*RESERVED FOR JULIAN* A Very Rare Framed Invitation To Peace Festival To Mark End Of Napoleonic Wars Dated 1814
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Not many people know this and you’ll find very little information about it, but on July the 12th 1814, around 6,000 people assembled for a grand dinner on Parker’s Piece in Cambridge to mark what they thought at the time was the downfall of Napoleon and an end to the wars that had bedevilled the country for more than two decades. It was to be known as the Peace Festival.
24 enormous tables, stretching the length and breadth of Parker’s Piece, were put in place and secured with ropes. Parties from all fourteen parishes walked two by two to the tables, and were seated by one o’clock.
Dinner then commenced, which consisted of old English fare, roast and boiled beef, as well vegetables, bread, cheese, and hot plumb puddings.
The rich served the poor at the occasion, and plenty of ale and tobacco was also consumed.
But, little did they know that Napoleon would escape his captors on the island of Elba, and a year later there would be the Battle of Waterloo.’
The piece here is in fact an invitation to this largely unknown event back in 1814, which gives the handwritten name of the guest and the table number of which they were to sit. A quite incredible piece of British social history which, I should imagine, was an unforgettable experience for those of a lower class at that time, whom will have never experienced anything of the like. An opportunity to eat like a king and to be served, instead of being the server…
Condition is good, commensurate with age. So wear to the wooden frame, but good overall.
Measures 18cm x 14cm x 2cm