GENERAL NOTES

GENERAL NOTESAuthor(s): WILLIAM GARDNERSource: Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. 116, No. 5142 (MAY 1968), pp. 536-542Published by: Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and CommerceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41371888 .

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GENERAL NOTES

ROYAL DRAWING SOCIETY'S EXHIBITION: AWARD OF THE RSA BRONZE MEDAL

The Society's Bronze Medal, and a prize of books to the value of five guineas from the funds of the John Stock Trust, have been awarded to Annette Webb for the picture illustrated here, entitled Seed Heads , which was chosen from amongst the entries submitted for this year's Exhibition of Children's Art organized by the Royal Drawing Society. Miss Webb, sixteen years of age, is a pupil of Holy Trinity Convent, Kidderminster. A pupil from the same school won this award last year.

The John Stock Trust is a fund instituted in 1781 which provides for the promotion of drawing, sculpture and architecture. It commemorates a former Painter to the King's Dockyards.

The selection was made on behalf of the Society by Mr. A. E. Halliwell, Head of the Industrial Design Department of the Central School of Art and Design, acting with Mr. R. R. Tomlinson, President of the Royal Drawing Society. The exhibition, including this picture, is on view at the Guildhall Art Gallery daily (except Sundays) until 4th May, from 10 a.m. until 4.30 p.m.

THE NEW DECIMAL COINAGE Re-coinage has not only a domestic impact, but significantly affects a country's

image overseas. This being so, it is supremely well worth while to consider the

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MAY 1968 GENERAL NOTES

[Crown copyright reserved

climate in which the design of our decimal coinage has evolved. Arguments for and against such a currency have been longer aired and more widely followed than problems of its design and production. Lord Halsbury's Committee made it clear in Cmnd. 2145 of September 1963 that appropriate symbolism within the tiny confines of a coin was a matter for the Royal Mint's Advisory Committee, as it had been for every re-coinage since 1922. The named composition of such a body will normally provide at least some clues to the course of its deliberations, which in this country wisely proceed in camera , in marked contrast to the somewhat painful progress of more public competitions overseas.

Pictures of the United Kingdom's decimal coinage issues were released to the press in February of this year, and specimen sets of coin are to be available immediately. Mr. Arnold Machin' s effigy of Her Majesty The Queen, already in use for several of her self-governing dominions within the Commonwealth, was a natural and predictable choice, sealed by the personal approval of the Advisory Committee's own president, H.R.H. Prince Philip. In welcoming the new effigy, honour is due to the late Mary Gillick's fine earlier rendering, now to yield in the succession of obverse portraiture.

From the open competition of 1966, nearly one thousand reverse designs were received by the Royal Mint's Deputy Master. The eight distinct reverses of half- crown, florin, English shilling, Scottish shilling, sixpence, threepence, one penny and half-penny - the farthing having been demonitized and the crown in limited issue - are to give place to a sequence of only five denominations initially. Ten, five, and two new pence, one penny and one half new penny, with the addition of a unit of fifty new pence yet to be finalized in form at the time of writing this note.

Those who work in contact with industry will appreciate that product design is inevitably for a future use, very frequently months, even years, distant. Re-coinage is no exception, the new issue of some nine thousand million pieces being nothing less than an engineering and industrial operation of the first magnitude, demanding

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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS MAY 1 968 teamwork and the taking into use of increasingly refined methods of production, with in this case a staged move out of London to a new site into the bargain.

As to subject matter for the reverses of a coinage, the contours of nuclear power stations and radio telescopes, even Concordes, are apt to wear a little thin in the light of further technological developments long before the end of a coinage's useful life, and are thus better suited to the more ephemeral nature of postage stamps. For those who would envisage a range of natural fauna or flora - exclusively indigenous, relatively ageless, and, of course, politically innocuous - alas ! we are not so fortunate as, for example, New Zealand or Australia in the geographical isolation of species. The Crown's prerogative attaches to both sides of the coin of the realm, and there remains the splendid repertory company of royal heraldic creatures. Each reign since at least the thirteenth century has impressed its own fashions upon these royal insignia, and some may feel this to have been a further occasion for bringing them up to date. However, the Advisory Committee would seem to have demurred, and would certainly not be alone in finding it difficult to assess a true contemporary idiom amidst unprecedented winds of change. A Stuart, or Hanoverian, inspired solution avoids the certainty of being thought tomorrow merely old fashioned, and reaches back instead towards the already traditional. To draw upon the past is perfectly legitimate. During the first half of this century the engraver George Kruger Gray chose as his own sources of inspiration for earlier Windsor coinages the quintessence of English medieval craftsmanship, adding an Italianate twist from his own tastes and training. There have been other instances of past numismatic nuances being harnessed to contemporary use, each dependent for its success upon a distinctive contribution from the artist concerned. The present task has been carried through effectively and with scrupulous modelling by Mr. Christopher Ironside, sculptor and medallist, and, since it is the work of one person throughout, our coinage now regains a styled consistency overall - in visual harmony, one may add, with Mr. Machin' s obverse.

