What a difference a day makes!  On the morning of 10 July 1865, Charles Tuckett (1796-1876) was manager of the British Museum bindery, a post he had held for 40 years.  That evening a fire, which lasted from approximately 21.00 to 22.15, ended his employment there.  According to Andrew Prescott, ‘The 1865 Bindery fire was arguably the greatest single disaster to the collections since the establishment of the Museum in 1753’.

Bookbinding by Charles Tuckett -  British Library C.21.e.3.  Tuckett’s ‘signature’ as a bookbinder

The bindings workshop was necessarily stocked with supplies of paper and other flammable materials.  Charcoal braziers supplied the heat required for processes including the tooling of leather.  A brazier in the ‘finishing’ room (the location for gold tooling and other ornamentation) was probably the source of the blaze.  Finishing involved heating engraved metal tools, one in the binder’s hand and three lying flat.

A finisher at work from The Penny Magazine September 1842 supplement RB.23.a.30032. The apparatus shown here was more modern than those in use in the Museum but it is clear what a precarious operation ‘finishing’ could be.

The museum’s fireman was absent on leave; the hosepipe burst; the fire brigade arrived after half an hour but only one of the two fire engines worked.  The manuscripts under treatment were either burned or drenched.  There were some positives: the wind drove the flames to the northeast which prevented further spread, and staff members Fricker and Farrant managed to close an iron workshop door to isolate the fire and protect the Library stacks. Eyewitness Frederick Madden of the Department of Manuscripts noted; 'such a want of organization (after all the fair printed rules and instructions)… I never beheld in my life'.

Accidental fire was a recognised hazard for Master Bookbinders.  Tuckett had taken out insurance with the Sun Fire Office for his family business located near the Museum in Little Russell Street.  The British Museum Trustees had ordered precautionary measures.  In 1861 one of the flues in the workshop caught alight and Tuckett was instructed to have the flues swept regularly.  The following year, the Trustees ruled that the binders should use lamps not candles.  Only four days before the fire, the London Evening Standard reported Trustee Earl Stanhope’s statement that means of fire prevention were ‘under consideration’.

Early reports stated that the fire was promptly extinguished without any material damage done, but that proved to be wildly optimistic.  The loss included seven unique manuscripts and 282 printed books.

Report of the bindery fire in the Pall Mall Gazette 11 July 1865 British Newspaper Archive

Half of the six rooms in the bindery were ruined.  By 1 January 1866, however, the repaired bindery reopened.  A fireproof building for ‘finishing’ was built nearby.

Around fifteen manuscripts and 258 printed books had been salvaged and required treatment.  Tuckett was experienced in tending to such material, having learned from specialist Henry Gough, but he was dismissed by the Museum trustees.  His son was appointed his successor.  Charles Tuckett Junior (1822-75) had worked as apprentice to his father, and had written about historic bindings and also devised new bookbinding techniques and patented them.  His brother John (1828-1908?) trained as a lithographer but assumed control of the family workshop in Little Russell Street until 1880.

Letterhead of invoice issued by Charles Tuckett, Bookbinder to the Queen and Prince Albert and to the British Museum - Royal Collections Trust RA PPTO/PP/QV/PP2/23/7860

Charles Tuckett senior appeared in the 1871 census as a widower and ‘Retired Bookbinder’ living with his unmarried daughter in Croydon.  It was a far cry from his entry in the 1861 listings for Bloomsbury, as a bookbinder employing 52 men, 19 women and a boy.

P. J. M. Marks
Curator, Bookbindings; Printed Historical Sources

Further reading;
Philip Harris, A History of the British Museum Library, 1753-1973 (London, 1998).
Andrew Prescott 'Their Present Miserable State of Cremation': the Restoration of the Cotton Library.

 

 

Happy New Year from Untold Lives!

Drawing of a cocktail party by Hynes -

"I wonder why one always has a cherry in a cocktail?"
"So that one shall not drink on an empty stomach."

