3-021-117 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Drinking-fountain in Hyde Park, [London], opened on Saturday last, 1868. '...the Duke of Cambridge, as Ranger of Hyde Park, took part in the inauguration of a new drinking-fountain, erected at the expense of the Maharajah of Vizianagram, K.C.S.I., a member of the Legislative Council of India, and under the auspices of the Metropolitan Drinking-Fountains Association...It is built of the finest Bath stone; the bowls are of polished red Aberdeen granite; and the columns blue Pennant stone...It was designed by Mr. Robert Keirle...There are four bowls and water-jets, and under each bowl is a galvanised iron grating in the landing, having communication with the drain to carry off spilt water...There is a trough for dogs under the bowl on the north side...Mr. Gurney stated that ten years ago there was not a drinking-fountain in London, and now the association had 111 in the metropolis, besides many in provincial towns. The Duke of Cambridge, in accepting the gift of the fountain, expressed his approval of the movement as one which tended to abate the vice of drunkenness...The Duke then took a draught of water from the fountain, and declared it open for public use'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868.