ireland is a matter of national importance. In the old days of sailing ships the perils and uncertainties of the passage across the Channel were notorious. When steamships carried mails and passengers, and when the bridging of the Menai Straits for railway traffic had been achieved, it was necessary to provide improved harbour accommodation, and other works, both for convenience and safety, at Holyhead. These works included a spacious harbour, and a breakwater securing the additional space of a sheltered roadstead. The length of the North Breakwater is nearly 8000 feet. The harbour and deep-water sheltered roadstead are together between six and seven hundred acres in extent. It took twenty-five years to carry out the design, at a cost of about £1,500,000. This outlay included the works and buildings for Government use in the postal service. The engineer-in-chief was Mr. James Rennel, and on his death, in 1856, Mr. afterwards Sir John Hawkshaw.

To celebrate the completion of the works, the Prince of Wales visited Holyhead on the 19th of August, 1873, when he declared the Breakwater complete and the Harbour of Refuge open. The Duke of Edinburgh, Master of the Trinity House, Sir Frederick Arrow, Deputy Master, and many distinguished representatives of various departments of the public service assisted at the ceremony. Near the Lighthouse a gun-metal plate records the fact that the Breakwater, "commenced in 1845, was on August 19th, 1873, declared complete, by Albert Edward, Prince of Wales," in whose public life the proceedings of the day form a memorable event.

But there was yet much to be done for the Anglo-Irish route, viâ Holyhead. The communication had so increased that the North Western Railway Company found enlarged harbour accommodation a necessity for the benefit of their own traffic.

It is not often that Royal sanction is given to the undertakings of shareholding companies; but the new harbour at Holyhead, while it was constructed at the cost and for the benefit of the London and North Western Railway Company, has so much importance for commerce and traffic, as to make it a national object. The Prince of Wales was accordingly asked to inaugurate the new harbour, and a large number of distinguished and official persons were invited by the Directors to be present on the occasion. At the luncheon, the Chairman of the Company proposed the usual loyal toasts, and the Prince of Wales responded in the following terms: —

"Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen, – I am deeply flattered by the kind manner in which this toast has been proposed and received in this large and distinguished assemblage. I feel it a matter of the greatest pleasure, and at the same time the greatest pride, to be among you here to-day. It is a matter of pride, ladies and gentlemen, to be connected with this Principality, and it has afforded me the greatest pleasure to accept the invitation of the Chairman and Directors of the London and North Western Company to inaugurate this new harbour. It is not the first time, as you are aware, that I have had occasion to come to Holyhead. Seven years ago I had the pleasure of inaugurating your breakwater, which I am glad to see is now successfully terminated and is of the greatest possible utility. The sunshine we have enjoyed to-day may be taken as a good augury for the success of the London and North Western Railway Company in their new undertaking. This undertaking has cost them a very large sum of money, but it will, I am sure, be of the greatest benefit to commerce, and will tend to make the Holyhead route still more than it is a connecting link between England and Ireland. Before sitting down I have a toast to propose, which I feel sure you will drink with the greatest pleasure; it is 'The Health of the Chairman, Mr. Moon, and Success and Prosperity to the London and North Western Railway Company.' I also desire to declare the new harbour open."

Both on land and water there were many loyal demonstrations; and gentlemen representing all the leading railway companies, French and Irish, as well as English and Welsh, were entertained by the Directors of the London and North Western.

The opening sentences of a leading article in the Times on the following day, form a tribute due to the Prince for his part in the ceremony: —

