The Tit-Bits Phenomenon: George Newnes, New Journalism and the Periodical Texts Author(s): Kate Jackson Reviewed

work(s): Source: Victorian Periodicals Review, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Fall, 1997), pp. 201-226 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20082998 . Accessed: 08/05/2012 11:49
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The Tit-Bits Phenomenon: New Newnes, Journalism

George and the

Periodical Texts
KATE JACKSON

JL here is one kind of journalism which directs the affairs of nations; itmakes and
unmakes cabinets; it upsets governments, builds up Navies and does many other

great things. It ismagnificent.

journalism year, giving which has no such and wholesome

This
great harmless and

is your journalism. There

ambitions. It is content to entertainment amusement. to crowds

is another kind of
after plod on, year of hardworking and unpreten

for a little fun craving people, tious. This is my journalism.1

It is quite

humble

to periodical litera Thus did George Newnes describe his contribution ture in 1890, when separating from W.T. Stead in their joint venture The was to become one of Britain's first media Review of Reviews. Newnes a huge number and variety of publications. But it magnates, publishing was through his first publication, that he established his place in Tit-Bits, British journalism. One of the most significant emphases of the developing metacriticism interactive and self of periodical research is an awareness of the uniquely text is in many text.2 The periodical referential form of the periodical an 'open' text which offers creative potential to its readers. It repre ways sents an active and dynamic process of communication, a mechanism of exchange between the popular press and the popular mind. It functions as social discourse rather than as direct social statement. This paper is an to demonstrate the ways inwhich the weekly paper Tit-Bits func attempt tioned within this paradigm of social discourse, with special reference to as the its creator and editor, George Newnes. It characterises Newnes friend, adviser, and representative (drawing upon the Editor's textual expositions upon this theme): an editor interested in editor-reader interaction and in supplying Like practical advice for daily problems. other editors of the period, Newnes had an interest in developing, publi reader's

202 Victorian

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the text of Tit-Bits as the site of a community of cising, and promoting and he did so in such a way as to create one of the mutual responsibility, most successful examples of the so-called 'New Journalism'. The management of limited time (within limited space) - the ethos of which E.P. Thompson has so clearly explained - was the work-discipline "It is impossible for any man in the busy very raison d'etre of Tit-Bits. opened the Editor when it appeared on the publish 22, 1881, "to even glance at any large number of the immense variety of books and papers which have gone on accumulating, until now their number is fabulous." "It will be the business of the con to find out from this immense field of literature the ductors of Tit-Bits times of the present", ing scene on October to place them and weekly best things that have been said or written, before the public for one penny."3 The notion of industrial time, implicit sermonette upon the two types of journalism, permeated inNewnes' the comments text from the outset. The Editor's invoked the lan opening and surplus conjuring up images of oversupply a "business" was to rationalise: to manufacture for the busy consumer with limited time and lim marketable commodity reduced the complexities ited means. Tit-Bits of modern life, distilling, relevant to its readers after the fashion of and synthesising information guage of industrialisation, stockpiling. The editor's Review but in such the more middle-and nineteenth-century upper-class a way as to appeal to an upper-working and lower-middle class audience. A series of 'Literary Excerpts', drawn from various well-known authors, writers middle-class canonical such as Dickens, Disraeli, mostly this process of manufactured and Arnold, Macaulay, exemplified synthe
sis.

So who were the 'crowds of hardworking iden people' whom Newnes to all the indications given in the texts, tified as his audience? According in the language, competitions, the illustrations, and formal characteristics, and aspiring middle of Tit-Bits consisted of a lower-middle readership often salary-earning, class, largely commuting, self-helping public. Many were 'constant subscribers': middle-class readers with a regular wage and to subscribe. Competition the means payments prizes and contribution in guineas, a fact which carried class offered in this paper were expressed appealed to a class of reader in pos to awage in these terms) as opposed in pounds, and pence). The success of the '"Tit-Bits shilling (expressed reflected the aspirations Villa" Competition' of readers towards home an essentially middle-class and aspiring middle-class ideal; ownership, and the 'Tit-Bits Insurance Scheme' was an indication that the audience of and professional implications. They session of a salary (always expressed a pool of potential a commuting readers that population, increased in the late-nineteenth This class was substantially century.4 courses the backbone of university extension often and vocational the paper was

KATE

JACKSON

203 by Newnes in the 'Tit-Bits

evening

classes, Column';

of both the Inquiry organisations a fact which seems strongly to have influenced the major political parties, It was a class that was rapidly language and editorial style of Tit-BitsJ in the latter decades of the nineteenth century, and one to expanding a commercial which Newnes himself belonged (as traveller), before rising to the top of the professional middle class: a self-made man.6 A pictorial canvas titled 'A Few Incidents in Connection with Tit-Bits' a visual representation It of the readership of that publication. provided of the middle bonneted women, class; depicted well-dressed, obviously men in bowler hats, and black suits that top-hats, collars, ties, waistcoats, were the characteristic attire of the same class; and well-dressed children hats and the latest in sailor-suit fashion. Clerical types, distin wearing their hats and collars, were also among those that appeared. guishable by This, it seems, was the 'crowd' to whom Newnes sought to appeal. Signif Newnes' readers were depicted visually, as well as represented icantly, in and correspondence columns), (through the competitions discursively the text of this publication. (See Figure 1). to be the most by many historians and contemporaries Acknowledged century, Tit-Bits appeared on popular penny paper of the late-nineteenth scene on October the publishing 22, 1881. Itwas essentially a paper of the in the late nineteenth century: a variety that became popular miscellany sixteen page patchwork of advice, humorous anecdotes, romantic fiction, statistical information, historical explanation, advertisement, legal detail, were a cen quips and queries, and reader correspondence. Competitions tral feature. Regular columns and serials were short interspersed with jokes and sallies of the kind frequently furnished to newspaper and maga zines by literary types. Its readership was essentially the expanding lower-middle and upper-working classes. It catered to the male, female, and juvenile reader, the family circle and the white-collar commuter. The average weekly circulation of Tit-Bits during the years of Newnes' involvement (1881-1910) was 400,00 to 600,000 copies, but this figure as circulation-boosting fluctuated schemes came and went. By 1890, to Geraldine 1/2 million, and by Beare, its sales had exceeded according to be the world's most 1893 itwas considered popular penny paper.7 An offer to donate ?10,000 to the Hospitals Fund if readers took the circula tion of the paper to 1million, resulted inweekly circulation of 850,000 in in Easter Week, to 1889.8 A competition 1897, increased circulation 671,00o.9 These figures were on par with the other most successful papers of the Tit-Bits variety, Answers and Pearson's Weekly, also with weekly circulation of 400,000-600,000.n a sub Tit-Bits also maintained figures
stantial overseas circulation.

the taste for which was met and of new constituency

Newnes

quickly

established

a successful

format

for Tit-Bits,

and he

KATE

JACKSON

20 5

it little in the course of the magazine's Page 1 con publication. 2 and 3 - General Anecdotes; page 4 Continental jokes; pages 6 - Inquiry Column; Tit-Bits; page 5 General Anecdotes, page pages 7 and 8 - General Anecdotes; page 9 The Prize Tit-Bit; pages 10, 11, 12, and otherwise; page 14 - Tit-Bits of humorous 13 General Anecdotes, of General Information; page 16 Legal Information; page 15 Tit-Bits a column entitled to Corre From 'Answers General Anecdotes. 1885 was featured on page 13. On the front page, in a very visible spondents' to readers about notices in the top left-hand corner, were position conducted by Tit-Bits. and current competitions upcoming short questions were published In the Tit-Bits Inquiry Column, each afterwards. week with answers appearing two weeks 'Any question, on the editor in No. 19, 'and each be asked', announced any subject, may in the "Inquiry Column"'. Readers might question will be published accurate replies'.11 The column, with its question 'depend upon receiving and answer format, reflected the familiarity of the kind of exchange requi format to an audience that was newly integrated site for the examination varied tained into a system of compulsory schooling. As if to make the connection the reader who answered the largest number of the best student clearer, a period of three months - received a reward of questions correctly over 10 guineas from the editor-teacher. The range of 'Tit-Bits of General of this society Information' was broad, and reflects the preoccupation and with the measurement with collecting statistics, with self-assessment, of progress and prosperity. and statistical organisation As Tit-Bits evolved, it incorporated more original material, carrying an in a kind of journal invitation to readers to send in literary contributions istic recruiting campaign. In each issue appeared the announcement:

TO LITTERATEURS
The price we pay for original contributions specially written for Tit-Bits is

ONE GUINEA PER COLUMN

Thus to establish the highly began a tradition which was to lead Newnes in 1890. The first serial to be published was a successful Strand Magazine

fictional piece by James Payn entitled 'THE WORD

WILL'.12

AND

THE

By 1890, the format of the paper had evolved even further. On of ?1,000 was offered for a story of 40 September 27, 1890, remuneration later in book each, to be published 50 chapters averaging 2,500 words of Tit-Bits. The Editor was thus recruitment form by the proprietor a form of exchange and Tit-Bits officer and employer, represented
employer and wage-earner the 'cash nexus' that was charac

between

teristic

of urban

industrial

life.

