Sunday 28 April 2013

Daily Graphic first edition (1890)

Daily Graphic dated Saturday January 4th 1890
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The Daily Graphic was the first daily illustrated newspaper in England and evolved from the Graphic weekly illustrated newspaper that was first appeared in 1869. In 1926 the Daily Graphic merged with the Daily Sketch.

The Forest Gate Fire
The fire had broken out on New Year’s Eve in the Forest Gate District Poor Law Boarding School and 26 boys between 7 and 12 lost their lives. The incident caused a great deal of distress and anger in the local community and beyond. A Parliamentary inquiry criticised the management of the school. Three years later 2 children were killed and hundreds made ill by food poisoning at the same school.

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The cast for this Jack and the Beanstalk pantomime included the very popular Music Hall comedian Dan Leno who also specialised in Panto dames. In 1903 he had a mental breakdown and was committed to the Camberwell House Asylum for a few months, after which he tried to re-start his career but died at the age of 43 in October 1904 of unknown causes. 

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The Czar whose health is commented on was Alexander III.  He died 4 years later of kidney failure and was succeeded by doomed the Czar Nicholas II.

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The American showman, businessman, politician and sometimes hoaxer Phineas Taylor Barnum created his first circus at the age of 61 in 1871. He went on to run the Greatest Show on Earth – The Barnum and Bailey Circus, which toured the USA and Europe. P T Barnum died in 1891 following a stroke.

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The Prince of Wales' Sandringham Tennant’s Ball had a guest list straight out of Burke’s Peerage and included Lord and Lady Randolph Churchill, parents of 16 year-old Winston.

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Sarah Bernhardt was probably the most famous stage actress of her day. Born in Paris in 1844, she started her stage career in 1862 and became an International success. In 1915 her right leg was amputated after an accident but she continued to perform on the stage right up until she died of kidney failure in 1923. She also appeared in a dozen films and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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Sport in the Highlands? I’m not sure the word ‘Sport’ should be applied to the butchering of 95 stags and thousands of grouse. 

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Emmensite was a high explosive invented by Dr. Stephen H. Emmens who, as well as filing patents for guns, shells, refrigerants, a surf motor, a steam jacketed kettle and various manufacturing processes also claimed to be able to turn silver into gold i.e. alchemy.

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What a surprise – a contract for supplying the armed forces with equipment going over the estimate. Then as now and always shall be.

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Submarines had been around since the American Civil War of the 1860’s but by 1890 the most advanced were electric-powered (batteries) and sported torpedo tubes. The development of the periscope and diesel-electric power made submarines practical for combat in time for World War I. 

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This trial of Charles Johnson makes a pleasant change from the murders and violent assaults that were so prevalent in late Victorian newspapers.

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This request for readers’ drawings and photos is rather like today’s local TV news asking for viewers to send in their mobile phone videos. “Excuse me Mr Bank Robber, but would you mind holding that pose while I do a sketch for the Graphic?”

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To guarantee Swaziland independence and sovereignty Britain and the Boers of the South African Republic had signed the Conventions of Pretoria in 1881 and of London in 1884, but by then almost all of the Swazi’s mineral rights, transport networks and land rights had been signed over to Europeans. From 1890 until 1894 Britain and the Boers effectively controlled Swaziland jointly but then Britain withdrew until after the 2nd Boer War (1899-1902). So the answer to the question posed is not just yet but then yes for a while.

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Created in the 1880’s to debunk triskaidekaphobia, the Thirteen Club hosted dinners of 13 people to cock a snoot at the superstition that one of the guests would die within a year. This meeting in 1890 included P T Barnum who died (cue spooky music and pregnant pause)… 16 months later! Ah well, it could have been a good story.

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“Gawd bless her Majesty and all who sail in her.“ Queen Victoria, the last of Hanoverian monarchs, came to the throne in 1837 at the age of 18 and stayed there until her death in January 1901. Who is that lurking behind the tree in the Osborne garden drawing? He looks suspiciously like her Majesty’s very good friend John Brown to me.

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The writer of this proposal to build a Hall of City Companies in London was H W Brewer who was famous for his architectural illustrations that included aerial views of cities and imagined pictures of cities as they were in times gone by. Worth a look on Google images.

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Launched in 1874 the SS Britannic was the first White Star Line ship with that name (the 2nd was the sister to a certain Titanic). In 1881 it ran aground in fog off Ireland, and having been re-floated, sprung a leak and was beached at Wexford Bay. In 1887 she collided with the SS Celtic off New Jersey and 6 steerage passengers were killed outright and another six were later found to be missing having been washed overboard. The incident in this article followed 3 years later. In 1899 she was taken over by the Royal Navy and used as a troopship for the Boer War at the end of which she was condemned and scrapped.

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These adverts for books include Mark Twain’s latest ‘A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court’ and Wilkie Collins’ final novel ‘Blind Love’ which the author left unfinished when he died the previous September – it was completed by Walter Besant. Collins’ penultimate novel ‘The Legacy of Cain’ (1889) is also offered. Jerome K Jerome’s Stage Land is misrepresented as a travel book.

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I hope this article about Jamaica’s so called Dignity Ball doesn’t offend anyone. It is presented as an example of the incredible racist and patronising attitude of British Victorians to their colonial subjects, which, by the way, continued to a lesser degree to within my living memory. 

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The Influenza Pandemic of 1889/1890 spread from China and Siberia to most of Europe and the USA. It hit London in December 1889. This pandemic was mild – only 1 million deaths compared to the estimated 20-50 million deaths in 1918/20.

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It’s about time someone invented the ASBO!

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The Bi-unial Magic Lantern was basically 2 lantern systems mounted vertically to allow the projectionist (or lanternist) to superimpose or dissolve from one slide to another. A skilled lanternist could create an illusion of movement similar to those pesky little repeating ‘gifs’ that crop up on some websites.  

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“By Gad, Sir! No more baggy trouser knees! Hurrah! The greatest invention to grace mankind since the self-waxing moustache! Pass the brandy!” 










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