The Pictorial Press Part 16

On October 30, 1841, a fire occurred in the Tower of London, when the Armoury and 280,000 stand of arms were destroyed. On November 7 the _Observer_ published three ill.u.s.trations of this great fire. On November 14 it presented its subscribers with a large emblematic engraving on the occasion of the birth of the Prince of Wales. In the following January, when the Prince of Wales was christened, it published a large page engraving designed by W. B. Scott, and engraved by Smith and Linton, containing the ceremony of christening in St. George's Chapel, the banquet in St. George's Hall, ill.u.s.trations of the history of the Princes of Wales from the presentation of the first Prince of Wales to the Welsh, to the religious instruction of Edward VI. by Archbishop Cranmer, including the battle of Cressy with the feats of the Black Prince, and the subsequent pageantry attending the introduction of the King of France as a prisoner into London over London Bridge; following this is the dismissal of Falstaff and his profligate companions by Henry V., with views of Windsor, &c. From this time until 1847 the _Observer_ published no more engravings. In the interval the _Ill.u.s.trated London News_ commenced its career. On July 12, 1847, the _Observer_ published the last of its ill.u.s.trations. This was on the installation of Prince Albert as Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. The engravings have the name of W. J. Linton attached to them, and are on a larger scale, and are better done than anything hitherto appearing in the same paper.

The _Weekly Chronicle_, the first number of which was published September 18, 1836, started with the idea of ill.u.s.trating the news of the day as one of its princ.i.p.al features. The price was threepence, and with it was incorporated the _Weekly Times_. In the first number the public were 'requested to be on their guard against the subst.i.tution of any other paper.' This probably had reference to some threatened rivals.h.i.+p, for exactly a year later appeared _Holt's Weekly Chronicle_, a paper which also gave ill.u.s.trations of current events. It published engravings connected with the rebellion in Canada, and also ill.u.s.trated the burning of the Royal Exchange in 1838. It appears to have had only a brief existence. The first number of the _Weekly Chronicle_ contained an engraving of 'the new grand Balloon which ascended from Vauxhall Gardens with nine persons on Friday, September 9th, engraved by W. C. Walker, from a drawing made by a gentleman who ascended expressly for this paper.' Number 2 contained a page of comic sketches, apparently by Seymour, and with the number for October 30, 1836, was presented gratis an almanack containing a view of the new Houses of Parliament, not quite as the design was eventually carried out. Very early in its career the _Weekly Chronicle_ selected the criminal records as favourite subjects for ill.u.s.tration. Perhaps some memory of the profits realised by the _Observer_ on the occasion of the Weare murder induced the conductors to cultivate this cla.s.s of news. Certainly nothing more repulsive ever figured in the pages of an ill.u.s.trated newspaper than some of the woodcuts published by the _Weekly Chronicle_.

Towards the end of 1836 another attempt was made on the life of the King of the French, and on January 8, 1837, the _Weekly Chronicle_ published a portrait of the criminal. A month or two later the public were enlightened as to the personal appearance of another murderer, one Pegsworth, who had his portrait taken in Newgate on the morning of his execution. The annals of crime were varied by the exploits of war, and a view of the heights of Amelzagame ill.u.s.trated the career of the Spanish Legion under the command of General Evans. In the spring of 1837 occurred the Greenacre murder, and the _Weekly Chronicle_ at once went into the case with an evident determination to do full justice to its sensational merits. From the first examination of the murderer before the magistrates to his final exit in the Old Bailey the artists of the paper were on the alert, pencil in hand. It is a painful fact that the numbers of the _Weekly Chronicle_ containing the ill.u.s.trations of the Greenacre murder had a very large sale. The details of the crime are too shocking to recapitulate, but I will give a list of the woodcuts published in connexion with it.

April 2, 1837.--A sketch of Greenacre taken while under examination at the police-office. Head of the murdered woman as preserved in spirits at Paddington Workhouse.

April 9.--Greenacre taking notes at his examination before the magistrates at Marylebone Police Office. Exterior of Greenacre's house in Carpenter's Buildings, Windmill Lane, Camberwell. View of Pineapple Gate, Edgware Road, where the body was found. Matthew Hale, lock-keeper, who found the head. Rear of Greenacre's house. A back room looking into the garden. Portraits of Mrs. Gale and child taken while under examination at Marylebone Police Office. Room where the horrible mutilation was committed. Osierbed in Cold Harbour Lane, where the legs were found.

April 16.--Trial of Greenacre.

April 23.--Chapel in Newgate, sketched during the preaching of the condemned sermon to Greenacre.

April 30.--Greenacre in condemned cell.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHAPEL IN NEWGATE: THE CONDEMNED SERMON. FROM THE 'WEEKLY CHRONICLE,' APRIL 23, 1837.