In

1889,

serial

fiction,

a form which

2o6 Victorian

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basis in a way which often allowed engaged reader response on a weekly in the production the reading public to mediate of the story, was intro in literary publishing. duced into Tit-Bits as an experiment in origin and format, and inclusive in style and Tit-Bits was commercial content. Newnes' genius lay largely in his ability to create publishing concepts. But the attraction of Newnes' paper was, appealing, marketable at the same time, the way in which it offered connection, representation, to readers, and enabled Newnes to establish a and creative potential as the focus of a popu editorial presence. Tit-Bits functioned responsive a source of cultural identity, a lar cultural movement, popular social edu a legal and moral bond between readers and editor, and a cator, pluralistic discursive that was at once innovative and sphere. It was a publication as Joel Wiener has pointed out, unique (the paper's 'personality', which was partly a function of editorial persona),13 and at the same time, a phe nomenon
nalism.

that was

characteristic

of late nineteenth-century

English

jour

Tit-Bits began as a collection of excerpts converted into 'text' purely by a process of creative editorial synthesis, and it is infused with a deep sense of editorial presence. The figure of the editor was, in fact, central to the Victorian period. In an age characterised by the expansion of the publish text and audience. The the editor acted as a conduit between ing world, 'The Editor'. Tit-Bits constitutes nucleus of Tit-Bits was George Newnes, a dynamic process of interaction between editor-proprietor and audience, filtered through a complex construction of the nature of the editorial role, reading, the popular audience, and the popular press. As a publisher, by his own account, Newnes had to possess 'the skill, the precision, the vigi As editor, he lance, the strategy, the boldness of a commander-in-chief.
was required to be 'a statesman, an essayist, a geographer, a statistician,

is concerned, and, so far as all acquisition encyclopaedic'.14 Through Tit evolved as an editor and a publisher, and the reader of this Bits, Newnes paper was closely involved in this metamorphosis by virtue of Newnes' interactive, self-referential, self-conscious, characteristically editorially
transparent, personalised, dramatic, earnest, innovative approach.

column, conveying rial presence and reader involvement, was the linchpin in Tit-Bits.15 Known that Newnes posture adopted
'corres.', this column was one of the most popular.

The

'Answers

to Correspondents'

a sense of edito of the interactive at the office as

'For this page',

Friederichs, Newnes' long-time friend, associate and according 'the editor had a very special affection, together with very biographer, inwhich it should be conducted'. definite ideas as to the manner
He would held that, make first each and foremost, all answers feel that should he was be treated in a manner special which consider

to Huida

given with

correspondent

KATE

JACKSON

207

ation;

that

here affairs a

behind were of

this

newspaper

page, interest; Mr Newnes

there was who

somebody and

to whom tried to

the give be to

inquirer's his advice

real human Secondly,

sympathised, held that

practical terms,

turn.

the answers them

should interesting

couched the general

in such reader

whenever as to the

this was individual

possible,

as to make

as well

correspondent.16

for personalised edi Thus, the text of Tit-Bits represented both amedium tor-reader interaction and a commercial product with broad narrative and it shared journalistic appeal to a diverse audience, characteristics which other products of the New Journalism. column was not merely underpinned by the desire for commercial a factor. It was one to which that was obviously success, although 'with his vivid imagination, his innate good sense, his ready wit, Newnes, social tact' was and above all his unfailing ideally suited. 'For years', with This went on, 'he took these letters, in bundles twelve inches high, and higher, went carefully through each, and answered them so fully, so to every social wisely and so well, that in course of time people belonging editorial per class sought help and advice through "corres."'. Newnes' sona was multiform. He was 'innovator and preacher', the (to borrow title of a recent work on the Victorian edited by Joel Wiener), editor, business partner, 'patriarch and pioneer',17 democratic representative, Friederichs adviser and friend; sometimes
jesting, often avuncular.

upbraiding,

sometimes

cajoling,

sometimes

interjection, often characterised by a familiar tone and con to readers as 'our friends', was the very essence of Tit taining references Bits: 'In consequence of the large numbers of queries we receive', inti mated Newnes, section, 'it is impossible referring to the 'Legal Tit-Bits' to answer all we should like in this page: 'Those of our friends who find that it is not from want their questions omitted will please to understand Editorial of courtesy, but from want of space'.18 itwas suggested, competed with the imper Considerations of friendship, atives of economy. As the editorial voice developed, the editorial persona was dramatised in various ways. He appeared as the 'fighting Editor', the difficult, demonstrative, threatening editorial voice whose curbed by his staff; the 'august personage' of the press and public life; the slightly impractical and vague intellectual; the masterful businessman and administrator. In a series of episodes in 'Answers to Correspondents', for instance, it was suggested that, in order to 'earn his salary' in a quiet period of peace from 'malcontents', he should utilise a disused balloon and parachute argumentative, volatility was allegedly stored in the Tit-Bits cellar by making 'daily descents from the top of Tit-Bits office in the excellent balloon' and returning 'to earth in
the elegant parachute'. He refused, was remonstrated with, became angry,

2o8 Victorian and was

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then soothed and finally overcome with emotion.19 Earlier, in the 'Tit-Bits Villa' Competition, the editor had appeared in 'all his editorial to inspect the prize villa, but was nevertheless to be discovered dignity' vulnerable as he trailed one of the curtains to be used in pho appealingly 'Tit-Bits Villa' on the ground, and was reduced to contriving tographing to disguise the damage.20 Such episodes confirm Raymond Williams' sug of 'new journalism' had links with a popular gestion that the products oral tradition, although it could be argued that Tit-Bits had closer connec tions with music hall entertainment than with the more structured envi ronment of the nineteenth-century theatre. As Newnes his fine-tuned individual act, he resembled one of the great entertainers of the variety the working class of the later style of entertainment, popular amongst nineteenth century. in the period of New The magazines established Journalism were to take advantage of a lucrative commercial largely guided by the desire Tit-Bits was no exception, the type of 'inclusive' although opportunity. to borrow Stephen Elwell's it was characterised term, which approach, not simply amatter of supply and demand and commercial transaction, as an article entitled 'Editors and Social will be amply demonstrated here. In Change: A Case Study of Once A Week' Elwell argues that, after a period of class-based journalism, the 1880s and 1890s saw the emergence of a dis of the tinctly new editorial strategy that was based upon new conceptions like Tit-Bits redefined the idea of an audi audience. Magazines popular ence so that they were able to speak to the mass rather than to a discrete class of readers. Thus, Elwell argues, 'Entrepreneurs such as Newnes and in the 1880s and Lord Northcliffe stand out now because they discovered interest of the middle class 1890s how to define and exploit the common in inclusive rather than exclusive terms'21 Thus also, James Curran has themes stressed in the industrialised press.22 pointed to the integrational Newnes was an astute businessman, and Tit-Bits became a kind of 'pro new competitions and features appeared each tool' in which motional himself felt bound to confess in relation to one such week. As Newnes about the matter. It is simply 'there is no philanthropy competition: the advertising instinct, and there is no more generosity by prompted on bill-posting'.23 of pounds about it than if we had spent hundreds Tit-Bits with a capital of ?500 (raised from the sale of a vege Establishing Newnes was tarian restaurant which he opened for a time inManchester), aManchester firm six offered ?16,000 for the publication by publishing weeks after the appearance of the first issue, and six months later, a Lon firm offered ?30,000. don publishing and thus various schemes to increase circulation Newnes employed revenue. The railway insurance scheme protected every com advertising on his or her person whilst muter with a current copy of the magazine

