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Greater Britain Exhibition of 1899

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Greater Britain Exhibition of 1899

Held at Earl’s Court in West Brompton and West Kensington under Director-General Imre Kiralfy, the Greater Britain Exhibition opened on 8 May 1899 and ran through at least late August. Its stated purpose was to celebrate the commercial and imperial reach of Britain’s colonies, with displays representing Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, Hong Kong, and other possessions. Visitors encountered an eclectic mix of attractions: colonial and Rhodesian ore-crushing mills, a working gold mine, an Egyptian street populated by natives, a Canadian water chute, a gravity railway, a bioscope, swan boats, and illuminated gardens.

The exhibition’s most theatrical draw was “Savage South Africa“ staged twice daily in the Empress Theatre by impresario Fillis. It depicted scenes from the recent Matabele wars using some 300 native performers — Matabele, Swazis, Basutos, Hottentots, and Malay drivers — along with horses, zebras, wildebeest, lions, leopards, and elephants. The climax featured a stagecoach plunging over a precipice into a torrent. One correspondent who visited described the spectacle approvingly, noting that audiences numbered in the hundreds and that the building could be emptied in minutes through its many exits. Alongside these entertainments were infant incubators — listed matter-of-factly in advertisements alongside the bicycle polo team, gold mine, and rifle range as visitor attractions.

The incubator display was operated by the “Lion Incubator Company” (referred to as “Lion Infant Incubator Company” in some sources), managed by a Mr. Seymour Bayley. By the company’s own admission, three infants died in the incubators during the course of the exhibition. One of these deaths became the subject of a formal inquest.

Philip Wolman, aged eleven weeks, was one of triplets born to Rachel and her husband, a tailor’s presser of 52 Hare Street, Bethnal Green. After the birth was reported in the papers, the Lion Incubator Company approached the family and, after considerable persuasion, obtained permission on 22 June to take the two boys to the Earl’s Court exhibition. Three weeks later, the mother was so dissatisfied with how the children were being treated that she wished to remove them, but the father alleged the company delayed his doing so. When the children were finally retrieved, witnesses described them as dirty, ill, and looking as though they had been starved; a neighbor confirmed they were “nothing but skin and bone.”

Philip died shortly after the family’s return. At the inquest held at Bethnal Green, Dr. Percy Goodman of Brick Lane testified that death was caused by marasmus (severe malnutrition) and inflammation of the bowels. He acknowledged the incubator’s unsuitability may have weakened the child generally, though he could not attribute the immediate cause of death directly to the incubator treatment — and notably, the child had not been clean when he first saw him at home either.

Bayley, for his part, disputed the family’s account entirely, claiming the children had received thorough nursing care and regular medical examination by Dr. Maitland Coffin, and that the father’s dissatisfaction was purely financial — the father had apparently been told that £4 per week was sometimes paid to families and had demanded money, threatening to “show the company up in the papers” when refused.

The jury returned a verdict of natural death and attached no blame to the incubator company. An inspector under the Infant Life Protection Act confirmed no prior complaints had been lodged against the institution.

Taken together, press stories reveal an exhibition that packaged empire, spectacle, and human novelty into a single commercial entertainment — one where African warriors, exotic animals, and premature infants occupied adjacent roles as objects of public curiosity. The Wolman inquest, with its three acknowledged deaths in three and a half months, suggests the incubator concession operated with minimal oversight. The jury’s exoneration left unanswered the question of whether families of modest means, recruited through newspaper birth announcements, were in any meaningful position to refuse the company’s “considerable persuasion.

The management of this incubator exhibit does not seem typical of Lion’s exhibits at expositions, which usually nurtured premature infants and were medically credible. However, an incidental mention of an encounter with Alexandre Lion at the Hospice des Enfants-Assistés in Brussels April 1899 states that he was on his way from Paris to London, which sounds like a trip to prepare for the opening of this London exhibition. Lion also included London in the list of cities where he had exhibited in many press accounts over the following years. The “Lion Incubator Company” returned for the Women’s Exhibition at Earl’s Court in 1900, operating under his French brand “Couveuses d’Enfants,” but I do not find references to that company in the UK after 1900.

Sources
  • The Paddington Times, 19 May 1899 — General description of the Greater Britain Exhibition, listing attractions including the “Savage South Africa” spectacle, infant incubators, Egyptian street, Canadian water chute, and other features.
  • The Hampshire Post, 4 August 1899 — Firsthand visitor account of a day at the exhibition, describing the journey from Portsmouth, the Chute, the colonial displays, the Empress Theatre’s “Savage South Africa” performance, and various sideshows.
  • The Daily Telegraph, 23 August 1899 — Advertisement for the Greater Britain Exhibition under Director-General Imre Kiralfy, and for “Savage South Africa” at the Empress Theatre, detailing performers, animals, and twice-daily showtimes.
  • The Star, 18 August 1899 — Inquest report headlined “Incubator Baby’s Death,” covering testimony from Rachel Wolman, Dr. Percy Goodman, and Seymour Bayley, and recording the jury’s verdict of natural death with no blame attached to the incubator company.
  • Lancashire Daily Post, 18 August 1899 — Inquest report headlined “An Echo of Earl’s Court: Baby Incubator Not to Blame,” summarizing testimony and the jury’s verdict of natural death.
  • Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, 20 August 1899 — Inquest report headlined “An Incubated Baby’s Death,” providing the most detailed account of testimony from Rachel Wolman, Dr. Percy Goodman, Seymour Bayley, and the inspector under the Infant Life Protection Act.
  • Exhibition Study Group (2004) — Historical overview of Earl’s Court exhibitions 1887–1914, providing institutional context on J. R. Whittey, the founding of London Exhibitions Limited, Kiralfy’s tenure, and the successive themed exhibitions leading up to and following 1899.
  • de Waleffe, Maurice. “La Vie à Bruxelles.” L’Indépendance Belge, 9 April 1899.
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Last Updated on 10/03/26