1. Sheriffs' Pew.

2. Governor's Pew.

3. Condemned Pew.]

On May 7 the _Weekly Chronicle_ wound up this series of ill.u.s.trations by publis.h.i.+ng a large cut, which it ent.i.tled, 'A scene in the Old Bailey, immediately before the execution, engraved expressly for the _Weekly Chronicle_ by a distinguished artist.' According to an announcement in the paper itself, the sale of the _Weekly Chronicle_ during the publication of these engravings was 130,000.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CONDEMNED CELL, NEWGATE. FROM THE 'WEEKLY CHRONICLE,'

APRIL 30, 1837.]

On May 14, 1837, the _Weekly Chronicle_ published portraits of Sir Francis Burdett and Mr. Leader, the former of a superhuman length, with a shocking bad hat. In the following number, as if the public had not been sufficiently supplied with horrors, there was printed 'a sketch of Eliza Davis as she lay on the mattress after the murder.' This was known as the Frederick Street murder, and was remarkable from the circ.u.mstances, and from the fact that the murderer was never discovered. This paper now commenced 'The Pictorial Gallery, ill.u.s.trating every object of interest and curiosity in Art, Science, Literature, and Amus.e.m.e.nt. (To be continued weekly.)' In this series were published a view of the Euston Railway Station, a portrait of Madame Taglioni, a sketch of a novel mode of propelling balloons, representations of the Bedouin Arabs, the City of London School, the Adelaide Gallery, the Hippodrome at Bayswater, proclamation of Queen Victoria at Temple Bar, portraits of the Queen, the late King, the Earl of Durham, and the d.u.c.h.ess of Kent. Then followed a view of the Royal Mausoleum at Windsor, and several ill.u.s.trations of Mr. c.o.c.king's fatal descent in a parachute.

Mr. c.o.c.king was an enthusiast in aerostation--he was, in fact, balloon mad, and had spent years in inventing a parachute which he believed to be perfectly safe, and in which he ascended from Vauxhall Gardens on July 24, 1837, attached to Mr. Green's Royal Na.s.sau balloon. The experiment was widely advertised, and when the day and hour arrived the poor enthusiast faithfully appeared, and ascended in his fatal machine for more than a mile. He then himself liberated the parachute from the balloon. For a few seconds he descended steadily; the parachute then collapsed, broke, turned over, and shot straight down to the earth a hopeless ruin. Poor c.o.c.king was still in the basket of the parachute when he reached the earth, but was quite insensible, and in ten minutes he was dead. The parachute fell at Lee; and it is recorded that not only was the machine itself carried away piecemeal, but the dead man's purse was stolen from his pocket, his watch, his snuff-box, his eye-gla.s.s were taken, even the cap was stolen from his head, the shoes were pulled from his feet, the b.u.t.tons from his dress. Such statements seem incredible, and for the credit of human nature one could wish they were false; but they have been seriously made, and never contradicted.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MR. c.o.c.kING IN HIS PARACHUTE AT THE MOMENT OF ASCENSION.

FROM THE 'WEEKLY CHRONICLE,' JULY 30, 1837.]

The _Weekly Chronicle_ published several ill.u.s.trations of this event.

They represent Mr. c.o.c.king in the car of the parachute at the moment of ascension; the Na.s.sau balloon as it appeared from the Royal Gardens, Vauxhall; the parachute in its various stages in its descent; and Mr.

c.o.c.king as he lay for the inspection of the jury in the room at the Tiger's Head, at Lee. The first of these I have copied.

This rash adventure was wound up by the opening of a subscription list for the benefit of c.o.c.king's widow, which was headed by the Queen with 50_l._ The Gas Company that had supplied the gas for the disaster gave 30_l._, and the proprietors of Vauxhall gave the gardens for a benefit.

Thus the friends who ought to have restrained the vanity of the enthusiast and the speculators who led him on to his fate did their best in the way of atonement; but it was clearly a case where the civil power ought to have interposed to prevent the fatal catastrophe.

The _Chronicle_ varied its ill.u.s.trations of events by an occasional portrait of a public man, such as Mr. T. Wakley, Mr. Roebuck, Lord John Russell, and Daniel Whittle Harvey. The Queen's first visit to the City, and her Majesty delivering her speech to her first Parliament, furnished subjects for large woodcuts. Early in the year 1838 the Royal Exchange was burnt, and this historical event was made the subject of an engraving in the number for January 14, 1838.

This year the _Weekly Chronicle_ also published several engravings ill.u.s.trative of the rebellion in Canada, including a portrait of Papineau, the insurgent leader, and views of Quebec and Montreal. The murder of Eliza Grimwood in the Waterloo Road furnished another opportunity for sensational sketches, and in the same number that contained them (June 10, 1838) appeared three ill.u.s.trations of the Courtney Riots at Canterbury.