KATE

JACKSON

209

offered a seven travelling on trains. The 'Tit-Bits Villa' Competition roomed free-hold house as the prize for a short story competition. And in a series of cryptic clues divulged the whereabouts of another competition, a buried tube of five hundred gold sovereigns. In the ensuing years, ?2,500 was hidden in different locations. 'Nothing has ever occasioned such pas in 1911, 'per sionate endeavour as this search for gold', wrote Friederichs elemental cravings haps because it appeals to one of the most deep-seated of the human heart.24 This was what Newnes referred to as 'advertisement investment'. The idea was not completely original. A competition prize of ?1000 had been offered by a journal of the 1860s. Nevertheless Newnes fashion. exploited this technique in a new and comprehensive He also introduced commercial advertising on the front and back cov ers, and later the middle pages of the paper in 1885, as a means of raising activities. The language and visual iconography capital for his publishing from the textual transaction between advertisers and consumers emerging an insight into the tastes and preoccupations of the audience provides with whom the editor himself is engaged. The appeal of these advertise ments lay in the bold visual techniques of formatting and and headlining, in which in the way drew upon popular beliefs and ideologies. they for products such as 'Salt Regal' (prescribed as a cure for Advertisements 'Infectious Diseases, and even 'The Epi Influenza, Malaria, Cholera' drew upon working-class traditions of self-medication. 'Frame demic') Food Bread' derived its market credibility from its alleged scientific legit the rhetoric of science, anthropomet imacy, and was advertised within its nutritional value testified by various ries, eugenics and efficiency, medical experts. Advertisements for Pears Translucent Soap played upon racist ideology, that 'cleanliness [and therefore, popular suggesting and godliness go together'. 'whiteness', by crude process of extrapolation] Newnes' crowd were not only readers. They were consumers, and the advertisement pages of Tit-Bits were an attempt to gain their allegiance to the advertisers' product, through their allegiance to the paper. In fact Newnes created out of Tit-Bits a kind of cultural phenomenon which Robert Blatch something akin to the 'Merrie England' movement ford's series of that name in the Clarion created a popu inspired. Newnes lar movement with his advertising and general stunts, competitions, stimulation of a sense of communality those whom he referred to among as 'loyal Tit-Bitites' that commuters' club comprised of people who in their pockets carried a copy of Tit-Bits in accordance with religiously the conditions of the 'Tit-Bits Insurance Scheme'.25 It was these loyal readers - 'willing Tit-Bits canvassers' whom Newnes had attempted to rally in support of his scheme to pay ?10,000 to the Hospitals Fund if the average circulation of the paper reached half-a million the scheme as 'a new kind of CO copies weekly. He promoted

2io Victorian OPERATIVE cleverly

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to benefit 'a good cause', designed and traditions of co-operation together working-class drawing and middle-class traditions of charity and philanthropy: solidarity PHILANTHROPY'
are thousands of people who, having no more of the world's goods than

There

they require for themselves, are yet willing

leisure time to do what wish this they objects....We try and make to enlist

and anxious by personal effort in their

know workers be to be who good will as a

can for what promoting they the help of a large number of willing a success....This may arrangement practical

described

new kind of CO-OPERATIVE

don is trying hope at the to get the working succeed of tals. We anyone, have Tit-Bits certain.z6 he will

PHILANTHROPY.
people in his a penny to subscribe efforts. a week, is Here

(The Lord Mayor

a penny is also he a week a chance

of Lon
by which can

to the Hospi

the agreeable

expenditure consciousness in each

that he town and

canvassers,

gets good a A few cause....) good willing helping success in the Kingdom, will make village

for which

value,

attempt to co-opt his readers into another form of in an advertising mutual and communal identification, responsibility stunt that was presented as a social initiative. saw over 22,000 letters being posted The 'Tit-Bits Villa' Competition Thus did Newnes into the Tit-Bits offices, thousands of people trooping off to Dulwich for the day to see the 'Villa', and thousands of photos of 'Tit-Bits Villa' being Newnes sold as souvenirs of the competition. instituted the 'Tit-Bits "Result" Launch', a launch employed by Tit-Bits for the day of the Uni informing versity boat race to steam up the river from the winning-post, the crowds about the result of the race by means of streamers announcing 'The Tit-Bits "Result" Launch has now become an annual the winner. 'and in future may be looked for by announced Newnes, institution,' the first intimation of the result.'27 those who visit the race as conveying Thus an essentially exclusive Oxbridge with whom Newnes 'crowds', popular
movement.

was carried to the phenomenon a rapport, through the had such

Tit-Bits

for the guidance of his readers inmulti became responsible name and facsimile became an emblem of farious settings, and the Tit-Bits the Paris cultural identity for both domestic and overseas readers. During and Inquiry Pavilion Exhibition of 1889 Newnes erected a Tit-Bits The Editor Office:
a of land close to the central entrance to the Exhibition...we

having

purchased

plot

have erected A LARGE BUILDING,

design, colour, and every other way of

the front of which will be a facsimile in

the front page of Tit-Bits. This building

will be placed at the disposal of readers of Tid-Bits.z*

KATE

JACKSON

211

The office was described as 'a rendezvous for all readers of Tit-Bits, and a In an extension of its textual func for obtaining full information'. place tion as the site in,which and maintained, relationships were established Tit-Bits became associated with the physical and spatial act of 'rendez vous'. The interaction of editor and reading public, producer and con into a tangible interaction sumer, on the printed page was transformed the context of an institution that was perhaps the most popular symbol nineteenth The in of

the Exhibition. century material progress and capitalisation: readers was almost overwhelming. One from Newnes' response in a remote corner of Cape Colony, South Africa, led an reader, living on a mountaineering 'enthusiastic band of Tit-Bitites' expe (unsolicited) dition to paint in letters 12 ft high, on a rock overlooking the village and visible from all directions including from the Orange River, these words: in these parts of it 'the truest philosophy '"Read Tit-Bits". He nominated constituted 'the real cure for bilious the world'. he believed, Tit-Bits, painted Orme's devoted reader and general melancholy'.29 Another attacks, homesickness 'Tit-Bits' in 'bold letters high up on the rocks of Great the word at Llandudno'. Newnes Head such acknowledged gracefully to those friendly readers esteem: 'We are very much obliged marks of

who, when they go upon their travels, leave behind them some record of increased in the later nine their favourite paper'.30 As display advertising teenth century, public criticism of the excesses of advertisers took various forms. 3IOne wonders what the reaction of locals to such signs as that described above would have been. The audience of Tit-Bits actually became writers, through being con and correspondents, and they gained a sense of tributors, competitors text. The ?1000 prize story com identity from the process of creating the to choose the magazine's first serial story, petition, employed by Newnes won the story 'What's Bred in the Bone', and by Grant Allen with
attracted over 20,000 MSS. from aspiring authors.32 Moreover, Newnes

the reader socially by provid suggested that Tit-Bits actually empowered 'Any person ing him or her with a fund of useful conversational material. he claimed, 'will at the end of that who takes Tit-Bits for three months', as he will then have at his command a time be an entertaining companion, stock of smart sayings and a fund of anecdote which make his society 33 Newnes envisaged Tit-Bits as a social asset, a form of dia agreeable.' logue integral to social life. He himself was an interesting, entertaining, to Friederichs, and he saw in and genial after-dinner speaker, according a kind of discursive the Tit-Bits version of the clubs he frequented: National Newnes' In a sense Tit-Bits and Devonshire Clubs. represents sense of hospitality and sociability. He was a natural host, and his journalism in some sense reflected his desire to entertain his 'friends': in this case the loyal readers of Tit-Bits. Liberal instinctive

