Transition of Media in Victorian Era
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| (The illustration from “The Red-headed League” by Sidney Paget) |
In Victorian era, the development of
technology helped to improve media industry for example newspapers. Media such
as newspapers and broadside ballads show not only topical news in the time but
also how they live in the time. Narratives have a similar aspect with the
newspapers because readers could see how the people lived in Victorian era with
the Victorian narratives’ description of a daily life. Let’s examine broadside
ballads in 19th century first, then the Victorian newspapers and these
in Victorian narratives at the last.
Firstly, we should know the social
conditions of Victorian era. The Industrial Revolution was happened later 19th
century and it changed the working and living patterns of the people in the
time. It is easy to imagine that new industry was attractive for people who
were looking for work. The population of UK was doubled between early 19th
century and later 19th century because people looked to work in new
industrial cities in UK. London was full of the people and overpopulation made
London to violent and indelicate. Poor working class children had to work even
illegal and immoral works to survive. You could see the social condition in Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes
series, for instance. Holmes, the excellent consulting detective, has hired
street children, called the Baker Street Irregulars, to gather information of
cases. Watson who is a friend of Holmes and main storyteller of the series explains
the Baker street irregulars are “a dozen dirty and ragged little street Arabs”
in The Sign of Four (83). On the other
hand, Holmes said that “[t]hey can go everywhere, see everything, overhear
everyone” (84) therefore it supposes those kind of street children were common
in the Victorian era according to Doyle. Poor children were on the streets in Victorian
London. Victorian era was not only successful but also faced distinctions
between classes.
Their horrible entertainment
However, the Victorian people did not
forget entertainments. The Victorian people must be crazy to enjoy the horrible
crimes and awful murders. Crimes and murders were not rare in the period and it
might paralyze the people’s fear of death. Their crazy entertainment can be
seen as broadside ballads. Broadside ballads are popular songs, which are
printed on one single side papers, and were sold cheap price in Britain between
16th century and 20th century. Its theme was a variety. Crimes
and murders were popular theme in 19th century. Early period, 16th
and 17th century, of broadside ballads were topical therefore the
ballads had been common as newspapers. However, the development of news
industry, for instance penny newspapers made the ballads allocate to the
function of commenting and to be gossip papers. Here is example of broadside
ballads about murders in Victorian era.
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| Broadsideballad: a most barbarous and inhuman murder |
It is estimated that this broadside
ballads was published in 1826. It is not exactly Victorian broadside ballad as
Victorian era begun in 1837, but it is retained in good condition and nobody
knows when it published exactly at this stage. Let’s have a look. This
broadside ballad shows the demands of people in around Victorian era. The head
line sentence is simple, not complicated. This head line tells gives enough
information to hook readers. However, the font was mismatch to represent
murder. The font is decorated with flowers and it looks gorgeous. This mismatch
makes the illustration, under the headline; to be comical even it is “inhuman
murder” as the headline told. The sentences of the article are not used
complicated languages but the information of this article is unclear and it
seems like unpolished. For example, the headline told the victim is Mr J. “Arkhurst”,
but Mr J. “Akehurst” is the victim in the article. In addition, this article
mention about the business of victim, holding cottages in Fetcham Common, but
the information was given roughly. It was written “Some thirty or forty years
ago Fetcham common began to be cultivated: three or four very simple but very
sweet cottages […]”. On the other hand, the writer of this ballad used 10
paragraphs to tell readers the story of Mr J. Arkhurst with detail. The story
of victim makes the murder more fearful and awful. It was written that “how at
any period of his life he could have given offence or sown the seeds either of
rapacity or of revenge in a single human breast”, and the writer continued “[l]atterly
there could hardly he conceived an enemy to him, for those with whom he
associated in the prime and activity of his life, […] have been knedded [probably misspelled words of kneaded?]
into their kindred clay; […] the venerable John Akehurst [it should be Arkhurst,
according to the headline] was an object of jealousy”. This structure of the
article shows the demand of broadside ballads which is not clear and correct
information but horrible and awful stories as entertainment. Moreover, broadside
ballads are the cheapest printed materials in Victorian era therefore it seems
to be easy to get for working class people. The people probably sought entertainments
rather than solemnity topical news therefore broadside ballads focused telling
how awful and fearful crimes and murders rather than telling faithful
information.
Victorian newspapers
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| The Morning Post |
Newspapers took the place of broadside
ballads as topical and political news in early Victorian era. According to
Kevin William, “[n]ewspapers in the second half of the nineteenth century were
primarily purveyors of political news, depending on a small and educated body
of readers whose political opinion they articulated and to whom they provided
direction on the great political issues of the day” (106). In addition, he says
that “[a]dverting increased its prominence in press finances, taking up more
space within the newspapers” (99). Here is the one of advertising columns in
April 1860. Advertising are printed on the page tightly. There were about 130
advertisings on the one page! Unfortunately, it is difficult to read all
sentences in the column because of the font size and this picture’s resolution.
However, the headlines of the advertisements seem to be enough to see what they
are for. There are the advertisings of plays, banks, science tutorials,
dinners, and so on. It shows how advertising on newspapers were commonly used
in the Victorian era.
The advertising column on newspapers in Victorian narrative
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| The wax figure of Mr Wilson from “The Red-headed League” written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle |
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