This week at The Archive we have added 51,894 brand new pages, which span over 120 years of history, to our collection. Furthermore, we are delighted to welcome two brand new titles, namely Nottinghamshire’s Beeston Gazette and Echo, and Berkshire’s Maidenhead Advertiser. Over the past seven days we’ve also been busily adding to some of our existing titles – read on to find out more.

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Published in Beeston, three and a half miles south-west of Nottingham, the Beeston Gazette and Echo appeared weekly. In 1913, the newspaper carried as its front page a plethora of advertisements, as was fairly typical of the local press at the time. Inside, this publication featured primarily local news, with headlines such as ‘Bad Basford Boy,’ as well as a ‘People’s Forum,’ which featured letters from readers. As well as publishing articles on sport, the Beeston Gazette and Echo ran a section entitled ‘World of Women’s Interests,’ which featured an array of different recipes, health advice, and sections on flower arranging.

Beeston Gazette and Echo | 18 February 1933

Our other new title this week is the Maidenhead Advertiser. First published in the Berkshire town of Maidenhead on 28 July 1869, this newspaper was founded by Edwin Busher Prosser. The first edition cost 1d, and was published on Wednesdays, Maidenhead’s market day. The new publication managed a circulation of 1000 in a town of 5000 people, but by 1872 the title ran into difficulties. It was then brought by five different businessman, who were then joined in the venture by Frederick George Bayliss.

Bayliss soon bought out the others, and the Maidenhead Advertiser began to flourish. By 1882, the newspaper was featuring its first drawings, and in 1884 it featured its first photographs. When Bayliss died, he left the Maidenhead Advertiser to his children, and in 1962, his grandson Louis Bayliss turned the business into a charitable trust, effectively giving the newspaper to the town.

Maidenhead Advertiser | 18 March 1874

The first of our updated titles this week is the Dundee Courier. Began on 20 September 1816, this historic title initially appeared on a weekly basis before switching to a daily publication schedule in 1862. Featuring a mix of local and national news, it was originally Conservative in outlook before becoming more independent as the nineteenth century progressed. In 1926, it merged with fellow Dundee title, the Dundee Advertiser.

Our other existing title to feature new pages this week is the Derby Daily Telegraph. The first daily newspaper to be produced in the city of Derby, it was founded by Eliza M Pike, the widow of John Beard Pike who had founded the Derby and Chesterfield Reporter. A four-page halfpenny broadsheet, Eliza M Pike ran the Derby Daily Telegraph until her death in 1905.

The First FA Cup Final

On 20 March 1872, the Maidenhead Advertiser published the below announcement:

FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION CUP.
FINAL TIE.

The Wanderers won by one goal to nothing. The Cup will be presented to the victors at the annual dinner of the Wanderers Club, to be held early next month.

Maidenhead Advertiser | 20 March 1872

These few sentences belie a historic moment in the history of sport – namely the playing of the first ever FA Cup Final. Contested between the Wanderers, a dominant team in early organised football and made up of many former public school attendees, and the Royal Engineers A.F.C., the team of the Corps of the Royal Engineers, on 16 March 1872, it was the Wanderers who gained the 1-0 victory over their opponents.

One of our specialist sporting titles, the The Sportsman, sets the scene nicely. The final was held at Kennington Oval, now of course known for its cricketing ties. The Sportsman describes how ‘the excitement, not only among the partisans of the respective sides, but among the lovers of football generally, was intense.’

A scene from the 1895 FA Cup between Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion | The Graphic | 27 April 1895

Before the match, it was the Royal Engineers team who were the favourites to win, and they were also ‘a great favourite with the public,’ renowned for their ‘clever and effective play.’

Kick off was at 3pm, and the crowd consisted of an ‘assemblage of spectators being very fashionable, though the numbers were hardly so large as might have been expected.’ The Sportsman puts this disappointing attendance down to the high price charged for tickets.

The 1884 FA Cup final contested at Kennington Oval between Blackburn Rovers and Queen’s Park | Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News | 5 April 1884

As the game begun, the Wanderers having won the toss, the soon-to-be winning team ‘set to work with the greatest determination, and at the outset their play forwards displayed more co-operation than is custom.’ This soon resulted in a goal, for which the Royal Engineers had no reply.

The Sportsman sums up the day’s play as below:

…the play all around was superior to anything that had been seen at the Oval. The Wanderers unquestionably surprised the spectators by the effectiveness of their play collectively and certainly they have never shown to such an advantage as in this contest. The Engineers played hard and well throughout, but they were outmatched in this instance, as they only on two occasions endangered the enemy’s goal.

You can read the full match report here.

New Titles

Updated Titles

This week we have updated two of our existing titles.

You can learn more about each of the titles we add to every week by clicking on their names. On each paper’s title page, you can read a FREE sample issue, learn more about our current holdings, and our plans for digitisation.

You can keep up to date with all the latest additions by visiting the recently added page.  You can even look ahead to see what we’re going to add tomorrow.