Regrets have been expressed over the apparent retirement of Britannia. An official anxiety was that she might sit ill upon a large numeral, but in the event the numerals proved to be not so very large after all and could perhaps have appeared against the drapery without too much ado. But Britannia, like Pistrucci's St. George of pensionable age, has perhaps sustained her pose for long enough, and might well be glad to end it, even to stand up for a while. In the reverse of the two new penny piece there is to be found a happy gesture towards the Principality of Wales, and though, sadly, Ulster is unrepresented in the scheme of things, Scotland can hardly be disappointed on that score.

While an Advisory Committee may recommend and a Treasury approve, there can never be the hope of pleasing everybody. As certainly, however, the Royal Mint's operative department will be enhancing an enviable reputation for fine craftsmanship in this exacting technical field. Fears that the potentiality for coinage design is weakened through the use of modern die-making and striking machinery are of course quite groundless, since the artist more than any other in the team will be sensitive to the essentially mechanical methods by which a coinage of such a size is possible at all. Users, who are to become acquainted with the new money remarkably soon, should remember that to satisfy an Advisory Committee with vigorous, legible and appropriate designs, and translate these into the form of models mechanically acceptable to the reducing machine and striking press, is a most exacting challenge and one which can scarcely be appreciated without some experience of the formidable problems posed. In addition to the processes for bringing the whole operation to this point, visual distinguishability, the contribution of patina, the effects of usage wear upon detail, and other factors not immediately apparent, must play their part. So far, only the official pictures have been released, and with the exception of Arnold Machin' s portrait of Her Majesty, these show all

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reverses illuminated as it were by footlights, from underneath, neither as the artist usually works, nor as anyone examining the coins would normally see them. On all counts therefore we must await circulation for any fair assessment.

WILLIAM GARDNER

STUDIES IN THE SOCIETY'S ARCHIVES, LXVII

The Society of Arts and Some International Aspects of the Great Exhibition of 1851 (i)

It is generally well known that the Society of Arts had the main share in proposing and initiating the 'Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations' in 1851, and in entering into preliminary negotiations with foreign countries.1 But it is less well appreciated that after the issue of the Royal Commission on 3rd January 1850 a good deal of the subsequent development and winding-up of this first universal and international exhibition of our times remained in the hands of the Society despite the awkward situation created by that authority, which now seemed to leave everything to itself and nothing to the Society. The 'Lectures on the Results of the Great Exhibition of 1851',2 held at the Society and 'given by eminent men on the probable influence of the Great Exhibition on the various branches of Art, Manufactures and Commerce',3 are among the most illuminating documents of the history of the Great Exhibition.

A substantial part of the work of the Society of Arts during and after the period of the Great Exhibition was devoted to maintaining relations with participating foreign countries and to international and colonial projects originating from the Exhibition which were advocated and supported by members of the Society. Though the Society's Secretary John Scott Russell (1845-50) took the leading part in the preliminary stages of the Exhibition and was afterwards nominated one of the Secretaries of the Royal Commission, it is Henry Cole to whom much credit must be given for re-organizing the exhibitions of manufactures and art at the Society after 1846 and who, as Chairman of the Council in 1851 and 1852, became the dominant figure in the Exhibition period.

At the suggestion of Prince Albert,4 Président of both the Society of Arts and the Royal Commission, the Council of the Society decided in March 1851 to elect all members of the foreign central commissions as honorary corresponding members of the Society, at the same time offering them its rooms for meetings and social gatherings.5 The letters of acknowledgement presented by the foreign Commissioners,6 many of whom belonged to their own leading national scientific, technological and educational institutions, demonstrate the general influence exercised by the Great Exhibition on international co-operation in specific fields. The idea of international co-operation had found a faithful servant in Henry Cole, who in February 1852 moved that a 'Foreign Corresponding Committee' be set up and the status of the foreign honorary members be changed into that of ordinary corresponding members.7 By turning to account the friendly intercourse with the foreign Commissioners during the Exhibition this Committee was to effect, according to Cole, not merely 'an interchange of compliments and good wishes, but a practical and working exchange of information and experience on all subjects of mutual interest'.8 'It is considered', the resolution of the Council states, 'that at the present moment when the various Countries of Europe are quite wearied with the Conflicts of opposing Political Systems, many active and thinking Men may be glad of seizing upon a perfectly neutral field of action like that under consideration, when it is shown to them how wide may be its extent and how beneficial its objects to all concerned.'9

