1-629-906 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ballymaclinton, Irish village, Franco-British Exhibition, London, 1908. The Franco-British Exhibition of 1908 celebrated the Entente Cordiale which had been signed by the United Kingdom and France in 1904. The fair was the largest exhibition of its kind in Britain, and the first international exhibition co-organised and sponsored by two countries. The most popular attractions at the exhibition were the two so-called colonial villages, an Irish village and a Senegalese village, which were designed to communicate the success of colonial imposition. The Irish village (Ballymaclinton) was inhabited by 150 colleens (Irish girls) who demonstrated various forms of domestic industry, as well as displays of manufacturing and even an art gallery. From Penrose's Pictorial Annual 1908-1909, An Illustrated Review of the Graphic Arts, volume 14, edited by William Gamble and published by AW Penrose (London, 1908-1909).