The next skating club to be established was in London and was not founded until 1830. By the mid-19th century, ice skating was a popular pastime among the British upper and middle classes—Queen Victoria became acquainted with her future husband, Prince Albert, through a series of ice skating trips —and early attempts at the construction of artificial ice rinks were made during the “rink mania” of 1841–44. As the technology for the maintenance of natural ice did not exist, these early rinks used a substitute consisting of a mixture of hog’s lard and various salts. An item in the 8 May 1844 issue of Littell’s ‘Living Age’ headed the ‘Glaciarium’ reported that “This establishment, which has been removed to Grafton street East’ Tottenham Court Road, was opened on Monday afternoon. The area of artificial ice is extremely convenient for such as may be desirous of engaging in the graceful and manly pastime of skating”.
Ice Skating Princess Coloring Pages