The Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886 was a very substantial exhibition held in South Kensington

South Kensington

South Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. It is a built-up area located 2.4 miles west south-west of Charing Cross....

 in London, and intended (in the words of the then Prince of Wales

Edward VII of the United Kingdom

Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...

) "to stimulate commerce and strengthen the bonds of union now existing in every portion of her Majesty's Empire". It was housed in a collection of purpose-built buildings designed in an Indian style; the Jaipur Gate built for the exhibition is now in a museum in Hove

Hove

Hove is a town on the south coast of England, immediately to the west of its larger neighbour Brighton, with which it forms the unitary authority Brighton and Hove. It forms a single conurbation together with Brighton and some smaller towns and villages running along the coast...

 .

Several dozen Indians were imported, reputedly from Agra

Agra

Agra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...

 jail , to serve as living exhibits; they were described as artisans, it appears that they were trained in their crafts as part of the British Empire's long-term project to 'reform the criminal castes'.