THROUGH THE ARCHIVES: Thousands flocks to Botanic Gardens to watch firework display
From the News Letter, September 2, 1885
The Botanic Gardens had been crowded by thousands of people the previous night, reported the News Letter on this day in 1885. The crowds had flocked to the gardens to watch a spectacular fireworks display.
The News Letter correspondent wrote: “The gardens were iIIuminated in a really charming manner by thousands and Japanese latterns.”
The ‘illuminations’ were under the supervision of Mr James Pain of London, “best known” pyrotechnician in the British Isles in the 1880s.
Of the Botanic Gardens it was noted that: “There is hardly a spot in the three kingdoms which lends itself with greater adaptability to picturesque illumination than the Botanic Gardens, and the resources of the place have seldom, if ever, been used to greater advantage than last night.”
Earlier in the day the weather had threatened to “destroy the whole undertaking” but cleared up in a “satisfactory manner” as the evening moved in, it was noted that “the temperature was not low enough to frighten the ladies from attending”.
Before the fireworks lit up the south Belfast skies those who had gathered in the gardens were treated to music by the Royal Innskilling Fusiliers under the instruction of Mr Charles McLaren.
The music played by the band included a number of “well chosen” selections including the overture to Schubert’s Rosamunde.
But the centre piece of the night’s entertainment was “a well arranged” performance entitled The Storming of Peking during which the fireworks and lanterns were launched into the Belfast skies to the awe of those who stood below the spectacle.