Windsor Castle at Chicago. WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION, 1893. MANUFACTURES BUILDING, LOCATION No. 291, BRITISH SECTION. LEVER BROS., LIMITED, Soap Manufacturers. FACTORY AND REGISTERED OFFICE, Port Sunlight, Near BIRKENHEAD, ENGLAND. BRANCH OFFICES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM LONDON : Paul's Wharf, Upper Thames Street, E.G. GLASGOW : 16, St. Enoch Square. DUBLIN : 7, St. Andrew Street. LIVERPOOL :-62, Stanley Street. .MANCHESTER t-6^ Corporation Street. BIRMINGHAM :-2, Albert Street. BRISTOL : 21, Redcliffe Street. SOUTHAMPTON: So, High Street. PLYMOUTH : 8, The Octagon. BRANCH FOREIGN OFFICES : SYDNEY : 232, Clarence Street. TORONTO: 43, Scott Street, Colborne Street. ROTTERDAM : Pls C. BRUSSELS :-2, Place de la Bourse. RESIDENT AGENTS AT PARIS, LAUSANNE. HAMBURG, MONTREAL, HALIFAX, N.S., ST. JOHN'S, N.B., WINNIPEG, MELBOURNE, AUCKLAND, WELLINGTON. CHRISTCHURCH, DL'NEDIN, N.Z. Windsor Castle at Chicago, To which is added The Home of Sunlight Soap By GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA. LEVER BROTHERS, LIMITED, Port Sunlight, Near BIRKENHEAD, ENGLAND. PRESS OF LEVER BROS.. LIMITED PORT SUNLIGHT ENGLAND. WINDSOR CASTLE AT CHICAGO, W:XDSOK CASTLE, which has been for centuries the principal residence of the Kings and Queens of England, was, we learn, adopted by Messrs. LEVER BROTHERS, LIMITED, as the leading feature of then: exhibit at the Chicago World's Fair, in view of their recent appointment as Soapmakers to Her Majesty Queen Victoria. We think they made a happy decision, for it cannot be questioned that a faithful model of this grand historic palace will awaken lively interest among the visitors, of many nationalities, who will flock to the City of the West during the Exposition. As one recalls the remote age in which this Castle was founded, in those feudal times which have happily passed away, the thinker will reflect with something akin to awe upon the growth since then of personal liberty, now enjoyed in the fullest degree by citizens of every land over which the Union Jack or the " Star-spangled Banner" floats. * We are informed that Messrs. LEVER BROTHERS, LDIITED commis- sioned Mr. MAX. CLARKE, A.B.I.B.A., the well-known London architect, with the preparation of the necessary plans and drawings of the model of Windsor Castle, and Messrs. CAMPBELL, SMITH & Co., of London, with its construction. The last-named firm are widely known as the builders of the world-renowned models of " Old London," erected at the Health Exhibition, and Nelson's Flagship " The Victory," one of the chief attractions at the Royal Naval Exhibition in London. Q- ~ SI < g* U ^ s* WINDSOR CASTLE AT CHICAGO. From a short " communication " they have been good enough to make us, we learn that when Messrs. CAMPBELL, SMITH & Co. prepared to enter upon their task, they were met by difficulties which they state made them "nervous about having undertaken it." The two models of their construction already referred to were full-sized repro- ductions of the originals, while the model of Windsor Castle is on the scale of f-inch to the foot. On this tiny scale the detail of the buildings seemed almost impossible of reproduction. Many visits to the Royal Borough were necessary, and but for the assistance received from officials of the Castle, who kindly permitted access to such plans and drawings of parts of the Castle as existed, it is doubtful if the architect's and builders' labours would have been so successful. The writer of this article is also under an obligation to the authorities for valuable informa- tion and suggestions which have enabled him to make this little sketch of greater interest than otherwise would have been possible. We are told that when the architect availed himself of the permits granted him to examine plans, etc., at the Castle, he found the only drawings existing were those of the Eoyal and State Apartments in the Upper Ward, prepared by Sir JEFFREY WYATTVILLE, K.A., in 1840. Measurements had to be taken of all the other buildings so far as they were within reach. These were supplemented by an extensive series of photographs, specially taken, some from the roofs of houses in proximity to the Castle, while other "snap-shots" were aimed by the photographers from the roof of a lofty Brewery in the vicinity. While at Windsor, the lot of the photographers and other emissaries of the architect was not "a happy one," owing to the jealous eye kept upon their movements, as possible dynamitards or foreign spies, by the sentries and royal police on duty at the Castle. The permits of the operators were frequently called for, and they felt relieved when they were at length able to leave the zealous guardians of the palace to the even tenour of their way. With the aid of the material thus obtained, the cunning hand of the architect educed from comparative chaos correct-scaled drawings, from which the contractors have constructed the beautiful model crowning the exhibit of Messrs. LEVER BROTHERS, LIMITED. Shortly before Christmas last we visited London to inform our- selves as to the progress of the contractors' work. On calling upon Messrs. CAMPBELL, SMITH & Co. we found that for the easy handling of this out-of-the-way kind of work their own crowded workshops were inadequate, and they had had to hire room for its execution in a large theatrical scene-painting "loft" in Drury Lane, near to the London Theatre of that name. Here the model-makers were at work, but Windsor Castle was found "in ruins," scattered piece-meal about this huge artistic studio, where canvas is literally covered by the yard, with paint brushes replenished from Brobdingnagian colour-boxes, fearfully (5) WINDSOR CASTLE AT CHICAGO. and wonderfully made after a fashion peculiarly the scene-painter's own. In one corner lay " The Winchester Tower," in close proximity to a group of fiery dragons, and these monsters of the stage had a choice of quarters between historic Windsor and the " burning-steel castle " for a provincial Christmas Pantomime. Hard by was the mimic " stage-set " of a modern society drama, from which the scene painters were artfully reproducing the "acting edition" of the same scenery, perhaps fifty times the size of the original. The situation was both interesting and ludicrous, and we began to think about "chaos" again. In other rooms artists were busily engaged painting the beautiful friezes which decorate the dome and reception room of the Sunlight Soap exhibit. We learned that the model is solidly constructed of seasoned wood, lined both on the inside and outside with canvas, in order to defy the effects of even damp and excessive heat. Enough was seen on this visit to confirm expectations previously formed that the exhibit would be worthy a prominent place in the grandest Exhibition the world has ever seen. For the sake of those who may desire at a future time to recall the impressions gathered during an inspection of this exhibit, we have appended a brief description of it. Looked at from the exterior, the stand proper forms a base, or sub -structure, on which the model of Windsor Castle is raised. The