The Royal Pavilion, Brighton – A memory shattered as the truth is learned!

The Royal Pavilion, Brighton
Authors Own Photo

As I’ve probably mentioned before when writing this blog, my family history is something I’ve done a lot of research into and is an ongoing project for me. And one of the things that has really developed out of that work is the connection I feel to the city of Brighton. It’s where my Dad grew up and where his family have lived for generations; where as a child I spent time visiting family and somewhere, over the years, I’ve heard a lot. But in actual fact I haven’t spent a lot of time in the city. I visited the church where my grandparents were married and viewed the register, and had my first archive experience there, but what I know is largely second hand.

So a couple of weekends ago, as part of a trip to visit family, my Dad and I made a stop at Brighton Pavilion, for it had been on my “wish list” to revisit for a while. I had been before, but many moons ago and I couldn’t remember that much about it, asides from it being Indian in influence, having connections with the Indian Army during the WW1 and, I thought, had been a much loved summer residence of Queen Victoria. Like St Paul’s it’s a building I am just fascinated by and fondly remember, how around Christmas time, we’d ask that Dad drive back through the city, rather than over the hills, so that we could see the city’s Christmas lights and the Pavilion – it was majestic and exotic, especially when lit at night. Even now, something about it just captures my imagination and as we were heading down anyway, I asked if we could make a pit stop and revisit.

The thing is, the visit shattered all the memories I had – especially learning that Queen Victoria had sold it as she didn’t really like it, owing to the lack of privacy it availed and the fact it wasn’t large enough to house her growing family. I mean how did I get it that wrong? I can only think I had confused it with Osbourne House, but who knows! And, far from being Indian in influence, the inside is completely Oriental and its history is more centred on George IV and to an extent, William IV, than it is on Queen Vic. In that sense, the visit was incredibly worthwhile for it corrected those misunderstandings I had and allowed me to reconnect with a building that’s history fascinates me. 

So what did I make of it? Well, I was really impressed by the audio guide that is available in multiple languages for all visitors and they were really modern and easy to use. The information was clear, informative and in bite sized chunks which could be expanded upon by choosing further options. In actual fact, I’m not normally a fan of audio guides, I would rather make my own way around and read the information panels, but on this occasion welcomed the additional device, and actually without it I would have struggled to learn anything - the audio guide being the main way in which the historical narrative is told to visitors.

I just love this building!

At first, I wasn’t sure if I was a fan of this approach, but having spent some time thinking about it, I reached the conclusion that it is perhaps the best option the Royal Pavilion could offer its visitors. Let me explain my train of thought. What I was particularly struck by during our visit was how many of the artefacts and items on display are actually on loan from various collections or have been donated to the Pavilion by patrons. There are few original fixtures on display and as I learnt that, I have to admit it did lose some of its wow factor for me.  
It is still an impressive building with an interesting history, but that atmosphere is evoked more by the sense of place than what it contains. It made me think of Avebury Manor actually, another site where the place itself has significance, and the items, although not original, are given meaning because of the power that sense of place creates. Had I not been informed by reading the guidebook that these items had been donated, I wouldn’t have known any different; they fit in and they recreate the image of what you’d expect it to look like. So I don’t know why knowing of the origin of items changes that, it just did for me.

So the fact that the information is given through the audio guide, which can talk specifically about the building, its occupants and what it would have been like, gives you the history the Pavilion, rather than of the objects which have alternate origins. If the more mainstream approach of  using object labels and the like had been adopted, I think the history the Pavilion would have been lost against the history of individual items and not been what visitors walked away having learnt about. 

There is also a fair bit of renovation underway, The Saloon in particular. The curatorial team have gone to some lengths to explain this and have included a display which informs visitors about aspects of the process. But again, when reading the Guidebook, I was surprised to learn that this room has been under renovation since 2009. That’s six years and it is still a way off being completed. And this comes after other periods of serious renovation. For example an arson attack in 1975 destroyed much of the music room which then underwent a huge restoration effort, only then, when near completion, to suffer at the hands of the Great Storm of 1987, which saw stone work fall through the roof and require a repeat of the process.

Majestic!

So much time and care has clearly been put into the Pavilion and its restoration has clearly been a labour of love. I heard it described as “the heart of the city”, and the fact that such huge efforts have been made to restore it to its current state is amazing. I think for a community to be so attached to such a landmark is really admirable in this day and age – it’s a piece of history really cared about by the people of Brighton, the precedent for which began when the city bought the Pavilion from Queen Victoria in 1850 for the sum of £50,000.

What I also really found interesting was the information about the Pavilion’s use as the Indian Military hospital during WW1 and couldn’t help but pick up the guide on it. I think I’ve posted a blog about the Chattri before (another Brighton landmark) and it’s all connected – the Chattri being the memorial unveiled in 1921 by the Prince of Wales, to all Indian soldiers who died in Brighton. This aspect of the Pavilion’s history is one I also find interesting because of a family story that claims our Great Great Granddad West, a concertina player, entertained the Indian soldiers when it was Military Hospital. Now how true that is I have no idea, but it has sparked and sustained my interest in the Pavilion over the years.

