IN THE NEWS.
VOL.XIV TRACT SERIES OF THE CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND ANTIQUARIAN &
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY LISTS NO LESS THAN 18 DIFFERENT NEWSPAPERS SERVING
WHITEHAVEN BETWEEN 1735 AND THE PRESENT DAY. LONG THOUGH THE LIST IS ,IT REALLY IS NOT
VERY SURPRISING CONSIDERING THAT WHITEHAVEN WAS SUCH A THRIVING TOWN AND PORT
DURING THE 18TH CENTURY. BANKERS , MERCHANTS, LOWTHER AGENTS, WEALTHY RESIDENTS & EVEN
THE LOWTHERS THEMSELVES, WHEN IN RESIDENCE AT THE FLATT, WOULD ALWAYS BE ANXIOUS TO KEEP
UP TO DATE WITH NEWS OF TRADE, SHIPPING AND FASHIONS ETC. THANKFULLY ,
FOR THOSE OF US WHO ENJOY DIGGING INTO THE TOWN'S PAST , MANY OF THESE OLD PUBLICATIONS
ARE STILL AVAILABLE THROUGH THE LIKES OF RECORDS OFFICES AND THE INTERNET. TIME AND
GOOD EYES PERMITTING, THEY ARE A MINE OF INFORMATION WAITING TO BE EXPLORED. NAMES LIKE
ALLSOP, WARE AND WINDROSS & THEIR RESPECTIVE PAPERS THE WHITEHAVEN NEWS , THE CUMBERLAND
PACQUET & THE WHITEHAVEN GAZETTE ARE BUT A SAMPLE OF THOSE EMBEDDED IN THE
FASCINATING STORY OF OUR TOWN.
THE VERY FIRST OF THESE SOURCES OF INFORMATION SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN NOTHING
MORE THAN A FOUR PAGE PUBLICATION MEASURING 16 BY 12 INCHES WITH 3 COLUMNS TO
A PAGE. THIS WAS THE BRAIN CHILD OF ONE THOMAS COTTON AND WAS PRINTED IN JAMES
STREET CLOSE TO THE UNITED REFORMED CHURCH.
Even in those days advertising must have been an excellent source of income & Mr Cotton gave
up one of his four pages to just that by proclaiming the benefits of...."Doctor Daffy's Elixir, the most
famous cordial in the world, truly prepared in London & appointed to be sold by Thomas Cotton , at his
printing house in James Street."
The latter was up a flight of steps of the building adjacent to O'Hares which was still there when I was
a youth a long time ago!!!!
One of Cotton's contemporaries was another printer, one John Dunn, on whose demise in
1817 a wonderful discovery was found among his effects & from which the town has
benefited ever since. Two copper plates depicting the now famous Matthias Read painting
of 1738 & David King's drawing of the town in 1642 .
YET ANOTHER EDITOR LIVED IN " AN OLD WHITE HOUSE WITH GABLE ENDS TO THE STREET ,
BEHIND THE OLD MARKET CROSS"...AND WAS ..."FAMED FOR HIS POWDERED PIGTAIL,
HIS WOODEN LEG & HIS MANUFACTURE OF RED INK."
The Market Cross ,visible in Parr's image of Whitehaven stood where the Market Hall stands
today and was not only an assembly point for the likes of John Wesley as he preached , but also
for the farmers who came to sell their wares in town.
The Public Advertiser of 1777 reports: "We are credibly informed that Margaret Laidley who
was lately chastised in the Market Place has,during her confinement since that time , shown
great signs of contrition & it may be presumed that she will hereafter become a useful member
of society..a recent instance of the great good arising from being whipped at the Market Cross."
(Public Advertiser..1777 )
The cross was also the point from which the Lammas fair was proclaimed and in a copy of the
Cumberland Pacquet I was delighted to discover a wood carving depicting that very same event.
The whole affair was then a more memorable event than it has even been in my time.....SADLY!!!!
Note the one legged man in the background and the remarkable similarity between
the place from which the fair is being pronounced and that which stands in the Green Market today.
At a later date two more papers appeared from the Green Market area in the form of the West
Cumberland Guardian and the Whitehaven Herald with which the names of two well known
business men will be remembered by many people .Today sandwiches are available from the same site.
MORE TO COME.