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Courtesy L. Perry Tom Special Collections, BYU Fig. 1. The Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London, 1851. From Samuel Phillips,Guide to the Crystal Pal- ace and Its Park and Gardens, ed. F. K. J. Shenton (Sydenham: Robert K. Burt, 1862), frontispiece. The Crystal Palace was the site of the Great Exhibition, displaying the works of science and industry from more than one hundred nations. Millions of people visited London for the exhibit, creating an opportunity for Latter-day Saint leaders and members to gather together and for mis- sionaries to proselyte. London Missionaries and the Great Exhibition of 1851 Peter J. Vousden he history of the world records no event comparable, in its promotion Tof human industry, with that of the Great Exhibition.”1 So claimed Henry Cole, the English civil servant who bore much of the responsibil- ity for organizing the “Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations,” to give it its full title, in London in 1851. Cole’s claim should not be dismissed as mere hyperbole, for the Great Exhibition was on a scale hitherto unknown, and social historians invariably point to the exhibi- tion as the preeminent symbol of Britain’s economic dominance during the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century. The Great Exhibition attracted over six million visitors in five months and featured over one hundred thousand exhibits from all over the world. The exhibition was housed in an impressive glass structure dubbed the “Crystal Palace,”2 erected in Hyde Park (fig. 1). Designer Joseph Paxton created prefabricated iron sections that allowed the building to be assembled easily and cheaply. The Palace measured 1,848 feet long by 408 feet wide, giving an area under glass approaching a million square feet. The transepts were tall enough to encase some of Hyde Park’s mature elm trees. Calling it the Great Exhibi- tion was by no means a hollow conceit. The exhibition’s principle patron and driving force was Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert. Albert divided the exhibits into four categories: raw materials, machinery, manufactured goods, and fine art. The object was to demonstrate to the world the scientific and tech- nological wonders of the industrial age. Moreover, it was to emphasize the preeminence of Great Britain as a leader of the new age. More than 50 percent of exhibits were British, with the rest of the world sharing the remaining space. BYU Studies , no. 3 (5) 123 124 v BYU Studies Initially, the British press was negative and unsupportive of Prince Albert’s plans, and there was much public carping, not to say derision, in the two years leading up to the opening of the exhibition. Even as the Crystal Palace was being erected in Hyde Park, doubts about the wisdom of the venture were expressed not only in satirical publications such as Punch, but also in the Times and by members of Parliament on the floor of the House of Commons.3 But Albert plowed on energetically, and by the time the exhibition closed there was little but fulsome praise and celebra- tion to be heard. TheEdinburgh Review claimed the event “seize[d] the liv- ing scroll of human progress, inscribed with every successive conquest of man’s intellect.”4 The Times declared the exhibition “was a sight, the like of which had never happened before, and which, in the nature of things, can never be repeated.”5 In the midst of this phenomenal endeavor, missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were laboring. The missionaries of 1851 were alive to the possibilities raised by thousands and thousands of enquir- ing visitors from all parts of Britain and many other nations descending upon their area. They saw three different opportunities in Exhibition Lon- don: Firstly, to share their message of a religious restoration in an attempt to gain more converts; secondly, to strengthen members of the Church in London by having special conferences with apostolic speakers; and thirdly, to improve their education and simply have some fun. The Great Exhibi- tion was opened by Queen Victoria on May 1, 1851, and Apostle Erastus Snow and missionary Eli B. Kelsey went to pains to secure themselves a good vantage point from which they could view the royal procession.6 For the Church, the Great Exhibition in London was the first expo- sure to such an event. Later events of even greater size and length proved to be of import to Church missionary development. For example, the Chicago World’s Fair (or World’s Columbian Exhibition) of 1893 drew the nascent Tabernacle Choir out of Salt Lake City along the railroad to Chicago, where the choir took second place in a singing competition. It was the first time the choir travelled out of the state of Utah. The First Presidency travelled with them, and Second Counselor Joseph F. Smith said of the trip, “Many