"The representative duties of Royalty in this country are heavier than the private functions the hardest-worked Englishman has to perform. Only the other day we were recording the part played by the Prince of Wales in an ecclesiastical pageant in Cornwall. On Wednesday he was introducing a foreign Sovereign to the Corporation of London. Straight from that ceremonial he had to take flight across the island to open formally the new harbour at Holyhead. In these scenes and a hundred like them a Prince's functions cannot be discharged satisfactorily unless he be at once an impersonation of Royal State and, what is harder still, his own individual self. He must act his public character as if he enjoyed the festival as much as any of the spectators. He must be able to stamp a national impress upon the solemnity, yet mark its local and particular significance. In presenting a King of the Hellenes to the citizens at the Guildhall the Prince of Wales had to remember that his guest and the guest of the City was both a near and dear relative and the embodiment of an illustrious cause. In laying the first stone of a cathedral at Truro he had to be both Duke of Cornwall and the Heir of England. In presiding yesterday at Holyhead he had to recollect the provincial associations connected with the title he bears, and not forget the imperial importance of a work which creates a new link between two great divisions of the United Kingdom. That he achieved his task successfully was a matter of course. No apprehension ever touches those who are present at a scene of which the Prince of Wales is the centre, that he may chance to chill by lack of interest, to choose his words of admiration inopportunely, or to praise without sympathy. The work he came, as it were, to sanction by national approbation is a grand engineering undertaking, and is grander yet in its probable moral consequences. The Prince of Wales understood and expressed its significance from both aspects."

NEW COLOURS TO THE ROYAL WELSH FUSILIERS

August 16th, 1880

The Royal Welsh Fusiliers (or Twenty-third Regiment of Foot in the old Army Lists) received the more familiar name from having been first raised in Wales in 1714, and in honour of the Prince of Wales of that day. Their nationality is further betokened by the Prince of Wales's plume, with the motto "Ich Dien," which, together with the Rising Sun, the Red Dragon, the White Horse, and the Sphinx, they bear on their colours. The regiment is one of the oldest and most famous in the Army, and the proud words, "Nec aspera terrent," which are emblazoned on its regimental silk, it has amply justified by its gallant conduct from the Battle of the Boyne, in 1690, to the Indian Mutiny, in 1858, including Egypt, Corunna, Martinique, Albuera, Badajoz, Salamanca, the Pyrenees, Nivelle, Orthes, Toulouse, Waterloo, Alma, Inkerman, Sebastopol, and nearly fifty other engagements which are not recorded on its colours.

It was peculiarly fitting that the duty of presenting new colours to this brave and distinguished Welsh regiment should be undertaken by the Prince of Wales. This he did on the 16th of August, 1880, coming from Osborne for the purpose, when the 1st Battalion of the Welsh Fusiliers, above nine hundred strong, including officers, was embarking for India from Portsmouth.

The colours, exchanged for new ones on that day, had been presented in 1849 by the late Prince Consort, the battalion at the same time receiving from the Queen the first of those Royal goats, which have always since marched at the head of the regiment. When the gallant "Nanny Goats," as the Twenty-third are nick-named, first had the regimental pet is not exactly known, but since 1849 a Royal goat has been received from Windsor whenever a vacancy occurs.

The colours replaced by the new ones in 1880 had a history of their own, and the regiment took pride in them, although in such a tattered condition that they could not be unfurled. The Queen's colour was that which was carried by Lieutenant Anstruther, who was killed when planting it on the Great Redoubt at Sebastopol. Twelve officers and half the rank and file fell in that terrible rush, but the Royal Welsh had the honour of first entering the enemy's stronghold. No fewer than seventy-five bullets passed through the colours, and the pole of one of them was shot in two, and had to be tied up with a cord. Sergeant O'Connor, though dangerously wounded, carried the Queen's colours till the end of the battle, and was rewarded by a commission in the regiment, receiving the Victoria Cross at the close of the war. He rose to be Colonel of the 2nd Battalion, and was present, with his breast covered with well-earned decorations, when the Prince of Wales came to present the new colours at Portsmouth. The colours were afterwards carried through the Indian Mutiny, where Colonel Elgee and several of the officers had the honour of serving under them. The ragged relics were relegated to the honourable obscurity of Wrexham Church.