From The Bystander 29 May 1929, British Library shelfmark ZC.9.d.560, page 474 Images Online

 

In the winter of 1897, Reynolds's Newspaper launched a Christmas Fund for the sandwichmen who carried advertising boards through the streets of London.  This was the brainchild of its editor W. M. Thompson.  The paper appealed to its readers to contribute towards a treat for ‘one of the most hopeless classes in the community- the sandwichmen, or living advertisers’.  These men struggled to earn a few pennies every day to keep themselves out of the workhouse.  A good sum to provide a Christmas dinner for them could be accumulated if readers gave just a penny each.

A sandwichman carrying a board saying ‘Friendless, Hopeless, Penniless’ - Reynolds's Newspaper 26 December 1897 British Newspaper Archive

Donations arrived from all parts of the world.  The newspaper published lists of the donors’ names and the amount given, as well as letters sent from well-wishers.  Lord Rosebery gave £5 and Messrs Rothschild and Sons £21.  The Prince of Wales donated £10.  Queen Victoria sent her warm sympathy and was criticised by a widow from Clifton, Bristol, for not contributing: ‘I see the old girl of Windsor has not got it in her to give a mite, although she is a widow and praised up to the skies as such.  I think myself as good as her, although I have not had as many farthings as she has had pounds.  If she had to scrub and wash for twenty-five years, sixteen or eighteen hours a day, she would tell another tale.  Poor old men – it shows they have one good friend.  I wish I could give more, but it all tells up’.

A travelling showman sent 5 shillings for the noble effort ‘to let in a gleam of sunshine upon the clouded lives of this helpless class of the community’.  Children contributed small amounts from their money boxes. Eight-year-old Leonard Lumer sent four penny stamps ‘hoping they will have a good feed’.  H. S .Persse & Co donated a case of ten-year-old Galway whiskey, the same as supplied to the House of Commons.  Liptons gave tea, Cadbury sent cocoa.  New and second-hand clothes and boots were received.

Report on the Christmas treat - Reynolds's Newspaper 26 December 1897 British Newspaper Archive

The Boxing Day edition of Reynolds's Newspaper carried a report on the Christmas treat.  More than 600 sandwichmen, both young and old, had gathered at the Montpelier Music Hall where ‘ladies and gentlemen’ were eager to act as amateur waiters and general helpers.

The men were cheery and chatty, drowning out the sound of the grand piano.  ‘What life-histories and tragedies were there represented’ – some had been reduced from a comfortable life-style to tramping the streets advertising the playhouses they could not afford to enter.

After the meal, the men were given pipes of tobacco to smoke whilst enjoying the entertainment provided by music-hall artistes for free.  W. M. Thompson addressed them: ‘Friends, this is not a charitable gathering, it is a family party’.  Thompson hoped that even more could be done for the men the following year.

On leaving, each man was given a Christmas box of one shilling and a pair of socks.  Some also received a package of tea, and 200 bottles of whiskey were distributed.

Reynolds's Christmas Fund for sandwichmen continued into the 20th century.  The last reference which I can find to it in the British Newspaper Archive is in December 1915.

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading:
British Newspaper Archive - Reynolds's Newspaper (Strapline - 'Government of the People, by the People, for the People')

 

On 25 December 1804 Edward Heard of Cork wrote a petition to the East India Company directors in London asking for financial assistance.  Heard had served in the Bengal Army as a young man and said he had no provision for the winter of his days.  He was unable to supply the wants of a large family of a wife and twelve children.

Opening of the petition of Edward Heard 25 December 1804 IOR/D/159 f.216

In the petition Heard gave an outline of his army service, and it is possible to flesh out this information from other records in the East India Company archive.

Heard had entered the Bengal Army infantry as a cadet in 1769 and rose to the rank of captain.  He was part of the Bengal Army detachment which marched to Bombay in 1778 as reinforcement in the First Anglo-Maratha War, and he was Adjutant General on the staff of General Goddard in Gujarat.  The detachment also included Dean Mahomed, who later gained fame as the first Indian author in English, and Dean Mahomed's patron Godfrey Evan Baker.  Baker was Heard’s army contemporary and close friend, both men coming from Cork.  Heard was later a subscriber to The Travels of Dean Mahomet, a Native of Patna in Bengal.

