Genre:

Exam paper, Spoof

Subjects:

Engineering, Language, Expertise

    Presents an example of how railway engineers should respond to questions from parliamentary committees. Responses are deliberately technical and designed to bamboozle the committee. For example, replying to a question about the sufficiency of a gradient, the engineer asserts that he would 'undertake to show in five minutes that a patent axle, working on a broad gauge and going consecutively in rotation after a double stuffing-box' would be sufficient.

Genre:

Essay, Caricature

Subjects:

Natural History, Animal Behaviour, Government

    Outlines the characteristics of the statesman John A Roebuck Roebuck, John Arthur (1802–79) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> as if he were an animal described by Oliver Goldsmith Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?–74) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. Included in the description is the observation that the Roebuck 'sheds its horns, and, indeed, it has been known to lose its head, particularly during the sitting of Parliament', and that 'though very easily subdued' it 'can never be thoroughly tamed'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Societies, Scientific Practitioners

    Notes that members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science British Association for the Advancement of Science
Close   View the register entry >> style themselves 'pumps' and ponders a paper by one such pump, Rev. T Rankin Rankin, Rev T (fl. 1845) PU1/9/2/2
Close   View the register entry >>, on a 'deep well'. Suggests that 'scientific minds' would make ridiculous observations about the well, such as 'I wonder how deep the water is'.

Genre:

Travelogue, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [5]

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Representation, Travel, Religion

People mentioned:

Richard Owen Owen, Richard (1804–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

    The narrator describes his 'views of the scenery' during a recent 'trip by railroad'. Complains that as soon as he saw anything that he wanted to draw, 'it was whisked away from our vision, and just as we had commenced foreshortening something thirty miles off, some fresh object was suddenly brought close up to the window of the carriage, to the exclusion of everything else that our eyes had been resting on'. Notes how his attempt to draw 'a beautiful bit of still life at about twenty miles from London' was thwarted by the rapidity of the train's motion. However, he describes his pictorial representation of pastoral and agricultural scenes. Goes on to recount the 'true artistic feeling' provoked by a journey through a railway tunnel, which included the sublime emotions caused by the noise and smoke of the train. Ends by likening sketching the 'unpromising' subjects of a railway journey to drawing 'sermons in stones'. The illustrations show various aspects of the journey.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Medical Treatment, Charlatanry, Quackery

    Reports on a meeting of the Homeopathic Association Homeopathic Association
Close   View the register entry >>. Holds that those who invest in homeopathy 'ought not to be trusted with property' and suggests that, were Punch to entertain such people, it would only give them an 'infinitesimal' amount of liquor and bring along 'strong men' armed with 'strait-waistcoats'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Domestic Economy, Progress

    Reports on various ways in which the electric telegraph could improve communication in the home. Concerned that many servants are ignorant of the electric telegraph, but observes how this spares the domestic stair carpet. Notes how the telegraph could allow restaurant-goers and people singing in pubs to proceed with their activities without being interrupted by the noise of staff shouting out orders. Adds that the telegraph will also allow communication between the lonesome toll-men on Waterloo Bridge Waterloo Bridge
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Railways, Environmentalism

    Laments the transformation of the rural scene by the 'iron hand of the railway enterprise'. Following news that the Isle of Dogs is to be 'sold right out', recommends that it is 'taken as a colony for the pastorally-disposed population, where the shepherd might play variations on the flageolet to a flock of sheep' and Philis might 'go-a-milking'. The illustration shows several depressed-looking rustic figures leaving their abode, while in the distance a steam locomotive chugs towards the countryside.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Universities, Education, Status, Class

    Attacks William Whewell Whewell, William (1794–1866) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College, Cambridge
Close   View the register entry >>, for not allowing undergraduates to 'SIT DOWN BEFORE HIM'. Feels ashamed of a gentleman standing before somebody who has 'written a Bridgewater treatise Chalmers, Thomas et al. 1833–36. The Bridgewater Treatises on the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God as Manifested in the Creation, 12 vols, London: William Pickering
Close   View the register entry >>'

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Language

    Argues that the tailors can become equals of the apothecary by 'prescribing' their clothes in Latin. Gives examples of such prescriptions which resemble those written by apothecaries.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Commerce, Government

