Robert George Murduck

Photograph No. 0021

Queen Alexandra Rose Day

The Strand, Exmouth

24 June 1914

Murduck Photo No. 0021 - Queen Alexandra Rose Day, Exmouth, 1914

The first Queen Alexandra Rose Day took place in London, England, in June, 1912. The initial occasion was promoted as a fiftieth anniversary celebration of Princess Alexandra of Denmark's arrival in England on the 7th of March, 1863, just three days prior to her marriage to the then Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII). Queen Alexandra developed the idea that any celebration of her arrival should benefit London hospitals through the sales of artificial wild roses. These artificial roses were to be made by young women and girls with disabilities who were housed at the John Groom Industrial Training Home. The first Queen Alexandra Rose Day in London was a run-away success, and Rose Days continue today across England, raising funds for charities that "do not normally get national attention for fundraising". The enterprise is guided today by "Alexandra Rose Charities", and the Prime Minister is traditionally the one to launch each year's campaign "by being the first to buy a rose". For more information, see <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Rose_Day>.

The above photograph appears to be a photograph mounted to card stock, not a postcard. It shows the Queen Alexandra Rose Day station at The Strand in Exmouth, on 24 June 1914 [Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 25 June 1914, Page 2]. This station was under the charge of Mrs. J. G. Matthews, Mrs. Sewell, and Mrs Bickford. There were also stations at the train station; at the Post Office; at the Sea Front; at The Beacon; at Withycombe and at Littleham; on the Exeter Road; and at various prominent houses and boats on the sea shore. A 'confetti fete' took place later in the evening at the Esplanade, with the Exmouth Town Band in attendance. It was reported in The Western Times on 14 July 1914 [Exeter, Page 2], that "as a result of the first observance of Queen Alexandra's Rose Day in Exmouth", £40.00 had been raised, and the Exmouth Cottage Hospital and the Exmouth District Nursing Association had each benefited from gifts of £20.00. Note that this was just a few weeks before war was declared against Germany on 4 August 1914!

The above phototgraph shows the front of Thorn Brothers' Bakery & Confectionery store on the left, at No. 10, The Strand (they had been there from about 1895). The Thorn bakery was adjacent to the Temperance Hotel, on the viewer's right.

Alexandra Rose Day events took place in Exmouth regularly through to at least 1940.

The above photograph shows no particular attribution that Robert George Murduck was the photographer. But it is apparently so established by information said to have been written on the reverse side. Murduck's studio was just a short distance away, at No. 34, The Strand. This particular photograph can be found in a collection of local photographs which is held at the Exmouth Public Library [Catalogue Reference: EXM10150, Large Box 12, DVD 50]. The Library's cataloguing notation indicates that this photograph was taken in 1912, but this is obviously incorrect, because the first event in Exmouth was held in June, 1914. The Library's cataloguing identifies Robert G Murduck as the photographer, and notes that "Some of the people in the photograph are identified on verso". Unfortunately, this photograph was pasted to cardstock prior to acquisition by the Exmouth Library, and no indication of who these named people might have been can be discerned today.