I am really glad we took the opportunity to revisit the Pavilion but it does go to show how you take different things away from places when you revisit and that there is much more to be learnt that can be done in a single trip. It was only last month that I admitted my apathy to the Imperial War Museum, but perhaps it’s because I’ve been comparatively recently and not enough time has passed to allow me to visit and connect with it again. In the case of the Pavilion, this is certainly what happened. I had these memories of it from childhood which were completely incorrect but they had caused me to remember it fondly and encouraged me to visit again, where this time I learned more accurate information about the Pavilion and how it fits into history.

There are other places on my wish list I hope to revisit for similar reasons; nostalgia, curiosity and seeking blog inspiration among them! I just wonder, can childhood memory stand the test of time, or will it fall short, as it did here?

Conducting research, with all the challenges and complexities that can entail.

Given that I claim to have made the ‘animal turn’ and specialise in the history of the exotic animal trade during modern British history, I do seem to blog relatively little about it. I couldn’t tell you why that is particularly; I suppose I just use my blog as a way to pen other thoughts, away from the main body of my research. However, in preparing a paper for a conference I’ve been asked to speak at this week, I’ve been revisiting my favourite research topic, Charles Jamrach and his animal trading business, and began formulating ideas for a blog.

Previously, when researching my dissertations, I think it’s safe to say I was caught up with the pressure of deadlines and reading with a particular purpose in mind. I knew what I was looking for, or more specifically what I wasn’t looking for from my sources and I just powered through the material. I did get what I needed, but as so often happen in situations like this, I can’t say I really took everything in.

However, it’s been different this time around and I have really read and engaged with  the articles I’ve been examining and if truth be told, have actually found it both quite difficult and infuriating. When you’re dealing with a subject you care about and are confronted with information that is difficult to digest, it’s hard to put into context what you are reading. For example, in one account an author commented on how 80% of a shipment of animals died before making it to their destination – and we’re not talking 10-20 animals or birds, we’re talking hundreds if not thousands. It was an indulgent and exploitative trade driven by imperialism that saw animal dealers, hunters and collectors, mine the earth’s surface for animals to add to their collections, with no real understanding of the long term implications. As one article described, ‘Africa was Jamrach’s nursery’.

It’s also hard to read how a dealer might have received a shipment of animals, the sum of which now equates to that of the surviving population which is now fighting impending extinction. The root of many conservation issues originate in this period and being someone who is aware and concerned about those issues, it was quite thought provoking research. As a historian you have to try and remain objective, weighing up the evidence to draw reasoned and well-argued conclusions, but as a citizen concerned with environmental issues, it was pretty hard stuff and I have to admit to having really struggled to remain impartial on this occasion. I understand that it was of its time, but with a modern mind set, it’s pretty hard to justify.

I think my feelings were also further exacerbated by a recent report on how the bill to ban the use of wild animals in circuses in the UK has been blocked by Tory backbenchers for the final time. Even more frustratingly- we’re not talking a majority. No. Three individuals have repeatedly blocked this going through, one claiming that it’s a “Great British institution…[that] deserves to be defended against the propaganda and exaggerations”. (1) I’m sorry, but I really am of the thought that the time for wild animals to be used as entertainment in a circus setting is over. I struggle to justify the existence of zoos to myself, let alone circuses that have little if anything to do with conservation and the preservation of species. Perhaps it was once the case that this was true, but it is now an outdated practice and I’m not the only one to share this view.

There was a time not that long ago, in early in the twentieth century, when the animal trade supplying circuses and menageries entered a decline because it was replaced by the entertainment that films could provide. And you’d think to some degree this would have continued – what with the potential for HD and new filming techniques to reform the way in which we view animals and allow us to observe them in their natural habitats, in a more unobtrusive way. Is there really a need to train animals for our entertainment? And what is it that still compels us as a society to be drawn to a circus to watch animals perform? I just don’t get it.

Coincidentally, this report came after another which announced that the largest circus provider in America, The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, declared it would phase out the use of elephants in its shows, amidst growing public sentiment against it. You’d think wouldn’t you, that with such emphasis placed on conservation and the like, that this would have stopped years ago but there are so many more instances like this one where animals are kept and used for entertainment. It makes me shudder. I naively thought when first embarking on this project 3 years ago now, that the commercial animal trade was long gone. How wrong was I?!

Our relationship with animals is such a complex one and in this blog I’ve really just written a gut reaction to this news. It’s not well balanced or researched but highlights just some of the issues I engage with when doing my research. There are so many layers to a topic like this; you have to engage with the history, the legality, the ethics….. the list goes on. Yet, however much I am at times horrified by what I read, I am also fascinated and discovering the history of the exotic animal trade has completely changed the way in which I view the British Empire and its legacy.

(1)    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ban-on-wild-animals-in-circus-blocked-by-tory-backbenchers-10092779.html

(2)    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11453278/American-circus-will-end-elephant-acts-in-response-to-public-criticism.html