Editing Ice skating (section)

===Rising popularity and first clubs===
[[File:Reverend Robert Walker (1755 - 1808) Skating on Duddingston Loch.jpg|thumb|''[[The Skating Minister]]'' by [[Henry Raeburn]], depicting a member of the [[Edinburgh Skating Club]] in the 1790s|208x208px]]
In England "the London boys" had improvised butcher's bones as skates since the 12th century.  Skating on metal skates seems to have arrived in England at the same time as the [[garden canal]], with the [[English Restoration]] in 1660, after the king and court returned from an exile largely spent in the Netherlands.  In London the ornamental "canal" in  [[St James's Park]] was the main centre until the 19th century.  Both [[Samuel Pepys]] and [[John Evelyn]], the two leading diarists of the day, saw it on the "new canal" there on 1 December 1662, the first time Pepys had ever seen it ("a very pretty art").  Then it was "performed before their Majesties and others, by diverse gentlemen and others, with scheets after the manner of the Hollanders".  Two weeks later, on 15 December 1662, Pepys accompanied the Duke of York, later King [[James II of England|James II]], on a skating outing: "To the Duke, and followed him in the Park, when, though the ice was broken, he would go slide upon his skates, which I did not like; but he slides very well."   In 1711 [[Jonathan Swift]] still thinks the sport might be unfamiliar to [[Esther Johnson|his "Stella"]], writing to her: "Delicate walking weather; and the Canal and Rosamund's Pond full of the rabble and with skates, ''if you know what that is''."<ref>[[Jacob Larwood|Larwood, Jacob]], ''St. James's Park'', Vol. 2 of ''The Story of the London Parks'', 118-119, 1872, Hotwood, [https://books.google.com/books?id=pxEHAAAAQAAJ&dq=skating+St+James's+Park+canal&pg=PA118 google books] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413055955/https://books.google.com/books?id=pxEHAAAAQAAJ&dq=skating+St+James%27s+Park+canal&pg=PA118 |date=13 April 2023 }}.  Larwood notes that  Rosamund's Pond was also in St James's Park, see pp. 85 (map), 87.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Adams |first=Mary Louise |title=The manly history of a 'girls' sport': Gender, class and the development of nineteenth-century figure skating |journal=International Journal of the History of Sport |year=2007 |volume=24 |issue=7 |pages=872–838 |doi=10.1080/09523360701311752 |s2cid=143833638 |via=Taylor & Francis}}</ref>

The first organised [[figure skating club|skating club]] was the [[Edinburgh Skating Club]], formed in the 1740s; some claim the club was established as early as 1642.<ref name="skating">"In The Beginning...", ''Skating'' magazine, Jun 1970</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iceskating.org.uk/about-ice-skating |title=A Brief History of Ice and the National Ice Skating Association of Great Britain |last=Bird |first=Denis L. |publisher=[[British Ice Skating|NISA]] |access-date=28 October 2014 |archive-date=5 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005170117/https://www.iceskating.org.uk/about-ice-skating |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/figure-skating |title=Figure Skating |date=2011 |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |access-date=15 July 2021 |archive-date=26 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726173625/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/figure-skating |url-status=live }}</ref>[[File:Adam van Breen, Skating on the Frozen Amstel River, 1611, NGA 150754.jpg|thumb|Adam van Breen, ''Skating on the Frozen Amstel River'', 1611, [[National Gallery of Art]]|201x201px|left]]An early contemporary reference to the club appeared in the second edition (1783) of the [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]:

{{Blockquote|The metropolis of Scotland has produced more instances of elegant skaters than perhaps any country whatever: and the institution of a skating club about 40 years ago has contributed not a little to the improvement of this elegant amusement.<ref name="skating"/>}}[[File:Z zabawy na lodzie odbytej d. 26 lutego r. b. - Rysował C. Jankowski (59016).jpg|thumb|Ice skating party in [[Warsaw]] in the 1880s|235x235px]]From this description and others, it is apparent that the form of skating practiced by club members was indeed an early form of [[figure skating]] rather than [[speed skating]]. For admission to the club, candidates had to pass a skating test where they performed a complete circle on either foot (e.g., a [[compulsory figures|figure eight]]), and then jumped over first one hat, then two and three, placed over each other on the ice.<ref name="skating" />

On the [[Continental Europe|Continent]], participation in ice skating was limited to members of the upper classes. Emperor [[Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor|Rudolf II]] of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] enjoyed ice skating so much, he had a large ice carnival constructed in his court in order to popularise the sport. King [[Louis XVI]] of France brought ice skating to [[Paris]] during his reign. [[Madame de Pompadour]], [[Napoleon I]], [[Napoleon III]], and the [[House of Stuart]] were, among others, royal and upper-class fans of ice skating.

The next skating club to be established was in [[London]] and was not founded until 1830.<ref name="skating"/> Members wore a silver skate hanging from their buttonhole and met on The Serpentine, [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]] on 27 December 1830.<ref>{{cite news|title= Skaiting Club|newspaper= Bristol Mirror|date= 1 January 1831|page= 1}}</ref>
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, [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]], through a series of ice skating trips.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.followthebrownsigns.com/ice-skating/ |title=Ice Skating |website=followthebrownsigns.com |access-date=28 October 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141028155237/http://www.followthebrownsigns.com/ice-skating/ |archive-date=28 October 2014}}</ref> Albert continued to skate after their marriage and on falling through the ice was once rescued by Victoria and a lady in waiting from a stretch of water in the grounds of [[Buckingham Palace]].<ref>{{cite news|title= British News|newspaper= The Atlas |date= 13 February 1841|page= 5}}</ref>

[[File:Glaciarium Ice Rink.jpg|thumb|left|Interior of the [[Glaciarium]] in 1876|200x200px]]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."
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