The ceremony of removing the old colours and presenting the new was an imposing spectacle, witnessed by an immense assemblage, and amidst great enthusiasm. The old colours having been placed in front of the saluting post, were afterwards sent to the rear, the band playing "Auld Lang Syne." Then the new colours were presented by the Prince, with whom was the Princess of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, and Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar. Having received the colours from the Majors, the Prince presented them separately to the Lieutenants, and then turning to the Colonel, spoke as follows: —

"Colonel Elgee, officers, and non-commissioned officers and men of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, – I consider it a very great privilege to have been asked to present your regiment with new colours on the eve of its departure for India. It occurs to me in presenting these colours that they are to replace those which were given to you about thirty-one years ago by my lamented father, and which through three campaigns your regiment has carried with honour and success. You will in a few years celebrate your 200th anniversary, and during that time your regiment has served in nearly every quarter of the globe, and seen as much or more service than any regiment in the Army. You have served at Corunna, Salamanca, the Peninsula, Waterloo, Alma, Inkerman, Sebastopol, Lucknow, and, coming down to more recent times, Ashantee. I feel sure that there will always be the same emulation among those who serve in your ranks as there has been in the past, and that the good name of your regiment will always be maintained as prominently as it is now. You are now on the eve of departure for India, and nobody wishes you 'God-speed' more sincerely than I do. I feel sure that, whatever your services may be, they will be such as will bring credit to your regiment, and will add additional proofs of the valour for which it is so justly celebrated."

Colonel Elgee made a suitable and soldierly reply, thus concluding: "I am sure that wherever the colours are carried – whether before an enemy or in the performance of our duties at home in times of peace – the regiment will always maintain the high reputation it has won. On the eve of our departure for India, we beg to express our heartiest wishes for the health and happiness of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, your Royal Highness, the Princess of Wales, and the remainder of the Royal Family."

The line having been reformed, His Royal Highness had the whole of the officers drawn up on each side of the drums, and as they saluted and passed to their posts, each was individually presented to the Prince and Princess by the Colonel. A few more movements, and the ranks were closed, the line broke into columns to the right, and marched past to the jetty, where they embarked on board the Malabar. After luncheon, the whole party from the Royal yacht, including the Princess Beatrice, who had arrived in the Alberta to receive the Empress Eugénie and take her to Osborne on a visit to the Queen, proceeded on board the Malabar, where they stayed three-quarters of an hour and made a thorough inspection of the ship, where they were welcomed with much enthusiasm. When at length the ship drew away into the stream, followed by the Royal yacht Osborne, the band of the Royal Marines ashore played "The March of the Men of Harlech," and "Cheer, Boys, Cheer," while the troops responded by singing "Auld Lang Syne."

THE ROYAL HOSPITAL FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN

May 24th, 1881

This Hospital, which is the oldest of its kind in London, is situated in Waterloo Bridge Road, in a populous and poor district. It contains now about 50 beds. The number of out-patient attendances averages 3000 a month, and upwards of 250 visits each month are paid by the house-surgeon to sick children at their own homes. The ordinary receipts are about £3000, and the funded property £6500. It is a well-managed and useful charity, and just such a one as would gain the good will of the Prince of Wales, who presided at the festival dinner, in Willis's Rooms, on the Queen's Birthday, May 24th, 1881.

After the customary loyal and patriotic toasts, the Royal Chairman briefly but earnestly pleaded the cause of the charity. He said that —