Heard said that his health became ‘much impaird’ after the ‘long and arduous Campaign’, and on 12 November 1783 he applied for permission to return to Europe after serving ‘faithfully’ for nearly fifteen years.  There were family matters needing his attention, but it was his ‘positive intention’ to return to his army post in India.  It was agreed that Captain Heard should be permitted to resign and proceed to Europe.  A certificate was issued to confirm that Heard had adjusted all his accounts with the military paymaster – this was necessary if he was to be allowed to return to service.

Having returned to Ireland, Edward Heard married Margaret Drew in 1786.  In November 1788 he requested permission to return to his rank in Bengal.  This was granted, but Heard explained in his 1804 petition that when he and his wife reached London on their way back to India,  Margaret’s ‘sudden severe and alarming indisposition defeated such design’.  Heard asked to remain until the coming season but the Company refused to agree to an extension of his leave of absence as he had been at home for over four years.  The Heards returned to Ireland ‘there to deplore his misfortune’.  They settled at Ballintubber in County Cork.  Heard named his estate ‘Patna’.

How did the East India Company respond to the Christmas ‘solicitations of an old Soldier unable to supply the necessitys of a numerous and helpless Family’?  The directors did not consider his case until April 1805.  After officials had informed them that there had been no communication with Heard since 1789, they resolved not to comply with his request for some mark of the Court’s bounty.

Heard's death notice in The Statesman (London) 4 June 1810 British Newspaper Archive

Edward Heard died at Patna, County Cork, in 1810.  The Statesman reported that Heard was ‘universally esteemed and respected’: ‘Preferring heroic fame to the accumulation of wealth, he derived nothing but his laurels from the service, and returned to his hereditary estates in the evening of life’.

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading:
IOR/P/2/65 pp.503-505 Bengal Public Consultations 18 December 1783 – application of Edward Heard for permission to return to Europe.
Request of Edward Heard to return to his rank in Bengal - IOR/B/108 p.699 East India Company Court of Directors 19 November 1788; p.759 Court 5 December 1788; p.1028 Court 26 February 1789; IOR/D/33 p.55 Committee of Correspondence 27 November 1788; IOR/E/1/227 p.238 Letter to Heard from the Company Secretary 26 February 1789.
IOR/D/159 ff.216-217v Petition of Edward Heard 25 December 1804; IOR/D/46 p.37 Committee of Correspondence 10 April 1805; IOR/B/141 p.15 Court 10 April 1805; IOR/E/1/240 p.369 Letter to Edward Heard 13 April 1805.
Michael H. Fisher, The first Indian author in English (Oxford, 1996).

 

On Christmas Eve 1870, a newspaper called The Days’ Doings published pictures of Father Christmas as he was thought to appear to different groups of people.

‘The Physiognomy of Christmas - Father Christmas as he appears from several different points of view’ from The Days’ Doings 24 December 1870 British Newspaper Archive

Nine faces are drawn depicting how Father Christmas appears - 

To the Young
To men who can’t pay their bills
To the Lover
To the Grumpy
To the Puritanic
To the Jovial
To the Jaundiced
To the Gourmand
To Readers of Xmas Tales.

Seasonal Greetings from Untold Lives!

 

Are you still looking for ideas for Christmas gifts?  Maybe we can help?  In 1858, Irish bookseller and stationer Thomas Smith Harvey published a catalogue of books suitable for Christmas, New Year, and birthday presents.

Title page of Catalogue of books suitable for Christmas New Year or birthday presents

The catalogue is divided into ten sections.

Poetry covers four pages, ranging in price from 1s to 31s 6d.  As well as works from famous poets such as Longfellow, Shakespeare, Byron, Scott and Milton, there are books entitled Language and Poetry of Flowers; Moore’s Irish Melodies; Elegant Arts for Ladies; and Book of German Songs.

Religious books – as well as bibles, Harvey was offering Buchanan’s Christian Researches in India; Quarles’ Judgment and Mercy; Bogatsky’s Golden Treasury; and Morals from the Churchyard.  This last one intrigued me and I discovered its full title is Morals from the Churchyard; in a series of cheerful fables.  Here is the contents page and I am surprised that it was possible to create ‘cheerful fables’ from some of the graves listed here.

Contents page of Morals from the Churchyard; in a series of cheerful fables  

The next category is books for the country – natural history etc.  It includes British Rural Sports; Cassell’s Natural History of the Feathered Tribes; Anecdotes of Animal Life; A World of Wonders Revealed by the Microscope; Mechi’s How to Farm Profitably; Rarey on Horse Training; and Walker’s Manly Exercises.