a one has had his eyes opened, somewhat, on Utah and the Mormon question. I consider it has done more good than five thousand sermons would have done in an ordinary or even extraordinary way.”7 Seventy years later, the Church invested significant resources in occupying a pavilion at the New York World’s Fair of 1964. This effort included the production of the seminal missionary film entitled Man’s Search for Happiness. This film and other exhibits in the Mormon Pavilion London Missionaries and the Great Exhibition of 1851 V 12 prompted President David O. McKay to call the pavilion “one of the most unique and effective missionary efforts in [the Church’s] history.”8 The 1851 Exhibition: No Place for Religion Before examining the Latter-day Saint missionaries’ activities in Lon- don in 1851, let us consider the role of religion in the exhibition generally. Although Prince Albert inserted the quotation “The earth is the Lord’s and all that therein is”9 at the head of the exhibition catalogue, and choirs from St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and Windsor sang sacred songs and the Archbishop of Canterbury prayed during the opening cer- emony, religion was given a very low, almost grudging presence inside the Crystal Palace. One contemporary guide attempted to marry the indus- trial revolution and British piety by declaring, “With steam and the Bible the English traverse the globe,”10 but the truth was that there was noth- ing more than lip service given to religion. While Victorian Britain was overtly Christian, the Christian message was not considered fitting for the exhibition. Albert and the other leading organizers saw the event as a celebration of science, industry, and the wit of man. Disgruntled church leaders looked upon the Crystal Palace as a worldly temple in which man would worship his own ingenuity.11 Churches and religious societies lobbied to have the exhibit closed on Sundays, and there was a considerable debate before it was decided in their favor. The British and Foreign Bible Society requested space to exhibit the Holy Bible in 130 languages but was initially met with a blank refusal. It took three months of petitioning before Prince Albert relented and pro- vided a small area in “a back room in a by passage.”12 The Religious Tract Society also managed to gain a small presence in the exhibition to display “several books and tracts specially designed to improve and commemorate the Great Exhibition translated in French, German and Italian.”13 That the religious community felt like dogs fighting for exhibition scraps is illus- trated by a letter from the church wardens of All Saints Knightsbridge to the commissioners dated July 11, 1851, soliciting the complete receipts of one day’s admission in aid of church funds.14 Prince Albert was not so much afraid of Christianity per se but of sec- tarianism. Much of the material published by religious societies at the time of the exhibition contained warnings against Popery and Catholicism.15 One subtext of the exhibition was to demonstrate peace and cooperation on an international scale, and overt sectarianism and bigotry, not to men- tion sheer religious crankiness, were to be avoided. 126 v BYU Studies All religious groups from the Church of England down realized that given no platform inside the exhibition, they would have to find ways to influence people outside it. For example, Bishop Blomfield, the Anglican Primate of London, appointed a committee to consider ways to proselyte visitors. Tracts were distributed, and the Church of England book of com- mon prayer was made available in French and German translations. Some ministers made their own private arrangements to accommodate and instruct visiting worshippers. The Reverend G. Drew arranged a special course of six evening sermons to be delivered by well-known clerics, includ- ing the popular author of social commentary Reverend Charles Kingsley. The LDS Church in London in 1851 Like their fellow ministers of other denominations, the missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints found it necessary to work outside of the exhibition proper. Given the difficulties the British and Foreign Bible Society had in displaying copies of the Holy Bible, the likelihood of the Latter-day Saint elders having a pitch to show the Book of Mormon was zero. No letters requesting a presence in the Crystal Palace were sent by Church leaders to the exhibition commissioners.16 By 1851 the Church was well established in London with a membership of about three thousand. Just ten years after the first missionaries arrived in the capital city of the British Empire, London was, by the close of 1850, the strongest area of the Church in the British Isles.17 As the opening of the Great Exhibition drew closer, the Church in London, under the leadership of Elder Eli B.

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