One of the principal objects with which the Society concerned itself in the first two or three years following the Great Exhibition was the question of a uniform

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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS MAY 1 968

Detail from Henry C. Selous ' painting , 'The Opening of the Great Exhibition . . . May ist 1851'. The central group includes The Queen , Prince Albert , and other members of the English , and Prussian , Royal Families . The standing figures shown whole-length in the left foreground are (I. to r.) S. M. Peto , ¿SVr William Cubitt, Earl Granville and Henry Cole ; those in the right foreground {whole lengthy I. to r.) the Chinaman , Нее Sing ( present by a delightful mistake ), the American Ambassador , the French Commissioner and the Austrian Commissioner. (Reproduced by permission of the Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum)

international postage system. The project of an 'Ocean Penny Postage' had long been cherished by free-traders and members of the English and American peace movements. By reducing the comparatively high rates of overseas postage and replacing them with a general and uniform system of charges they wanted to increase the commercial and political relations not only between Great Britain, the U.S.A. and the Colonies but also among all trading countries of the world. Most of these plans were modelled on Sir Rowland Hill's postal reform of 1840, which had been another of the causes supported by Henry Cole.10

As early as June 1851 the Council of the Society resolved to offer its rooms for the meetings of a 'Committee for Endeavouring to obtain a low uniform international rate of Postage on All Ship Letters'.11 In November, after the close of the Great

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Exhibition, Henry Cole, as Chairman of the Council, informed the Society of the organization of an association which was to be officially known as the 'Association to Promote a Cheap and Uniform System of Colonial and International Postage'.12 The majority of its members13 had been connected with the Great Exhibition in one way or another, the foreign representatives as acting commissioners, chairmen or members of their respective central commissions, e.g. Adam Ritter von Burg (Austria), Charles Dupin (France), Georg Wilhelm von Viebahn (German Customs Union) and Manuel de Ysasi (Spain). Among the English contingent were Colonel William Reid, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Royal Commission ; the chemist, Dr. Lyon Playfair; Milner Gibson, m.p. ; Henry Cole and Charles Wentworth Dilke of the Society of Arts. President of the Association was Earl Granville, who had been the right hand of Prince Albert in the organization of the Great Exhibition and afterwards for a short time succeeded Lord Palmerston as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, an office which he subsequently held in 1870-4 and 1880-5. Manuel de Ysasi, acting as Honorary Secretary, was commissioned to visit the main capitals of Europe to explain to the foreign governments the aims and purposes of the 'International and Colonial Postage Association' as it was forthwith called. In a letter from St. Petersburg on 2nd December 1852 he reported on a highly satisfactory interview with the Russian Postmaster- General, Count Adlerberg, who had expressed his desire 'to become acquainted with the details of the proposed plan' but had made his assent dependent on the 'concurrence' of the other European powers and their willingness to 'place themselves in direct and official communication with the Imperial Government'.14

It was not until August 1854 that Manuel de Ysasi sent a final report to the Council of the Association,15 giving an account of the interviews he had had with ministers and government officials in Russia, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Rome, Tuscany, Sardinia and Tunis, all of whom had expressed their approval of the aims of the International and Colonial Postage Association. De Ysasi now urged the holding of a 'Postal Congress' which should take place during the forthcoming international exhibition in Paris in 1855 and which had already gained the consent of the governments of Spain, Belgium and several states of the United States of America. The 'Foreign Governments which have not yet sent in their adhesion' were to be invited by a circular of the Association. Finally a letter should be sent to the Emperor Napoleon III, on whom, in the words of de Ysasi, 'depends almost entirely the realization of the objects of this Association', requesting his help and assistance in the transaction of the Congress.

Although the negotiations with European countries failed to produce any substantial results,16 the endeavours of the Postage Association and the Society of Arts to effect an alteration of the colonial postage system proved at least partially successful. At an Extraordinary Meeting of the Society on 8th February 1853 a paper was read by the Corresponding Secretary of the Association, Mr. G. W. Yapp, on 'The Proposed Reforms suggested by the Colonial and International Postage Association',17 and a resolution was unanimously adopted calling for the introduction of a Colonial Penny Postage 'in order to promote the commerce, education, freedom of communication, and friendly relations between the Colonies and the mother country'.18 On 5th March 1853 a 'numerous and influential' deputation of the Council of the Association and its City Committee waited upon the British Postmaster- General, Lord Canning, who agreed to their demand to bring about a change and reduction of the colonial postage charges.19 His decision, however, to introduce a general and uniform rate of 6d. for all letters between the United Kingdom and the Colonies did not meet with the approval of the Association. They regarded the new rate, especially the ocean rate of 4 d., as too high and looked upon it as an unjustified form of taxation and 'entirely inconsistent with the principles upon which the uniform rate of Penny-postage was established'.20 The opposition to

