1861 Adverts from Cumberland Commercial Directory

Station Street County Garage Ford and Fordson tractor dealer with spiked wheels crankshaft grinding, re-metalling, line boring etc. The service provided reflects the mechanical and financial situation of 1947 when stripping, regrinding and refitting was more realistic than getting a new engine. advert 1947

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Adverts from 1861 Cumberland Commercial Directory tell us the priorities and opportunities for sales.  Watches and clocks were expensive; refridgeration was not invented, so churning milk to butter was important; a piano was a pianoforte; paperback books were not invented, so a bookbinder was required; a hatter provided the appropriate indication of social class – top hat or cap – feathers in a bonnet or straw hat.

John Kane advertises as Cooper, Turner, Churn Manufacturer in the Corn Market, Cockermouth. Before refrigeration and bottled milk, surplus milk could be preserved as salted butter created from agitating – churning- the cream by various means as shown in Wikipedia. A butter churn is a device used to convert cream into butter. The process of making butter is called churning, which involves shaking up cream or whole milk. The churn can be as simple as a barrel with a plunger in it, moved by hand. A plunger butter churn is the most historically outstanding type, which often consists of a wooden barrel and a stick that has a disc with holes attached to it. The churn uses a rotating paddle to agitate the cream, causing the fat to separate from the buttermilk. A milk churn is a tall, cylindrical, or conical container used to transport and store milk, cream, and other liquids: • Transportation: Milk churns were used in the early 20th century to transport milk from farms to creameries. • Storage: Churns can be used to store small quantities of milk and other liquids. • Butter making: Churns can also be used to make butter by agitating the fat in milk cream to break open the fat membranes and cause the fat to clump together https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter_churn Imagine the sound of the liquid squelching in the plunger churn and realise why we say our stomach is churning. Advert from a book published by Michael Moon Whitehaven
Joshua Ingham not only sold timepieces but made them. There are examples of grandfather upright clocks with Cockermouth on the face, I think an example is upstairs in Banks museum in Market Place. What is the ‘Albert’ in the advert text? Wonder why a jeweller clock maker is a dealer in musical instruments? Jonathan Cape joiner, Building Contractor South Street. William Park In those days it was easier to make agricultural implements than transport them before the days of lorries and tarmac. This often blurred the boundary between creative and crazy, as shown in the classic book ‘Victorian Inventions’ by Leonard de Vries. Advert from a book published by Michael Moon Whitehaven
Joshua Ingham not only sold timepieces but made them. There are examples of grandfather upright clocks with Cockermouth on the face, I think an example is upstairs in Banks museum in Market Place. What is the ‘Albert’ in the advert text? Wonder why a jeweller clock maker is a dealer in musical instruments? Jonathan Cape joiner, Building Contractor South Street. William Park In those days it was easier to make agricultural implements than transport them before the days of lorries and tarmac. This often blurred the boundary between creative and crazy, as shown in the classic book ‘Victorian Inventions’ by Leonard de Vries. Advert from a book published by Michael Moon Whitehaven
1861 Adverts from Cumberland Commercial Directory and Gazetteer republished by Michael Moon with permission.
1861 Adverts from Cumberland Commercial Directory and Gazetteer republished by Michael Moon with permission.
McQuhae sold Pianoforte, not an abbreviated piano. He respectfully informs the public about furniture and pianofortes which raises the question about the piano being displayed as a piece of furniture with aspiration and frustration embodied in this piece of furniture. Before TV and in early days of radio, home made music entertained us and we were all encouraged to make our own music. For example we did not have a TV until after years after the Coronation which our street watched on the only TV. Pianofortes were expensive and posh but we could make sound that passed as music to us with a washboard, a piece of string on a pole balanced on the rubadub wahing tub and – a skiffle group was formed (66 years ago!) Advert from a book published by Michael Moon Whitehaven
McQuhae sold Pianoforte, not an abbreviated piano. He respectfully informs the public about furniture and pianofortes which raises the question about the piano being displayed as a piece of furniture with aspiration and frustration embodied in this piece of furniture. Before TV and in early days of radio, home made music entertained us and we were all encouraged to make our own music. For example we did not have a TV until after years after the Coronation which our street watched on the only TV. Pianofortes were expensive and posh but we could make sound that passed as music to us with a washboard, a piece of string on a pole balanced on the rubadub wahing tub and – a skiffle group was formed (66 years ago!) Advert from a book published by Michael Moon Whitehaven
