The Festival of Empire or Festival of the Empire was held at The Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1911, to celebrate the coronation

Coronation

A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...

 of King George V

George V of the United Kingdom

George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....

. It opened on 12 May.

Exhibition

Exhibitions of products from the countries of the Empire were displayed in three-quarter size models of their Parliamentary buildings erected in the grounds.

Pageant

A pageant dramatising the history of London, England and the Empire was held. Frank Bridge

Frank Bridge

Frank Bridge was an English composer and violist.-Life:Bridge was born in Brighton and studied at the Royal College of Music in London from 1899 to 1903 under Charles Villiers Stanford and others...

 wrote incidental music for a portion of the Pageant: The Pageant of London for military band and male chorus, H.98 (1911).

Inter-Empire Championships

As part of the festival, an Inter-Empire sports championship was held in which teams from Australasia (a combined team from Australia and New Zealand), Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom competed in five athletics events (100 yards, 220 yards, 880 yards, 1 mile and 120 yards hurdles), two swimming events (100 yards and 1 mile), heavyweight boxing and middleweight wrestling. This is regarded as a forerunner of the British Empire Games (now Commonwealth Games

Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....

), held from 1930

1930 British Empire Games

The 1930 British Empire Games were the first of what later become known as the Commonwealth Games, and were held in Hamilton, in the province of Ontario in Canada from August 16–23, 1930....

.

Competitors included Harold Hardwick

Harold Hardwick

Harold Hampton Hardwick was a versatile Australian sports star of the early 20th century - an Olympic gold-medal swimmer, national heavyweight boxing champion and a state representative rugby union player...

 (from Australia), Malcolm Champion

Malcolm Champion

Malcolm Eadie Champion was New Zealand's first Olympic gold medallist, and the first swimmer to represent New Zealand at an Olympic Games...

 (from New Zealand) and John Tait

John Tait (athlete)

John Tait was a Canadian athlete. Known as Canada's "Boy Wonder", he competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London and the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. He was born in Toronto, Ontario.In 1908, at just 19 years of age, Tait won his first round heat of the 1500 metres with a time of 4:12.2...

(from Canada).

External links

• Souvenir book, digitized
• A 1911 postcard
• Another 1911 postcard
• History of the Commonwealth Games, from the Commonwealth Games Council for England
• History of the Commonwealth Games from 1911, from the Australian Commonwealth Games Association
• Medallists at the 1911 Games (at top of page)
• Article on the Empire Games, mentioning events held in 1911