The largeness of the gathering on that occasion was evidence of the interest taken in this great and important charity. During the last few years, he remarked, we had suffered from both agricultural and commercial depression, and institutions of a charitable kind, especially those which owed their existence and maintenance to voluntary contributions, must naturally feel a depression, which prevented many persons from coming forward to their support; but still he did not despair of the results of the appeal which he had to make that evening. This institution had now been in existence for seventy-one years. It was situated in a very populous and very poor district, its object being the cure of sick children and women. He might remark that many of his family had taken considerable interest in this hospital. His grandfather, the Duke of Kent, presided at the first anniversary dinner, and his great-uncle, the Duke of Sussex, took a deep interest in it. Only four years ago his sister, the Princess Louise, visited the institution, and, being much gratified with what she saw, gave her name to one of the wards. Unfortunately, the institution was not so flourishing financially as it ought to be. The ordinary income was £2000 a year less than was required to meet the expenditure. It was also most important that the hospital should be enlarged. The freehold of the surrounding property had been obtained from the Duchy of Cornwall at an expense of £3000. Several years ago that great philanthropist, Lord Shaftesbury, presided at a dinner in aid of this charity, when a sum of nearly £3000 was raised. If the same amount could be made up that evening all who were interested in the institution would be deeply gratified. Mentioning that since the foundation of the Hospital as many as 400,000 children had been relieved, His Royal Highness said that patients were received not only from all parts of this country, but also from the Continent, and medical and surgical treatment was afforded them gratuitously. The report of the Hospital Saturday Fund stated that the institution stood among the first for efficiency and economy.

Before concluding his speech the Prince of Wales proposed the health of the Lord Mayor, who is by virtue of his office President of the institution. Mr. Kestin, the Secretary, read a list of donations and subscriptions which, including 100 guineas from the chairman, exceeded £2000.

AT KING'S COLLEGE

July 2nd, 1881

The Prince of Wales, accompanied by the Princess, distributed the principal prizes of the year at King's College, London, on the 2nd of July, 1881. The Rev. Canon Barry, D.D., the Principal, received the Royal visitors, and at the opening of the proceedings, said: "it will always be a day in the annals of the College to be marked with a white stone, when the Prince and Princess of Wales had come for the first time among them, and on the jubilee day of the institution." After the distribution of the prizes and decorations, the Prince acknowledging a vote of thanks for his presence, proposed by the Duke of Cambridge, and seconded by the Bishop of Gloucester, said: —

"Mr. Principal Barry, Ladies and Gentlemen, – For the very kind words in which the illustrious Duke has proposed the vote of thanks, the kind way in which it has been seconded by the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, and the cordial manner in which you have all been good enough to receive this vote, I ask you to accept my most sincere thanks, and also the thanks of the Princess of Wales for the kind way in which her name has been alluded to to-day.

"It would have been a gratification to me on any day to come to this college and present the prizes to the successful competitors, but as this day is your jubilee day, your fiftieth anniversary, it makes it still more interesting to me to come here to-day and give away the prizes. After all that has fallen from the lips of your Principal, and after perusing, though I admit somewhat cursorily, the annual report, but little is left for me to say; but all those who take an interest in the success of this college will have every reason to be satisfied with the state of the college, and with the report which I hold in my hands. Everything connected with this institution is on a most satisfactory and excellent footing.

"In these days, when education is so much thought of, and when meetings in every part of the kingdom are continually taking place for the purpose of getting still higher standards of education, it is naturally difficult for institutions of old date to keep up with the times; but I do not think or fear that this college will have any reason to fear competition from others, as it already stands as one of the second or third great educational colleges in the kingdom. The prizes which have been given to-day for the different subjects in this list embrace nearly every possible subject of education which may be of use to those young men who are going out into the world.

"This college justly claims to be one which has done very much for the higher education of men; and it affords me, and I know it affords also the Princess of Wales, great gratification to learn that it will be extended also towards the education of women. This year, since the Principal and the Council received a memorial signed by various distinguished persons, they have very wisely adopted that memorial, by enabling women already to receive education by way of listening to lectures from distinguished teachers and professors in this college.

"It has been already stated that some of our children have received education from some of the professors of this college. It is very gratifying to us that such has been the case, and we have every hope that they will derive benefit from the instruction they have received.

"Before concluding I wish to congratulate those young gentlemen to whom I have presented these prizes to-day on having received these proofs that the education they have received here has not been thrown away. As most of them are about to leave the college, I sincerely hope they will allow me to offer them my best wishes, and to trust that in their future career they will continue to do credit to themselves and those by whom they have been educated. I again express the pleasure which both the Princess and myself have felt in coming here to-day, and say that we most cordially wish continued and lasting prosperity to King's College."