Consuming Passions: Leisure and Pleasure in Victorian Britain. Judith Flanders

was determined that outside conditions should not interfere. In 1789 snow had caused a driver on the Glasgow route to spend twelve days almost entirely on the road, ‘to get the coach through on time’; he was so exhausted by this feat that he had to stay in bed for a week afterwards, but the Post Office paid for his recuperation period in order to encourage others to emulate his dedication.²¹ In a similar manner, while newspapers continued to be carried free if they were brought to the post office before 7 p.m., there was a surcharge of ¹/₂d. per paper if they came after that hour, to discourage late delivery and permit the eight o’clock mailcoach to depart on schedule.²² (Although this is not to say that there was not always a way around the schedule: the General Evening Post struck a deal with the Post Office, paying a flat fee so that, even if its papers were late, the mailcoaches would wait for them.)²³

      Getting the post to the country was, in many ways, the same thing as getting the news to the country. In the 1810s, some newspapers began to produce boards with breaking news on them, to stand outside the offices of local distributors and to hang on the sides of the mailcoaches as they raced through towns and countryside. In 1837 the Reading Mercury had placards on mailcoaches giving the news of William IV’s death, and ‘in less than an hour…there was scarcely a person within the borough’ who had not heard: unimaginable speed.²⁴ In the 1770s, during the American Revolution, and through the late 1780s, with the impeachment and trial of Warren Hastings, the concept of parliamentary reporting in the newspapers was created. There were no facilities for writing in the House of Commons, so the Gazetteer paid ‘impecunious barristers’ to sit in relays, listen, then rush across to the newspaper’s office and scribble down a précis of what they had heard for publication. Evening newspapers, with the day’s news in them, could by 1875 reach some parts of the country by morning: the Courier went from selling 1,500 copies to selling 7,000 in four years (it was also the first paper to have a second edition).²⁵

      All this created a demand for news, and newspapers, but what really drove the engine was advertising. This had been fundamental to local papers from the earliest days: Dicey and Raikes’s Northampton Mercury had carried advertisements for retailers in Northampton, St Ives, Daventry, Loughborough and Boston.²⁶ As early as 1750 the advertisements in many local papers swallowed up half of the available space (there is a reason, after all, that ‘Advertiser’ was a popular name for newspapers).

      Sophie von la Roche, in 1786, wrote to her family in Germany describing the contents of the daily papers (which she numbered in London at twenty-one). The proportion of news to advertisements and announcements was fairly standard:

      The notices in to-day’s paper run:…

      1 Plays produced at the Haymarket theatre; names of actors and actresses…followed by the prices of the seats…

      2 Plays at the small Sadler’s Wells theatre, where to-day’s programme offers a satire on magnetism and somnambulism in particular, and where tumblers and tight-rope walkers may be seen…

      3 At the Royal Bush, Mr Astley’s amphitheatre;* men, boys and girls in trick-riding; fireworks; short comedies and ballets…

      4 Bermondsey Spa, a place where firework displays are held, announces that the scaffolding has been well and strongly made.

      5 The royal Circus; adults and children in trick-riding, children in comedy and pantomime; Italians in dancing and buffoonery.

      6 Two fine large green tortoises for sale.

      7 A notice against some piratical printer.

      8 Discovery of new pills.

      9 Notice of maritime matters…

      10 On the docks at Woolwich all kinds of old ships’ timber and nautical instruments to be sold.

      11 Notice that…the South Sea Voyagers’ company will meet.

      12 Fifty guineas reward for information concerning attack of a customs officer by one or more of the shipping hands…

      13 A pleasant villa in Fulham to be sold; with orchards and fish-pond.

      14 Bitter stomach pills…

      15 Notice that the king and queen returned here yesterday from Windsor…and all the names of the gentlemen presented: further, that the list of criminals committed to die was placed before the king; that yesterday evening in the queen’s palace a concert was given for the Archduke and duchess of Milan.

      16 That the East India Company offers several million pounds of tea for sale, terms of disposal consequently much lower.

      17 That on the continent there is a rising against papal power…

      18 More congratulations to the king from various cities for having escaped the mad Nicholson woman’s attack…

      19 Discovery that the bottom of a fishing-smack was exclusively laden with French brandy…

      20 That the commercial pact with France would mean permanent peace.

      21 That all those gentlemen opposed to the minister Pitt are gone to the country to increase the number of their supporters…

      22 A match [i.e. prize-fight] between a Jew and a harness-maker in the Epping Forest…

      23 Miss Farren reprimanded for having been ashamed to repeat an epilogue for the fourth time…

      24 A reminder to change the post-time…

      25 News from Paris.

      26 From Plymouth.

      27 Horse-racing, breed and virtues of horses.

      28 Short verses.

      29 Shipping news - who, where and whither.

      30 Bills of exchange, per cents, and bank news…

      31 A desirable residence, eighty-four years’ lease. In all these cases a separate breakfast-room is mentioned…

      32 Several estates, all laying particular stress on the fact that fruit-trees are planted there, and are watered by a canal…

      33 In addition several more houses, mills and farms. With the houses there is always a note to the effect that they do or do not contain many mahogany pieces…

      34 Sixty kinds of coaches for sale.

      35 Horses of all descriptions.

      36 All kinds of wines, 110 bottles.

      37 Inquiry about two missing men…²⁷

      Provincial papers did not have this quantity of notices and advertisements, but in their own markets they satisfied their customer base. Circulations remained small - in 1795 the daily circulation of the Morning Post was 350;²⁸ even multiplied by 30 readers per copy, that was a tiny number. But, properly focused, it was enough. Chester had a population of 10,000 in 1700, and that sustained two newspapers, the Courant and the Chronicle, which covered, according to their advertisements, the areas across Chester, north Shropshire, north-east Wales, south Lancashire (including Liverpool, Wigan and Manchester) and north Staffordshire. Itinerant sellers found it worth their while to advertise that they would be ‘at the Wolf’s Head, Watergate Street’, to sell ‘foreign china’, or ‘at Mr Maddox’s Cork Cutters Shop…with great choice of China Ware’. Other retailers advertised their shops selling seeds, bankrupt stock, thread, drapery and alcohol. Many stressed their London connections: those selling fashion items like shoes, fabric, upholstery and furniture all had advertisements suggesting their stock had just been purchased in London, or was ‘in the present fashion’.²⁹