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Keeping the line |
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The arrangements for keeping the line were entirely under the
supervision of the Chief Constable (Captain Segrave), and were most
admirably planned and efficiently carried out. The forces engaged were
the Police and the Staffordshire Volunteers. Of the first named, the
total number present was eight hundred and eighteen, viz.: Wolverhampton
Borough Force, sixty eight men, under the supervision of five
Inspectors. The Staffordshire County Constabulary, three hundred men,
under the command of Chief Constable Congreve and Deputy Chief Constable
Major McKnight. Walsall, twenty men, under the command of the Chief
Constable. London, two hundred and thirty men (of the 'A' division),
under the supervision of Superintendent Walker. Birmingham, two hundred
men, under the supervision of two Superintendents.
Albert on the move. Over the years Queen
Square has been redeveloped several times and the statue been moved
accordingly. Courtesy of David Clare. |
The Volunteer Force was composed of the different
Battalions of the County, under the command of their respective
Colonels, and numbered altogether three thousand two hundred men.
The different forces of police and volunteers were stationed
alternatively outside the barriers all along the route, and the
manner in which they all, to a man, performed their duty, was highly
creditable. The volunteers, especially, deserve great praise for
their steadiness and soldierly demeanour. Captain Segrave exerted
himself most energetically in seeing that his orders, down to the
minutest details, were attended to, and the result was gratifying in
the extreme, not the slightest confusion being observable from the
commencement to the end.
Ample provision was made at the Agricultural Hall for the
entertainment of the volunteer forces who came to assist in
preserving order in the different streets through which Her
Majesty passed. The hall was decorated for the occasion, and
after the party had partaken of the viands provided for them,
they were further entertained by the lively strains of their
bands. |
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Accident
Unfortunately a rather serious accident happened to one of the
artillery men who was engaged in firing the Royal Salute from one of the
cannons stationed on the Racecourse. The unfortunate fellow, William
Bridgeway, was about nineteen years of age, and the gun at which he was
assisting had been fired twice, but whilst Bridgeway was loading it
again, from some undiscovered cause the charge went off. His hand was
blown off, and his arm fractured in three places, besides which his face
was badly bruised. He was removed to the General Hospital, where his
forearm was amputated. He has since recovered.
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Another view of the statue on the move in
the early 1970s. Courtesy of David Clare. |
It will be seen, by one of the letters from Sir T. M. Biddulph to Sir
John Morris, that Her Majesty, with her usual kindness, has settled a
life annuity of £20 upon William Bridgeway.
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