Painting - 'Ninth of November' 1888 by William Logsdail

The Ninth of November, 1888 by William Logsdail (1890)

The painting depicts The Lord Mayors Show procession at Bank junction, with the Royal Exchange in the centre and the old Bank of England building on the left. The procession is just passing the Mansion House (not visible on right hand side)

Logsdail used professional models as the subjects, and began by painting the policemen in position in the early morning. He later positioned himself in the middle of the traffic to draw the background architecture. The Lord Mayors coach was painted whilst the horses were harnessed up at the stables, whlist the footmen and coachmen posed wearing their liveries in his studio in Primrose Hill.

He also incorporated some his friends including the painter J W Waterhouse in a brown bowler hat. Sir James Whitehead (whose Mayoral procession it had been) bought the painting for £500, on the understanding that it was to be presented to the Guildhall Art Gallery. It was eventually sold to the Corporation after his death for £250.

Close ups of the scene showing the detail of characters: a soldier in uniform, costermongers, small child and a policeman with the three Beadles leading the procession. 

It was quite poignant that on this very morning, only a half mile or so away in Spitalfields, the body of Mary Kelly, another victim of Jack the Ripper had been found.