In 1833 an eccentric person, calling himself Sir William Courtney, appeared at Canterbury and attracted much attention by his half-crazed appearance and his frequent harangues on the grievances of the poor. He presented himself as a candidate to represent the city of Canterbury in Parliament, but this ambition was frustrated by his being tried and found guilty of perjury, an offence he had committed on behalf of some smugglers on the Kentish coast. He was sentenced to imprisonment and transportation; but, being proved insane, the sentence was commuted, and he was confined in a lunatic asylum. Here he remained four years, and was then liberated under the belief that he was restored to a rational state. He was, however, madder than ever, having while in confinement brooded over his supposed wrongs and the sufferings of the oppressed poor until he fancied himself a prophet and a deliverer sent from heaven. With the cunning of madness he counterfeited sanity, and thus was able to resume what he considered his prophetic mission. He harangued about the new poor law, promised cheap bread to all who would follow him, and on May 29, 1838, he gathered together a band of about twenty men, with whom he marched from one place to another, proclaiming that he would make May 29 more memorable than it had ever been in connexion with the restoration of Charles II. This went on for a day or two, when a farmer, named Curtis, having his field-work stopped by the leading away of his men, went to a magistrate and obtained a warrant to apprehend them. In an attempt to execute this warrant a constable was killed by Courtney, who now broke into a rhapsody of exultation, declared that a second Gideon was come to slay the unG.o.dly, and that all should perish who opposed the prophet. With outstretched sword he cried, 'I am the only Saviour of you all. You need not fear, for I will bring you through all.' The excitement had now become so general, and the menaces of Courtney and his armed party so alarming, that the magistrates resolved on the instant capture of this dangerous maniac and his ignorant followers. They came up with the rioters at a place called the Osier Bed, where Courtney's men threatened the magistrates and constables with bludgeons and fire-arms. After firing his pistol at one of the party who attempted to arrest him, Courtney and his men broke away to Bossenden Wood, and the magistrates, seeing no other resource, sent at once for a detachment of the 45th Regiment from Canterbury Barracks. Courtney had now proclaimed to his followers that he was no other than Jesus Christ returned to earth, and that they were safer with him than if they were in their beds; therefore they must resist the soldiers, and they were sure of victory. In the meantime a hundred men of the 45th Regiment, headed by Lieutenant Bennett, surrounded Bossenden Wood. Accompanied by the civil magistrates, they advanced to close round the rioters, when Courtney fired at the young Lieutenant commanding the party, and shot him dead. The next minute the prophet himself was slain by a soldier, who covered him with his musket as he fired at Lieutenant Bennett. Then ensued a hand-to-hand fight, which resulted in the death of seven of the rioters and one constable, besides several persons seriously wounded.

The ill.u.s.trations of these riots in the _Weekly Chronicle_ of June 10, 1838, consist of the following:--

1. 'Courtney with his troops leaving Bossenden Farm.'

2. 'The death of Lieutenant Bennett. Courtney in the act of exhorting his men to advance.'

3. 'Interior of the Red Lion stables, with the bodies as they were laid out after the conflict.'

Courtney, whose real name was John Thom, was undoubtedly mad. He never could have found followers, except amongst the most degraded and ignorant; and it is hoped he did better service to his countrymen than he ever dreamt of by drawing attention to the dreadful evils arising from the want of education among the rural population. Most of his followers could neither read nor write, and were so totally unacquainted with the simplest truths of Christianity that they believed him when he a.s.serted that he was Gideon, Samson, and Jesus Christ all in one, and that he had descended from heaven to redress the wrongs of the poor, but more especially to reduce the price of bread!

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE DREADFUL RIOT AND LOSS OF LIFE AT BOSSENDEN WOOD, EAST KENT. FROM THE 'WEEKLY CHRONICLE,' JUNE 10, 1838.

1. Courtney.

2. Lieutenant Bennett.

3. Sergeant Langley making a thrust at Courtney with a bayonet, and was knocked down with a bludgeon.

4. Six Magistrates.

5. Soldier who stepped forward and shot Courtney.

6. Major Armstrong.

7. Detachment of the 45th Regiment loading.

8. Lieutenant Bennett's detachment.

9. The man Wills, who knocked down Sergeant Langley.

10. Courtney's flag.

11. J. N. Knatchbull firing at Courtney.]

The _Weekly Chronicle_ ill.u.s.trated the coronation of Queen Victoria by a view of 'The interior of the Abbey at the moment of Her Majesty a.s.suming the Crown,' and a full-page engraving of the Coronation Procession. Two pages of engravings were given on the occasion of the Queen's marriage; and on November 1, 1841, a large 'view of the Tower of London as it appeared on fire on the morning of Sunday, the 31st ult., from a drawing by a distinguished artist.' On January 29, 1842, the same paper ill.u.s.trated the christening of the Prince of Wales, with its attendant ceremonies and festivities; and later in the same year were published the last of its ill.u.s.trations, relating to the employment of women and children in coal-mines.

