The paper that made history
QUESTION What was the lead story in the first edition of the Daily Mail?
In 1896, journalist Alfred Harmsworth — who’d already had great success with Answers To Correspondents — set up a newspaper based on the style of those published in the U.S.
The Daily Mail was published as an eight-page broadsheet on May 4, 1896 and was sold under the tagline: ‘A penny newspaper for one halfpenny — the busy man’s daily journal.’ It was an immediate success, selling nearly four times the expected 100,000 copies on the first day of publication, and soon had a regular circulation of half a million.
As was usual at the time, the front cover carried numerous small ads and personals, the most intriguing being: ‘Uncle Jim — Come home at once. All is forgiven. Bring the pawn tickets with you. niece.’
The next day, Uncle Jim replied: ‘Am sending the tickets, but cannot come me home just yet for reasons of my own.’
Another read: ‘Will the gentleman who took away by mistake the Brown Pony standing outside the Star and Garter, on City and Suburban day, kindly send to the same place for the trap, or return pony? One is no use without the other.’
There were adverts for books such as Billiards by Major Broadfoot, The Flower Seller And Other Poems by Lady Lindsay and the much racier sounding narada Sutra: An Inquiry Into Love, translated from the Sanskrit by E. T. Sturdy.
The next page featured the economy and reports from the law courts of the day. It was crammed with information, including ‘The Battersea Murder: Alice St John’s killing of her husband Frederick Charles, a violent man described by their landlord as a dipsomaniac’.
‘Robbing The Dead’ was the headline for a news story about Frank Frater, a ‘London victualler of German descent’, who had been charged with robbing a dead body of £100 at London Bridge train station.
There was a review of the International Horse and Horseless Carriage and Roads Locomotion Exhibition at Crystal Palace, which was opened by the Lord Mayor: ‘These carriages were propelled with either petroleum or benzoline, a fact which was amply evident to the noses of the spectators.’ World news featured a ‘Brilliant British Victory In Soudan [sic]’ where the British cavalry, led by Major Burn Murdoch, routed a Dervish force of 1,000 foot and 250 horse with just the loss of one cavalryman in ‘terrible heat’.
Page six was filled with sport, including the start of the cricket season, tennis, golf, billiards and baseball. There was a lot of news for your money, but no pictures.
Perhaps the most amusing piece was an editorial on motor travel. It detailed h how much further advanced the F French motor industry was than ours: ‘We have but six manufacturers of motor cars on this side of the Channel, whilst in France they are already reckoned by the hundred.’
Furthermore, the Mail proclaimed: ‘ ‘Lovers of the horse, after all, need not b be jealous of the homely little petroleum e engine that disputes the road with t their favourite. The motor carriage will never replace the smart trotting pony or the high-stepping team.’
Peter Smith, Durham.
QUESTION Q Who was Tom, the man le lending his name to acts of foolery, a and what did he do to earn this?
TOM T FOOL was the name for any foolish fo or half-witted person.
In I 1901, Joseph Thomas Fowler edited the th 14th-century manuscript Extracts From Fr The Account Rolls Of The Abbey Of O Durham, which includes the earliest reference: re ‘ Pro funeracione Thome Fole’ — the funeral of Thomas Fool.
In I medieval times, there is evidence that th people would entertain themselves by watching the antics of insane people in asylums such as Bedlam in London. The nicknames Tom o’ Bedlam and Tom Fool were used for male inmates who were favourites of the audience (‘Tom’ was often used in the 16th century to indicate maleness — hence tomcat).
The name was also used to describe a madman let out of custody with a licence to beg, an itinerant lunatic, or someone who feigned madness to attract sympathy while begging.
King Lear is accompanied by the Fool and Edgar (as Tom o’ Bedlam) while he is going mad. A possible source for Shakespeare’s fool was Thomas Skelton, the jester employed by the Pennington family of Muncaster Castle in Cumbria.
He was a more sinister character than Shakespeare might have imagined. It is said he decapitated an apprentice carpenter on the orders of his employer after the lad was caught in flagrante with the nobleman’s daughter. A ghost carrying its own head is said to haunt the grounds.
Karen Briggs, Buckminster, Leics.
IS THERE a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London, W8 5TT. You can also email them to charles.legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection will be published, but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.