Walker’s Manly Exercises

There is a section devoted to biography, history, travels, and science.  Titles here include Kansas, or Squatter Life and Border Warfare; The Bridle Roads of Spain; Gavazzi’s Last Four Popes; Things Not Generally Known; How A Penny Became A Thousand Pounds; Overland Route to India; and Mornings at the British Museum. The book Unprotected Females in Norway perplexed me until I found the title continues: or, the pleasantest way of travelling there, passing through Denmark and Sweden, with Scandinavian sketches from nature.

Emily Lowe, Unprotected Females in Norway; or, the pleasantest way of travelling there, passing through Denmark and Sweden, with Scandinavian sketches from nature (London, 1857)

Here is one of the sketches drawn by the author Emily Lowe showing a Norwegian wedding taking place near Bergen.

Norwegian wedding near Bergen from Unprotected Females in Norway 

Perhaps surprisingly there is only one page for fiction although Harvey does state that he can provide a large assortment of cheap works.  His selection included Slick’s Nature and Human Nature; Marie Louise, or the Opposite Neighbours; and Never Too Late to Mend.

Eight pages are devoted to books for young people – three and a half for boys, four for children, and just half a page for girls.  The boys’ section is full of sport, exploration, travel, adventure, and inspirational works: Sporting in Both Hemispheres; Wild Sports in the Far West; Boyhood of Great Men; The Story of the Peasant Boy Philosopher.  For children, Harvey promises a great variety of cheap books for the very young and lists a selection of moral tales and story books such as Stories for Village Lads; Memoirs of a Doll; Norah and her Kerry Cow, as well as Learning to Converse.  The girls’ books include Fanny the Little Milliner; Extraordinary Women; and Amy Carlton, or First Days at School.

A number of almanacs and diaries are offered as well as miscellaneous articles – gutta percha skates; ‘boys’ telescopes’; pocket compasses; microscopes; mathematical instruments; and small magic lanterns with slides.

When you have finished buying and wrapping your presents, have fun searching in our catalogue Explore the British Library for books listed in Harvey’s catalogue.  Many have been digitised and can be enjoyed online.

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading:
Thomas Smith Harvey, Catalogue of books suitable for Christmas, New Year, or birthday presents (Waterford, 1858)

An artist uses finger painting techniques to create stunning floral imagery; M P Lee and C P Lee sit down to a home cooked meal; people dance at a Limehouse VE Day celebration. These are some of the documentary film scenes currently being projected in our free Chinese and British exhibition space.

In this post we would like to provide some information about the film clips used in our exhibition film montage, with links to watch the material freely online via the British Pathé historical collection.

 

London's Nightworld

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/londons-nightworld-reel-1/

1947 documentary showing various restaurants around the capital, including scenes in Leyon's Chinese Restaurant.

 

Finger Painting

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/finger-painting-beware-other-colour-pics-share/

Artist Lau Ta Po demonstrating traditional Chinese finger painting techniques.

 

VE Day Celebrations at Limehouse

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/ve-day-celebrations-at-limehouse/

People sing and dance at a VE Day celebration in Limehouse, 1945.

 

East Meets West

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/east-meets-west/

Footage of author M P Lee and his wife C P Lee preparing and enjoying a meal.

 

Chinese Girls to be BOAC stewardesses

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVA3F708Y9CZ099ICJ7LPPTSZ31B-CHINESE-GIRLS-TO-BE-BOAC-BRITISH-OVERSEAS-AIRWAYS-CORPORATION/

Interview segment with women training to be airline cabin crew, 1956.

 

Poon Lim Honoured

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/poon-lim-honoured/

Footage of seaman Poon Lim arriving at a port before travelling to Buckingham Palace to receive the British Empire Medal, 1943.

Poon Lim's experience of being torpedoed in the Atlantic and surviving on a raft for 133 days was a media sensation, and is one of several stories which appear in Kenneth Lo's Forgotten Wave. Stories and Sketches from the Chinese Seamen During the Second World War (Padiham Advertiser, 1947).

