Plaque: Tower Bridge, 1894 - opening
Erection date: 30/6/1894
This Bridge was opened by HRH the Prince of Wales, KG on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, on Saturday the 30th June 1894 in the presence of HRH The Princess of Wales, HRH The Duke of York KG and other members of the Royal Family, the Right Honorable Sir George Robert Tyler, Bart., Lord Mayor.
{A list of 43 names follows: 2 Sheriffs, 1 Engineer, 8 Members of the Bridge House Estates Committee, 31 Commoners and 1 Comptroller of the Bridge House Estates. These are listed on this page at 'Created by'. Each of the Commoners is given either ‘Mr’ as a prefix or ‘Esq.’ as a suffix but never both. There must be some logic but we can’t see it and we can’t ask you to explain since we’ve removed both adjuncts as unnecessary.}
In 1894 the royal personages listed at the top of the plaque as: Prince of Wales, Princess of Wales and Duke of York, were, in simpler terms, a married couple and their eldest (surviving) son, and would, in time, become: King Edward VII, Queen Alexandra, and King George V.
Site: Tower Bridge (4 memorials)
E1, Tower Bridge
These plaques are attached to the north-west tower and also the south-east tower, all duplicated except for "opened to the public" which is only on the NW tower which forms the entrance to the exhibition. The SE tower also has the intriguing bronze plaque "The Bridge Master's Dining Room". This is part of a self-contained suite of rooms which once served as the Bridge Master’s home and is now, of course, available for hire.
Note how the spelling of 'honourable' changes between the 1894 and 1994 plaques. We don't normally retain letters after the surname but we have for the people on these plaques - they seemed so proud of their qualifications.