Cockermouth advert Parker woollen draper hatter Atlas Life Assurance George Parker is a hatter as well as a merchant tailor, woollen draper and general outfitter. A Hatter was significant in the days when hats indicated status, and this site shows photos of people from high and mighty with top hats (mine is taller than your one) ‘down’ to the cloth cap that even boys wore, with girls having a white cloth cap. There were various hat makers in Cockermouth. ‘Mourning on the shortest notice’ indicates that appropriate clothing could be quickly made available. Atlas Fire and Life Assurance offer life cover and fire cover. Advert from a book published by Michael Moon Whitehaven
Cockermouth advert Parker woollen draper hatter Atlas Life Assurance George Parker is a hatter as well as a merchant tailor, woollen draper and general outfitter. A Hatter was significant in the days when hats indicated status, and this site shows photos of people from high and mighty with top hats (mine is taller than your one) ‘down’ to the cloth cap that even boys wore, with girls having a white cloth cap. There were various hat makers in Cockermouth. ‘Mourning on the shortest notice’ indicates that appropriate clothing could be quickly made available. Atlas Fire and Life Assurance offer life cover and fire cover. Advert from a book published by Michael Moon Whitehaven
Enterprising businesses explore variety and opportunity, so is this why Thwaites sells insurance and also tooth brushes?! General printer, bookbinder, insurance agent, hair and teeth brushes and wallpaper, wax vestas (?) … The Manchester Fire Assurance Company illustrates the perils of those times including the inferred solvency of other companies when this company shouts about its wealth and ample security. Losses by Explosion of Gas occurred from town coal gas in lead pipes that could split. Hartness sells London and Dublin Porters. Are these the forerunners of Mackeson sweet stout and Guiness stout? Porter is a style of beer that was developed in London, England, in the early 18th century. It is well-hopped and dark in appearance owing to the use of brown malt. The name is believed to have originated from its popularity with porters. Porter became the first beer style brewed around the world, being produced in Ireland, North America, Sweden, and Russia by the end of the 18th century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter_(beer) Advert from a book published by Michael Moon Whitehaven
Enterprising businesses explore variety and opportunity, so is this why Thwaites sells insurance and also tooth brushes?! General printer, bookbinder, insurance agent, hair and teeth brushes and wallpaper, wax vestas (?) … The Manchester Fire Assurance Company illustrates the perils of those times including the inferred solvency of other companies when this company shouts about its wealth and ample security. Losses by Explosion of Gas occurred from town coal gas in lead pipes that could split. Hartness sells London and Dublin Porters. Are these the forerunners of Mackeson sweet stout and Guiness stout? Porter is a style of beer that was developed in London, England, in the early 18th century. It is well-hopped and dark in appearance owing to the use of brown malt. The name is believed to have originated from its popularity with porters. Porter became the first beer style brewed around the world, being produced in Ireland, North America, Sweden, and Russia by the end of the 18th century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter_(beer) Advert from a book published by Michael Moon Whitehaven

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Sources and thanks and permissions and copyright are shown on appropriate pages and/or in the About section. If someone can prove they have sole copyright and ownership of all rights to the negative and positive prints of a photo and its digital copy, and if they then want to have their name acknowledged after providing their clear evidence of ownership of sole copyright then I will acknowledge that right. Otherwise this personal project, made at my own expense, is my voluntary, free to access website made with goodwill to the community, so that the site gives free access to our community’s historic information. For those who desire to stop some photos being seen, review your motives; some photos were given to the local history centre and have been hidden for 20 years – why? I don’t have access to them. Surely when the community give photos to a local centre for free, the photos should be available to the public to view with free access and free sharing by digital reproduction on which we can add our own descriptions on our own websites and Facebook pages and other sharing sites? Please read the acknowledgements and thanks on the About section – there are some astounding links including the National Library of Scotland’s (NLS) zoomable historic maps, and sites of rail and coal historic sites and … see About. Perhaps the links will stimulate you to do your own research for your own personal education like this site that I made for personal research and education.