212 Victorian Yet Newnes

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took the relationship between himself and his readers very of it as a relationship bound by legal and moral seriously. constantly obligations, invoking the idea of the contract which he strove to maintain with Tit-Bits readers. In the 'Tit-Bits Villa' for Competition, he went into endless detail regarding the conditions of the com example, He conceived petition, answered the questions of prospective in the weeks competitors to the judging, and on the entire process of awarding leading up reported and bestowing the prize, as 'an absolute guarantee to the public that it has been given without favour'. 'We shall take pride in seeing that the house is one which all will admit is a fair and reasonable fulfilment of our con
tract', he announced:

Let

everyone

remember

that we

have

pledged

our

reputation

in this matter

... and

all may be sure thatwe shall make this prize one which
of Tit-Bits, and not one of which we shall be ashamed.34

shall redound to the credit

Aware of the decision, derived from various Common Law cases relat to promotional schemes of the period and from Trade Marks Acts of ing could constitute 1875 and 1883, that a general offer in an advertisement made repeated reference to his contract, Newnes part of an enforcable as publisher-promoter within the text of Tid-Bits.35 He legal obligations terms of the contract as time went on. 'The greatest elaborated upon the care is taken to give correct answers to inquiries', he explained in one
issue, 'but at the same time our correspondents must understand that we

in giving our opinions'. In the same issue it disclaim any responsibility was stated that correspondents were required to 'give their names and for publication, but as a guarantee of good addresses, not necessarily was negotiating of introduc the possibility faith.'36 Later, when Newnes he again employed the language of the law, explaining ing advertising, that he 'scarcely liked to intrude more pages of advertisements upon [his] To this end, the intro readers without giving them full compensation'. duction of commercial advertising on the front and back covers of Tit not serve to reduce the number of printed pages in the paper. Bits did Every change in format or content in Tit-Bits was discussed at length. The the publication, and indeed its editor, evolved, was thus process by which was engaged in estab characterised by its transperancy.37 Thus Newnes a relationship of trust and loyalty - a kind of moral bond as well as lishing a legal one - with his readers. Manchester readers took this bond very an imitation of Tit When Harmsworth introduced Answers, seriously. their loyalty to Newnes the new Bits, they displayed by boycotting
comer.38

Stephen Kern has suggested that the journalistic medium and communal by virtue of the way inwhich democratising

itself is both it diminishes

KATE

JACKSON

"3

between individuals - both social and geographical. It is accessible to all classes and decreases the isolation of individuals equally the whole country.39 This is certainly true both in the city and throughout of Tit-Bits, which had, as has been noted, a wide circulation. Social segre the distance had been the legacy of industrialisation and gation and fragmentation and urban spread, the wealthy urbanisation. With urban segregation employing class tended tomove outside the boundaries of the larger towns and cities, and thus removed themselves from the responsibilities and net works tinued con of the communities they left behind. Only some, like Newnes, to engage in what Harold Perkin refers to as 'competitive

libraries, public parks, town halls, and giving hospitals, philanthropy',40 churches to the towns. The appeal of Tit-Bits, Iwould contend, lay largely in its re-creation of this kind of community of mutual responsibility. to a generation of Free Church pastors Newnes' father had belonged who brought to their work a strong sense of personal responsibility for and intimacy with the individual members of their congregations. Jona thon Rose has argued that the movement in the late-nine for 'fellowship' teenth century was in fact a secular replacement for religion. It would seem entirely possible that Newnes the bond of sought to replicate human fellowship which the Church had provided in the secular medium of the popular.41 Under the masterful of its yet lively administration in chief, George Newnes, 'commander Tit-Bits its readers offered
engagement, interaction and connection.

1890s, many educated men and women acquired a to the ideals of human commitment and practical personal fellowship a social unity. In pursuit of the ideal of a common bond of citizenship, in newly-formed number of middle-class students resided 'settlement houses' such as Toynbee Hall, which opened in 1885 and was followed by a range of social services: health care, kindergar many more,42 providing tens, child-care classes, legal aid, lectures, libraries, concerts, recreational facilities. J.A. Spender, who was to edit Newnes' liberal political weekly, the Westminster resident. The gospel of fellow Gazette, was a Toynbee in ship even permeated public policy, and the move towards collectivism and the law was a manifestation of the same impulse public opinion towards the creation of a socially unified society based on mutual respon that the House of Newnes, here represented sibility.43 It ismy contention by Tit-Bits, was symbolic of just these currents in contemporary thought and was, in fact, itself the kind of journalistic, discursive equivalent of a settlement house, providing social services, advice, participation and a sense of community and citizenship for its audience. In the 190th issue of Tit-Bits, Newnes introduced an 'Agony Column', as a response to readers who had the innovation explaining applied to 'take advantage of the immense circulation of Tit-Bits to put in notices

In the 1880s and

214 Victorian with

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1997

friends, and on other matters.'44 The 'agony col regard to missing to the OED, was a journalistic innovation which first umn', according appeared only in about 1880, in the Times. It could thus be seen as a fea ture of the sort of personal journalism that has been nominated as charac teristic of the New Journalism. The 'agonies' of Tit-Bits readers ranged from attempts to re-establish contact with lost friends, relatives or lovers, to warnings to enemies, to reassurances to exiles fearing persecution if

'there they returned to the family nest: 'HARRY', read one such message, is no longer any reason why you should stay away. The man is quite well, and no attempt will be made to prosecute you. He got better in a week'.45 I have Another was addressed slightly more specifically to 'NAOMY C: looked you
where-

for you since our last interview in S. Lane; can I see everywhere If so, write to this paper (Agony Column), and say when and again?
TED'.46

in which people could voice their Thus Newnes created a community contact others, vent their emotions and exchange gossip. The concerns, narrative interest of this column was implicit. There was a certain element Tit-Bits of voyeurism. became a stage wherein personal dramas were enacted as well as a central organ of communication and identity. In an in which traditional support networks had been destroyed, Newnes' age a common bond.47 The column, however, ran over five paper symbolised from June-July, issues only (190-194) itwas discontin 1885. Ultimately ued because the editor was reluctant to 'allow it to become simply a as itwas tending to do. InNewnes' means of making appointments' with drawal of support for the column was not only a sense of its low circula tion value but of the disappointed and social worker, philanthropist visions of re-introducing whose friends and identifying great long-lost personal causes had been disappointed. a kind of discursive If Tit-Bits of interest represented community of self-help institu within the popular press, then this was a combination tion and paternalist State. It offered mutual support and a wide range of in the manner of the settlement house. Newnes society a variety of professionals to supply advice to and exert an edu employed cational influence upon his readers. A lawyer answered readers' legal que answered 'Medical Questions', and the editor himself ries, a doctor and inquiries. supplied answers to readers' correspondence services to Newnes introduced the column entitled 'Tit-Bits of Legal Information' to in 1881, in response to requests from contributors for legal information which he saw it as part of his duty to respond:
We have received so many from our subscribers for tit-bits applications to our that we have important correspondents, to answers'.48 gentleman give the required of legal

information the services

on matters of a legal

secured

KATE

JACKSON

215

column was a legal, journalistic version of the talkback radio pro a range of questions gram. Over the early years of the paper's publication, to the urban, industrial life and to the legal preoccupations of this relating within it. Certain themes recurred: the nature of the con society emerged tract or legal agreement, the question of marriage and property relations, to matters. Questions the ability of amarried woman tenancy concerning a will were common. The Married Women's Act of 1883 make Property The to initiate civil had newly granted her that right and also enabled women to law suits, hence the significant contingent of female correspondents laws had also altered the legal position of women. this column. Divorce cause for upwards of two 'Your husband having deserted you without read the Editor's response to one female correspondent, years', 'you are entitled you would could only to a judicial separation': 'To enable you to marry another person, have to be divorced from your present husband, and you obtain such decree on proving that your husband had been

guilty of both adultery and desertion.49 This advice column spawned other textual forms of social service and interaction. A series containing practical advice to readers on discursive 'How to Marry' provided an excellent description of the 'Legal Effect of Marriage'
Until very during band,

in this regard:
ago the husband of and wife were by as one the person in the law that of to law; the

a few months being or legal or

existence at least

the woman

being and

common into

suspended her hus

marriage, under

incorporated and

consolidated she was since sued, January acquire, the same

whose ... All enter any

wing, that into

everything. woman can property of

protection is now changed, sue and contracts, same way

cover and be

supposed ist last, hold and and

perform a married of

dispose her

kind,

in the

as is made

if she were much

unmarried;

legal position

in relation

to property

general as that of a man.5?