decorations of the stand, internal as well as external, are by Messrs. CAMPBELL, SMITH & Co., from their own designs. The principal features of the outside elevations are treated very tastefully in ivory enamel, with gilded enrichments. The frieze which runs beneath the richly moulded ivory and gold cornice, gives a list of twelve Gold Medals and several other important honours, gained by Sunlight Soap at other Exhibitions. The panels of the upper half of the exterior are filled in with rich Oriental leather damask, contrasting handsomely with framed specimens of the works of art employed by Messrs. LEVER BROTHERS, LIMITED, for advertising purposes, which occupy the centres of the panellings. The centre panels at the ends of the stand record the appointment of Messrs. LEVER BROTHERS, LIMITED, as Soapmakers to Her Majesty Queen Victoria. A richly upholstered ledge, completely encircling the stand, divides the lower from the upper panels. The lower panels are of anaglypta, Doulton-tile pattern, very artistically treated. Eight and left of the entrances to the vestibule are plush panels with raised gold letters, giving the name and business of the exhibitors, and a list of some of their principal offices throughout the world. Passing through either of tl.ese imposing entrances, surmounted by the Royal Arms of Great Britain, the visitor finds himself in a spacious vestibule, 1C feet inches by 9 feet inches, the walls of which are lined with richly embossed fawn-and-gold leather, effectively emphasising a scheme of ivory and gold. From this the eye naturally passes to a frieze of old ships of the time of Columbus, artistically (7) SOVEREIGN'S THRONE, ST. GEORGE'S HALL (From a Photograph by Eyre d; Rpottiswoode, by permission, Copyright.) WINDSOR CASTLE AT CHICAGO. reproduced from contemporary books and manuscripts ; next, to a highly enriched vaulted dome crowned by a stained glass centre embody- ing symbolically the four winds of heaven, supposed to be blowing the ships to their various destinations. A handsome pair of swing doors gives access from the vestibule to the Reception Room, 16 feet 6 inches square, where a courteous attendant will gladly place at the disposal of visitors any information required. Miniature soap-stamping machines are in operation here. This room is treated in a warmer scheme of colouring, though ivory and gold are still freely made use of, as else- where. The centre of the room rises upon fluted and gilded pillars to a greater height, forming a lantern light. The sides of this are decorated with paintings of Birds, Butterflies, &c., against conventional clouded backgrounds, framed in with white-and-gold fretted corners. The four subjects treated Morning, Noon, Afternoon, and Evening represent the gradual progress of a day from dawn to dusk. The first and third paintings have brilliant gilded suns in high relief introduced in them. The roof of the lantern is of richly painted glass, the figures in which are suggestive of the four seasons of the year. The interior rooms are hung with a series of fine platinotype photographs, by Mr. THOS. BIRTLES, of Warrington, shewing the various departments of the Sunlight Soap Works, also views in the Model Village of Workmen's Houses, erected by Messrs. LEVER for the comfort and accommodation of their employees. Port Sunlight is said to be the most architecturally interest- ing village in England, from the variety and beauty of the designs adopted. The Exhibit was completely erected and electrically lighted in England, after which the stand and model were taken entirely to pieces for shipment. In order to supplement the foregoing information with a few particulars interesting to those who have never seen WINDSOR CASTLE, we made a pilgrimage to the little town of Windsor. We are indebted for much of the information we are able to give, to Mr. LEONARD COLLHANN, of the Lord Chamberlain's Department, Windsor Castle. Arriving in the Royal Borough on an ideally clear and frosty December morning, the Castle was seen to great advantage, crowning, as it does, a height overlooking the flowing Thames. Making our way to the historic Winchester Tower, the official residence of the "Inspector of the Castle," we were ushered in, and presented our credentials to Mr. COLLMANN, a tall and military-looking gentleman, who kindly vol- unteered to answer any questions we might feel inclined to put to him, a privilege of which full advantage was taken. We had learned before our visit to Windsor, that Mr. COLLMAXX'S duties were onerous and important, he being in fact responsible to The LORD CHAMBERLAIX for the care, repair, renovation, and due order and arrange- ment of the furniture, fittings, appointments, and priceless art treasures (9) .1 sf oc 3 1 1 1? WINDSOR CASTLE AT CHICAGO. such as tapestries, paintings, statuary, and costly china of the Royal Palace of Windsor. His staff of assistants (quite distinct from the domestic staff of the Castle) consists of no less than 50 men and 10 women. We have reached the Winchester Tower from the town by the " hundred steps " which, by the way, appear (as we were afterwards informed was the case) to be a hundred calculated on a similar principle to the baker's dozen and noticed, as we proceeded, that there was a striking difference in the height of the lowest and the highest portions of the Castle. The portions standing on the highest ground are the Private Apartments, at the extreme end of the building, overlooking the eastern terrace ; and supposing that we are upon this terrace looking towards the Castle, to the left of the Private Apartments (receding from them) are the Visitors' Apartments the Victoria Tower being at the angle, connecting them. These noble suites of rooms are used by Foreign Royalty when visiting the Queen at Windsor. On the right, overlooking the north terrace, are the State Apartments, connected with the front block by the Prince of Wales' Tower. The three blocks of buildings named look internally on to a vast quadrangle, with which they constitute "The Upper Ward." The other principal external features of this ward are the Norman Gate, the St. George's Gate, King John's Tower, the Library, the Edward III. Tower, and the George IV. Gateway. The Upper Ward is by far the most interesting part of the Castle. The Middle Ward divides the Royal Apartments from the Lower Ward. It consists only of the noble Round Tower and its surrounding Moat and Walls, and the approaches to it. On this Tower is hoisted, when the Queen crosses the Thames towards Windsor, a truly Royal Standard, of the generous dimensions of 36 feet by 21 feet. This flag, it may interest Americans to know, floats from a flag-staff of American pine, 53 feefr in height, 21 inches diameter at the base, and of 90 years growth. Descending to The Lower Ward (by far the largest of the three wards), the most interesting buildings are the glorious St. George's Chapel (frequently cited as the most pure specimen of late Gothic Architecture in England), the Deanery and Canons' Houses, the Albert Chapel, and the Houses of the Military Knights of Windsor. We can only mention the Deans', the Canons' and the