    Reports that medicine bottles 'have been shining with unwonted radiance' following the abandonment of the Home Secretary James R G Graham's Graham, Sir James Robert George, 2nd Baronet (1792–1861) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> 'Physic and Surgery Bill'. Describes some of the ways in which practitioners expressed their joy, including transparencies showing 'Britannia shielding Medicine from the Home Secretary', and another depicting a 'Pure Surgeon' with 'the letters "£ s. d.", the real motto of the College of Surgeons Royal College of Surgeons
Close   View the register entry >>', behind him.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

John Leech Leech, John (1817–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Altick, Richard D. 1997. Punch: The Lively Youth of a British Institution 1841–1851, Colombus: Ohio State University Press
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Railways, Commerce, Progress, Charlatanry, Morality

    Shows a railway locomotive running into a crowd of people, many of whom worship it as a deity, whilst others offer it money. The locomotive bears the word 'speculation' and an imp holds onto its smokestack.

Genre:

Introduction; Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Commerce, Nutrition, Charlatanry

    This introduces a parody of advertisements for railway schemes, including the 'Grand Pic-nic Junction and Great Ailmentary Canal Company', whose capital is 'two hundred thousand spoons' and whose object is to 'develope the resources of pic-nics to a greater extent than has ever yet been attempted'. Drawing an implicit analogy between picnics and railway travel, the advertisement boasts that the directors of the firm will 'lay down a line of plates' in Petersham Meadows with a 'cold collation at each of the grand termini, and sandwiches at all intermediate stations'. The firm intends to 'open a communication with Sandwich and Ham Common' and points out that it is 'trying experiments [...] on the best means of supplying the alimentary canal'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Public Health, Heat, Engineering, Government

    Responds to David B Reid's Reid, David Boswell (1805–63) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> experiments on the ventilation of the Houses of Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >> and his recommendation that the buildings should be subjected to a succession of blasts of air at various temperatures. Observes that the new heating system leaves members' feet cooking 'like potatoes over a steaming apparatus' and their heads freezing. Complains that while the system can be adjusted to suit one member's requirements, this setting may not suit others.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Public Health, Gender, Disease, Industry

    Laments the plight of silkworms that are 'kept shut in close, ill-aired cages' and work all day and night. They are 'continually dying off' from 'Consumption' and are commonly known as 'Needle-women'. Notes that needle-women work in atmospheres much more consumptive than 'the open air on a village green' and the author accordingly disputes the connection between consumption and cold weather.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Aeronautics, Railways, Transport, Engineering, Periodicals, Commerce

    Responds to plans for atmospheric railways and balloons carrying people 'from all the suburban places of amusement'. Notices the launch of Balloon Balloon or Aerostatic Magazine (1845–59) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>, a periodical which Punch suspects will only have a few readers. Agrees that it is an 'Age of Air', especially given the 'innumerable railway bubbles that are being continually blown off'.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [2]

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Invention, Societies, Cruelty

    Describes an invention patented by a member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Close   View the register entry >>—a horse cradle on castors that purports to stop even 'the most broken-kneed Patent Safety Cab-horse' from falling on the wooden pavement.

Genre:

Introduction, Drollery; Proceedings, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Accidents, Language, Expertise, Physics

    Punch contends that the great merit of Charles W Pasley's Pasley, Sir Charles William (1780–1861) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> reports on railway accidents is that they are 'so very scientific that unlearned people can make neither head nor tail of them'. Offers a specimen report that it regards as similar to Pasley's. The report consists of highly technical, meaningless, and ultimately unhelpful explanations and suggestions. For example, it argues that 'It is a well-known fact in physics, that two solids coming into a state of cohesion with other, will leave no room between, and the pressure upon the bone of a man's leg would be at least one in nine, which would account for the fracture of the limb of one of the passengers'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Meteorology

    Responds to Dominique F J Arago's Arago, Dominique François Jean (1786–1853) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> claim that Atlantic ice caused inclement weather in Paris. Infers that Wenham Lake ice caused London's cold weather.

