Props & Technology
Round Table Conference Seating Plan
This seating plan for the divisive ‘Minorities Committee’ shows how the divisions between Round Table delegates were mapped on to a conference table. The Committee had been established to deal with the ‘reservations and safeguards’ demanded by the British and Indian governments before constitutional progress could be agreed. This amounted to guaranteeing that religious and ethnic minorities would be protected, an insistence that many critics identified as classic imperial ‘divide and rule’. The orchestration of the committee table would have confirmed this interpretation. In the bottom-right sat British officials, while on the other side of the Chairman (the Prime Minster) sat Gandhi and his supporters. Hindu and Sikh delegates were on the left; labour, untouchable, Christian and women’s representatives at the top; and Muslim delegates to the right. This document comes from the papers of the Prime Minister’s Personal Secretary, FG Laithwaite, and suggests that the photographs were used to prepare him in advance for the dozens of delegates he would have to negotiate, and remember. In other sketches, Laithwaite drew lines of sight from the Prime Minister’s place on the table to the ordered list of speakers, such that he might introduce them without scouring the table for the correct name and face.
Further information:
For the minutes of this sitting of the minorities subcommittee see: https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.39486/page/n3
The King's Microphone
International ‘conferences’ can be dated back to medieval pageants (the 1520 Field of Cloth of Gold meeting of Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France) or diplomatic Congresses (Vienna, 1814-15). But scientific conferences of the 19th century set a template, orchestrating the technologies of globalisation (telegrams, post, radio). These would, in turn, communicate coverage of future international events. King George V embraced radio broadcasts, connecting the British sovereign and his global subjects. His first Christmas message was broadcast in 1932, two years after his welcome to the Round Table Conference delegates had been broadcast to the world, captured by apparatus within the King's special gold and silver microphone stand (see the Pathé Super Gazette film on its installation at the conference venue). A silver plate was engraved with each occasion the King used the apparatus, his 1930 broadcast being the ninth. The tradition was continued into the realm of King George VI, whose microphone took on a starring role in the 2010 film 'The King’s Speech'.
Further information:
For discussion of King George VI’s microphone see https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12591587
Lighting & Amplifying Westminster
In the interwar years technologies were developed that enabled the staging of the large meetings that international movements necessitated. From lecture theatre acoustics to atmospheric lighting, audio-visual technology facilitated a multisensory engagement with the spaces of internationalism. In September 1931, in honour of the International Illumination Congress, London landmarks were lit up at night, so as to 'tell the world that London still leads the world', as one journalist had it. Here we see the Royal Gallery at Westminster being fitted out with lights, speakers and microphones ahead of the inauguration of the Naval Conference of 1930, which aimed at reducing the international arming of the seas. The King's Microphone was used to record his opening speech, which was reproduced as a 78 RPM record by the His Master's Voice (HMV) label. The Prime Minister’s concluding speech of the first Round Table Conference session was filmed and shown at cinemas across Britain. Despite the Secretary of State for India’s enthusiasm for screenings in India, there was found to be little appetite for them.
Further information:
The Royal Gallery at Westminster: https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/architecture/palace-s-interiors/royal-gallery/
King George V's speech at the opening of the Naval Conference, January 21st 1930: https://youtu.be/63P4rN8sD7A