the married woman was made acquainted with her legal rights equivalent of a settlement house, adapted for an through the discursive and lower middle-class audience preoccupied with such upper-working issues. legal servant to unpaid wages Questions relating to the right of a domestic to debt recovery and the relationship between producer when dismissed, to the right of a father to bind his son as an apprentice and consumer, Thus without to the obligations to the the son's consent, of a patent-holder, to the conditions laws governing marriage and divorce, attached to life to the issues of income tax and of financial liability, insurance policies, a 'The publication crowded these columns. of an advertisement offering reward for information legal editor, clarifying the respecting a loss or a crime', wrote in an obser the legal situation of his client-reader

definite

2i6 Victorian vation

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1997

that was particularly relevant to the late nineteenth-century peri 'is a general offer to any person who is able to give the information odical, cre asked; and the acceptance of that offer, by giving such information, ates a valid contract. You therefore could, if you felt so disposed, compel

in the case you mention'.51 Tit-Bits offered legal advice for its payment citizen-readers, (in just as it offered medical advice, advice on emigration a series entitled creative participation and a 'Intelligent Emigration'), sense that editors and audience were bound in a community of mutual This column led to the publication of awork called, signif responsibility. icantly, The People's Lawyer, a title which had associations with the idea to the law. on 'Medical Questions' supplied 'an explanation of of the various ailments of which our querists have on the general principles as 'knowledge of health'. The medical conditions treated included indigestion, headaches, 'noises in advice tended to the ear', bunions and varicose veins, and the doctor's social responsibility, take the form of a discourse on urban degeneration, and temperance, with phrases such as 'irregular living', 'deficient care' and itwas suggested, was a result 'bad cooking' figuring heavily. Indigestion, of urban conditions:
The cannot run and hurried but meals of a all of large number the laws of healthy to catch the bus clerks and warehousemen are violated. the food bolted, rou A

access of democratic A two-part series the causes and cures as well complained'

partaken

by -

produce indigestion or a scramble to a close restaurant, then a smoke, and another of our

digestion or train,

scramble townspeople.52

to get back

to the office,

is the daily

tine of a large number

The column was almost reformist in tone. A later feature-a competition to produce the best list of 'Ten Long-Felt Wants'-similarly precipitated on social reform and social responsibility.53 an exposition The discourse of these columns was not partisan or directly political. But it created an atmosphere
representation.

conducive innovative

to the voicing

of critical views,

to participation

and

strategies were the key to the success of publishing Tit-Bits. One scheme which guaranteed the circulation of Tit-Bits was the in May 'Tit-Bits Insurance introduced novel Scheme', 1885. Newnes Newnes'

announced 'THENEW SYSTEMOF LIFE ASSURANCE'

itals, a characteristic tion: journalistic ploy for drawing attention

in bold cap
to the innova

OF ONE HUNDRED POUNDS WILL BE PAID BY THE PROPRIETOR

"TIT-BITS" TO THE NEXT-OF-KIN OF ANY PERSON WHO ISKILLED

IN A RAILWAYACCIDENT, PROVIDEDA COPY OF THE CURRENT

KATE

JACKSON

217

ISSUE OF "TIT-BITS" IS FOUND OF THE CATASTROPHE.54

UPON

THE DECEASED

AT THE TIME

the scheme had been suggested to Newnes Characteristically, by a reader whose husband, a devoted reader of Tit-Bits who was almost due to be in accordance with an rewarded for his constancy with a sum of money to raise circula incentive scheme for subscribers introduced by Newnes had been killed in a railway accident. She applied to Newnes for tion,
some compensation, and was sent ?100.

always billed on the front cover of the paper, their visibil their impact [see figure 2]. The first insurance claim was ity guaranteeing 1885. A 40 year old coachbuilder with 4 children was paid in August killed when he was run over by a train after falling between the train and the platform at Hatfield verdict was 'Accidental Station. The Coroner's testified to the fact that 'a copy of Tit-Bits had Death', and four witnesses been found upon the unfortunate man at the time of the accident'. Thus Claims were to the victim's 'the Proprietor of Tit-Bits' paid ?100 insurance money in widow, A. Long, and the recipient's receipt of payment was published Tit-Bits as proof of the transaction.55 A series of claims followed at the rate of about every two months, and by September 1891, a total of 36 claims had been paid. All claims generally followed the same format, and were decided by 'THE PROPRIETOR OF "TIT-BITS'".
Appended to the eighteenth to this out life insurance claim was a moral:

We
means

trust that the publicity which

of giving of lamentable leaping

the Tit-Bits
occurrence in motion, fashion

Insurance Scheme has been the

a stop to extent put is so prevalent in young no sensible is an act of which per to some which

may

the habit men. son To should

of a train while in this reckless

jeopardise

be capable.56

In this manner, the editor-proprietor of Tit-Bits established himself and jury in these cases, taking the evidence, hearing the testi investigator monies of the witnesses, and handing down a judgement. He set himself as a guardian of social conscience and as a up figure of paternalistic benev to his community of readers by dis olence, fulfilling his responsibilities insurance claims. There is something pensing symbolic (if a little morbid) in the fact that all of these victims were found with a copy of Tit-Bits on their person. Newnes' publication appealed to a commuting market, and to a public preoccupied with the notion of life insurance and concerned with the frequency of railway accidents.57 But apart from anything else, the idea of railway insurance sold Tit-Bits, and the stories that emerged were gripping stories.

218 Victorian

Periodicals

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30:3

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1997

TI I?1
No. 198.?Vol. VIII.

l T^B
[??

S: #I smif?mt?
[t"?T5S??*tSo?i

HE WORLD;
CONDUCTED 0X0. NXWSXS.__ BT PRICE ONE PENNY. August 1, 1885.

