Harrogate Heritage: Looking back at history of Harrogate Advertiser and local newspapers

I have been advised that when this article appears, it will be printed in a version of the Harrogate Advertiser series that is more tabloid than broadsheet.

In one respect, the change from broadsheet to tabloid format (which format also includes the electronic gizmos that my nephew assures me are now essential tools for the reading process) sees the Advertiser returning to its original early 19th century appearance.

Although the first edition of the Harrogate Advertiser is usually credited as being Mr Pickersgill Palliser’s edition of September 1836, there were newspaper references to Harrogate long before this. The earliest newspaper reference to Harrogate that is known to me is a report in the Leeds Mercury for February 25,1728, which advertised the sale of the World's End Inn (today, Grove House) with 25 acres of good land.

Along with the York Courant, the Leeds Mercury reported frequently on goings-on at the fashionable Yorkshire Spa, other newspaper reports coming from such places as Hull and Sheffield.

It was probably because of the fluctuating size of Harrogate's population and visitors that the place had no newspaper of its own before the 19th century. The town's migrant workforce disappeared when the visitors left, leaving only a few hundred permanent residents who were certainly insufficient in number to warrant the establishment of a local version of the Leeds Mercury.

The 18th century references to Harrogate never the less make fascinating reading.

The York Courant for May 10 1743 announced that “a person from London designs to keep a shop at Harrogate Spaws, all the Summer Season, and will sell coffee, teas, chocolate, and snuff, of all sorts, by the pounds and ounces, as good and cheap as any in London”. This advertisement, which was repeated, was intended for those visitors who preferred to hire a lodging house for their visit rather than accommodate themselves and family in an expensive inn or hotel.

Sometimes, the Harrogate references were to missing individuals, such as the following from the York Courant of July181758: "William Wray, apprentice to Peter Dolby, Blacksmith, in Harrogate, has been absent from his Master since the 28th day of June last. He is a strong, broad man, 19 years of age, large ancle bones, pitted with the small pox, squints with his eyes, has very short light brown hair, and had on when he went off, a brown turn'd coat with metal buttons, a black waistcoat and a pair of old buckskin breeches.

“Whoever can give notice of the aforesaid William Wray, so that he may be brought to justice for leaving his apprenticeship and conveying away his Master’s goods, shall be reasonably rewarded for their trouble; and whoever lets the said William Wray to work, or harbors him, shall be prosecuted as far as the law directs, by me, Peter Dolby.”

When the Bill for dividing up the Royal Forest was ready to be put to Parliament, the York Courant advertised a public meeting at the Granby Hotel on January 1,1770, at which local people could petition Parliament to pass the Bill into law, and thus ensure the equitable enclosure of the Forest. Some of the most colourful accounts of Harrogate before the Harrogate Advertiser come from the period of the Napoleonic Wars, of which the following account from the York Herald of August 20,1814, is a good example: "Harrogate, 19th August. There is more Company assembled at this high and far-famed Watering Place than has been remembered for several years past. The spacious Inns and Lodging Houses (at which are displayed every delicacy which nature or Art can produce) are all full, and appear likely long to continue so. The Wells are crowded every morning to excess, and the Assemblies and Theatre each evening alternately display such a scene of youth, beauty and fashion, as but very few Watering Places can boast of. The following are the principal arrivals since our last: The Bishop of Waterford, Lady, Miss and Mr Miles, Sir Harcourt and Lady Lees, General Mitchell...".

The visitors were all-important. Their regular arrival financed the livings of the great Inns and hotels, paid the salaries of the medical profession, and were the key to the survival of the area’s burgeoning services industry. One important aspect of the Harrogate experience was that the entertainment industry developed to provide a means of encouraging visitors to stay in Harrogate as long as possible.

The Theatre was one such example. The Assembly Room was another. But it was perhaps the entertainments mounted at each hotel, especially ball-nights, that were the most popular kind of entertainment for the visitors.

The inns and hotels co-operated to ensure that balls were provided every evening.

Mondays at the Swan, Tuesdays at the George, Wednesdays at the Crown, Thursdays at the Queen, Fridays at the Dragon, and Saturdays at the Granby. The balls were open to guests at each hotel, who could invite friends from other hotels, who would then reciprocate, and invite their hosts to the ball given by their own hotel. In this way, it was possible to attend a series of entertainments each evening. This was the origin of the Harrogate newspapers, the earliest editions of which were nothing more than a list of hotels and inns, with the names of all the guests printed beneath. Guests could buy the “List of Visitors” and if they recognized a name at another hotel they could send over an invitation to attend their hotel’s ball, an invitation which usually produced a return invitation.

The earliest “List of Visitors” known to me is dated September 18,1820, and was produced by Mr Langdale, who had succeeded the Hargroves at Library House, Regent Parade.

This early list was arranged alphabetically by the visitors’ surnames, followed by the name of the inn or hotel, a practice soon abandoned in favor of arranging by name of inns and hotels.

Of local news there was not a trace, as local news would not have been of any interest to the visitors. Library House was a commercial lending library and novelty shop which opened usually at Easter, when visitors began arriving in Harrogate, and closed in autumn when they left.

It had been established by Eli Hargrove in the 18th century and later acquired by Langdale, whose name can be seen over the windows, in this week's photograph, which was kindly supplied by Advertiser reader Michael Crone.

The photograph shows Library House in the middle of the 19th century, by which time both the Advertiser and Herald newspapers had appeared.

The big board to the left of the window probably advertised the latest book additions available for loan on payment of a fee. Both Hargrove's and Langdale's “List of Visitors” were printed in tabloid format, Pickersgill Palliser's Harrogate Advertiser of 1836 being little larger. The traditional broad-sheet edition of the Advertiser came into being in the 1860s, which began a format that lasted until the May 25, 2012 edition. The Herald, which began in 1847, was also tabloid but changed to a larger format before the Advertiser. I forget when the Herald – which was once the “heavy-weight” publication – changed back to tabloid, but I think it was in the 1980s. Whatever its format, we all must hope the Advertiser continues to thrive and to promote the district and keep us informed of all matters affecting residents.

My thanks to Mr. Crone for his interesting photograph.This article was first published on June 21, 2012.