[Ill.u.s.tration: INTERIOR OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS, LOOKING FROM THE ENTRANCE TO THE SPOT LATELY OCCUPIED BY THE THRONE. FROM THE 'SUNDAY TIMES,' NOV.

2, 1834.]

The _Observer_, _Bell's Life_, and the _Weekly Chronicle_, which during more than twenty years had been the chief representatives of pictorial journalism, gradually abandoned the practice of giving ill.u.s.trations after the _Ill.u.s.trated London News_ was established. Two or three other newspapers occasionally published engravings, but they were very few, and appeared at long intervals. The _Sunday Times_ ill.u.s.trated the trial of Thurtell for the murder of Mr. Weare, and on Nov. 2, 1834, it published several engravings of the destruction of the Houses of Parliament, two of which, representing the ruins, are of sufficient interest to introduce here.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RUINS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. FROM THE 'SUNDAY TIMES,'

NOV. 2, 1834.]

The _Champion_ of Nov. 13, 1836, has an engraving of the interior of a cotton-factory; and the _Weekly Herald_ in the same year issued two engravings ill.u.s.trating the story of Wat Tyler:--'1. Workshop scene; Wat Tyler knocking the Tyrant Tax-gatherer's brains out;' the princ.i.p.al characters equipped in boots, buckles, and belts, in true theatrical style 2. 'Smithfield scene; the a.s.sa.s.sin Walworth treacherously murdering the brave but too-confiding Wat Tyler.' The same paper also issued this year a view of St. Peter's, Rome. The _Magnet_, a paper started in 1837, ill.u.s.trated the proclamation of Queen Victoria, William IV. lying in state, the Canadian rebellion, burning of the Royal Exchange, coronation of Queen Victoria, and on Jan. 4, 1841, the removal of the remains of Napoleon I. from St. Helena. There are two engravings of this interesting historical event. The first is ent.i.tled, 'A correct view, taken on the spot, of the interior of the tent at St. Helena, after the disinterment of the body of Napoleon, at the instant of the removal of the lid from the coffin; the remains of the Emperor appearing (as one of the spectators remarked) as if he were asleep.' I have copied the second cut, which represents the embarkation of the body, and is one of the last examples of pictorial journalism before the birth of the _Ill.u.s.trated London News_.

Before concluding this part of my subject it is fitting that I should include the _Penny Magazine_ amongst the pictorial journals which immediately preceded the establishment of a regular ill.u.s.trated newspaper. The _Penny Magazine_, though not a newspaper, was intended to supplant the cheap and pernicious contraband newspapers that then existed in large numbers. It was the most successful experiment that England had then seen of the art of ill.u.s.tration in combination with the steam press, and was the best attempt that had been made in a cheap form to elevate the public taste.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE REMOVAL AND DELIVERY OF THE REMAINS OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON BY THE GOVERNOR OF ST. HELENA TO THE PRINCE DE JOINVILLE, ON THE 16TH DAY OF OCTOBER, 1840. FROM THE 'MAGNET,' JAN. 11, 1841.]

Mr. Charles Knight, who thus, in the _Penny Magazine_, led the way in combining literature with art in a popular form, was a staunch advocate of education, and he never ceased in his endeavours to improve the condition of the ma.s.ses. He said, 'the poor man must be made a thinking man--a man capable of intellectual pleasures; he must be purified in his tastes, and elevated in his understanding; he must be taught to comprehend the real dignity of all useful employments; he must learn to look upon the distinctions of society without envy or servility; he must respect them, for they are open to him as well as to others; but he must respect himself more. The best enjoyments of our nature might be common to him and the most favoured by fortune. Let him be taught how to appreciate them. Diminish the attractions of his sensual enjoyments by extending the range of his mental pleasures.'[5]

With such convictions, Mr. Knight, in 1827, joined the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, a new educational movement then just started by the Reform Party. He brought out, under its auspices, a great number of useful works, most of which were profusely ill.u.s.trated. In 1832 Mr. Knight resided in the Vale of Health on Hampstead Heath. One of his neighbours was Mr. M. D. Hill, an active member of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. It was a time of great political excitement, and the town was flooded with unstamped weekly publications, which in some degree came under the character of contraband newspapers, and were nearly all dangerous in principle and coa.r.s.e in language. Mr.