for ? ?nglyT-rrote the widow,Mrs. Long, to at of Ir someambitious a offices. givebelow cojiy We ;attend these wants towrite playwriter men tun nor for money. with that j receipt the something will be jopular the in lie ! JulyVtk, IS*:. hotweather, will get up a drama sixteen ?a VHK following an account an o? to One short acta,so as to givomoreopportunities Ricuvkd from ProprietorTit-BiU of the on accident whichoccurred the out. Insurance money paid go being l>.th July,atHatfield Station. HuxdredPocxue, o? on account thesdeath my husband, John If thereis a of of "A large of number the em in suicidal tendency a man itU at who accident apt todevelope after Long, was killedin a railway soon marriage, he first when depart Hatfield ploye*in the engineers' the littleteethof his sle'.piii-i on 18th Station, Saturday, in*t,a copy discovers pearly i.ient the of Ureet Partner? Railwayai on in themselvesa tumbler her darling drowning ?pon hadan excursion Cleethorpes, eke) ' Tt-B+Uk?t foasMi hu body. to on. dreawug-tablt? A. i Lincolnshire YeW sJQ|d) LONG, coast On returning , 21, Havelock Street, at was to Ax absent-minded trainstopped different at station* aet professor sitting hi? when one Street, nn passengers, when?toppingHatfield at and | Copenhagen X. deskwritingone"cveuing, wont1 of his 1can' children entered. What yon do London, men got out of the It thatpurpose several bedisturbed want to say goo.1 now.""I only ' must understood although that, moruiug John Long,the chairman the com we have bedistinctly to theheir a railway of night 'Nevermindnow.tomorrow of paidtkia money welt" to ee,was endeavouring - the i servant 1 ' to * -neld re-enter ' still of oardiscretion, we willdoas i no:belong Hatneld get to tor the train, adhereintheexercise conditions the offer to toe original of on tmoved , heattempted jump the coutained the on . to in If men and women half wouldonlydisplay a paragraph and " regret following cannot:? our but platform, tfe|> mused it and fellon the train Ws we see aliea<l was to include tosaythat the statistic* way muchfranticdo inandabilityingettiug m tlien uuderneath train.The the rolled as energy of the in life they acrossthestn-et servants, dodging railway of but immediately stopped, two or three the past fewyearssnowing annuallossof life front an approaching \vj the of hansom or ''ms, cab had nrriage* paved overhim,andhe wasao amongst themto be ao greatthat darenot should beRothschilds we all before1390. after that iujured he dieddirectly being picked extend oderto the j and was of Deeeaaed fortyyears age, lived Thedeceased them." as ooachbuilderi !?. was employed in ? 21,HayelookStreet, Copenhagen Street, Department, Cross. He was, King's aober the Loco. to Uodon. He was?Utod be perfectly at It is statedthata householder Brighton, at was -ietime theaccident. inqueat held An of ot w being inconvenienced the presence t > by at oo body before ?. J. Sworder, Mr. the corooec, in and that gentlemen honey.1 and* the Lion Red HoteL Hatfield, Tuesday, the IkCeylonthecellaris theplacetogo in the wordswerepossession,infinding rid of hn of no avail getting ' on death.' time a cyclone, when manhasa barrel visitors, downhisbeehive the floor, a of returnedverdict Accidentai ]ury a of and of on an.I Sung an we A few afterwarde received intitna cyderit'ssurprising manytimes day he the was a how of for plan mostsuccessful, theattention tiou days ofTit-Biu beenfound had tuata copy upon thinks s a cyclone there thebees somarked, bothbailiffs a was beat that coming. tieunfortunate at thetime theacoideut man of doubtless to the retreat, rtung hasty quick thi< a to We at once dispatched representative treatment\Yosuppose theyshould by h if return Theseresulted to Hatfieldmake fall inquiries. would haveto ray, bee,or not to be?, "To only Why is it that theaverage :? '?thefollowing information youngladycan thatisthequestion" ! 300 remember P.a Cannon, 26, Herts Constabulary, but No. accurately pagesof a novel, a ? said:"I carao jnstaftertheaccidentcanneverremembersingle pageof history up Httfield, come thefront this will to on to Red Hotel, Psychologists please ?ad thebody removed the Lion had a 1 uponsearch found copyof Tit-Bit?, It issaidto bo the custom Moots at Carloto ?here ich mustharebeenthereat the timeof the fill thepockets suicides so of with bank-not??, incident." thatitmaybe Jbi : " I fancy, theydidnot sjll yon matingfun "'-account assumed The stotw' them Edouard, are also The following witnesses sawthe search:of me ; instead a love-letter of looses. of goesthat which you a dead this towrite, sentme the other a presumably Lehman, knowing custom, you No. 104, P.C. promised of day Tilbrook, in filled time his sheet note-paper.'' : "Thatwas succeededsetting pockets a short He blank Hert's Constabulary, a as ; my my HatfiakL intended a love-letter, darling for love ago.After losing smallsumat the gaming toyoupassai description." WnxiAiiTvt?b, the heard pistol a afterwards guards immediately ,-?igaal-fitter, shot thena cry ofpain, rushing the and and to NewTown. " the fellows spotfound Irishman dead. apparently It wsj Hatfield. T TailmanJonesisoneo?theluckiest of. of know Ybuheard hisarm blown dark, noone so off with filled pockets his being around, they V Yes, weekinthatexplosion "" butthere with last and is in Waui? Orekk, money, left himtobediscovered the about that" Itwashisright morning.Theyhid scarcely outof sight, Ticket very " Collector, nothing lucky whatif itwashisright however, theIrishmangone feet i.. wasonhis before arm, know." Well, yon Railway Cottages, he Why. is left-handed.' andskipping in.the most lively la again Hatfield. away sty

(or THE CLAIMANT?106still, in at onoeto pay the/100, andcasewe durasses the losstee? lingers.He must FIRST FOR THE i,decidedviewof all the factsof the accord bea pickpocket. of three

* ! Although deceased a railway manask*two thousand pound was the servant, A Durham

MONEY. INSURANCE

Interesting
November

stories
1883, a

were

also

central
competition

to the prize
was

competitions.
A seven

In

revolutionary

announced.

was offered as a prize to the person free-hold dwelling-house in the story adjudged the best by the Tit-Bits adjudicators. The sending was that the winner main stipulation made by Newnes should call the house 'Tit-Bits Villa'.58 The editor stressed that the competition was open to 'every member of every family in the Kingdom, from the highest to the condition that lowest', a fact which was guaranteed by the extraordinary roomed

KATE

JACKSON

219

entries could be selected from a published work rather than being origi to nal. Thus the competition required no great literary skill. His approach a was typically interactive. Introducing the conduct of the competition he answered the feature called 'MORE QUESTIONS ANSWERED', was quick to the competition, and throughout queries of competitors, to the answer objections. He explained, berated, commented, appealed editorial dilemmas, drawing better natures of his readers, and publicised as a 'transaction' on the idea of the competition entered into in 'good faith' and precluding 'any breach of faith with the public' of course, was to raise circulation, but The purpose of the competition, those who joined the 'followers of Tit-Bits' could expect an intimate and of responsive relationship with their leader, the Editor. At the conclusion for instance, Newnes the competition, played police, prosecution, who judiciary in passing sentence on the 'unprincipled miscreant' that he had won the prize: falsely informed a competitor
We are of that the opinion act as this deserves an unnatural punishment ruffian of the who severest would kind, of guilty we offer and be

and had

such

dastardly

?5REWARD
to anyone If we forgery, who unearth and will disclose shall penal to us spare the name no pains of him we under this viper. or expense to prove that this act was

comes

laws.59

it role of the editor-leader of this discursive extended, community interests. seems, even to the policing of community 'not a line was published 'For many years', Friederichs explained, which he had not read and approved. No detail was too slight to receive his personal attention, and at short intervals he made thorough inquiries as to his readers' opinion on this or that page or column, substituting new The features ceased to interest, and always for those which had obviously inventing and adopting fresh ideas.'60 A constant stream of invention and innovation followed. Newnes was typically candid about this. 'We do not 'Let it run its reasonable intend to allow it to hang fire', he explained.
and then make room for some other novelty'.61

course,

Ultimately,
TION'. 22,000

Newnes
letters

published
were

a 'REPORT
some

UPON
containing

THE
up

COMPETI
to 20 entries.

received,

'Tit-Bits Villa' became a place of pilgrimage for day-trippers and tourists, as the ideal home. Newnes It was open for and was constructed by inspection, and many hundreds took the trip by rail to visit. The villa was that must have resembled a political rally, awarded in a public ceremony and sold. Even then, 100,000 photos of the house were developed at this point, did not meet demand. The villa, in reality unoccupied supply was an image constructed for publicity purposes. and