Horse Shoe Cloisters, and the principal towers on the outer walls of this Ward, viz., the Winchester Tower, |Henry III. Tower, Garter House, Henry VIII. Gateway, the Salisbury Torer, the Guard Room, the Garter Tower, The Bell (or Caesar's) Tower. Skirting the Castle Hill, by which carriages approach the Castle from the town of Windsor, are the Royal Stables, usually containing about a hundred horses, and some forty carriages, &c. The Royal Riding School and the Castle Workshops are near the stables. The Castle occupies more than twelve acres of ground, and is surrounded on (11) tl U_ *j UASTL.U AT UrtiUAUU. three sides by terraces of a total length of 2,500 feet. The Castle " Slopes " lead down from the terraces to The Home and Great Parks, fitting complements to this beautiful Royal Residence, the former being about four miles, the latter (which is splendidly wooded) no less than eighteen miles in circumference. The Long Walk in the Great Park extends from the George IV. Gateway in the Upper Quadrangle, between a double avenue of elms, for no less than three miles. On June 25th, 1892, Colonel W. F. CODY ( " Buffalo Bill ") gave, by command of Her Majesty, on the lawn below the East Terrace and Italian Gardens, an exhibition of his " Wild West," which Her Majesty witnessed from an elevated pavilion erected on the East Terrace. The enclosure being in the open, backed up by the grand old trees of Windsor Forest, gave an air of actuality to the sight not often realised on the British side of the Atlantic. In a preliminary chat prior to our tour through the Royal Apart- ments we were told that we were to consider ourselves among a favoured few, allowed the privilege of seeing as well as the apartments shewn to the public, all of the Queen's private rooms she permits to be shewn to any- one, and a number of the State Apartments shewn only in special cases. To proceed, then, on our way. Our guide remarks, as the footman's lodge is entered, that we are on our way to the Servants' Hall, and we are surprised, after passing many passages, the telegraph office, etc., to be ushered into an apartment large enough to accommodate at least 200 persons. This, we are informed, is for the use of the under-servants, and a few minutes later we peep into the Stewards' Room, or Upper Servants' Hall, seating easily about 50 persons. The extent of these two Halls leads us to enquire the number of officials and servants em- ployed about the Castle, and we are informed that they would be, together, about 350. Both these Halls date back as far as 1356 when they were built for Edward HI. by William of Wykeham, who, our guide with pardonable pride informs us, was his predecessor, in the fourteenth century, in occupation of the charming residence now allotted to the "Inspector of the Castle" as Mr. COLLMAXN is officially designated. We open our eyes when 1350 is mentioned, but are informed by Mr. COLLMAXX that evidence exists, documentary as well as architectural, to prove that Windsor was a Royal Residence in the Norman era of the English Kings. After William the Norman had set his conquering foot on English soil, the pleasures of the chase soon led him to the neighbourhood of Windsor, and from that time downwards it has remained, what he made it, the principal residence of the English Sovereign. When the Court is away, the glorious Kitchen looks mournful in its vastness, but one cannot help conjuring up what a scene of activity (13) f I ** **... 1 >^^9 '-if THE ROYAL KITCHEN. (From a Photograph by Eyre d; Spottiswoode, by permission, Copyright.) WINDSOR CASTLE AT CHICAGO. must be observable here when dinner is being prepared for the Queen and her visitors. The almost interminable rows of copper stew-pans and other cooking-vessels give a fillip to one's feelings of curiosity, and you do not hear of the latest improvements in culinary appliances to be seen here, without thinking of the historic barons of beef cooked at Christmas, and sent to Osborne for the Koyal table. Having passed the open doors of countless vegetable kitchens, we sniff delicious whiffs of pastry and confectionery, to learn that wherever the Court may be residing, the Windsor chefs and their assistants in these departments are always busy, for the Queen declares their tempting products unsurpass- able, and the lloyal table is always supplied with these delicacies from Windsor. Next, approaching the Gold Pantry, the Inspector warily asks "Have you a permit to see the Gold Plate ? " Fortunately we can answer " Yes," so this " open sesame " induces the Yeoman of the Gold Pantry to admit us, through iron doors, to view a collection of gold and silver plate of various periods which is simply indescribable. We fancy we have entered a veritable El Dorado, and a cursory inspection of the glittering treasures here displayed, causes a mental picture to float before the eyes of the scene of courtly magnificence presented by St. George's Hall or the Waterloo Chamber at a State Banquet. Before going to view the private apartments of the Castle we ask permission to rest a few minutes in the approach to the Visitors' Stair- case, for nearly an hour has already been spent in walking and sight- seeing, and the eyes want rest after the brilliant display of plate we have just left behind. -Ascending the staircase, we reach the Grand Corridor. This, we learn, was added to the Castle by George IV. It was a notable addition. It is 15 feet wide, and no less than 440 feet long, and is without doubt one of the most attractive parts of the castle. It takes up two sides of the vast quadrangle. At the angle or centre of it are Her Majesty's own suite of rooms, with a private staircase leading down to the quadrangle private entrance. There is a plethora of splendid paintings, statuary, and other works of art and objects of interest, and the wonderful china of priceless value, displayed in costly and unique cabinets as valuable as their con- tents, fails, amidst this embarras de richesse, to make the impression it should do. Off this central landing is the Oak Breakfast Room, beautifully panelled in English Oak, relieved with gold. This room is used daily, when in residence, by the Queen and family and any small party of honoured guests. On the walls hang portraits of Her Majesty and her daughters-in-law. Leading from this corridor are several suites of rooms for Royal Visitors, occupied only when the Court is at Windsor. (15) WINDSOR CASTLE AT CHICAGO. This noble corridor also give access to many other stately apart- ments, decorated and furnished in the most varied yet charming styles, each seeming to be a climax of tasteful, even gorgeous, embelishment, each bewildering the mind in an effort to pass judgment upon their respective claims to outrival every other. Priceless art treasures, notable historic objects, trophies of war, tapestries, paintings, unique curiosites, china of ideal beauty, cabinets to dream about, statuary to wonder at, arms and armour of all ages to ponder over, all these glories may well sway our verdict. Such a judgment, we confess, we vainly attempted to form in our progress through the " White," the " Green," and