The days leading up to the death of Queen Victoria were an event reported closely by the international press. Hundreds of members of the press were gathered at the Isle of Wight to obtain frequent updates on her condition. The latest news was sent by telegraph wires hung especially for the occasion. Once word was out that the Queen was ill many people gathered in London near were the bulletins were announced. Queen Victoria died on January 22 1901. Within an hour the Prince of Wales, Edward the VII sent a telegram to the Lord Mayor of London to notify him of her passing. The Lord Mayor then read the news to the public. Soon after this message was received across the world.¹

The Queen's subjects in Victoria followed the condition of the Queen with close attention and considerable concern. For several days leading up to the death of Queen Victoria, the Victoria Daily Times printed updates on the Queen's health. On January 22 1901, the day the Queen died, the cover page was titled "The Queen is Dead." Much of this issue and subsequent issues were devoted to tributes to the Queen's life and death and discussion of the new King Edward VII. The Victoria Daily Times had hourly bulletins on the Queen's condition until her death at 6:55pm. The bulletins were followed by a dispatch from the Prince of Wales to the Lord Mayor. The telegram stated "my beloved mother has just passed away surrounded by here children and grandchildren."² The Victoria Daily Times expressed deepest sorrows for the loss of the Queen and stated that the death of the Queen came as a great shock to the citizens of Victoria. However, the paper noted that her time had come and that she died with her 'Queenly dignity.' The Victoria Daily Times expressing Victoria's sorrow and loyalty to the Queen wrote a tribute. An exert from the tribute stated that:

she died as she lived and she was a Royal Lady to the end. What more could the most devoted of her subjects or the most loving of her children desire…Victoria will remain fixed in the memory of her people of the present generation as the gracious, great hearted woman who was so deeply moved by the enthusiasm and the deep tenderness of her last great public reception; -by those who are to follow after us she will be remembered as a sovereign without reproach…³

The tribute concluded by stating that the Queen was "…the most loyal, the most devoted and one of the best women the mortals have ever known."⁴ In the days following the death of the Queen the Victoria Daily Times wrote many articles on the King and his accession speech as well as details of the last hours of the Queen. The city was anticipating notice of the date and details of the Queen's funeral. On February 1 1901 a column was published in the newspaper titled "Queen Victoria's Mission." The article spoke of all the wonderful accomplishments of the Queen and stated that:

Victoria did more than any sovereign that ever lived to harmonize monarchy with liberty and to make royalty more regnant than itself by its compatibility with the best results of republicanism. Personal freedom is nowhere more secure than in her Empire. The equality of all before the law is nowhere more complete.⁵

On February 2 1901 the paper devoted several pages of detailed description of the Queen's funeral in Britain and February 4 1901 described the memorial in Victoria.