Genre:

Illustration, Caricature; Announcement, Spoof

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Railways, Accidents, Politics, Religion,

    Illustration shows Robert Peel Peel, Sir Robert, 2nd Baronet (1788–1850) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> driving a steam locomotive labelled 'EXPEDIENCY', which is seen pulling a carriage marked with the words '£30,000' and 'Maynooth'—a reference to Peel's controversial bill to give this sum to the impoverished Roman Catholic seminary, Maynooth College St Patrick's College, Maynooth
Close   View the register entry >>. The text regretfully announces the accident that happened to Peel's train, an accident caused by Peel's recklessness as a driver and the 'exceedingly crooked' line that he was following. Adds that had he not been driving Expediency, the accident might have been fatal, and that by 'keeping up the speed that he succeeded in keeping clear of the dead-weight [the Maynooth bill] at his back'.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Railways, Education, Accidents, Surgery

    Notes that medical students are applying to 'walk the railways' rather than the hospitals, thus gaining more opportunities of treating accident victims and finishing their surgical education early.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Invention, Transport

    Reports a successful experiment on 'atmospheric railways'—a luggage truck powered by a sail made from 'three portmaneaus and four carpet-bags', which 'sailed triumphantly' down Herne Bay Pier.

Genre:

Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Nutrition, Natural History

    Reports that M. Carbonel Carbonel, M (fl. 1845) PU1/9/11/6
Close   View the register entry >> told the Academie des Sciences, Paris Académie des Sciences, Paris
Close   View the register entry >>, that he had 'discovered the means of producing Oysters in fresh water ponds and basins'. Touts a company for making oysters readily available to everybody, and reports that 'science and ingenuity are busy in contriving a thousand ways of facilitating THE COMMUNCATION BETWEEN THE OYSTER AND MANKIND'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Pollution

    Describes the 'feast of chimneys and flow of smoke', cats in gutters, and other scenes to be observed while travelling along the London and Blackwall Railway London and Blackwall Railway
Close   View the register entry >> from Fenchurch Street.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Industry, Manufactories, Progress, Government

    Sarcastically notes that 'adulteration [...] is a species of manufacturing skill which improves whatever it is employed upon'. Adds that the 'statutes against adulteration, being regarded as a check on the progress of science', are usually disregarded by British merchants.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Anatomy, Steamships, Engineering, Military Technology, War, Museums, Hospitals

    Applauds the Admiralty's Admiralty
Close   View the register entry >> decision to investigate the 'rotten' state of the Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >> in general, and their steamships in particular. Announces the possibility of 'Professorships of Naval Morbid Anatomy' for improvement of warships, and 'Museums, for the preservation of diseased specimens' of ship parts. Hopes for 'Hospitals, for the application of the discoveries to be made by the dissection of the dead hull to the benefit of the living craft'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Hunting, Animal Species, Amateurism, Morality

    Responds to a report in the Standard Standard (1827–60) Evening Standard (1860–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> about Queen Victoria Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India (1819–1901) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, who, while visiting Gotha, wept at the sight of deer hunting. Following Victoria's argument that the hunting of an otter was 'counterbalanced by a knowledge of his propensities', the writer holds that although some animals should be killed 'for our comforts', amateurs such as Prince Albert Albert [Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha], prince consort, consort of Queen Victoria (1819–61) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> should not be 'in at the death'.

Genre:

Catechism, Satire

Subjects:

Hunting, Animal Species, Language, Morality

    Provides a specimen of a spelling-book for Edward, Prince of Wales Edward VII, King of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions Beyond the Seas, Emperor of India (1841–1910) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, which justifies deer hunting and accordingly tries to propagate the 'tastes and habits' of Queen Victoria Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India (1819–1901) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and the Prince of Wales. It includes the lines: 'The Deer is a poor weak Brute, which it is good to Kill [....] It is a fine sport to see the Deer fall Dead in the Place'.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Instruments, Meteorology, Gas Chemistry, Amusement, Light, Theory

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Observatory, Greenwich Royal Observatory, Greenwich
Close   View the register entry >>

    Reports that the unaccountable spell of wet weather forced James South South, James (1785–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> to improve his telescope and John F W Herschel Herschel, Sir John Frederick William (1792–1871) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to embark on a long and fruitless analysis of a nebula. Notes South's joy at learning of the opening of Vauxhall Gardens Royal Gardens, Vauxhall
Close   View the register entry >> and summarises South's explanation of the link between the wet weather and the opening of the gardens. The explanation involves the vaporisation by gas lamps and fireworks of Thames water in the trees in Vauxhall Gardens. Believes South and Herschel are supporters of 'the Vauxhall nebulous theory'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Telegraphy, Transport, Domestic Economy

    Describes a system of 'railway communication' and telegraphy used by George Hudson Hudson, George (1800–71) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, the 'Railway King', in his London residence. His domestic railway connects the drawing-room with the pantry, a telegraph replaces bells and there are special trains for servants, children, women-servants, 'men at eleven', and the hall-porter.