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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS MAY 1 968 the policy of the Postmaster- General, particularly on economic and commercial grounds, was widespread. On 16th April 1853 another deputation called on the Prime Minister himself, the Earl of Aberdeen.21 Besides the members of the Council of the Association, its local honorary secretaries and the City Committee, it included the deputies of some of the most important and influential Chambers of Commerce22 and more than forty Members of Parliament. The deputation made every effort to point out the principles of free trade, to stress the importance of the Colonial Empire, and to emphasize the universal benefits resulting from the diffusion of commerce and civilization. Even though in the end it was unable to effect any change in the rates set up by the Postmaster- General, the activities of the International and Colonial Postage Association serve to illustrate the far-reaching influence of the Great Exhibition, which gave birth to a number of 'international' ideas and projects.

(To be continued) utz н altern* *Mr. Haltern is junior lecturer in the History Department of the University of Münster

in Germany and is completing a thesis on the Great Exhibition of 1851. i. D. Hudson and K. W. Luckhurst, The Royal Society of Arts, 17 54-19 54 (London,

1954), pp. 187-205; K. W. Luckhurst, The Great Exhibition of 1851 (London, 1951). 2. Lectures on the Results of the Great Exhibition of 1851 , delivered before the Society of

Arts , Manufactures and Commerce , at the suggestion of H.R.H. Prince Albert , President of the Society (2 vols., London, 1852-3).

3. R.S.A. Minutes of Council (hereafter Mm. Council), 20th Oct. 1851, Vol. Ill, pp. 68f. 4. Col. Grey to Henry Cole, 24th March 1851 (Victoria & Albert Museum: Cole

Correspondence, Box I, quoted by courtesy of Mrs. Shirley Bury of the Victoria & Albert Museum).

5. Min. Council, 27th March 1851, Vol. Ill, p. 28. On 2nd April 1851 the Council suggested an international 'conversazione' every Wednesday evening; ibid., pp. 2of., 33.

6. R.S.A. General Committee Papers, 51 /2b. For a list of the foreign honorary corresponding members and corresponding societies see: Min. Council, 28th Jan. 1852, Vol. Ill, pp. 1 1 of«

7. Ibid., 18th Feb. 1852, Vol. Ill, pp. 142ÎÏ. 8. Journal , Vol. I (1853), p. 2. 9. Min. Council, 1 8th Feb. 1852, Vol. Ill, p. 144. In this the Society followed the

'liberal motives' of its early history, which 'took the form of an early acceptance of the international character of scientific inquiry, an interest in novelty for its own sake and a championing of humanitarian reforms'. D. G. C. Allan, 'Notions of Economic Policy Expressed by The Society's Correspondents and in its Publications, 1754-1847', (iii), Journal , Vol. CVII (1959), p. 217.

For an example of how foreign nations responded to the initiative of the Society see the letter of Charles F. Stansbury, American acting-Commissioner at the Great Exhibition, to the Secretary of the Society of Arts; Washington, 8th July 1852. Journal , Vol. I (1853), pp. 5ff.

10. H. Cole, Fifty Years of Public Work (London, 1884), Vol. I, pp. 34-69; II, pp. 95-142. и. Min. Council, 25th June 1851, Vol. III, p. 41. 12. Ibid., 17th Nov. 1851, Vol. Ill, pp. 78f. 13. Ibid., p. 80. 14. Journal , Vol. I (1853), pp. 89t. iK. Ibid., Vol. II (1854), PP. 6861. 16. It seems that until the foundation of the 'Universal Postal Union' in 1874 only

bilateral conventions were concluded; e.g., the Austro-German Postal Union of 1850 or the agreement between the British and French Governments in 1855 which reduced the postage rate of letters between both countries to 4 d. Ibid., Vol. Ill (1855). PP- 101. 151.

17. Ibid., Vol. I (1853), pp. 133-5. In I°5I Yapp had been responsible for the compiling of the Exhibition Catalogue. Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue of the Great Exhibition (1851), Vol. I, p. 44.

18. Journal , Vol. I (1853), pp. 135L 19. Ibid., pp. i86f. 20. Ibid., pp. 206. 21. Ibid., pp. 257-9. 22. Blackburn, Bradford, Bristol, Edinburgh, Hull, Manchester, Newcastle. As early as

17th Nov. 1852 the Council of the International Postage Association had informed the representatives of various Chambers of Commerce attending a conference in London of the aims and proceedings of the Association. Journal, Vol. I (1853), pp. 4f.

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