Editorially speaking…
It should come as no surprise to Chronicles readers that I spend a lot of time delving into old newspapers. They’re a ‘popular’ historian’s lifeblood.
In the bad old days I had to invest 100s (probably 1000s) of hours in the Victoria Press morgue, hunched over an early and primitive microfilm machine that, I’ve no doubt, prematurely strained my eyes. The library of what were then The Daily Colonist and the Victoria Daily Times also had rows and rows of filing cabinets containing newspaper clippings, but these only went back to the 1940s.
To go back further, you had to use the microfilm machine with all its limitations and faults (I mean from a comfort level). A key to the past, yes, but at the cost of eyestrain and headaches, so best done in spurts. Ditto at the BC Provincial Archives and the Nanaimo Public Library.
Ah, but that’s all history now.
Thanks to the digital age and Google, among other online research bases, in particular my subscription to newspapers.com, I can dig through 100s of Canadian and American newspapers from the comfort of my own library/office.
So, for today’s editorial—it’s Christmas, after all—I’m taking the day off by sharing with you the current issue of Fishwrap – The Official Blog of Newspapers. I’m sure it will bring back memories of your own childhood conversations with Santa Claus...
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Victorian Letters to Santa Shining a Light on a Bygone Era
December 3, 2024
Simon Pearce
Each year, expectant children write letters to Santa or Father Christmas requesting gifts of all shapes and sizes. Full of hopes and expectations for the festive season, these letters have been a tradition for many decades, even in the Victorian era. As we discovered when we delved into our archives, some letters to Santa were printed in the local British papers.
Some certainly tug at the heartstrings.
1900, Fri Evening Gazette (Middlesbrough, Cleveland, England) Newspapers.com
Eugene Harrison sent his letter to Santa via the Weekly Supplement of the Leeds Mercury in December 1890 after his initial efforts to contact the Big Man were stifled. After outlining his requests (a doll each for Eugene and his sister and a picture book for his brother), he informs Santa, “We have been shouting up the chimney, but mother says we had better write to you, through your column in the Weekly Supplement.”
Next, a lovely tale was published in the North-Eastern Daily Gazette (Middlesbrough) in December 1896. Unsure of where to deliver her correspondence, a little Glasgow girl sent her letter to Santa to the ‘Post Office, Glasgow’ hoping it would find its way to Saint Nick.
It read: ‘Dear Santa Claus, I want a doll and a coach. That is all.’ The brief note brought a smile to the face of a tired postman who read it aloud to his colleagues during their break time. Touched by the request, they raised the sum to buy a doll and coach and sent the gifts to the little girl.
30 Dec 1896. Wed Evening Gazette (Middlesbrough, Cleveland, England) Newspapers.com
On Christmas Eve, 1898, the Hampshire Telegraph published a touching letter in their Christmas Supplement from 11-year-old Mabel Hancox. In the letter, Mabel asks Santa not to forget her household. Unselfishly, she requests that if Santa does not have much to share, he should fill her four-year-old brother’s stocking and not put anything in hers: “…mother tells me there is more pleasure in making others happy than in being made happy ourselves”, writes Mabel.
She also asks Santa not to forget “poor little ones who have very little to cheer them at other times.” We hope the kind-hearted Mabel woke to a much-deserved Christmas stocking on Christmas Day.
24 Dec, 1898. Sat Hampshire Telegraph and Naval Chronicle (Portsmouth, Hampshire, England). Newspapers.com
A letter penned by an anonymous ‘dear little girl in Carmarthenshire’, Wales, was published in the Western Mail in January 1900, a little after the festivities. The writer requests “enough velvet for a full cap and stuff for a long jacket for the doll, and a shilling copy…” The shilling copy being [a] bent coin exchanged as a pledge of love between couples.
The letter continues with more requests for gifts, from brown slippers to a nice big carriage for the doll. However, the decisive little girl makes it clear to Santa what to bring if he can’t carry everything, signing off with “love and kindness” and ten kisses.
06 Jan 1900. Saturday Western Mail (Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales) Newspapers.com
Christmas is the time for giving, and in this spirit, the Cardiff-based Western Mail ran a ‘Santa Claus Fund,’ giving needy boys and girls in the Cardiff area a day of entertainment, feasting, and gifts. Readers were invited to donate funds and items for the day, and the paper documents the many generous donations. Some even made their contributions via a letter to Santa, like M. Ayers in 1895:
“Dear ‘Santa Claus,’- Please accept gift of apples and mistletoe on behalf of poor little waifs and strays…”
While Edwin Hunt, pikelet maker [a small, round, thick pancake like a crumpet, baked on a griddle at Christmas], promised Santa 100 Scotch muffins for the event.
09 Sep 1895. Mon Western Mail (Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales) Newspapers.com
Back we delve into the archives of the North-Eastern Daily Gazette, revealing another yuletide missive, but this time with a twist. In December 1889, the paper published a letter to Santa from “his little friend, Master Ernest Hope, of Middlesbrough”. Sounds innocent enough. I wonder what little Ernest wanted for Christmas?
Ernest kindly asked Santa for stockings for his six-week-old sibling: “You won’t be sorry if I ask you to do me a good turn, will you, dear old Santa Claus?”, as he seemingly has the interests of his little sibling at heart this Christmas. Ernest also requests no toys or dolls for him and his sister, as they break so quickly, and he regales Santa with the story of when his father accidentally sat on his Noah’s Ark and broke some of the pieces:
“He rose quick, too! and he spoke some big words loud, and mother said ‘hush’!”.
19 Dec 1889. Thu Evening Gazette (Middlesbrough, Cleveland, England) Newspapers.com
As the letter continues, little Ernest seems to have a great deal to say about his local department store. He’s a little too enthusiastic about their products, prices and customer service if you ask us: “Do you know LINSEY & DICKSON’S SHOP in LINTHORPE ROAD, here? Of course you will! Have you seen all the nice fine things they sell?”
Ruling out that young Ernest was working on commission, it becomes evident that the letter is part of a crafty ad campaign by LINSEY & DICKSON’S, in which Ernest asks Santa for “sensible presents”, basically clothes, from the shop to give to his friends. His letter is even accompanied by a response from ‘Santa’ himself.
You had us there for a moment, Ernest.
19 Dec 189. Thu Evening Gazette (Middlesbrough, Cleveland, England) Newspapers.com
The Victorian era ended with Queen Victoria’s death on 22 January 1901, but we couldn’t resist squeezing in one final article, published in the Huddersfield Daily Examiner in December 1901—we know, we know, stretching the Victorian theme a little, but stick with us.
The article shares some of the addresses children used on the envelopes of their letters to Santa. Despite the scathing tone of the article, pouring scorn over the attempts to locate Santa, we can’t help but revel in the childhood innocence demonstrated in the addresses recorded:
“Dear Santa Claus City”.
“Leave at town nearest the North Pole and give to Santa Claus as he passes”.
“Dear Santa Claus, who lives in the Moone”.
“Santa Claus, Up in the Clouds”.
“Mr. Santa Claus, Snow Mountain”.
27 Dec 1901, Fri Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England) Newspapers.com
Although well over a century has passed since these letters were written, one thing has remained the same: the youthful excitement of receiving a gift from Santa and the anticipation of Christmas Day.
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