Subject

The fiftieth anniversary of the accession of Queen Victoria was celebrated on Monday 20 June 1887.

In George Gissing's 1894 novel 'In the Year of Jubilee' characters discuss whether to participate in the celebrations ("...everyone is going to see the procession, or the decorations, or the illuminations, and all the rest of the nonsense.") They are impressed by the 'Crown Prince' in the morning procession and discuss the merchandising opportunities: a Jubilee Perfume, a Jubilee Drink. A group of friends go out in the evening and "sway amid the uproar". They have to "battle their way as far as Westminster Bridge" and see a brief fight between the police and drunken jubilants. "Thwacks and curses would be no rarity in another hour or two."