220 Victorian

Periodicals

Review

30:3

Fall

1997

The competitions, section and 'Inquiry Column', 'Legal Tit-Bits' 'Answers to Correspondence' column in Tit-Bits represent the possibility of reader participation-the creative freedom of the open text as opposed to the prescriptive of the closed text. Winners of all competitions reality were publicised in the paper, their names and addresses accorded special attention. And in the context of explaining the conditions of the Tit-Bits Villa competition, Newnes articulated the democratic ideal inmaking the to every one of our readers, irrespective of age, sex, 'open competition nationality or colour'. Thus creative freedom was tor into political and social liberty and equality, the basis of a system of democratic becoming constituted discursive Newnes a kind of medium sphere. himself of participation transformed by the edi the market relationship Tit-Bits representation. for its readers, a pluralistic

appeared as a 'benignant administrator',62 conducting the affairs of his publishing house in an interactive fashion as if he were a pluralist state. The written word became a vehicle and a administering and became symptom of democracy. Newnes rarely spoke in Parliament disillusioned after entering it with high ideals and a young man's social and political visions. His journals were his public voice. He forged such 'the noble band of constant subscribers' strong links with his readers that they came to be something akin to constituents. As a result, perhaps, of the relationship that he developed with the reading public through Tit received not less than 33 requests from constituencies Bits, Newnes' him to represent them during the years of his retirement from wishing (1895-1900). He had, in effect, already done so. Newnes' politics journal ism in Tit-Bits was not political like that of his friend W.T. Stead, but his success was dependent, in a way that ismanifest in the text of this publi that he established between the dynamics of cation, upon the relationship life. journalism and the dynamics of late-Victorian
Tit-Bits, Tit-Bits its editor thrives claimed, best when fed not the world on current moves but on crises, political on and when smoothly, everyday people life: have

to seek amongst its pages for that interest which

commonplace current events*.63

is denied to them in the perusal of

of the paper went down by over 40,000 copies 'dur the excitement connected with and 'as the Whitechapel murders', ing soon as the horrors ceased immediately went up again.' Newnes' journal ism was far removed from the kind of political potency that characterised the journalism of Harmsworth, and that of W.T. Stead. It thrived in an and in catching and creating the rhythms of of sociability, atmosphere In fact the circulation daily life. Tit-Bits featured little that was partisan or even explicitly political in

KATE

JACKSON

221

content, although the general international and political climate did per meate the text.64 Nevertheless, the spectre of increasing working and in conjunction with increasing liter lower-middle class political potency, acy and purchasing power, clearly impressed the editor. In 1890 he con ducted a public opinion poll, in an attempt to gauge 'the feeling of the country' as regards the likely outcome of an election, amidst speculation in the government. Claiming about public confidence that Tit-Bits is 'the paper in this country which has the widest and most general circulation' and hence that an opinion poll conducted constitute would by Newnes to a General Election', 'the very nearest approach that can be obtained Newnes instituted just that. He issued voting papers, counted the votes (the public were admitted for the counting and the Secretaries of the Con servative and Liberal Clubs invited to attend to ensure fair play), and the results. The result was one by which Newnes, as a Liberal publicised have been encouraged. Some 35,972 voting papers were M.P., would received. Of these, 17,086 voted 'Yes' to the question of whether they had in the present Conservative confidence and 18,886 voted Government, 'No'. In August, Liberals were to be returned to office. 1892, Gladstone's to the currents of political and cultural Newnes' sensitivity change and the journalistic possibilities created by the development of the working class political electorate, the mass market and the popular literate audi ence, was to prompt him to establish another penny weekly entitled The in 1892. Million, The key to the success of Tit-Bits was brevity and good humour. Itwas essentially light entertainment; part of the 'gospel of fun' which Jonathon
Rose sees as a characteristic element of the 'Edwardian Temperament'.65

Oh,

ature,

it liter you may say it combined journalism; cheap lottery with an enormous tell you class of superficial read this, that it guided craved for light and would have read so-called if ers, who papers reading, sporting not read Tit-Bits, vein which into a wholesome to have led them they had may you may call but I will forms of literature.66

higher

Thus

answer his critics, and in so doing, he identified an issue to contemporaries, and one which pervades the significance of periodical literature to this day: that of the tension historiography between commercial value and literary value in journalistic production. A Tit-Bits. It represented a deep sense of editorial conscience underpinned a construction, a act of negotiation performance, carefully-balanced between editor-publisher and audience that was more than a timely but transient commercial an evolving discourse of triumph. It represented did Newnes of immense journalism. University of Sydney

222 Victorian

Periodicals

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1997

ENDNOTES
i. Huida Friederichs, The Life of George Newnes, Bart. (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1911 ), pp. 116-17. This remains the only biography of Sir George
Newnes.

2. See Victorian Periodicals Review,

3. Tit-Bits, 4. In fact, cally 1.1 (October the number around 1881), 1. of passengers 500 million on

11 (Fall 1989).
carried 1878 by the to around increased dramati railways 1000 million in 1898, and

from

had reached 1,250 million

don: Penguin, 1968], Fig.

in 1908 (E. J.Hobsbam,

17).

Industry and Empire [Lon (London:

leaders of

5. Harold Perkin, The Origins ofModern English Society, 1/80-1880

Routledge 6. National and Kegan newspaper Paul, 1969), pp. 92-99. and proprietors were and periodical editors

one of the few professions

like J. L. Garvin an office sworth, rare before World of boy who War

inwhich a poor boy could rise from the bottom,

son of an Irish to editor's most labourer, or Alfred chairs. the upper Harm This was rose and proprietor's coming from

the Observer,

I, however,

and middle

classes, public or private-school

and heir to substantial Beare, History, estates 7. Geraldine Periodical

and university
(Perkins, p. 90).

(often Oxbridge)
Journal

educated,
and

the Strand Magazine," "Indexing 11 1986), 20. (Spring

of Newspaper

8. This is according to Richard Altick, The English Common Reader. A Social History of theMass Reading Public (Chicago: UCPress, 1963), p. 396. But
Newnes 430,318 9. Altick, 10. These 11. Tit-Bits, 12. Tit-Bits, 13. Joel Wiener, Jones, York: 14. Tit-Bits, 15. The himself (Tit-Bits, p. 396. are for (March 1885, 1882), as quoted 1. I7 of Newspapers," Victorian in Laurel Journalism Brake, Aled in Tit-Bits, 7.181 (March 1885), 396. claimed 17.429). a rise in the average circulation over the year to only

figures 1.19 17.418

(October for

1884),

"Sources

the Study eds., p. 155. 5.

and Lionel St. Martin's, 1.24

Madden 1990),

Investigating

(New

(March to

1882),

'Notices

Correspondents'

Column

had been

a very

popular

department

in the family periodicals of the 1840s and 1850s such as Lloyd's, London Jour
nal, acted and Reynold's as 'a stern (Anne Politics," adviser, Miscellany. a According knowledgeable "G. W. M. to Anne informant, Reynolds: Humpherys, Reynold's an avuncular domestic Popular Literature The and Role of

manager' Popular

Humpherys, in Joel H. Wiener

ed., Innovators

and Preachers:

the Editor in Victorian England

16. Friederichs, pp. 106-07. Friederichs'

[New York: Greenwood

biography was partly

Press, 1985], p. 18.

based upon the

autobiographical

jotting made by Newnes

before he died.

KATE

JACKSON

223

17. SeeWiener; Helen Ogden Martin, The Editor and His People; Editorials by William Allen White (New York: Macmillan, 1924).
18. Tit-Bits, 19. Tit-Bits, 20. Tit-Bits, 13.313 15.379 5.117 (October (January (January italics. Press as an Agency of Social Control" in George Boyce, 1887), 1889), 1884), 14. 237; 203. 15.381 (February 1888)), 269.

21. Wiener, 22. James

p. 40. My Curran, "The

James Curran, and Pauline Wingate, Newspaper History from the Seventeenth Century to the Present Day (London: Constable, 1978), 70. See also James
Mill's essay on the periodical press (New in George York: Free Levine Press, ed., The 1967), pp. Emergence 174-91. of What the Victorian begins as a Consciousness

is transmuted into an analysis of periodical literature of the critique structure Mill that the 'opposition' section of British of argues power society. a greater the those desiring share of power-take the mid 'aristocracy' ruling to retain in dle ground life in order the support of the aristocracy and public masses. woo the popular 168. 23. Tit-Bits, 5.115 (December 1883), 24. Friederichs, Clarion p. 97. was established (see Merrie Blatchford, journalistic and was education, career ten years England after Tit-Bits, Nunquam, involved for a racing advocate work as an with of in 1891, and was repr. a very

25. The

paper popular man Press, 1976]. youth, tion Newnes began his

[London: was

1893; in the paper,

Journey in his a reputa

however, career a

theatre had

writing

for drunkenness, had a good

leading started

socialism,

whereas in the fancy of Tit-Bits,

apprentice

his trade, began goods a Liberal M.P. and was 26. Tit-Bits, i6.}9j (May

in journalism

the publication

1889),

^7.

