Judit Kiraly shares an interesting snippet from the "Anglo-American Gazette of 12th March 1894"

Every year mid-March there used to be a flower service in the church of Holy Trinity; in 1894 the service was conducted by the Reverend John Frère Langford who was quite a remarkable man, an excellent amateur photographer and a favourite of Queen Victoria.

Ladies would bring flowers to Holy Trinity from their own gardens, then these flowers would be packed up and sent by train to London hospitals to cheer up patients there. The organisation of this was completed by the Thomas Cook transport service and partly financed by American Express.  

This enterprise would not be possible today because of shipping costs and various regulations, but the idea is wonderful. It’s quite amusing that this service was not only charitable but also had additional promotional value for Nice. Firstly, to show off the variety of flowers and secondly, to offer proof that the weather was much warmer and sunnier here in March than in London. The flower service continued up until the First World War. 

The photos below dated 12 March 1894 are of the news that was posted in the Anglo-American Gazette, which was one of the two English language newspapers in Nice at that time.