Genre:

Editorial

Subjects:

Railways, Sound, Invention, Transport, Accidents

    Voices public desire for a whistle to be invented, which will allow one train to warn another of 'approaching danger', especially because death by railway accident is too high a price to pay for 'their whistle'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Archaeology, Societies

    Describes archaeologists as people who spend their time unrolling 'a mummy on account of the number of its coats and the length of time they have been worn'. Accordingly regards Holywell Street (the haunt of many old clothes' vendors) as a perfect site for the British Archaeological Association British Archaeological Association
Close   View the register entry >>. Notes, moreover, that it is a site where there are many barrows. Describes the activities of the association, including a lecture 'on the coat of a mail guard', the presentation of an essay comparing the 'Coptic Roll' with the 'French Roll', and an exhibition of ancient and modern shoes.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Invention

    Describes an invention for showing 'how far you have gone'. Consisting mostly of 'pumps, lamp-posts' and pieces of gutter, this 'complete index to conviviality' requires the user to watch 'the various phases in which common street objects present themselves to the vino-obnebulated [inebriated] imagination'. One example portrays 'the philosopher, whose duplicated vision on consulting the Bacchometer fills him with the idea that he is a quadruped provided with two latch-keys, may safely consider himself in a situation of 'How came you so?'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Transport, Animal Behaviour, Morality, Societies

    Subtitled 'Worthy the Attention of the "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals" Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Close   View the register entry >>', the illustration shows two exhausted horses tugging an omnibus grossly overloaded with passengers

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery; Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Agriculture, Disease, Medical Treatment

    Describes the treatment of 'black eyes' in potatoes as if they were the variety found in humans. Accordingly, describes farmers' use of 'Grimstone's Eye Snuff', and appends a letter from 'A Tatur', a potato who testifies to the beneficial effects of the same remedy.

Genre:

Introduction, Drollery; Proceedings, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Commerce, Charlatanry

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Engineering, Amusement

    Describes a 'Railway Circus', a scheme in which trains move on circular tracks within a 'suitable theatre' and on which drivers perform 'all the usual feats of the riding-school'. Concerned that no engine-driver, including the ringmaster at Astley's Royal Amphitheatre Astley's Royal Amphitheatre, Lambeth
Close   View the register entry >>, John E Widdicomb Widdicomb, John Esdaile (1787–1854) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, will be strong enough to counteract the 'centrifugal tendencies' of the engines, but suggests a solution.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Natural History, Railways, Commerce

    Describes the 'Stag', the nickname for the 'railway ruminant', as if he were the animal of that name. Notes that the animal 'sheds a new branch directly there is any premium', and 'often causes great annoyance to the bulls and bears in the neighbourhood of the Stock Exchange Stock Exchange
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Horticulture, Natural History, Politics

Institutions mentioned:

Horticultural Society Royal Horticultural Society
Close   View the register entry >>

    Responds to the appearance in London of 'an apple with the silver pips', a fruit which, according to Punch, 'really contained a shilling'. Takes the 'scientific liberty' of calling it 'Poma Cadiensis' and observes that it is of 'very quick growth', only five minutes being needed to produce 'a ripstone to the value of sixpence' but longer for the 'largest specimens'. Adds that the fruit will be 'invaluable at elections'.

Genre:

Ilustration, Satire; Notes, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Railways, Progress, Transport

    The illustration is a map of England showing the profusion of railway lines that are expected to be completed within two years. The text warns that, although the country 'will never be in chains', it 'will soon be in irons'. Adds that although railways shorten journey time, 'we shall soon be unable to go anywhere without crossing the line'.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Natural History, Menageries, Amusement

Institutions mentioned:

Zoological Society—Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>

    Describes the behaviour of 'Van Amburgh's Elephant', a creature who refused to leave its home at Drury Lane Theatre Drury Lane Theatre
Close   View the register entry >> owing to 'such an affection' for the poet and stage-manager Alfred Bunn Bunn, Alfred (1796–1860) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. After much effort, the elephant was removed to a ship where it joined the lion tamer Isaac Van Amburgh Van Amburgh, Isaac (1805?–65) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> and his other beasts for a trip to New York.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J Leech Leech, John (1817–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Railways, Commerce, Charlatanry

    Shows a scene outside a dingy hovel. A shady figure dressed as a gentleman speaks to an elderly lady standing in a doorway, and introduces a man standing nearby as 'the young Gent. as takes my business', and points out that he is himself 'agoin' into the Railway-Director Line myself'.

