2-995-856 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ragged School Festival at Muswell-Hill, 1860. 'This festival, originated with the view of affording a holiday to the numerous children belonging to the various ragged schools of the metropolis [ie London]...was celebrated...on the Tottenham-wood Estate...By twelve o'clock 7420 children had assembled on the grounds, where they quickly engaged in the sports provided for them. They were accompanied by the bands of the Coldstream Guards, the Victoria Rifles, and the fife and drum bands of the East London and Whitechapel Shoeblack Brigades. Mr. John Masterman, banker, the Messrs. Rhodes, late proprietors of the estate, and the leading gentry and clergy of the vicinity, honoured the festivities with their presence. In the course of the day the entertainment was varied by the performance of a selection of popular music by the Coldstream Guards and Victoria Rifle bands, together with an appropriate selection of vocal music by the Vocal Association of England. Notwithstanding the somewhat unpropitious state of the weather, with the exception of a slight hitch in the commissariat department, the festival answered the object intended by the benevolent promoters. More than 10,000 visitors were admitted to the grounds in the course of the day'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.