3-046-950 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Prince Arthur laying the foundation-stone of the new Exchange Buildings at Leeds, 1872. '...his Royal Highness...arrived from Harewood House at noon, with the Earl of Harewood, Lord Folkestone, and Sir Howard Elphinstone. On the inclosed site of the projected building was a platform, where the directors of the Leeds Exchange Company - Mr. C. Nussey, chairman, Mr. J. Hirst, vice-chairman, and others - stood ready to meet the Prince, with a company of spectators, among whom were the Burmese Ambassadors, in European dress. A chair of state, decorated in blue and gold, was placed for his Royal Highness. Mr. Nussey read an address, in which the manufacturing and commercial industries of Leeds were briefly described, and the progress of the town, within the present century, from a population of 54,000 to more than a quarter of a million...Prince Arthur replied to the directors' address, complimenting the town upon its thriving trade and wealth, as well as its charitable and useful institutions. He then took from Mr. Nussey the ornamental silver-gilt trowel and ivory mallet, with which he performed the customary rites of architectural benediction, and the stone was declared to be well and truly laid'. From "Illustrated London News", 1872.