17. Tit-Bits, 9.234 (April 1886), 413.

28. Tit-Bits, 16.394 (May 1889), 49.

29. Tit-Bits, 9.234 (April 1886), 408.

30. Tit-Bits, 31. In two 14.342 notable was (May instances sparked 1888), 61. public outrage visible against signs the activities or hoardings of in the period, by the erection

advertisers

of highly

within
1897,

the jurisdiction of urban authorities. The Bovril Company's

to adorn the exterior was of a building because in Princes Street, Edinburgh, signs abandoned of public And four outcry. the erection of an advertisement cliffs. The Dover

plans, in
with years sign for

illuminated later, Quaker a similar Oats

reaction greeted public in a position prominent

on Dover

Corporation

responded by promoting a local Act of Parliament to enable it to deal with such abuses. In 1893, theNational Society for Controlling the Abuses of Pub licAdvertising was formed. It numbered amongst itsmembers Sydney
Courthold, three members of the Fry family, Holman Hunt, A. V. Dicey,

William Morris, Walter Besant, and Rudyard Kipling, but was essentially an

224 Victorian
upper-middle

Periodicals

Review

30:3

Fall
out

1997
to its

class movement,

receiving

publicity

of proportion

support (see T. R. Nevett, Advertising

p. 117). pp. 1.1 90-1. 1. 1883), 120. 32. Friederichs, 33. Tit-Bits, 34. Tit-Bits, 35. As the use

in Britain [London: Heinemann,

1982],

(Octoben88i), (December

5.112 of

a num the end of the century, towards competitions as cases were before the courts lotteries. Accord constituting brought to numerous in the Acts and nineteenth the centuries, ing eighteenth passed for of any lottery was unlawful. and advertising The key question, organising was whether in various schemes the distribution of prizes judges, promotional a was and thus constituted chance, upon lottery. Competitions dependent at in the courts. featured Trade Marks circulations aimed newspaper boosting increased ber of

Acts of 1875, 1883, 1888 and 1905 restricted the kinds of claims that could be
made, particularly name. The trader's stitute part regarding decision rival that a products, general was and offer the enforced protection in an advertisement (Nevett, pp. of could 133-37). the con In

of an enforcable

contract

result

themuch-publicised
instance, ball. a 100 contract 36. Tit-Bits, 37. Tit-Bits, 38. Friederichs,

case of Carlill v. the Carbolic Smoke Ball Co?, for

influenza of after taking the smoke she claimed binding the company, as a legally

Mrs. Carlill, contracted the plaintiff, to the In response advertisement-guarantee 'reward'. and The she was judge

the advertisement interpreted the amount. awarded 1887), 1889). 14.

13.313 17.418 pp.

(October (October 80-1.

39. Stephen Kern, The Culture of Time and Space (Cambridge: Harvard UP,
1983). to all Iwould classes. of express Some of some reservations about the accessibility have been unable of the working variety. class would journalism to afford

magazines

the Tit-Bits

40. Harold Perkin, The Age of the Railway

1971), 41. This p. point 262. recalls Carlyle's comment

(Newton Abbot: David and Charles,

the Victorian editor constituted the

that

Church of England.
42. By 1913, p. 27 settlement houses had launched been planted at about social in the poorer the same distance of people's entitlement time, and areas also of London reflected the in a social a (Kern, broad 56). Polytechnics, movement middle-class of Victorian relationship of

to decrease with

replace

paternalism common services. 43. Such

charity 'social

a notion and

citizenship'

participation to common

a shift was

manifest

in legislation

to ensure

equal

access

to educatiion

and to provide a system of 'household suffrage', and in legislation designed to

foster nature. national welfare through Lectures See A. V. Dicey, of the promotion on the Relationship the social Between side of human and Public Law

KATE

JACKSON

225

Opinion During
1905), 44. 45. 46. Tit-Bits, Tit-Bits, Tit-Bits, pp. 281-300. 8.190 8.191 8.192

theNineteenth

Century

in England

(London: Macmillan,

(June (June (June

1885), 1885), 1885),

113. 131. 147.

47. Tit-Bits, 8.194 (July 1885), 179.

48. 49. Tit-Bits, Tit-Bits, 1.4 (November 1.6 (November 4.85 1.20 5.125 6.130 (June 1883), 1881), 1881), 108. 1881), 1884), 1884), 14. 333. 221, 250. 14. 14.

50. Tit-Bits, 51. Tit-Bits, 52. Tit-Bits, 53. Tit-Bits,

(February (March (April

Other publishers soon followed Newnes' 54. Tit-Bits, 8.189 (May 1885), <)j.
Public Opinion, for example, ran a similar scheme in the 1890s and 1900s.

lead.
It

was a scheme thatwas copied in a fiercely competitive fashion by the daily

newspapers 55. Tit-Bits, of 8.198 the 1930s. 1885), 241. (August

56. Tit-Bits,
57. Such of Trade,

15.387 (March 1889), 353.

was considerable. of people the number According on killed to a report the railways by the Board compiled in 1880 was 1,136, and

concern

the number injured 3,958. Of these, 143 persons killed and 1,613 injured were
passengers. public working important matter of able debate The concern of period over from railway 1870 to 1900 was caused, 1871, Michael of characterised itwas Bass, contended, M.P. by considerable by for Derby raised the over and the an accidents In

railway shareholder

employees. in and

customer conditions

the Midland in Parliament,

Railway, sparking

railway

accidents

and and by

consider campaign the railways of sys

in Parliament worked the

the press. railwaymen and 1880s.

to limit continued

the hours through

and parliamentary public on and increase safety providing

1870s

Returns

evidence

tematised overworking
to a debate Select tion. Board ules in the House to Committee In 1893

War in 1887 and 1888) led (accumulated by Lord de la

of Commons which the hours Act was resulted should passed. in the appointment be restricted by of a legisla the sched failure pp. whether

inquire

the Railway to of Trade inquire

Regulation into cases and

of overwork, levy fines on

It provided for to have access duty companies for

from

to adhere 292-96). 58. The in term

companies, offending to the Boarad's instructions

such Age

(see Perkin,

of the Railway,

'villa' itwas its own the term or

is significant. originally grounds began

house

English on

Deriving a country which

from mansion,

ancient seat,

Greek or estate status.

and Roman terms, - a sizeable the nineteenth usually

century, detached 59. Tit-Bits,

semi-detached (January

social symbolised to be to middle-class applied villa'). (the 'suburban 1884), 205.

By

housing,

5.117

226 Victorian
60. 61. Friederichs, Tit-Bits, p. 5.112 109. (December

Periodicals

Review

30:3

Fall

1997

1883),

120.

62. This is a phrase used frequently in theWide World Magazine

ish administrators in the Empire.

to describe Brit

63. Tit-Bits,
64. In 1885, Strength

15.385 (March 1889), 333.

for instance, the year in which ships, of Gordon's statistics on death, an article on 'The War army, of Europe' navy, to auxil population, standing were cited, was published expenditure wars seem to be and rumours flying conclusion, was drawing upon the dis alone waged

iary forces, a response about course

and military crisis, The when author's and

as

'the present the world'. consensus

all over

of national

inclusiveness,

that Britain

war with
Newnes' comments ours

and self-levied soldiers' and could be proud of her army (Tit-Bits, 8.183 [March 1885], 2-3). Such material rather gives the lie to 'free,willing
comments, might in terms popular be cited read earlier, as as an attempt New the style regards to characterise as of his his journalism. journalistic those that His endeav character

within

Journalism

against

ised the ebbing political journalistic style. 65. Jonathon Rose, The Edwardian Temperament
pp. 163-69.

(Columbus: OSUPress,

1986),

66

Friederichs, p. 97.