| Main Performers | Mr Stevenson Hoyte - organ,
Mr Charles Bertram - prestidigitateur,
Miss Helen Murphy,
Miss Burt,
Miss Florence Wade,
Miss Levy,
Miss C Levy - palmistry,
Miss Sydney,
Demon Dog - fortune telling,
Mr H S Mendelssohn - photographer,
Prof. Hilton - illusions |
| Secondary Performers | The Countess Romney
Lady Camoys
Lady Florence Marsham,
Hon. Mrs Colvile,
Lady Brassey,
Jane the Lady Churchill,
The Hon. Lady Filmer,
The Lady Kilmark,
Hon. Mrs E Dudley,
Lady Florence Bourke,
Lady Sybil Beauclerk,
The Misses Brassey (three),
Hon. Muriel Brassey,
Lady Colbrooke,
Hon. Evelyn Paget,
Lady Hothfield,
Hon. Miss Steed,
Madame Cellini,
The Misses Bowen-Cooke,
The Misses Baumbach,
The Misses Brunton,
Miss Kate Grant,
Miss Kate Young,
The Lord Burghersh,
Mr A Coventry,
Theresa, Countess of Shrewsbury,
Mrs Beer,
Miss Buckley,
Lord Euston,
Lord Frederick Fitzgerald,
The Lady Isabella Keane,
Mrs Francis Baring,
Mrs Brooman-White,
Mrs Claude Hay,
Mrs Douglas,
Miss Schuster,
Hon. Reginald Brougham,
Major Douglas,
Mr A Ferguson,
Mr Greenfield,
The Lady Keene,
The Lady Winifred Cary Evans,
The Lady Sinclair,
The Hon. Ada St. Clair,
The Hon. Adeline Loftus,
Miss Cary Evans,
Sir Duncan Campbell,
Colonel Tanner,
Mr De La Fountaine,
Mr Scholey,
Hon. Mrs York-Bevan,
Hon. G Borthwick,
Hamilton Gabliff Esq.
Lady Garvegh,
Miss Fleetwood Wilson,
The Duchess of St. Albans,
The Baroness Burdett-Coutts,
Baroness de Bretton,
Miss Wilson,
Miss Treffry,
Mrs S Chamier,
Mrs S'Arcy de Ferrars,
Mrs Adrian Chamier,
Miss Caulfield Browne,
Miss Eyre,
Miss Hamilton McMahon,
Miss Madeline Stratton,
General Chamier,
Mr Hungerford Caulfield Browne,
Miss Zmbosky,
Mrs Sydney Hylton Jolliffe,
Mrs Tibbitts,
Mrs Forbes Winslow,
Mrs Honeyman Browne,
Mrs Mercer,
Mrs Waddy,
The Misses Jessett,
Miss Dowell,
Mrs Edward Crispe,
Miss Crispe,
Miss Winifred Crispe,
Miss Helen Von Schweitzer,
Miss Edith Price,
Mrs Algernon E Sydney,
Miss Sydney,
Miss Morris,
Madamoiselle Denys,
Madamoiselle Julie Curtis,
Miss Boorman,
Miss Lipschitz,
Miss Beatrice Lipschitz,
Lady William Lennox,
Mrs Helen Percival,
Hon. Mrs R Talbot,
Miss Constance Arbuthnot,
Mrs Keays Young
Miss Palmer,
Miss Campbell Johnstone,
Miss Dorothy Noel,
Miss Emily Loftus,
Miss Myers,
Miss Macdonald,
Mr B C Skottowe,
The Lady Carew,
Marchioness of Tweedale,
Hon. William Eaton,
Mr Martiin Morris,
Miss Lethbridge,
Lady Arthur Hill,
Mrs Sutherland Morris,
The Lady Inchequin,
Hon. Clare O'Brien,
Mrs Goldschmidt,
Miss Ada Behrend.
The Misses Hall,
The Misses Raper |
| Conductors | Miss Mary Carmichael (Cafe Chantant concerts),
Mr Chas (Cafe Chantant concerts),
Mr Reddie, (Cafe Chantant concerts),
Mr Arthur Godfrey (Cafe Chantant concerts),
Mr C Thomas (Coldstream Guards) |
| Performance Notes | This event is widely regarded as the first sci-fi convention ever held in the UK, being a gathering specifically inspired by a science fiction story. The first record of a sci-fi / cosplay event is cited as a costume ball held by writer Jules Verne in Amiens, France in 1877 where people were invited to dress as Verne characters.
