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Tales of the Unexpected in the British Newspaper Archive by Ed King. Presentation given at the Europeana Newspapers Information Day, held at the British Library on 9 June 2014.
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Tales of the Unexpected in the British Newspaper Archive
Ed King [email protected]
@embk11
Europeana Newspapers UK Information Day, British Library, 9 June 2014
Chester Chronicle - Saturday 20 March 1852 p. 2 col. 1.
Edgar Allen Poe
Tales of Mystery
All mages from British newspapers in the presentation are provided by the British
Newspaper Archive http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
Copyright exists in all images.
D
Tales of the Unexpected in the BNA
• British newspapers contain a myriad of subjects
• Local newspapers now online reveal the true depth of subjects covered and the reach into all parts of the UK
• Some texts of your historical subject will be printed in a newspaper
What you would expect to find in newspapers
- Politics
- Trade
- Agriculture
- Ships/ shipping
- Railways
- War reports
- Markets
- Local affairs
- BMD
- Letters
- Editorials
What you would expect to find in newspapers
- Politics
- Trade
- Agriculture
- Ships/ shipping
- Railways
- War reports
- Markets
- Local affairs
- BMD
- Letters
- Editorials
What you would expect to find in newspapers
- Politics
- Trade
- Agriculture
- Ships/ shipping
- Railways
- War reports
- Markets
- Local affairs
- BMD
- Letters
- Editorials
Advertisements
‘Bovril’
Yorkshire Evening Post - Friday 24 December 1926 p. 5.
‘Black Cat’
(Dundee) Evening Telegraph - Thursday 14 October 1915
Less expected:
Local/ county newspapers contain new for all other parts of the UK
‘Union Bridge of Suspension over the Tweed, near Berwick.’
Royal Cornwall Gazette - Saturday 19 August 1820 p. 4 col. 2
The Southampton Tragedy
Aberdeen Evening Express - Monday 25 July 1887 p. 3 col. 3
Poetry:
Large quantity is unexpected.
Stamford Mercury
Thurs 09 Dec
1736 p. 3 cols 1-2.
Musical interest
Leopold Mozart’s visit to London, April 1764- July 1765, with his children Maria Anna and Wolfgang Amadeus.
Oxford Journal - Saturday 23 February 1765 p. 3 col. 1.
“One Wolfgang Mozart, a German Boy, of about eight years old, is arrived here, who can play upon various sorts of instruments of Music, in Concert, or Solo, and can compose Music surprisingly; so that he may be reckoned a Wonder at his Age.”
Early Cartoons
The Odd Fellow - Saturday 30 April 1842 p. 1.
Illustration by William Newman. (Illustrator for Punch , in its early years).
Celebrity
An early (and exceptional) portrait and life of Jenny Lind.
Hereford Journal - Wednesday 28 July 1847 p. 5. cols. 3-6.
Railway mania.
An early map of the railway network.
Carlisle Journal - Saturday 11 January 1845 p. 3 col. 2-5.
Pulhamite was a patented
anthropic rock 'material' invented by James Pulham (1820–98) of the firm James Pulham and Son of Broxbourne.
Pulhamite, which usually looked like gritty sandstone, was used to join natural rocks together or crafted to simulate natural stone features.
1. Image of restored water garden at Wadddesdon. Use of Pulhamite.
http://www.waddesdon.org.uk/gardens/explore-the-gardens/water_garden
2. In the Nottinghamshire Guardian – Friday 21 July 1876 (p.10. col.4), there is a description of recent work by Pulham in Clifton Hall Gardens:
“Facing the fountain in the centre of the house [i.e. the recently erected conservatory, which was …feet long ] there is a recess in the back wall. This is beautifully arranged in a natural-like style of rockwork by Messrs. Pulham and Son, Broxborne, Herts. In the cavities of this rockery there are many hardy Ferns growing luxuriantly…”
The imaginative, and fantastical side of phrenology
The phrenological head of Charles Peace, the burglar.
Illustrated Police News - Sat 22 February 1879 p. 1.
Phrenology popular in the 19th century.
The serious side of the pseudoscience, Professor Pepper was a Member of the British Phrenological Society.
Dover Express - Friday 04 September 1936 p. 5 col. 2.
A long article about the merits/ disadvantages of gas vs. electricity for street lighting. And a reproduction of Sugg’s patent lantern for improved gas lighting.
Glasgow Herald - Monday 03 March 1879 p. 4 col. 5.
