Construction began in March 1894 at the works of Maudslay, Sons and Field in Greenwich[1][2] and it opened to the public on 17 July 1895.

[3] Modelled on the original Ferris Wheel which featured at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, US, it was 94 metres (308 ft) tall[4] and 82.3 metres (270 ft) in diameter.

[8] It stayed in service until 1906, by which time its 40 cars (each with a capacity of 30 persons) had carried over 2.5 million passengers.

It was demolished in 1907[9] following its last use with the Imperial Austrian Exhibition[10] of 1906 as it was no longer profitable to run.

For other quiescent (incomplete, delayed, stalled, cancelled, failed, or abandoned) proposals, see: Ferris wheel#Quiescent proposals