Building Name

First Manchester Rifle Volunteers Bazaar St James’s Hall

Date
1884
Street
St James's Hall
District/Town
Oxford Street, Manchester
County/Country
GMCA, England
Work
New Build
Status
Temporary

MILITARY FETE AND BAZAAR IN MANCHESTER – Arrangements are now completed for this event which will be held in the St James’s Hall on the 12th 13th 14th and 15th of November. The object of the bazaar is to clear off the debt on the building of the new headquarters of the 1st Manchester Rifle Volunteers. The Executive Committee, presided over by Lieutenant-Colonel Bridgeford have called in Mr Alfred Darbyshire, FRIBA, to design and superintend the execution of the artistic part of the undertaking, and he is now engaged upon the model illustrating his design of a mediaeval fortified town with an adjacent encampment, which will be seen through the city gates. The style of architecture will be French Gothic, for which the quaint old castle and town of Vitré will supply material for suggestion and picturesque treatment. The entire work will be painted by Mr Robert Pollitt from the model and from sketches made on the spot by Mr Darbyshire. The fete will be under distinguished patronage, including HRH the Duke of Cambridge, General Lord Wolseley, the Earl of Wilton (who is the honorary colonel of the regiment0, and the leading personages of the county. The names of the stallholders will shortly be announced. They will include the Countess of Wilton, who has consented to preside at the refreshment stall, which will be in a quaint half-timbered inn of the 14th century. The bazaar will be opened by the Right Hon F Stanley MP. [Manchester Guardian 2 August 1884 page 7]

THE FIRST MANCHESTER VOLUNTEERS, BAZAAR – The preparations for holding a “military bazaar” by the members of the First Manchester Rifle Volunteers are now complete, and the opening ceremony will be performed to-morrow (Tuesday) by Colonel Stanley MP, late Secretary of State for War. The bazaar, the object of which is to raise funds with which to clear off the debt on the headquarters of the corps in Stretford Road, will be held in St James’s Hall, Oxford Street, which from the designs and under the direction of Mr Darbyshire, the well-known architect, has been converted into a “fortified town,” the material for its realisation being supplied by the little town of Vitré, in Northern France. Sixteen stall have been arranged, consisting of a refreshment stall (over which the Countess of Wilton will preside), a field officers’ stall, an honorary members stall, a flower stall and twelve stalls furnished by the twelve companies of the regiment.  .. the report continues with further details of events. [Manchester Guardian 10 November 1884 page 5].

Reference    Manchester Guardian 2 August 1884 page 7
Reference    Manchester Guardian 10 November 1884 page 5