 

Hong Kong, England

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/hong-kong-england/query/hong+kong+england

Visitors wander around a reconstruction of Hong Kong streets, hosted outside St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, in 1959.

 

Food Fair, 1954

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/food-fair

Footage of the preparation of Chinese dishes, from the 1954 Olympia Food Fair.

 

There are plenty more films featuring Chinese individuals and communities in Britain to be found on the British Pathé and British Film Institute sites, and you can also find relevant materials in Denis Gifford, The British Film Catalogue. Volume 2, Non-fiction film, 1888-1994 (London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2019).

Chinese and British, a free exhibition exploring British Chinese communities and cultures, is open at the British Library until 23 April 2023. It is generously supported by Blick Rothenberg.

Henry Evanion (1832-1905) was a nineteenth-century conjuror, entertainer and collector.  His vast collection of ephemera includes local politics, advertisements for household products and theatrical posters including advertisements for pantomimes at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

A visit to see a pantomime marks the start of the festive season for families across the country.  This Christmas tradition has roots in 16th-century ‘Commedia dell’Arte’.  Innovations to the pantomime tradition in the 19th century included the introduction of outrageous costumes, slapstick comedy and audience participation.

Evanion’s collection of theatrical posters includes three pantomimes staged by Augustus Harris (1852-1896), who managed Drury Lane theatre from 1879-1896.  Harris was a young, ambitious actor and theatre manager.  The pantomimes were the centre of his ambition and the ‘money-making centrepiece’ of the theatre’s season.

Evan.1903. - Augustus Harris's pantomime Puss in Boots, Drury Lane (1887).

Puss in Boots, the pantomime for the Christmas season in 1887 was an elaborate show with Charles Lauri Junior in the title role.  A review of the show in The Penny Illustrated Paper praised Charles Lauri, writing that ‘it would be impossible to excel Mr. Charles Lauri’.  The review went on to praise the ‘richly embellished’ show and ‘attractive charm of the scenery’.

Evan.196. Image of Belle Bilton as Beauty in Augustus Harris' pantomime Beauty and the Beast (1890).

For the 1890 pantomime, Augustus Harris staged an elaborate tale of Beauty and the Beast.  The pantomime drew audiences in by casting Belle Bilton as Beauty.  Outside of the stage door, Belle was embroiled in a public drama after secretly marrying Lord Dunlo.  His father (the Earl of Clancy) forced Dunlo to petition for a divorce and attempt to discredit Bilton’s name.  The pantomime built upon public sympathy for Belle by casting her in the title role of the 1890 show.  Just like in the pantomime, Belle got her ‘happily ever after’ when Lord Dunlo defended her in court and the couple were happily married until Belle’s death in 1906.

Augustus Harris’s pantomimes were a staple of the festive season by 1894 and performances of Dick Whittington continued to attract audiences.  Continuing with the tradition of casting popular stars, Dick Whittington featured a core casting of Ada Blanche as Principal Boy and Dan Leno as Idle Jack.  Both actors appeared in numerous pantomimes at Drury Lane with Ada appearing from 1892-1898 and Dan from 1888-1903.  By the 1890s, gender switching was commonplace in pantomimes and the female principal boy and pantomime dame were accepted conventions.  The repeated core cast across the pantomimes meant that audiences knew what to expect from a Drury Lane pantomime.

Evan.4029. Figure of Ada Blanche as Dick Whittington with cat on a swing. The image reads ‘Dick Whittington now in full swing at Drury Lane theatre’.

The pantomime season for 2022 has started and theatres across the country will be full of families enjoying the long-established festive tradition.  The inspiration for the costumes, laughter, elaborate sets and celebrity appearances comes from Victorian pantomimes at theatres like the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.  The Evanion collection is currently being prepared for ingest and display in IIIF on the British Library’s Universal Viewer.

Amy Solomons
PhD Placement Student, Heritage Made Digital

Further Reading:
James Hagy, Early English Conjuring Collectors, James Savren and Henry Evanion (Shaker Heights: Ohio, 1985).
J.P.Wearing, ‘Harris, Sir Augustus Henry Glossop’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004.
The Penny Illustrated Paper, London, Saturday, 31 December 1887, p.423a.
The Story of Pantomime 
Victorian Vaudeville – Tripping the Light Fantastic