the " Crimson " Drawing Rooms (owing their titles to the predominant colouring of their beautiful decorations and upholsteries), a large and richly appointed Dining Room for the ladies and gentlemen of the house- hold, and a smaller dining room, by which the Queen often enters the Grand Reception Room on State occasions. Rambling on, we soon found ourselves in the northern portion of the Grand Corridor. Here our attention is first directed to the Queen's Private Chapel, a small and quiet apartment, and then to the Chapel Retiring Room, which contains quite a gallery of portraits of English Royalty of past generations, by Holbein, Janet, &c. If words fail us to describe the apartments we have already visited, we may well be excused attempting a description of the State Apartments to which we now direct our steps, glancing, on our way thither, down the Grand Staircase towards the State Entrance to the Castle. " Princely splendour" is the proper term to apply to them, for it sums up all the niceties of detailed description into which we are tempted to enter. To describe them untenanted is a difficult task ; in mentally picturing them crowded with brilliant throngs at some courtly ceremonial one may give free play to the imagination. Of the many majestic salons to which we are now conducted, the Yandyck and Zuccarelli Rooms are the first to claim our marked atten- tion. Both are named after the artists whose paintings grace their walls. The Vandyck collection is generally allowed to be the finest in the world. Of Vandyck it is recorded that Charles I., who invited him to England in 1598, subsequently conferred upon him an annuity of 200 a year. Zuccarelli was a talented artist much in favour in the days " when George III. was King." The State Ante Room is noticeable for its beautiful painted ceiling, by Antonio Verrio, representing a Banquet of the Gods, and for its exquisite wood carvings by Grinling Gibbons. We pass on to the Waterloo Chamber. Here, at the time of our visit, we found the stage erected on which Her Majesty is accustomed to " command " the appearance of the leading companies of actors and opera singers of the day. It had recently been used for a State (16) WINDSOR CASTLE AT CHICAGO. Performance by the Carl Rosa Opera Company, now entitled by Royal Warrant to describe themselves as " Her Majesty's Servants." We enquire of Mr. COLLMANN " How long is occupied in erecting this stage?" He replies " A week, exactly, and the temporary theatre will accom- modate 200 guests." The Waterloo Chamber is nobly proportioned and handsomely decorated, and is hung with portraits of the Sovereigns of Europe reigning at the time (1813-1815), when the room was built. Many of the State Banquets are given in this chamber. The paintings are chiefly by Sir Thomas Lawrence. Through the Ante-Throne Room, remarkable for further splendid examples of Grinling Gibbons's wood-carving, we pass to the Throne Room proper. This chamber has been little used since the death of the Prince Consort. It contains full length portraits of British Sovereigns from George HI. onwards, a painting by Benjamin West, " The First Installation of the Garter," and a costly throne-chair of carved ivory set with precious stones, a gift to the Queen by the Maharajah of Travancore (India). We proceed to the Grand Reception Room, gorgeously ornamented in the style of Louis XV., the walls hung with priceless Gobelin tapestry illustrating the story of Jason and Medea. A magnificent Malachite Vase presented to the Queen by Nicholas, Emperor of Russia, is here, also other highly interesting objects. The Rubens Room, hung with pictures by that celebrated master, contains beautiful gilt furniture upholstered in fine Beauvais tapestry. Costly rarities in china and ormolu are also displayed in this Room. Previous to the death of the late Prince Consort, theatrical perform- ances took place in this chamber. The Council Room, King's Closet, and Queen's Closet, are much smaller neighbouring rooms. St. George's Hall, an apartment of regal dimension, being 200 feet long, 34 feet broad and 32 feet high, now claims our attention. This is specially interesting for its historic associations with the Order of the Garter and the Chivalry of England. Its ceiling is emblazoned with the coats of arms of all the Knights of the Garter from Edward III., founder of the order, to the present time. Its walls are hung with portraits of the Sovereigns from James I. to George IV. At each end is a Music Gallery, and against that towards the east is the Sovereign's Throne, in the rear of which, on twenty-four separate shields, are emblazoned the arms of each Sovereign of the Order from Edward III. to William IV. The Guard Chamber is next visited. Many relics of battles and naval engagements, trophies of war, and busts of noted generals are displayed here, as well as a rare shield attributed to Benvenuto Cellini, (17) WINDSOR CASTLE AT CHICAGO. and reputed to have been presented on " the field of the cloth of gold " by Francis I. of France to Henry VIII. of England. The Queen's Presence Chamber and the Queen's Audience Chamber must not detain us, though they contain seven unique specimens of Gobelin tapestry, more than a century old, yet wonderfully fresh in appearance and colouring. They represent incidents in the history of Esther, founded on the Scripture narrative, and are from drawings by Jean Francois de Troy. The ceilings of both apartments are beautifully painted, in allegorica) styles, by Antonio Verrio, a Neapolitan artist largely employed by Charles II. Other paintings in these rooms yield in interest to a portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots, which bears several Latin inscriptions recording reproachfully the treatment to which, Elizabeth, Queen of England, subjected her, culminating in her execution at Fotheringay. We leave the State Apartments by the Ante-Room and Staircase, both lined with interesting old German and other pictures. As we pass out from this regally magnificent pile we are not disposed to question the opinion expressed by our entertaining guide, that Windsor Castle is one of the most splendid and spacious of the Koyal Palaces of Europe. It occurred to us, before taking our leave, to ask the Inspector what was the usual time required to get the Eoyal Apartments in fit order for Her Majesty's occupation. He replied that a fortnight was usually allowed, but that on an emergency, by working ceaselessly night and day from the time notice was given, he had known the preparations, as on the Queen's return to Windsor after the death of Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, to be completed in forty-eight hours, a surprisingly short tune. Mr. COLLMANN and his staff must have a busy time of it when preparations are in hand for Eoyal Banquets, State Functions, and other courtly ceremonials. It was pleasant to us to hear in what estimation SUNLIGHT SOAP was held as an active agent in producing the spotless cleanliness everywhere apparent. Even the marble statuary, we ascer- tained, now has no other cleansing than an occasional washing with SUNLIGHT SOAP, and the use of potash