Off The Record
Alan Crosby uncovers the story of how our ancestors exchanged New Year gifts
How did our ancestors celebrate the New Year?
Another year ended, another one started… what did ‘ New Year’ mean to our forebears? Did they mark the occasion? They certainly did – and if you think that commercialisation is a curse only of our own times, the adverts in the Banbury Guardian from the late Victorian period will change your views. I chose to look at Banbury in Oxfordshire because that’s where my forebears were living 150 years ago. What would they have seen when perusing the local paper back then?
The magic words “New Year” started to appear at the beginning of December, and in terms of gifts and cards it was apparently celebrated much more lavishly than is the case today. While there may not have been young people jumping fully clothed into icy- cold fountains, there was certainly a lot of money changing hands!
In 1852, when my great great grandfather was 31 years old, the must-have New Year’s gift being proclaimed by Gee’s of High Street was, at the price of only a guinea, a “most useful Parcel of Glass” containing two one- quart decanters, 12 wine
‘I imagine that a swig of that concoction would do a chap a power of good’
glasses, 12 half-pint glasses, a cruet set, sugar basin and cream jug, water bottle and water glass, and two pairs of salt cellars. George Crosby probably didn’t respond to this irresistible offer – he worked for a brewery business, and I suspect he had a fairsized collection of drinking vessels already.
Drink and other indulgences were heavily advertised. Year after year, under the banner headline “NEW YEAR! NEW YEAR!”, Samuel Gulliver of the White Horse Brewery (nothing to do with the Crosbys – definitely an inferior concern) promoted the pleasures for the festive season: wines, spirits, ales, cigars and especially his patent “Whisky Curacao”, guaranteed to keep the cold out. It was a heady brew of the “finest old Irish Whisky” (he used the wrong spelling but who cared?) combined with oranges, lemons and “aromatic spices”, and it was recommended for the “hunting field and sportsmen”. I imagine that taking a generous swig of that concoction while riding across the damp, foggy fields of North Oxfordshire would do a chap a power of good.
In December 1892, JH Commins, stationer of 61 High Street, was publicising New Year cards and New Year presents just as prominently as those for Christmas. What these presents were is not clear, but fashion accessories were apparently a perfect gift. The draper and clothier RL Stevenson was advertising silk ties, handkerchiefs, umbrellas, ornamental collar studs, boxes for gloves and collars, all for New Year, and if paid for in cash during January, with a generous discount.
Slightly more exciting than a box of hankies were the “New Year’s Novelties” offered in 1881 by JH Ludwig of 84 High Street. His prominent frontpage advert tantalised with its references to “Useful and Ornamental Articles!! suitable for the Festive Season!!”. They included “Swiss Carved Wood Goods” (surely that is great grandma’s cuckoo clock and musical box?), toilet requisites, “Japanese Goods” carefully unspecified, jewel cases, “bags of every description”, playing cards, bezique, chess, draughts, dominoes, “go bang”, card games and inkstands. I had to look up ‘go bang’ and found that it’s actually ‘goban’, a Japanese and Chinese board game played using smooth, round stones. How extremely exotic for small-town Banbury!
I don’t know how many members of my family succumbed to the blandishments of their fellow tradesmen. I don’t possess George’s ‘go bang’ set, his collar studs have disappeared, his daughters may have had glove boxes for all I know, and his sons’ cigars went up in smoke. But I’m sure that drink played a significant role in the way George Crosby marked the passing of each year: as a brewer’s agent, owner of three pubs, and acknowledged expert on alcohol, it cannot have been otherwise!