Dr Herbert Tibbits, founder of the London Massage and Galvanic Hospital invited the Marchioness Dowager of Londonderry, the Countess of Cromarty, Lady Georgiana Spencer Churchill and other fashionable people to staff 16 stalls in the arena of the Royal Albert Hall made to represent the city of Vril-ya as described in Lord Edward Bulwer Lytton's sci-fi book, 'Vril: The Power of The Coming Race'. The book told of an American adventurer who encountered a race of winged, subterranean super-beings known as the Vril-ya. Their power of 'vril' was described as being a force akin to electricity, channelled by special mechanical 'rods', it could be harnessed to almost any goal, either creative or destructive.
The Hall's auditorium was decorated with structures in a style similar to that of ancient Egypt, Sumperia and India. The stalls seats were decorated with palms, ferns and flowers. In the centre of the arena was the grand Pillar of Vril-ya, modelled on Cleopatra's Needle and decorated with flowers and palm fronds. Mannequins representing the winged Vril-ya flew back and forth above the auditorium. Guests were entertained by music, vril-themed magic shows and fortune telling and grand feasts were held each day. Stalls sold handicrafts, paintings, dolls, satin cushions, petticoats, and perfumes. One stall offered the novelty of fishing in an indoor pond and another a mind-reading dog! Interestingly another stall sold cups of Bovril (the beef extract) drink, whose brand name was a created from a mix of the words 'Bovine' and 'Vril' - symbolising the vril energy one could gain from it.
Fancy dress was highly encouraged (early example of cos-play?) and visitors were advised to visit John Simmons and Sons, historical costumiers to Queen Victoria to view an array of 'Coming Race' costumes. Many visitors donned wings. Committee members of the bazaar wore a variety of costumes ranging from Japanese, Elizabethan English , mock-Indian and other eclectic styles. The character of Princess Zee, from the novel, was played by a young lady wearing a black satin dress and silver flower tiara that glowed with electric lights.
HRH Princess Beatrice and Prince Henry of Battenberg officially opened the bazaar.
Originally meant to last three days, organisers decided to extend the bazaar by two days. The venture was a financial disaster, due to lack of interest from the public, bankrupting Dr Tibbits as a result. The event was criticised as being badly constructed and shabby and was unable to draw the visitor numbers after the opening day's attendance by Royalty.
Dr Tibbits had previously held an 'Ice Carnival' at the Hall in 1890.
"The five days' fair which has been held at the Albert Hall, and to which the name of "The Coming Race" was given, proved one of the most original and successful of the may fetes which have been held there. The idea was, of course, derived from the novel which gave its name to the fete. The floor of the hall and the platform [stage] were devoted to the stalls, which were sixteen in number, and arranged in eccentric fashion to represent the dwelling places of the people in Lord Lytton's mysterious kingdom. The decorations were in Egyptian, Morrish, and Turkish styles, the mosque-like domes and minarets looking very picturesque, while the idea of novelty, quaintness, and striking effect was maintained in the costumes of the stall-keepers. An obelisk flanked by sphinxes formed the central monument of the supposed subterranean town; in the mart ladies in every kind of fanciful costume, some representing wondrous types drawn directly from the novel, other in the guise of Russian peasants, Egyptian princesses, English witches, Turkish ladies, and hospital nurses, plied the crowd of fashionable customers with their multitudinous wares. The sense of weirdness was increased by the fact that over the mart floated in the air India-rubber figures, representing not only sprites and various other uncanny creatures in different shapes and forms, but elephants, kings, queens, peasants, and other animals. The Fair, which was organised in aid of the funds of the West-end Hospital for Diseases of the Nervous System, and of the School of Massage and Electricity, was opened by Princess Henry of Battenberg. Her Royal Highness, who was accompanied by Prince Henry, after declaring the Fair open, received from ladies present a number of purses containing donations, after which the Prince and Princess made a tour of the stalls. There was a large and fashionable company in the Hall, and those taking part in the fair, actively or otherwise, included the Marchioness of Waterford, the Dowager Marchioness of Londonderry, Theresa, Countess of Shrewsbury, the Countess of Warwick, the Countess of Rosslyn, the Countess of Romney, the Countess of Wharncliffe, Countess Lutzow, Lady William Lennox, Lady Edward Spencer Churchill, Lady Florence Astley, and the Baroness [Angela] Burdett-Coutts."
(Black and White, 14 March 1891, page 191) |
| Related Archival Material | Programme (RAHE/1/1891/5),
Illustration |