Genre:

Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Government, Politics

    Exploiting an implicit analogy between political movements and railway traffic, this advertisement, subtitled, 'Peel's Peel, Sir Robert, 2nd Baronet (1788–1850) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Line', offers 'a direct communication between the Whig and Tory termini'. Expects 'Corn' to cause 'a tremendous traffic on the Political Railway' and that the 'severe' gradients' may be overcome, thus preventing the 'ups and downs on the lines from being too sudden and precipitous'. Believes customers will be 'decidedly favourable to the proposed Railway' because it allows great changes in political points of view.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Railways, Mental Illness, Hospitals

    Believes that the only way of handling the insanity which has produced 'the variety of new, impracticable, and useless' railway schemes is to build a 'Asylum for Railway Lunatics'. The illustration depicts Punch's design for such a building—a white building from which emanate several railway lines.

Genre:

Editorial, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Accidents, Engineering, Commerce

    Noting the difficulty of building a brake strong enough to 'stop a train suddenly', the writer expects that such an invention will soon appear and immediately stop the 'further progress' of the railway business.

Genre:

Illustration, Caricature; Essay, Satire

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J L, pseud.  [John Leech] Leech, John (1817–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Natural History, Entomology, Government, Animal Behaviour, Politics

    The illustration and text represent the Prime Minister Robert Peel Peel, Sir Robert, 2nd Baronet (1788–1850) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> as a butterfly, who 'peels' into a 'monopolist caterpillar', and then into a grub. Likens Peel's political activities to the movements of a butterfly. For example, citing Georges L Leclerc, comte de Buffon Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de (1707–88) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, observes that when Peel 'designs to fly a considerable distance, it ascends and descends alternately, going sometime to the right, sometimes to the left, without any apparent reason'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J L, pseud.  [John Leech] Leech, John (1817–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Railways, Commerce, Charlatanry

    According to Altick 1997 Altick, Richard D. 1997. Punch: The Lively Youth of a British Institution 1841–1851, Colombus: Ohio State University Press
Close   View the register entry >>, this is a parody of a scene in a popular West End play by Edward Fitzball Fitzball, Edward (1793–1873) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> from which the title of the article is taken. The scene shows Queen Victoria Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India (1819–1901) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Prince Albert Albert [Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha], prince consort, consort of Queen Victoria (1819–61) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> sitting in a dark chamber. The Queen asks Albert whether he has bought any railway shares, and the fact that Albert holds his head in shame reveals the ugly truth of his speculation.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; Proceedings, Spoof

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J L, pseud.  [John Leech] Leech, John (1817–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Time, Hunting, Class, Politics, Government, Environmentalism

    The illustration shows a terrified equestrian fox-hunter being chased along a railway track by a steam locomotive displaying some of the attributes of 'Father Time'. The front of the machine sports long, grey whiskers, while the body of the locomotive is labelled 'Time' and sprouts wings. The spoof proceedings describe a meeting of 'country gentlemen' in a 'well-known hunting district', who discuss the likely effects fox-hunting of 'the lines of railway about to intersect the kingdom'. The chairman laments the 'railway map' of England appearing in 'the last number of the "Railway Guide" Bradshaw's Monthly Railway Guide (1841–1900+) ODNB, s.v. Bradshaw, George
Close   View the register entry >>' and the possibility that he and his fellow hunters will soon have nowhere to run. Sir Nimrod Snaffles attacks Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >> for the possibility that railways will destroy fox-hunting, and describes the difficulty of following the scent of a fox along a railway line on which a steam locomotive is running, and of the likely death of such a fox in a railway tunnel. Snaffles urges Parliament to stop 'further railway extension', a motion seconded by Whyte Corduroys, a statesman who dismisses the possibility of hunting 'by steam' and advises his friends to still enjoy their sport and to 'commence instantly hunting the railway Stag'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Religious Authority, Accidents, Exhibitions, Architecture

    Relishes news that several clergymen are among the directors of the 'proposed railways', suggesting that such individuals should travel on each train and 'be on the spot to administer consolation in the case of mortal casualty'. Points out that clergymen are forbidden by law to 'deal for gain and profit', and reminds 'certain Deans and Chapters' that they should remember these laws when displaying religious statues. This is a criticism of the authorities of Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey
Close   View the register entry >> for charging the public a 2d admission fee for inspecting the tombs and statues in the abbey.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Statistics, Railways, Periodicals

