The Art and Industrial Exhibition of 1911

The idea of holding a public exhibition devoted to the arts and industry for the area began with the Rev Harry Cotton Smith, Vicar of Castle Bytham, eight miles south west of the town. who held such an event in his village in 1909 and again in 1910.

Both events were a tremendous success and as a result, he was persuaded by several influential people in Bourne, lead by Mr Robert Gardner, magistrate and bank manager, and Thomas Baxter and Alderman William Wherry, two leading businessmen, to increase the scope of the exhibition and move it to a larger venue within the town.

He agreed to the idea and became honorary secretary of the organising committee and in the summer of 1911, the Corn Exchange was booked for the exhibition and he had recruited the support of the government sponsored Association for the Development of Country Districts. The event would be staged over four days with an official opening each day by leading members of the community and the admission fee for the public would be 6d. per head.

Mr Gardner became chairman of the committee and their declared aim was to encourage usefulness in rural areas by providing a public platform for many activities and pursuits, including antiquities, basket work, cookery, drawing and designing, original drawing and painting, gardening, honey production, literature,  metal work, modelling, netting, needlework, old people's work, photography, stone carving, woodwork and others. The classes were for all ages, both men and women, and a large section was devoted to entries from boys and girls attending local schools.

There was so much interest in the event that it attracted an astounding 1,400 entries and the Marchioness of Exeter agreed to perform the first opening ceremony on the afternoon of Monday 5th June 1911. The Stamford Mercury reported the following Friday:

The greatest praise is due to the Rev H Cotton Smith for the able way he has engineered the organisation of this event. That the association has justified its existence was most apparent by the splendid array of handiwork displayed this week and too much cannot be said to encourage its usefulness, especially in the rural districts. Entries have been received from all parts of the country, both open and local classes being allotted, the latter being confined to the villages in the Bourne, Deeping, Oakham and Stamford districts. The objects of the association are to group the villages for the purpose of securing more opportunities for their development and progress to assist trade, to stimulate talent, and last but not least to endeavour to dispel the dullness of life in the country dwellers. There is plenty of talent in the country and the association provides a medium for bringing it out, and there was ample evidence that in many homes there have been few idle hands lately, for the entries for the various classes were much above the highest expectations. A feature of the association's work is the encouragement of declining local industries. The money for carrying out the work is raised by voluntary subscription. There are no funds; the association does not work for profit, but simply and solely for the general welfare of the community, and the whole district benefits through the interchange of ideas and through competition and intercourse. A large number of exhibits, not for competition, were kindly lent and made an interesting collection.

The chairman of the exhibition's organising committee who presided at the opening ceremony was Mr Gardner, himself a talented amateur artist, who also spoke about what they were trying to achieve.

The object of the exhibition is to encourage young people in this part of Kesteven to take up some handicraft work and instil into them good knowledge which might be of value to them in the days to come as well as afford them some pleasure. The committee is not only pleased with the work from the schools but we are delighted with the large number of entries that has given us encouragement to continue with our efforts in developing the association. The success of the exhibition does not rest entirely with the number of entries or their merit, neither does it rest upon the takings at the door, although we are anxious to get as much as possible, but we have to look to success in the extending usefulness in the development of knowledge in arts and crafts.

Lady Exeter was equally effusive in her speech to declare the exhibition open when she said that such events afford the best incentive possible for bringing out the talents in the rural population and a handsome bouquet was presented to her when she finished speaking.

Three further opening ceremonies were held, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, to enable representatives from the wider area be represented. The Countess of Ancaster officiated on Tuesday when she said she was deeply interested in the development of the country districts and was pleased to see so many interesting exhibits produced by the residents of South Lincolnshire. She went on:

Our aim should be to improve our home industries. It is only by this individual effort that we can compete with foreign nations. It is individual effort that builds up the life of a nation and whether it begins in the home or in the larger spheres, it is individual effort upon which the nation depends. I urge all competitors not only to continue with their work but also to induce others to undertake some themselves.

On Wednesday, Mrs Birch-Reynardson, of Holywell Hall, officiated with Mr William Hayes, chairman of Bourne Rural District Council, presiding, while the Dean of Lincoln, the Very Rev Thomas Charles Fry, presided on Thursday and distributed prizes to the successful competitors. The majority of the entries were of a very high standard and all class winners were given an award of medals or certificates embossed with the exhibition motif and date. The dean said:

There is an idea that the only interesting life is that of the town but this is quite a wrong impression for I have spent a great deal of my life in country districts. We realise at the present time that a great advance could be made in educational matters by practical lessons and I believe that exhibitions of this kind will stimulate interest among the residents of country districts.

Robert Gardner, the committee chairman and a talented amateur artist, was among the winners and his landscape in oils showing the effects of the widespread flooding in Bourne South Fen the previous winter that has become known as the Great Flood of 1910, won a silver medal.

The Rev Harry Cotton Smith had been Vicar of Castle Bytham since 1898 and his work in helping organise the exhibition held him in good stead with church officials at Bourne because when the then vicar, the Rev Thomas Cowpe Lawson, moved in 1913, he was appointed to succeed him. It is also interesting to speculate whether Cotton Smith's involvement in the Bourne exhibition may have been the catalyst for the changes because Cowpe Lawson's move was in fact to become vicar at Castle Bytham and so the two had effectively switched parishes. Whatever the reasons, Cotton Smith remained at Bourne until 1918 when he resigned after being offered the living at Brigg in North Lincolnshire.

WRITTEN JUNE 2004

See also    The Grand Bazaar and Art Exhibition of 1888

Robert Gardner      Fen flooding in past times