Headlines from 146 years ago making the news for Wayne!
HISTORIC NEWSPAPERS FOUND IN LOFT INCLUDE FIRST-EVER NOTTINGHAM POST
HEADLINES from 146 years ago are front-page news for Wayne Armstrong.
Wayne found a pristine copy of the very first edition of the Nottingham Evening Post in his late mother’s Mansfield bungalow.
Mr Armstrong, from Ravenshead, unearthed two historic copies of the paper – the first edition, from May 1, 1878, and the one published on September 3, 1939, the day war with Germany was declared.
They were in a dusty briefcase in the loft of the old bungalow. Now, the 56-year-old wants to donate them to an archive so they can be preserved.
“I was quite surprised to find them,” he said.
“We kind of knew that the briefcase existed because my mum would refer to it occasionally, suggesting that we get it down and go through the photos and things.
“But I don’t think anyone knew about those papers. There’s some interesting stuff in there.”
His mother Kathleen died, aged 80, on January 26. It was when he was sifting through her old belongings last month that he came across the briefcase.
Inside were “a load of old photos”, as well as the newspapers.
Mr Armstrong says he didn’t recognise some people in the photographs, but they appeared to date mainly between the 1920s and 1960s from as early as when his grandmother was a child.
The first newspaper contains “tiny print” in the a huge broadsheet format with no large headlines.
Instead, there’s a column for business announcements and auction sales featured on the front page.
There are references to finds of “an interesting and costly collection of high-class bronzes, rare specimens of Dresden, Sevres, Lowestoft and Indian China” from Wollaton Hall and Colwick Hall, as well as stories about “The Great Cotton Strike” and a church improvement in New Radford.
The latter says: “The parish church of New Radford does not fascinate one by any striking outward architectural features or beauty of outline, but the interior, with its fine pointed arches springing from stone columns, has a very effective appearance, and recently several improvements have been carried out with the view of adding to the convenience of those who worship within its sacred walls.”
By contrast, the September 3, 1939, edition is issue number 19,079.
It is headlined: “BRITAIN AT WAR WITH GERMANY” and includes a haunting subhead: “Fateful day in world’s history.”
All the front-page stories relate to the declaration of war.
There are sections regarding the closure of schools, evacuations and an appeal from the Lord Mayor of Nottingham.
Wayne, whose family ancestry includes relatives in the Nottingham lace industry on his mother’s side and in the coal industry on his father’s side, has taken the newspaper copies back home with him to Ravenshead.
He believes that the briefcase the newspapers were in went to the bungalow with his mother when she moved in 22 years ago.
They likely “hadn’t really been touched since,” he said.
He added that they had likely been passed down for generations before being forgotten about.
“I don’t think it’s my mum that’s specifically kept them,” he said.
“I guess it’s probably my grandad – my dad’s dad – who probably thought they might be worth something later down the line.
“He’s kept them because of the principle of what they are. His dad probably saved it and his dad before him and it’s been passed down for whatever reason.”
The Nottingham Evening Post, as it was then, was started by the Forman family and originally edited by Jesse Forman for 14 years, from 1878 to 1892.
Forman Street, which runs by the Cornerhouse – once the site of the Post’s building – to Trinity Square, is named after them.