and other chemical horrors has been abandoned. Once introduced into the palace, SUNLIGHT SOAP found many friends there, and after five years' use the Castle officials speak more and more favourably of it, and they are satisfied that whoever once tries it will continue to employ and recommend an article having merits so unquestionable. F. W. G. (18) THE HOME OF SUNLIGHT 5OAP. By GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA. [Reprinted from the "Illustrated London News," Dec. 27, 1890]. NTERING POET SUNLIGHT, you come to a, wide expanse of land on which LEVER BROTHERS have already built twenty-eight model " maisonettes " in red brick, and are building others, for the accommodation of some of the members of their multitudinous staff. The style adopted by the architect of this neat and cheerful little village is Old English; and in process of time, as the village develops, it will be pleasantly demonstrated that it is quite practical to erect a large number of industrial dwellings without such habitations being, as is too often the case, hideous in design, and grimy in aspect. These " workmen's villas," with their trim little front gardens .laid out with sloping lawns, and bright with geraniums and roses yea, even in mid-October are let to Messrs. LEVER'S employes at extremely moderate rents, sufficient only to pay Rents, Taxes and Repairs^ Workmen^ Cottages. Leaving the smiling little red-brick villas which line the roadway, you drive downhill towards the Port, and soon come in sight of an immense block of build- ingsthe SUNLIGHT SOAP Works itself which occupy part of a site on Bromboro' Pool, opening on to the River Mersey and extending up to the Chester and Birkenhead Railway. The total area of the site exceeds fifty-five acres. The main buildings form an irregular rectangle, covering an area of over four acres, (19) The Dinner Hour. and comprising the " Soapery " proper, the Frame Room, Drying Room, and Stamping Room, and the Offices, and Dining Rooms for the workpeople. The entire pre- mises, as well as the roads leading thereto, and the wharves whence SUNLIGHT SOAP is shipped, are lighted by electricity. Viewed from the railway, the appearance of the entire structure is certainly impos- ing, while seen from the wharf, the effect produced by the structure is far more pictorial. The recessed or indented frontage of the first and second storeys gives a semblance of intercolumniation, and takes away from the building the conventional factory look of "a brick packing- case pierced with three rows of square holes." The third or attic storey is set back, with agreeable optical results, and the usually monotonous sky-line is broken by the occurrence at one angle of the structure of a lofty tower, with pierced arches at the summit, which serves as an observatory. Entering the Works, the visitor is first conducted to Messrs. LEVER'S private offices, a suite of spacious and handsomely furnished apartments, in which, in addition to the usual appurtenances of cognate sp.nctums of business magnates, there are visible some very striking tokens of that curious and undeniably bene- ficent alliance between commerce and art which has sprung from the development in recent years of the system of pictorial advertisements. On the walls of Messrs. LEVER'S private offices hang a number of finished oil paintings by artists of acknowledged celebrity, some of which have been reproduced by means of oleo- graphy, chromo-lithography, engraving, or some other process, with the ultimate view of proclaiming the virtues of SUNLIGHT SOAP, not only on every available hoarding in the Metropolis and every other large English city and town not only at railway stations and on the arches of bridges and viaducts, but to the uttermost parts of the globe. The pilgrim to the shrine of " SUNLIGHT "and Soap, is next conducted through a large and handsomely-appointed Counting-house, where some forty scribes are busily occupied with their clerical duties, and where, among the big ledgers and smaller account books "like cricket balls beaten flat," to use a Dickensian simile, a number of type-writers claim attention. From the Counting- (20) THE HOME OF SUNLIGHT SOAP. house the visitor passes into the Card-box Making and Wrappers and Labels Printing Room, an immense apartment, admirably lighted and ventilated, in which, in addition to a large number of male workmen, no less than two hundred girls are employed. It was impossible to look at these girls, ranging in age between fourteen and twenty, without being struck by their clean and tidy appearance, and especially by their healthy and cheerful looks characteristics not always prominent in female factory "hands." In this Box-making and Printing Room there are seven Printing machines one Rotary machine turning out 80,000 printed wrappers per hour. The Card-box Making machinery adjoins that of the Printing, and is i A Corner of Printing Room. capable of producing a quarter of a million boxes a day. One noticeable feature of the Card-box Making industry as carried on in this huge atelter, is the perfect order and the extreme quietude which prevail. There is no hurrying to and fro ; the girls are all standing in line at the machine, and, to save time and labour, down the aisles between these machines run broad bands furnished with a series of wheels. When the boxes are finished they are placed in piles on these endless bands, which with their burdens of boxes move steadily uphill through apertures in the wall, whence they descend into the next apartment, the " Filling Room," there to receive the soap. It must not be omitted to state that, parallel with the Card-Box Making Room, and immediately adjoining it, is a long, narrow room, where a large contin- gent of women are at work, busily stretching canvases on the wooden frames, on which are afterwards to be pasted the show cards and oleograph pictures, after Frith, Leslie, Chevallier Taylor, Dorothy Tennant, and other eminent artists, and which will subsequently be exhibited in railway waiting rooms, restaurants, grocers' shops, and other coigns of vantage. Stretched and hung up to dry along the sides of this long room, the show-cards and oleographs, which are produced literally by thousands, constitute one of the most singular picture galleries it is possible to conceive; while, at one extremity of the loom, is the carpenter's shop, where the frames themselves are made. (21) THE HOME OF SUNLIGHT SOAP. The Wooden-box Making Room, a workshop of gigantic dimensions, contains twelve or more machines, worked by steam power, the Box -making operations of which are conducted entirely by boys. The process is most interesting in its swiftness, neatness, and completeness. The smaller lads of fourteen, standing on platforms above, feed the machine with nails. Another section of older lads, say of fifteen to seventeen, are tending the machines below. They pick up the discon- nected boards which are to form the boxes. These planks are brought with unerring regularity, and astonishing rapidity in contact with the machines, which Wood Box-Making. drive in seven nails at every blow, the boys turning the sides