    Proposes a 'Railway Births, Deaths, and Marriages' column in newspapers to cope with the number of schemes that are launched, united, or which collapse. Would like to see information regarding the health of 'infants', the cause of 'deaths', and the amalgamation of interests.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J L, pseud.  [John Leech] Leech, John (1817–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Railways, Commerce, Charlatanry, Periodicals

    Shows two male street urchins standing on a street corner. A nearby wall is strewn with advertisements for railway periodicals. One boy asks the other to explain 'a Panic', to which 'Jim' replies: 'Blow'd if I know; but there's Von to be seen in the City'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Quackery, Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment

    Responds to an outcry against quackery in the Lancet Lancet (1823–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> by noting that the quack is 'essential to the comfort' of many people and 'in fact, Physician of the Fools'. Urges that quacks should be prevented from calling themselves what they are not (medical men) and 'suffered' to call themselves what they are (quacks).

Genre:

Announcement, Spoof

Subjects:

Agriculture, Chemistry, Medical Treatment, Quackery

    Announces the opening of Mr Punch's shop for selling 'Patent Medicines' for curing 'all defects of soils'. Medicines include a 'Fertilising Lotion' and 'Anti-Blight and Mildew Embrocations'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Commerce, Charlatanry

    Shows the face of a shocked railway speculator, cleverly shaped to look like an aerial view of a steam locomotive. For example, the mouth of the speculator is made to resemble the smoke stack.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Hunting, Politics, Crime, Morality, Class

    Criticises George C G F Berkeley Berkeley, George Charles Grantley Fitzhardinge (1800–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> for his harsh prosecution of two poachers. Considers that Berkeley 'looks upon the iniquity of a poacher with the same horror that a priest of old Egypt would have considered any offence committed on the animals sacred to his temple,—and for the same profound and touching reason'. Describes the difficulty of teaching the sin of hunting and the 'property of game' to 'rustics', and wonders whether Berkeley should have 'compassion for lower men, who cannot recognise sin in an act which [...] so shocks the moral sense of a sporting gentleman'.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Universities, Religion

    A satirical comment on John H Newman Newman, John Henry (1801–90) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, the University of Oxford University of Oxford
Close   View the register entry >> theologian who had recently converted to Roman Catholicism. Reports that the prospectus for the Oxford-Rome scheme that is shortly to appear will be supported by Pope Pius IX Pius IX, Pope (1792–1878) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>. Notes that the 'route has already been marked out by some well-known tracts of late travellers'—a pun on the title of Newman's Tract XC Newman, John Henry 1841. Remarks on Certain Passages in the Thirty-Nine Articles, Tracts for the Times, vol. vi, No. 90, London: J. G. & F. Rivington
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [4]

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Politics, Government, Accidents

    Begins by describing the ubiquity of railway projects in London, including railways 'being carried along the streets of London supported on iron posts of the gas lamps'. Suggests that this warrants the establishment of a 'Railway Parliament', which will devote itself 'exclusively to Railway business'. Drawing an implicit analogy between political constituencies and lines, the author explains how each line would have two representatives in this parliament, and that representatives of the upper house would have such titles as 'the Marquis of the Central Terminus' and 'Baron Broad Gauge'. (212) Proceeds to complain about the disruption caused to London cab traffic by engineers calculating routes of proposed railway lines, and to the plethora of apparently useless lines in and around London. Explains that the new parliament would open with a procession, illustrated by a series of three 'frescoes by Punch's artist'. The illustrations show Mr Punch and his dog Toby leading a procession of railway statesmen, some of whom ride steam locomotives, which sport horses' heads and rear up like horses.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Engineering, Commerce

    Reports that the Thames Tunnel Company Thames Tunnel Company
Close   View the register entry >> is about to 'dispose of its shaft' and thinks that if all the 'shafts of ridicule' that were launched at the company were 'collected together' they would greatly profit shareholders.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Railway, Engineers, Engineering

    Describes a scene in the author's coal cellar in which the author's dog has a railway engineer's leg 'clasped in its teeth'. A railway surveyor, who was calculating the cellar's 'facilities for a tunnel', has fallen into a water-butt while investigating the 'practicability of a cutting'. Warns 'all surveyors and engineers in England' of the dog.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Steamships, Engineering, Invention, Transport