Lamplighters
The ascendency of electricity for street lighting appears complete by the late 1940s. The photograph in the Hull Mail of 6th March 1948, p.3 cols. 3-5, shows the staff and guests at the ball organised by the Insular Electric Lamp Works Ltd.
In acknowledgement of their origins, “Lamplighters Ball” remains the title of the event.
Ladies Fashions
Quite early use of engravings across three columns of the page. Same engraving, published a day apart.
Coventry Herald - Friday 08 May 1840 p. 4.
(Below)
Leeds Intelligencer - Saturday 09 May 1840 p. 6.
Early use of the electrotype which came into use in 1839(?)
Famous literary figures
Anthony Trollope’s letter to the Editor of the Examiner on ‘The Real State of Ireland’.
The Examiner - Saturday 06 April 1850
Reports of Local Associations
‘Sketches of Hampshire’ by Henry Moody.
Hampshire Advertiser - Saturday 27 September 1845 p.7. col. 3
Today, these reports are almost entirely absent from local newspapers.
Local Archeological Association for Bucks
Bucks Herald - Saturday 12 May 1849
19th century popular culture
‘Adulterated Flour in Staffordshire. ‘
Ballad entitled: ‘Copeland’s Magic Plaster’
Chorus:
O there’s a way found out at last,
To thin the people faster,
All other schemes are not surpassed,
By Copeland’s Magic Plaster.’
Morning Chronicle - Thursday 23 September 1841
Victorian Popular music
Titles of songs and brief review of each.
Love smiles but to deceive.
Sleep, my baby sleep.
We are Fairies of the Sea.
Floating on the Wave.
The Soldier returns to his Home once more.
The Era - Sunday 27 July 1856
p. 10 col. 1
Music Hall chromolithograph sheet music covers. Drawn by Alfred Concanen Alfred Concanen and T W Lee worked together to produce many sheet music illustrations, Concanen was responsible for the figures and pictures and Lee generally worked on the lettering. Many songs were produced for Harry Clifton (1832-72). He was one of the great stars of the early years of the Music Hall. Here he is wearing a riding outfit and holds a whip in his left hand. With his right hand he is raising his hat to a woman in a blue dress. In the background is the 1862 Exhibition building. The Era - Sunday 15 February 1863 p. 10. col. 1. “ ‘The Dark Girl in Blue’ is better in the streets than upon the stage of our Music Halls.”
Scientific invention celebrated
Dinner for Professor Morse ‘the inventor of the American system of telegraphing’.
Morning Chronicle - Friday 10 October 1856 p. 5. cols. 3-5.
Oddities/ Bizarre
The bite of a cat – 199565 articles found.
The death from the bite of a cat in Illustrated Police News – Sat. 22 October 1870 p. 1.
The precursor of photo-journalism.
A Prussian siege battery before Paris.
The Graphic - Saturday 11 February 1871
Dundee Courier - Monday 21 June 1909 p. 5 cols. 4-5.
Early action photograph of Houdini.
Many maps in newspapers
Map of Devon
“This map shows the places in Devon in which ‘Gazette’ Agents reside, and the points from which the Travelling Newsmen start to supply the ‘Gazette’ to the Villages, Farms, and Cottages in the Intervening Districts.”
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette - Saturday 27 December 1913
A search on ‘sewer’ and ‘illustrated’ gave the result above. Dundee Evening Telegraph - Friday 13 January 1950 p. 8. “Dick Whittington was fighting for his life in a London sewer. Dick had gone down into the sewer to recover a silver plate, which had lost there. He had been attacked by starving rats…” Rescued in the nick of time by Puss.
Serialisation of literature in newspapers
Tolstoy’s War and Peace
Moskauer Deutsche Zeitung, no. 34. 2 (14) April 1870.
Serialisation of literature in newspapers
Moskauer Deutsche Zeitung, no. 34. 2 (14) April 1870, page 3, col. 3.
“Krieg und Friede”.
An early serialisation in German of Tolstoy’s War and Peace. First published in full in Russian in 1869. First published in English in 1885/1886. Translated into German by E. Strenge, Berlin 1885/1886.
With acknowledgements to the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Newspaper Department.
Tales of the Unexpected in the BNA
• British newspapers contain a myriad of subjects
• Local newspapers now online reveal the true depth of subjects covered and the reach into all parts of the UK
• Some texts of your historical subject will be printed in a newspaper