to receive the nails with really wonderful skilfulness of manipulation. The boards are strongly and symmetrically welded together into boxes with a celerity which may be fairly called phenomenal ; seeing that these steam-driven but boy-handled machines can send forth from 12,000 to 16,000 complete packing cases in the course of a single working day. In the same room there is a Steam Press for printing in large, bold, black THE HOME OF SUNLIGHT SOAP letters, the inscription "SUNLIGHT SOAP: LEVER BROS , LTD., PORT SUNLIGHT" an inscription, which by this time must be familiar to the eyes of most of the stevedores, the wharfingers, and the Custom-house officers on the face of the habitable globe. The observer who, during many years has fulfilled the functions of a professional globe-trotter, will have no difficulty in transporting himself spiritually from this spacious hall of wooden boxes, with its whirring machines, and its army of bright-faced boys, as busy as bees over work which is evidently neither cheerless nor irksome to them, to regions thousands of miles away from PORT SUNLIGHT, and in seeing in his mind's eye, Horatio stacks of deal packing cases, inscribed " SUNLIGHT SOAP : LEVER BROS., LTD.," piled on the Circular Quay at Sydney ; or ranged in the warehouse of some storekeeper who sells everything, " from a needle to an anchor," at Melbourne or at Adelaide, at Brisbane or at Auckland. Farther still, in the New Zealand Bush ; in Indian cantonments : on Texan ranches ; in Canadian homesteads, that same mind's eye may descry packing-cases bearing the imprint of SUNLIGHT SOAP. Another department well worthy of attention is the Stamping Room, in which the operatives, numbering some three hundred, under adult overseers, are boys and girls ; the lads working the Stamping Machines, two boys to each machine, and Soap Stamping. taking quarter-of -an-hour interval turns the lasses wrapping up the tablets of soap in sheets of printed tissue paper, and placing them carefully in the card-boxes, three tablets'- to each box. The tissue-paper wrappers contain matter printed in a whole bevy of different languages. Taking as a Leitmotif the pertinent question, (23) THE HOME OF SUNLIGHT SOAP. " WHY DOES A WOMAN LOOK OLD SOONER THAN A MAN ? " the query is repeated in more tongues than even that Prince of Polyglottists, Dr. Ollendorf , ever dreamt of. Sunlight Soap, Jabon Luz del Sol, Sunlight Sapone, Sunlight Saron, Sunlight Seife, Sunlight adapted to the comprehension of Frenchmen, Dutchmen, Danes, Swedes, Germans, Italians, Spaniards, Russians, and a host of other nationalities, meets the eye on these exceptionally educational papyri. When the stamped and tissue-wrapped tablets have been duly coffined in the cardboard boxes, they are packed in their final wooden caskets, and travel either to the Wharf, there to be shipped to the homes both of the rising and the setting sun, or to the warehouse, whence, as occasion requires, the boxes can be taken in trucks, drawn by the firm's own locomotives, to the railway siding, from which communication with the entire railway system of England and Scotland is easy. The oleographs and the show- cards can be disseminated with equal facility throughout the world ; and at PORT SUNLIGHT the incantations of the Witches in "Macbeth" are to some extent outdone, since the pictorial advertisements of SUNLIGHT SOAP become literally " Posters of the Sea and Land." Even the most cursory survey of the departments on the ground floor of the home of SUNLIGHT SOAP would be incomplete without a visit to the Engine Room, into which we pass from the Stamping Room. The primary motor in a great factory always exercises a strange fascination over me. The masses of steel and brass, all lustrous and gleaming, the nuts and screws, the bolts and rivets, and, in the midst, carefully fenced about, the Great Wheel, that gives mobility to the entire system of machinery, but which from the floor shows only half its circumfer- ence, and reminds you of some mighty lion half emergent from the mouth of his cage : all these things bewitch me as it were. Then I fall a-musing over the old story of the Russian Prince Potemkin, visiting the works of Boulton and Watt, at Soho, and with haughty flippancy asking the question, "What do you sell here?" to which old Matthew Boulton, thrusting his hands deep into the pockets of his drab smalls, cogently made answer, " We sell here, Highness, that which all the world wants Power ! " The Engine-house at PORT SUNLIGHT is 51 ft. by 20 ft., and the lofty roof is timbered with p ten pine. The pavement is tessellated in black and white mosaic; while round the walls runs a dado of deep chocolate tiles, gracefully decorated with an arabesque pattern in white. There is something almost ecclesi- astical in the aspect of this centre of motive force, with its high-pitched roof, its tiled dado, and tessellated floor : and, for a moment, one is inclined to look around for a pulpit and a lectern; but, from the brass and woodwork here, sermons, suggestive enough, but of an essentially lay nature, are preached. By this time we enter the Cooling Room, an immense apartment, in which, arranged in parallel lines, with a broad gangway running down the centre, are the " frames," 1,000 in number ; tall iron boxes without lids, and strongly barred and bound, into which the boiling soap from a room above runs through spouts to be cooled. These serried ranks of rectangular receptacles remind you at first of the "fermenting squares" in a brewery, only the "frames" in which the soap is cooling have no unpleasant fumes of potent gas; indeed, one of the most con- spicuous characteristics of the process of manufacturing SUNLIGHT SOAP is the (24) THE HOME OF SUNLIGHT SOAP. entire absence of any unpleasant odour it may be practically said of any odour at all, save a vaguely delicate perfume of verbena, or of lavender, judiciously em- ployed in scenting the soap. When the mass has become sufficiently hardened, the bars and bolts are removed, the sides of the frames are taken down, and the great square masses of soap stand revealed, looking for all the world like so many cubes cut from some colossal Gruyere cheese, minus the holes which perforate the caseous product The cooled SUNLIGHT SOAP presents a beautifully even and smooth appearance. The huge blocks of soap are not allowed to remain long intact after they have become thoroughly cold. Workmen attack the cubes with a portable guillotine-like apparatus, which cuts the cubes into slabs weighing about seventy pounds each; and the slabs are again sliced this time horizontally into bars, Soap-Boiling Room. which are stacked " herring bone " or " criss-cross" fashion, just as logs of timber are stacked in an Indian dockyard. Only, in India, the log-ranging is done by elephants, which, though they do not come to the pay-table on Saturday, are somewhat expensive " hands " to feed. Eventually these creamy, cheesy-looking bars of soap will be conveyed to the room already described, where the youths who preside over the Stamping Machines will divide the bars into tablets, and impress them with their dies, and