    Responds to a proposal to build a railway for conveying ships between the commercial and manufacturing towns of the north of England. With ships being carried overland, believes that the 'sea will become a superfluity, and a Company to bottle it off may be formed immediately'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Commerce, Charlatanry

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Engineering, Invention, Charlatanry

    Responds to news of a scheme for raising 'the sea-water from Brighton to London by means of a pipe lying on the side of the London and Brighton Railway London and Brighton Railway
Close   View the register entry >>'. Ridicules the scheme by pointing out that it will be impossible to distribute the sea-water to Londoners desiring a 'sea-water bath', and that only a quarter of a pint of the substance will be available per household.

Genre:

News-Digest, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Publishing, Evolution

    Reports that the 'next edition of the "Vestiges of Creation" [Chambers, Robert] 1844. Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, London: John Churchill
Close   View the register entry >> will be dedicated to the immortal WIDDICOMB Widdicomb, John Esdaile (1787–1854) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>', the ringmaster, in exchange for the fact that 'the moon at the Colosseum Colosseum, Rome
Close   View the register entry >>' is a 'slice of the one at the Amphitheatre at Rome'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Railways, Commerce, Crime, Morality

    Criticises John Conolly Conolly, John (1794–1866) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> for omitting the subject of 'Railway mania' from his 'Lectures on Insanity' at Hanwell Lunatic Asylum County Lunatic Asylum, Hanwell
Close   View the register entry >>. Gives a detailed description of the causes, symptoms, and cure of the disease. Among the 'predisposing causes' are 'a sanguine and credulous disposition' and 'constitutional dislike to work', while the symptoms include 'wild talk' of 'Shares, Scrip, Premiums, and Grand Junctions', writing frantically for 'Shares in lines that are, and always will be, imaginary', and selling of one's property and business. Observes that 'Modern Science has mitigated the severities that formerly attended the treatment of mania' and suggests such treatments as confinement, 'cold lotions to the head', 'blistering', gagging and flogging.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Societies, Charlatanry, Periodicals, Controversy

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Agriculture, Nutrition, Publishing, Class

    Responds to an article in the Windsor and Eton Express Windsor and Eton Express (1812–1900+) British Library Newspaper Catalogue
Close   View the register entry >> concerning Prince Albert's Albert [Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha], prince consort, consort of Queen Victoria (1819–61) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> distribution of some ten thousand copies of William Buckland's Buckland, William (1784–1856) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> speech on the 'proper treatment of the Potato'. Notes that some of the recipients of this speech 'impudently inquire when the Prince will send the potatoes themselves' and that a 'Cookery Book' is regarded as an 'impudent jest' by the poor.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Medical Practitioners, Accidents

    Questions why railway prospectuses never mention the appointment of a surgeon, an omission, it cynically adds, that would make one 'imagine there was nothing on a Railway for a Surgeon to do'.

Genre:

Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Accidents, Commerce, Class, Government, Politics

    Explains that Mr Punch, the chairman of the company, seeks to interest people in a railway. Boasts that the speed of the train will 'baffle the most determined parent, the best horse, and most honest and energetic postboys', and that, owing to its atmospheric nature, it will avoid all types of collision, especially those 'with the friends of the runaway heiress'. Adds that the trip to Gretna Green, formerly confined to the rich, will now be 'within the reach of the public at large'. Fears that the scheme might be ruined by the government's abolition of the 'privileges of Gretna Green'.

Genre:

Proceedings, Spoof

Subjects:

Anatomy, Language, Nomenclature

    Reports on Professor Plodder's paper on the 'Anatomical Peculiarities of the Barrister's Tongue' presented at a 'medico-legal society'. Among the professor's findings are the tongue's 'unusual length' (a provision enabling the seizing of 'prey'), and its facility for 'circuitous and roundabout movements, so essential to the practice of pleading'. Proposes a nomenclature for the 'distinct muscles of large size' in barrister's tongues, a nomenclature satirizing barristers' disingenuous and obnoxious practices. These include the 'Suppressor Veri', a muscle enabling the barrister to suppress the truth 'at his convenience', and 'Patheticus Linguae', a muscle 'used in making clap-trap appeals to British juries'.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Commerce, Disease, Medical Treatment, Government