then stamp, and speed them on their way to be wrapped, packed, (25) THE HOME OF SUNLIGHT SOAP. labelled, boxed, and branded, and at last shipped or carted off, to find their way to toilet-stands, store-closets, kitchens, and nurseries, from Pall Mall and Paris to Peru and Pekin, and from Bass's Straits to those of Ben ring. On the same floor as the Cooling Room is a spacious Warehouse, but, abundant as was the quantity of SUNLIGHT SOAP seen, I was informed that it did not represent more than a two hours' stock : with such despatch is the merchandise transferred to the Wharf. Leaving the Warehouse, a further ascent is made by a lift to the next or top floor, where is found the Actual Soap Boiling Room a vast expanse of workroom, containing twenty-seven vats, each 14 feet in height, in breadth, and in depth, and each capable of holding 60 tons of raw material. Naturally, there is rather a high temperature, and a general steaminess of a mild Turkish bath order in this prodigious boiling house ; but again you are struck by the utter absence of any oppressive odour. As for the appearance of the masses of liquid soap, bubbling and surging, eddying and rippling, hissing and steaming in the vats, one has an embarras de richesse in seeking for a simile to which to liken these furiously seething cauldrons. A lady learned in culinary lore might opine that the mixture in each vat, boiling " thick and slab," reminded her now of a pond full of piping hot custard, "just on the turn;" or, when a slight crust forms momentarily on the liquid of a not yet " done " Yorkshire pudding ; while the youthful student of fairy tales might recall another pudding a hasty one im- mortalised in the history of " Jack the Giant Killer." '' Bidding adieu to the cauldrons and their fiercely bubbling contents, it is somewhat a relief to a visitor, whose leisure hours are not exclusively passed by the side of a soap-boiling vat or a mashtub, a sugar bakery, a bullion refiner's furnace, or a steam laundry, to descend by means of the lift to the ground floor, and thence to emerge into the open. The much-boiled soap is ultimately cooled; and why should not the partially steamed spectator be likewise subjected to the process of cooling not by incarceration in a "frame," but by the gentle influence of the atmospheric air? Immediately adjoining the Works, are observed large numbers of casks and cases, containing, no doubt, the various oleaginous or adipose materials, which were to become the ingredients of SUNLIGHT SOAP, and in process of time the Wharf of PORT SUNLIGHT was reached. The tide being low, bluff skippers and tars were waiting for the flow to be able to get out to the Mersey ; but cranes were at work busily loading steamers, sailing vessels, barges, and lighters with countless cases of SUNLIGHT SOAP. There was soap to right and soap to left, soap in front and soap behind, not by any means " volleying and thundering," but peacefully descending on to decks, and into holds enough soap, one would think, to wash all the natives of Darkest Africa white, were it not that the Ethiop has as constitutional an incapacity to change his skin as the leopard has to change his spots ! Quitting the wharf, and while returning to the Office, a brief visit was paid to the Boiler Shed, where there are eight " Galloway " boilers, fitted with automatic stokers, and thus consuming their own smoke. Next, a glimpse was snatched of the headquarters of the Electric Light, an apartment of dimensions and decor- ' (26) THE HOME OF SUNLIGHT SOAP. ations similar to those of the Engine Room. The Glycerine Department was then surveyed. Here glycerine is recovered from the leys of the soap, and the " recovery" plant maintained at PORT SUNLIGHT is known to be the largest in the world. The annexes to the works are now left, and the patient pilgrim to the shrine of " SUNLIGHT "and " SOAP "re-enters the main building, and finds two large and handsome rooms devoted to the purpose of a Laboratory. The Office. ^fc^ Every one of the raw materials used in the manufacture of the soap, in its various stages of preparation, is exhaustively analysed and tested in this studio of Science ; and the- soap itself, as a completed article, is subjected to a second analysis as careful as the first one, in order to provide against the possible intrusion of any impurities into the product, either in the early or the latest periods of its fabrication. In bringing to a conclusion this brief sketch of the Home of SUNLIGHT SOAP, it is expedient to state that it was in January, 1886, that Messrs. LEVER BROTHERS commenced the manufacture of soap in works having a total capacity for turning out only twenty tons of soap per week. In June o" the same year the factory was enlarged to a weekly capacity of ninety tons ; and in November to a capacity of 270 tons per week. By June, 1887, the soap-making capacity of the works had increased to 450 tons a week the maximum of production then possible. But in February, 1888, the firm acquired fifty-five acres of land on the Cheshire side of the River Mersey, named the site "PORT SUNLIGHT," and began the erection of a factory with an aggregate capacity for the production of 800 tons per week. Obviously, the colossal developement within a period of less than five years of an industry of which the beginnings were so modest, but which has now become one of the most important manufactories of the Kingdom, could not have been accomplished without the (27) THE HOME OF SUNLIGHT SOAP. bringing to bear on every departmentexternal as well as internal of the under- taking, untiring energy, and unflagging perseverance on the part of the firm. In particular they have availed themselves to the fullest extent of the natural facilities for communication with which the site which they have chosen abounds. From their wharf they have water communication with the Liverpool, Birkenhead, and Garston Docks ; with the chemical works at Widnes, St. Helens, and Runcorn ; the salt works at North wich; and the Manchester Ship Canal, with other inland water-ways. It must be understood that Messrs. LEVER not only send out vast quantities of SUNLIGHT SOAP, but also bring into their works quantities as immense of the Laboratory. substances which they require for their manufacture, since it stands to reason that, as beer cannot be brewed ^ ithout malt and hops, soap cannot be produced without fats, alkalies, and other cognate ingredients. Altogether the firm have to deal with an outward and inward traffic in raw and manufactured material ranging between 60,000 and 80,000 tons per annum. This enormous yearly traffic, the result of the popularity which their SUNLIGHT SOAP has attained throughout the world, has made it indispensable to the firm to extend the ramifications of its business in branch houses and agencies on the Continent and in the Colonies : and such branches have been established at Rotterdam, Brussels, Sydney, Toronto, Paris, Naples, Lisbon, Montreal, Hamburg, Lausanne, Cairo, Cape Colony, Malta, Christiania, New Zealand, and elsewhere. THE HOME OF SUNLIGHT SOAP. It is obvious that a business of which the ramifications are so