    Implicitly likening the burgeoning potato disease to the railway mania, reports that the potato disease has spread to the 'Provincial Stock Exchanges' where the worse affected 'plants' (i.e. railway schemes) are those 'grown on chalk formation'. Explains that the 'rottenness commences with the Stags, and rapidly spreads to the Brokers' and that 'scarce one good scheme in ten can now be found'. Adds that the 'species called the "Director"' lacks the 'bottom to endure the very stormy weather we have had lately' and that 'shutting up [plants] in stone jugs' did not stop the progress of the disease. Recommends the appointment of government commissions to 'separate the good from the rotten stock', and that 'ports should be opened' to import 'honesty'

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Societies, Charlatanry, Periodicals, Controversy

Institutions mentioned:

British and Foreign Institute British and Foreign Institute
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Proceedings, Spoof

Subjects:

Pharmaceuticals, Analytical Chemistry, Public Health, Societies, Metallurgy

    Reports on a conversazione at the 'Pharmaceutical Society' Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain
Close   View the register entry >> which witnessed such frivolous events as the exhibition of a 'soda-water jug' which sprayed water over the audience, the analysis of 'Knocker Metal', and an inquiry into 'the State of Health of the Inspectors of Police in the surrounding neighbourhood '.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Engineers, Education, Charlatanry

    Responding to news that the 'science of engineering' can be bought for 'six guineas', argues that few will miss this opportunity of gaining a qualification for a profession paying 'two or three guineas a day'. Mocks the principle of a railway surveyor's education as, 'Measuring for Fun, made Engineering in Earnest'.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Engineers, Instruments, Commerce

    Reports that surveyors are now affected by the railway 'panic' and are being forced to sell their 'scientific instruments'. Expects pawnbrokers to be besieged by 'engineers and surveyors' carrying theodolites and thinks it might be possible to sell to pawnbrokers 'pieces of wood' assembled to look like a scientific instrument.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Instruments, Amusement

    Describes the havoc caused in his house when his son launched a 'dreadful little gimcrack'—a 'sort of compound of windmill and a humming top'. Concludes that 'the toy was constructed upon scientific principles' and while knowing 'nothing about "scientific"', believes the inventor 'had very loose principles'. The illustration shows the windmill and its base.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Agriculture, Horticulture, Nutrition

    Following William Buckland's Buckland, William (1784–1856) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> 'elaborate paper' on the advantages of growing peas rather than potatoes, describes experiments disputing Buckland's claim that peas fortify the body's 'fibre and muscle', and supporting the energy-giving qualities of the potato. Ridicules Buckland's claims that eating beans and sucking pocket handkerchiefs can provide a substitute for the potato.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Chemistry, Instruments, Politics, Government, Gas Chemistry

    Reports on the invention of an instrument for 'ascertaining, scientifically, the intensity of Parliamentary debates'. The instrument, consisting of a vessel of limewater, enables the conversion of the carbonic acid evolved by politicians into carbonate of lime. The latter will 'furnish a regular score against members'. Adds that since the absorption of carbonic acid purifies the air, the instrument will benefit the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Physics, Light, Magnetism, Mesmerism, Electricity

    Reports Michael Faraday's Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> 'wonderful discovery' of the magnetisation of a ray of light. Believes that this is important because it allows the 'suspension of iron filings to the magnetised ray' and anticipates that the Royal Society Royal Society of London
Close   View the register entry >> will next be 'mesmerising a flash of lightning', thus rendering 'impossible' its 'injurious effects'.

Genre:

Reportage; Proceedings, Spoof

Subjects:

Geology, Palaeontology

    Reports on a discussion of the discovery, in Manchester, of 'a block of millstone-grit, with three foot-prints in it'. The discussion prompted several learned people to propose ridiculous theories of the origin of the prints including Dr Black, who ascribed them to 'a stout boy's highlow [laced boots]', and Mr James Heywood, who, following William Buckland Buckland, William (1784–1856) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, argued that they were made by 'a tortoise taking a stroll'. Punch hopes it can illuminate the problem by submitting to 'these gentlemen' a patch of mud containing an impression of a Wellington boot.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Reading, Periodicals

    Reports on the case of an 'old lady' who slept for 'upwards of ten days'. Explains that whilst medical men were discussing the case, her condition was explained by the fact that she had been reading the soporific Morning Herald Morning Herald and Daily Advertiser (1780–1869) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> for 'three successive months'.