extensive as is the case with SUNLIGHT SOAP demands a metropolitan centre for the conduct of operations connected with the home distribution and the transmission abroad of a commodity the public demand for which is increasing every day, literally, by leaps and bounds. Consequently, Messrs. LEVEE have at Paul's Wharf, Upper Thames- Paul's Wharf, London. street, E.G., spacious and commodious premises, comprising counting-houses, private offices, and warehouses, in which are stored with noticeable regularity and symmetry the boxes of SUNLIGHT SOAP which have been brought by sea direct from POET SUNLIGHT. Steamers and barges are continually unloading at the wharf ; but with the Saponaceous guests it is a case of " welcome and farewell ;" for THE HOME OF SUNLIGHT SOAP. all day long, wagons and carts are waiting in and departing from the street with loads of SUNLIGHT SOAP to be distributed within the firm's radius of delivery, extending to about twenty miles in every direction, or over a thousand square miles so enormous is the area covered by London and suburbs. Evening at the Gladstone Hall. As regards the SUNLIGHT SOAP itself, the manufacturers claim and their claim has never been disputed that their commodity is produced from the choicest and most carefully selected materials ; that uncombined alkali is altogether absent from it; that it is equally devoid of artificial colouring matter ; that its percentage of water is low; that it possesses high detergent qualities and the property of lathering freely in hard or soft water, and that it is free from fatty acids or unsaponified fats. These shining merits have been vouched fcr in numerous detailed reports made by eminent physicians and public analysts ; they have been honoured by the award of gold and silver medals to SUNLIGHT SOAP by juries at at a large number of exhibitions at home and abroad, from Paris to Australia and Canada and last but not least, the excellence and purity of SUNLIGHT SOAP have triumphantly undergone the severest and surest of all tests the favourable criticism of the public at large, who, from one end of the world to the other, have used, are using, and will continue to use a commodity in the preparation of which no pains have been spared, and which is universally accepted as the very best of its kind. SUNLIGHT SOAP WORKS RECENT EXTENSIONS AND DEVELOPMENTS. T HE sterling excellence of SUNLIGHT SOAP and the sound business methods employed to make its merits widely known, have created a demand apparently insatiable. In the short interval which has elapsed since Mr. Sala's remarks were penned, many costly extensions of buildings and plant at Port Sunlight have become imperative, and have been either completed or commenced. As an instance, the main buildings, when extensions now in hand are completed, will cover over ten acres, instead of the four acres they occupied two years ago. The soap-boiling plant has been more than doubled, large additions have been made to the cooling frames, and, not to mention minor expansions in many directions, the new departments include a huge glycerine refinery, and a mammoth alkali plant for Messrs. Lever Brothers, Limited, determined to be independent of outside supplies for this indispensable item of soap-making material. The Analysts now carry on their important work in new and spacious labora- tories, commensurate with their added responsibilities and duties. The rapid development of the Printing Department has necessitated its division from the Card-Box Department, and the former is now housed in a printing-room of noble dimensions, accommodating no less than fourteen printing machines. The latest addition to the number is a " Derriey " rotary machine, for printing at one operation two colours upon each side of a sheet of paper, at the rate of 12,000 completed sheets, size 25 in. by 40 in., per hour, and is a veritable triumph of the machine-builder's art. These various giant strides have called for the laying-down of a new range of Galloway boilers, and the " eight " of Mr. Sala's visit have now increased to sixteen. The counting-house now requires a staff of fifty clerks ; the hands employed number upwards of a thousand, and these facts, when mentioned in conjunction with a soap-making capacity of 1,COO tons per week, are object-lessons which will bring vividly before the render's mind the colossal scale of the operations at the SUNLIGHT SOAP Works. (31) SUNLIGHT SOAP WORKS EXTENSIONS. Messrs. Lever, intent on seeing their workers well housed around them, have largely added, and are still adding, to the workmen's dwellings at Port Sunlight, which now number ninety-six, and are occupied by eager tenants as fast as they leave the builders' hands. Within a stone's throw of the SUNLIGHT SOAP Works, Messrs. Lever have built and equipped, and maintain for the free use of their employes, a handsome and commodious Recreation and Dining Hall, capable of accommodating 1,000 people. The "Gladstone Hall," as it is named, was formally opened by the illustrious and honoured statesman whose name it bears, at a befitting celebration, on November 28th, 1891. Accounts of the proceedings on this interesting occasion appeared in the press at the time. Adjoining the Hall are spacious and well-appointed cooking kitchens, and other subsidiary apartments, including a Library and Reading-room. At meal-times, crowds of work-people may be observed, hastening towards the Hall ; while in the long winter evenings, still larger numbers may be seen wending their way there, for the enjoyment of " food for the mind," in the shape of lectures, concerts, dramatic and other entertainments. The provision for their workpeople of healthy and sightly homes, at lower rentals than insanitary dwellings elsewhere, and of the means of wholesome recreation near those homes, have been Messrs. Lever's demonstration of a form of profit-sharing by their employes, free from the objections to which most other profit-sharing schemes are open. It is pleasant to be able to record Messrs. Lever's unhesitating opinion, that these efforts on their part to foster a common interest between themselves and those they employ, have had the happiest effect upon the esprit de corps of their rank and file. The Manufacturers of SUNLIGHT SOAP have had the honor to be appointed by Special Royal Warrant SOAPMAKERS TO HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN. LEVER BROS., LIMITED, SOAP MANUFACTURERS, Port Sunlight, Nr. BIRKEiNHEAD, ENGLAND. EXHIBITION AWARDS. GOLD MEDAL, PARIS, 1889. GOLD MEDAL GOLD MEDAL GOLD MEDAL GOLD MEDAL GOLD MEDAL GOLD MEDAL GOLD MEDAL GOLD MEDAL GOLD MEDAL GOLD MEDAL GOLD MEDAL HIGHEST AWARD DIPLOMA OF HONOUR . FIRST ORDER OF MERIT FIRST PRIZE (Certificate* SILVER MEDAL , BRONZE MEDAL . Edinburgh Jamaica, Ottawa, . . London. Canada, Kingston, Canada, Brantford, Canada, Ki.nberley, Ghent, Cardiff, Brighton .. isle of Man . . London, Canada, Ottawa, New Zealand, Sydney, Saltaire, Liverpool, 1890 1891 1889 1892 1892 1892 1892 1889 1888 1889 1892 1891 189O 1889 1890 1887 1886 APPOINTED BY SPECIAL ROYAL WARRANT SOAPMAKERS TO HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN.