The following extracts from 19th century historical resources relating to Devon were among those presented during a talk in Exeter Central Library on 11 October 2001 as part of the BBC Victorian Lecture series. This formed part of the "What the Victorians did for us" season run by the BBC and the talk aimed to give insight into a wide range of aspects of Victorian life using words written at the time. The extracts run in broadly chronological order from Victoria's coronation in 1838 to her death in 1901 and are taken from newspapers, official reports and reminiscences.

QUEEN VICTORIA'S CORONATION 28 JUNE 1838. EXETER FLYING POST 28 JUNE 1838

TOPSHAM:- It is intended to dine the whole of the working classes in a field immediately contiguous to the town. Four bullocks, several sheep, and 2,000 1bs weight of plum pudding being provided. A procession, consisting of the gentry, tradesmen, friendly societies, schools &c. &c. in the parish, will take place.

EXMOUTH: Here a subscription, amounting to £90, has been raised, and a dinner is to be given to about 1500 labouring poor, men, women, and children, in a field near the residence of the Rev. J Gattey.

SIDMOUTH: Here a handsome subscription of 3120 has been raised, which is going on increasing, and in the cricket field, within view of the residence of her Majesty, when Princess Victoria, and her mother the Duchess of Kent, the inhabitants have resolved on giving to the poorer classes, male and female, a substantial dinner of roast beef and plum pudding, with all requisite accompaniments for the occasion.

TOTNES: A dinner expected to be numerously attended, will take place here, at which Geo, Farwell, Esq., will preside; and arrangements are made for the accommodation of from 2000 to 3000 persons in the lawns and walks at Priory, the residence of Lady Elford the use of which she has kindly granted for the occasion, where the tea will be scuceeded by the merry dance. To the labouring poor, beef, &c will be distributed in proportion to the families, and the Reformers will dine together in the Castle green.

ASHBURTON: Here all parties have much to their credit, forgot their differences, and 1800 of the poor will be regaled with roast beef, plum pudding, bread and beer, in a field on the Exeter road: after which a variety of rustic sports will take place. Dinners will also be provided at the principal inns, and in the evening a ball, the ascension of a balloon, and fire works.

ADVERTISEMENT FROM EXETER FLYING POST, 5 JUL 1838

CORONATION OF HER MAJESTY
AT HOWE'S EXETER BAZAAR
C HOWE
BOOKSELLER, WHOLESALE AND RETAIL STATIONER.
RESPECTFULLY acquaints the Nobility, Gentry and Inhabitants of Exeter and its Neighbourhood that he has just returned from London, and has succeeded in engaging one of the first artists in Europe to attend at the CORONATION to paint for his GOTHIC GALLERY the
INTERIOR OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY,
With a correct likeness of Her Majesty and other illustrious personages present on the occasion; also a correct representation of the Procession. The above splendid Paintings, with ten others, will be open gratis, as soon as possible after the Coronation, to each purchases of one shilling and upwards, at this
BAZAAR, 207 High Street,
Five doors above the Guildhall, where may now be seen The Royal Exchange on fire, Milan Cathedral, the Battle of Waterloo and nine others, which are brought so faithfully to the eye that the illusion cannot but excite gratification and astonishment.

ARRIVAL OF BRISTOL & EXETER RAILWAY AT EXETER. EXETER FLYING POST 2 MAY 1844.

The Traveller has now reached the City of Exeter, having for about the last two miles had close on either hand, the line of Railway running parallel with the river Exe on the right, and the road from Exeter to Crediton, on the left.

At the Terminus are extensive ranges of Buildings covering a very large area, the first of these at which the Traveller arrives, kon his left, being the Departure Station, which is a parallelogram about 144 feet in length, - a Structure presenting considerable neatness in appearance, covered with slate and zinc. It is divided with every attention to the comfort and convenience of the Public, and Officers of the Company, with all other necessary Offices. The Superintendent's Room is next, with the Parcel Room adjoining; and then is a spacious Entrance way to the Building. The Booking Office, a spacious and well arranged room, adjoining this; and next is the Ladies Waiting and other requisite Offices, which occupy this range. These rooms all open in to a spacious Gallery, the Roof of which is carried over the Line of Rails, being supported in front by Pillars and having a span of about 40 feet. Underneath this the Trains run, and the Passengers enter the several Carriages from the Gallery, which is parallel with the floors of the Carriages. In a line with this Building is the situation of the two Carriage Sheds, each about 100 feet in length, the roofs of which are plank, with a covering of tarpaulin; and between these sheds is placed the Turn Table, a most ingenious and curious piece of mechanism on which are turned the several Carriages. Further on, and in a line with these buildings, is the Return Station, being a range of Buildings equal in extent with the Departure Station, just described, with a Booking Office, &c. but not containing so many rooms. Within the area is a Reservoir, the water requisite for which is supplied by the Exeter Water Company; and a Tank for the Engines is in the course of erection. The Stations, Offices, &c. are lit with Gas, supplied by the Exeter Gas Company.

It may be as well here to state the arrangements that have been entered into with respect to the omnibuses appointed to ply in connection with the arrival and departure of each train. As will be seen by advertisement in this paper, there will be seven arrivals and seven departures daily, the time for which was fixed at a meeting of the Directors of the Great Western Company, in London, last week. One of these, omnibuses will start from Baring Place, by the way of Mount Radford, and Colleton Crescent, passing through Southernhay, calling at the Old London Inn, and proceed through the New North Road to the Station. A second will leave Liverydole and proceeding through Paris-street, call at the New London Inn; thence through High Street and Fore Stret to Bartholomew Stret (West). It will then pass through the street last named, Bartholomew yard, Barhtolomew Street (North) and by the iron bridge, and St David's Hill, to the Terminus.

BALLOON ASCENT. EXETER FLYING POST 1/9/1848

On Monday afternoon the thousands in this city and neighbourhood were gratified with the sight of as fine ascent of a balloon as it can ever have fallen to the lot of any to witness, the weather being most singularly propitious for the purpose. The balloon which is of vast size is the property of Mr Wadman, of Bristol, and this his 63rd ascent. The place of inflation was the Castle yard, the gas being supplied by the Gas Company. To the yard about 600 persons were admitted, but as before said, thousands were congregated without and every spot in point of view occupied. Mr Ronchetti's Band was stationed in the Castle Yard, and played martial and popular tunes. The aeronaut on this occasion had an adventurous companion in the person of Mr roger Acton, of the Western Times newspaper office; and at half-past 5 o'clock all being ready, these stepped into the car, the cords were loosened, and the vast machine shot up to a great height amidst the hearty huzzas of the many who witnessed it. The balloon at first took a northern direction, and a parachute was dispatched to terra firma, which fell near Mr Kingdon's house in St David's. the course of the balloon however as it ascended, suddenly changed to the east, and passing over the high ground of St. David's and St. Sidwells, at a considerable altitude and presenting a fine object to those below, it passed Heavitree, and the Clysts, Sowton, &c., and at ten minutes to 6 o'clock descended in a field in the occupation of Mr Samuel Davy, of Weir, a short distance from Newcourt House, the seat of J.B.Cresswell Esq. and about three miles from the city. Immediate assistance was rendered the aerial travellers, and Mr S Davy was himself quickly on the spot, and a horse and cart were promptly provided for conveying the balloon to Exeter. Mr Paul Collings, also, the obliging and attentive proprietor of the Black Horse Inn, Longbrook Street, who had followed the course of the balloon with a carriage, was presently on the spot, and brought the adventurers about dark safely back to Exeter. It is computed the balloon, which took 20,000 cubic feet of gas to inflate, it rose to an altitude of about a mile and quarter.

BREAD RIOTS, CREDITON. Exeter Flying Post 20 May 1847

The inhabitants of this place were thrown into the greatest excitement, on Friday evening last, about half-past eight, by the appearance of a mob of boys and women coming from the direction of Bowden Hill, and proceeding to the shop of Mrs Thomas, baker, where they broke the windows. The bakers and other tradespeople immediately closed their shops, as matters were beginning to assume a serious aspect. The mob having arrived at the "Green" at the head of the town, they broke the glass in the upper windows of the several bakers' houses in that locality; returning they smashed the windows of Messrs. Lee, Bridge, and Hookway; from the shop of the latter a quantity of bread was thrown to the crowd which made them bolder than ever. It was then 11pm, and the mob began to disperse, it was hoped to their homes, but such was not the case, for soon afterwards they attacked the house of Mr Wippell, near the Church in the East Town; this baker had previously taken out the sash of his upper window for safety; and he directly threw out all his bread. After visiting several other shops in the lower part of the town the rioters dispersed. On Saturday morning every means were taken to prevent any similar occurrence; upwards of 200 of the inhabitants were sworn in as special constables and, as a crowd was collecting in the evening, they paraded the town in a body, while the crier requested the people to return quietly to their homes. We are glad to state that no important disturbance took place, nevertheless it was thought prudent that a party of the constables should remain up all night. There has been an unpleasant report as to the conduct of some of the Special Constables, who were on the watch on Monday night, some Larks being attributed to them which most likely belong to other parties; an investigation took place last evening at the Market Room before a large assembly, when they were exonerated from the charges laid against them.

14TH REPORT OF INSPECTORS OF PRISONS OF GREAT BRITAIN
EXETER COUNTY GOAL INSPECTED 2 MAY 1849

One prisoner, W.P. complained that his bedding was in a filthy state, and that he had been compelled to wear his shirt three weeks. With reference to these complaints, I made a careful examination of the bedding in the Infirmary, which was that particularly described by the prisoner, and found it to be extremely clean, and free from any suspicion of vermin existing in it, and I also inquired of other prisoners, who declared that they had never had reason to make any complaint of the kind. Upon inquiry into the remaining part of his charge, it was found to be equally groundless; for it was distinctly proved upon the evidence of the officers, as well as of other prisoners, that W.P. who had been a chimney-sweeper by trade, had had a clean shirt at the same time as the other prisoners, namely, on the previous Sunday, but that he had made an attempt to escape from the prison by going up the chimney to the roof of the ward, and that he had invented the story he related to me to account for his shirt being dirtied by his unlawful endeavour, and to lead to an inference that his present to confinement in a dark cell, to which he had been consigned as a punishment fo rhis offence, was unjust and tyrannical. W.T. another prisoner, also in confinement for having been an accomplice of the complainant in his attempt at escape, admitted the truth of the main facts proved to me by others.

Several prisoners complained of not being allowed to take any exercise on Sundays, and of being shut up in their cells, sometimes three or four together, on that day in the intervals of Divine service. Upon inquiry, I found the fact to be as stated by the prisoners, the explanation being that, during the present state of insecurity of some parts of the prison in consequence of the repairs in progress, it was not considered safe to trust the prisoners in the airing yards. As it did not appear to me, that the ground assigned was sufficient to authorise a practice so objectionable, but that all the dangers anticipated by the authorities might be guarded against by proper supervision, I recommended the governor to make the experiment of allowing the prisoners to take a sufficient amount of exercise in the presence of one or more officers. The very confined accommodation of the prison, which makes it often necessary to confine three or four male prisoners in a cell, renders it the more necessary to allow them the indulgence of exercise in the air, even although it might render necessary the temporary appointment of some supernumerary officers.

SHAPTER, THOMAS. REPORT ON THE SANITARY CONDITIONS OF EXETER
EXETER IN THE YEAR 1841. Pages 224-5

Drainage. The plan of under-drainage is now very efficient; nearly all the streets have sewers, and where requisite, branch-drains are generally made. Though there may be room for some few additional sewers, yet, take it altogether, the city if well provided in this respect. Of the great extension of sewerage within the last ten years, some idea may be formed from the fact of the Commissioners of Improvement having expended upwards of 700l upon this item alone. The communication with these sewers is almost general; nevertheless the contrary is the case in many of the poorer houses; and though there is in the local Act the power of compelling this, yet unfortunately it provides that the communication shall be made by the occupier and not by the proprietor, yet experience shows there is so much difficulty in enforcing this provision, that it too often, where most desirable, amounts to a nullity. Where communication has been made, the branch drains are for the most part well kept, and have a sufficient supply of water for their frequent cleansing; though doubtless there may be many examples to the contrary, from carelessness in the inmates throwing down choking articles, or the breaking in of the work itself. In the public sewers, excepting from some rate casualty, nothing of this kind occurs; they are constructed on sound principles, with sufficient inclination, and well furnished with stench-traps; now and then in the course of a long drought, or on the stenchtraps becoming dry, offensive effluvia may be emitted from them; but, generally speaking, they may be considered as well constructed in these respects.

SANITARY MEASURES AND THEIR RESULTS. 3RD ED. 1866 SHAPTER, THOMAS
HISTORY OF THE CHOLERA, IN EXETER, IN 1849

In the epidemic of 1849, the first case that occurred was on the 19th July, in the person of a German musician, who entered the city ill of the disease. He had journeyed from Plymouth, where some of his companions had been ill and died. In the course of three days this man was convalescent. The next case happened on the 9th of August, in the person of an officer of the 82nd Regiment, who had come to Exeter on the previous day, also from Plymouth. The regiment itself arrived on the 9th, being ordered from Plymouth in consequence of several deaths having there occurred amongst the men. The next cases were on the 10th, in the west quarter of the City. There is no evidence to show that these latter cases had been in nay contact with the above. They had, moreover, been affected with diarrhoea for some days, which was then somewhat prevailing throughout the city.

From the 19th of July to the 29th of October, when the last case was reported, 92 cases occurred, and of these 42 died.

As in 1832, the immediately antecedent symptom of an attack was usually a painless diarrhoea, the discharges being of a light colour and of a yeasty appearance, accompanied by an expression of anxiety and a collapse of feature, twitching of the limbs, "rolling" in the bowels, slight cramps, sudden vomiting &c. As the disease progressed, the discharges assumed the characteristic rice water appearance, and without foecal smell. These were invariably passed without pain, and associated for the post part with vomiting of a fluid of the same kind, having also a greenish deposit, cramps in the limbs, singing in the ears, small and hurried pulse, prostration of strength, weakness of voice, breath and tongue cold, a shrivelled and corrugated state of the skin, with a livid aspect of the face and hands, passing in some cases into a decided blue colour.

THE GREAT EXHIBITION. EXETER FLYING POST 18 MAY 1851

Several important results have followed from the Great Exhibition of the Works of all Nations. Taste, skills and ingenuity have been awakened to the utmost, in all concerned with the manufacturing arts, and at the same time economy has not been lost sight of. PINDER and CO, the extensive TAILORS AND OUTFITTERS, of Exeter, have not been indifferent to the great movement, and they have provided a most extensive STOCK of very variety of Style and Quality, at prices altogether, unexampled for moderation. All who are disposed to go to London well, substantially, or fashionably clad, should purchase at their Old Established Concern, and they will have a good deal more cash left in their pockets for the sights of London, than if they bought elsewhere, for they will assuredly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE CRYSTAL PALACE, OPENED 1 MAY. EXETER FLYING POST, 8 MAY 1851

Whether the point of view be taken from the exterior or from the interior, the Crystal Palace is itself the grandest feature of the Exhibition. Not only in its extent, and in its matchless beauty of form and material but likewise in the rapidity of its construction, it is the most marvellous edifice in the world. The Alhambra and the Tuileries would not fill up, the eastern and western naves, and the National Gallery would stand very well beneath the transept. A dozen metropolitan churches would stand erect under its roof of glass. Yet its marvellous beauty overcomes every other feeling. Since the young imagination, fired with tales of sprites and genii, conjured up visions of Easter palaces, adorned with the splendours of Arabian fiction, there has been nothing to compare with it for grace, lightness, fancy and variety of effects as the sun is crossed by moving clouds. That this edifice has been raised and completed in five months - that in November last not a pillar had been erected, and now the whole structure is finished, to the minutest point of decoration - is a fact to impress the stranger with a magnificant conception of our industrial resources.

Wandering about the transept, naves, galleries and compartments of the Crystal Palace is like wandering through a realm of dreams. Trees, fountains, music marble, statues, picturesque and living beauty in a thousand forms are on every hand, - still or moving, in that calm repose in which Art consecrates the ideal which it transfers to stone, or in that flowing life in which nature clothes her works. The spectator seems to move through endless scenes as they might be arranged by a clever artist for the grand Opera. The deftest stage manager could not arrange his transitions and dispose his pictures with a better effect. Every nation seems to have stamped on its section of the palace its physical facts and mention characteristics. Beginning at the transept, there is the compartment of the Ottoman, rich, gorgeous, picturesque, but nearly all the articles unarranged, in part unpacked - there, is the fact which through the east of Europe has stamped the character of the splendid but dilatory Turk. In the space assigned to the industrious Dutch, the counters are crowded with specimens, the fittings are plain, the workmanship in many instances is of the best class, - the work is complete.

Science will point to the thousand triumphs of patient and laborious work. Every rack, wall, shed and counter tells a tale and conveys a lesson. Here, is a colossal map of Manchester now confessedly the second town in England; yet many men will look at that wall who recollect a time when the town was an obscure and unnoted place, with a quarter of its present population, and about as much weight in the country as Edmonton or Hornsey. There, is the Messrs Applegath's printing press, striking it's ten thousand copies per hour of a paper containing more type than an octavo volume. Estimate the distance between the laborious process of printing employed by Caxton with the steam power of Applegarth, and the difference will be the measure of the growth of our Fourth Estate, during the last three centuries and three quarters. Everywhere we find evidences of new arts, inventions, processes, or materials. Among these photography, phonotypy, guttapercha, printing in colours, and telegraphs occupy a prominent positon.

SCHOOLS INQUIRY COMMISSION 1868
EXETER GRAMMAR SCHOOL. MR STANTON'S REPORT

At present the two schools are quite distinct, although they are included within the same boundaries. The free English school is united with the Blue Coat school, and does not in any way profess to prepare boys for the grammar school. The blue boys, to the number of 25, and the free boys, are chosen by the governors from the children of poor parents. The blue boys are clothed, and board with the Master of the English school, Mr Gould; and the whole of them, blue boys and free boys, to the number of nearly 200, receive their education gratuitously.

A house adjoining the hospital was built for the master of the grammar school about 1776, in which he now lives; it is in tolerable repair, and contains moderate accommodation for 35 to 40 boarders, but was only occupied at the time of my visit by 12. The schoolroom forms part of the nave of the church belonging to the old dissolved hospital of S.John the east end of which is still used for service, and some small emoluments from the letting the pews is received by the head master, who officiates there. The schoolroom is large and well furnished. It unfortunately runs parallel with and against the high street, the windows opening on that side, and owing to a cabstand immediately outside, is liable to disagreeable and noisy interruption. There are two fairly sized playgrounds at the back; one for the head master's boarders, the other for the day boys. The latter are not allowed, except by permission, to use the boarders' playground, but I believe the rule is not much insisted upon. Separate from these two, but adjoining, is a large play-ground for the boys of Mr Gould's school.

When I visited the grammar school I was informed it consisted of 48 boys, 12 boarders and 36 day boys. The trustees, by custom, seem to have the power of electing our boys, sons of freemen, to the privilege of a gratuitous education. There was only one such boy in the school, and I understood they had no other applications. Only five of the day boys came from the immediate city, the rest from the suburbs. The master declined to allow me to examine the boys, or to see the work of an examination they were about to undergo, alleging that it was beneath the dignity of the school to be put on the same platform with other schools which he understood had been examined.

WOMBELL'S MENAGERIE. EXETER FLYING POST, 1 AUGUST 1883

The oldest and most extensive travelling collection of beasts, birds, and reptiles, known to many generations as Wombwell's wild beat show, and officially described as "Edmon's, late Wombwell's, Royal Windsor Castle Menagerie", is once more on a visit to this city, after an absence of eleven or twelve years. During the summer Mrs Edmonds has been make a very successful tour through Devon and Cornwall, and arrived in Exeter from Starcross last Friday, the very day of the week and the month on which the menagerie entered the city when it was here before. The long procession of caravans, with their teams of powerful horses, headed by a superb band carriage drawn by three camels, made a very imposing display, and created a favourable impression as to the extent and interest of the collection. The exhibition was opened late in the day in St. James's field, where it is to remain until after Monday next, Bank Holiday. Several performances are given daily, and the exhibition has been liberally patronised. The collection altogether numbers several hundred specimens, and includes many interesting additions, recently made. Foremost amongst them is the group of war camels which did duty in the recent Egyptian campaign; the greatest novelty is probably the Vlak Vaarke, from Abyssinia, an extraordinary animal something like a pig, and the first of its species ever imported. Of lions there is an unusually fine collection, at the head of them a magnificent specimen of the race named "Wallace", and for which an offer of £600 has been refused.

GOLDEN JUBILEE DAWLISH. EVENING POST, 22 JUNE 1887

The jubilee was kept up here in good order. Soon after daybreak the church bells rang out a merry peal, and shortly after 4am a small cannon was fired, this being continued at intervals throughout the morning. At half-past nine the school children met, and headed by a fife-and-drum band, marched to church, followed by several societies, amongst them being the Oddfellows and the Manchester Branch of the Sick and Burial Club. Several gentlemen of the town also marched in procession. About 1pm persons began to fill the lawn and take up their places at the tables for the dinner. At the sound of the bugle, at 2pm "God Save the Queen" was sung, and all sat down to a good cold dinner of beef, mutton, and ham. Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves right well. The tables were afterwards cleared for the children's tea, which the little ones thoroughly enjoyed.

GOLDEN JUBILEE ADVERTISEMENTS FROM THE EVENING POST, 20 JUNE 1887

THE JUBILEE TEA
6 POUNDS OF EXCELLENT TEA, Free to any Address for 10/-
can be made up into 1/4, 1/2, or 1lb PARCELS FOR DISTRIBUTION &c.
J H NEWMAN Limited Exeter

A SMOKE for the CABBIES
If the LICENSED CAB DRIVERS of the CITY
will call upon
GEORGE W BOON
TOBACCONIST, &c,
92 QUEEN STREET,
On JUBILEE DAY, they will each receive One
Ounce of BOON'S JUBILEE MIXTURE
As a Jubilee GIFT!

DESTRUCTION OF THE EXETER THEATRE. Tuesday, September 6, 1887
FROM ONE OF THE AUDIENCE

I got to the Theatre at about 10.15, and went to the pit stalls just as the 4th Act was being concluded. I had not been seated, at the outside, more than five minutes when suddenly the act-drop was lowered in front of one of the actors who was playing the part of Scragger, and just in the midst of one of his sentences. The audience, thinking it was one of the mistakes incidental to a first night's representation, began to laugh, but suddenly the act drop bellied out over the footlights, and being lifted by the draught from the stage immediately disclosed the awful fact that the stage was on fire. Instantly the audience rose to their feet. Several people in the stalls called to the people to keep their seats, and, as far as I could see, all the occupants of the stalls left in a perfectly cool manner, without panic. I succeeded without the slightest difficulty in gaining the street, but as I passed through the lobby all the Theatre seemed in a blaze. The balcony over the door was crowded with people, who were being urged by the bystanders to keep quiet until they were rescued. What happened afterwards is, of course, generally known, but from the time I got into the Theatre until I found myself outside could not have been more than from ten to twelve minutes. As far as I could judge, there was no panic whatever among the audience in the stalls, although so close to the burning stage; if there had been, the long passage from the stalls, with its stairs at intervals, would have added many more to the list of victims.

WITH THE DEAD

11.20 I have just left the yard at the back of the London Hotel, and although I have witnessed in the course of years scenes of a terrible character, yet never anything approaching that which I have just seen. It would seem that the gallery was very full, the elaborately illustrated bills having proved especially attractive to those who usually patronise the pit and gallery. As soon as the fire made its appearance there was a panic, the exits from the gallery must have been blocked, and the agonised shrieks from the poor people when they found the fire upon them, and escape impossible, are stated by those who were present to be such a they will never forget. The flames spread with such speed and fury that the struggle must have soon been over, and that is the only remembrance that can bring a grain of comfort in the midst of the terrible calamity. The firemen and police with the escape set to work with the utmost rapidity, and forced an entrance through the upper windows as speedily as possible, one of the engines playing on the flames with the view of assisting the brigades in their efforts to, if possible, save some from among the dead. The first seven brought out, however, were gone beyond recall - Mr Kempe, the surgeon who stood at the ladder and examined each body as it was brought down, being obliged t pronounce life extinct. The task of the rescuers was continued without a moment's cessation. Old men and boys elderly women and girls, were indiscriminately mixed up, and although every now and then something like a cheer greeted the intimation that in one there was a sign of life, yet in the great majority of instances there was unhappily no room for hope. Just as the clock struck 11 I went into the yard of the New London Hotel, and it was a veritable charnel house. There lay row after row of dead bodies - sixty in number.

SABINE BARING-GOULD. FURTHER REMINISCENCES (1925). The blizzard of 1891, pages 243-5

Suddenly, on Monday, March 11, a terrific gale swooped down upon this part of Devon, laden to repletion with snow. All railway traffic was stopped, telegraphic communication ceased, the wires everywhere in this district were prostrated. A train at Meldon, south of Okehampton, on the L. & S.W.R., and another at South Brent, on the G.W.R. were snowed up. The force of the wind was terrible. It was a wild tornado-blast that carried everything with it. Houses were unroofed, trees, the growth of ages, were uprooted and made the sport of the wind. Snow-drifts From 15 feet to 20 feet deep choked the highways and lanes. The old road to Lew Down was filled with snow to the tops of the hedges, the coombe between Sourton Tor and Lake Down was completely choked with snow. Between Brentor View House on Lew Down and the stable, the snow was massed so that those in the dwelling for a day were employed in cutting through the drift so as to rech the coals that were stored there. At Lifton, as well as other places, parties were formed to carry food to outlying cottages, wehre the inhabitants were snowed in. The wind was was from the north-east. For three or four days all main communications were stopped, no letters went out or arrivd, and every village had to depend, in many cases every house, on its own resources. The passengers snowed up in the train at Meldon could not be rescued till the next day, and were found drowsy and stupefied by the cold. Some had not moved or spoken for eighteen hours, and were so torpid that they were unconscious that they were in the hands of helpers to life and activity. The wreckage of trees was prodigious. At Cotehele all the magnificent oaks were prostrated. Great havoc was wrought in the plantations made by my grandfather the year before his death, on the eastern range of the Lime Quarry Ramps. The great cedar west of the ball-room would have been completely broken down under the weigh to of snow lodged on the branches, had not men with poles been employed repeatedly to relieve it.

The Tavistock Gazette was issued on the Friday printed on crimson paper, such as is used generally for advertising placards, as the supply of white paper had run short, and none could be procured from Plymouth or Exeter, on account of the cessation of traffic.

The Rev. Dr Bryant had been at Lamerton when the storm came on. Nothing daunted, he set off to walk to Brentor vicarage, but on reaching Heathfield he found the roads blocked with snow in which he sank to his waist. He was constrained to proceed on the tops of the hedges, till, reaching a cottage at the junction of several roads, he was so exhausted that he had to beg to be taken in for the night, and he slept on a chair before the fire.

DEATH OF QUEEN VICTORIA. EXETER FLYING POST, 23 JAN 1901

The news arrived about half-past seven and was quickly made known in all parts of the city. The hour was an awkward one for the evening papers, as they were just completing the printing of the country editions, the last trains leaving at 7.40, and it was impossible to spread the intelligence in the country otherwise than by telegraph and telephone, and for half an hour the telegraph staff at the General Post office were busily engaged, most of the country offices closing at eight o'clock.

Soon after the reception of the news arrangements were made for the tolling of one of the Cathedral bells, the one employed being that known as the Grandisson (after the famous Bishop) and which is only run on the occasion of a death in the Royal Family, half a dozen men being required to set it in motion. It gives a somewhat weird and tremulous note, and although it could not be easily heard in the busy thoroughfares the effect of the toosin in the Close was decidedly impressive. The tolling was at intervals of a minute, there being two strokes - one metallic and clangorous, and the other a few seconds later, muffled and moaning. Most of the church bells in the city and surrounding parishes were also rung, announcing to all within sound the sad event which has plunged the entire world into mourning.

The performance of the pantomine at the Theatre had of course commenced before the news was made known, but upon the receipt of a telephone message from the "Evening Post" Office Mr P M Dunsford, the acting manger, went upon the stage and after announcing the said intelligence put it to the audience whether the entertainment should be proceeded with. There was of course a unanimous deference to the suggestion, and the building quickly emptied. The performances will be resumed this evening.

In the streets the scene was one of subdued animation. People gathered in groups discussing the news and perusing the brief announcements the windows of the newspaper offices. The evening journals were quickly bought up, and although a considerable number of extra copies of the Post were printed the machinery had to be restarted at ten o'clock to supply the demand, the special issue being evidently very popular. Although past the regulation hour for the flying of flags, the Royal Standard was flown at half mast at the Guildhall.

EDITORIAL, 23 JANUARY 1901

The combined sins of the Throne, Court, and Parliament were visited upon the head of the State, and many people in 1837 looked upon the advent of an English Republic as a certainty. The House of Commons in those days was a place to which only the wealthy could hope to go, for it was almost invariably the man with most money who was successful at the hustings.

The majority of working men had no votes, and millions of people could neither read nor write. About that time, too, the poverty of the poorer classes was terrible, and chronic distress was accompanied, inevitably by agitation and attempts at revolution.

Overseas the British Empire presented nothing like the spectacle it does to-day; our Colonies were, it is true, large, but their worth to the Mother Country was scarcely realised. Australia contained but a few thousand whites, and New Zealand not half-a-dozen; Melboure, Sidney, Brisbane, and Adelaide were of no importance to the world. In Africa we possessed only Cape Colony, and though Canada was ours, the southern half was in rebellion against our authority. True, the stream of emigration which has built up our Colonial Empire began some years before the Queen's accession, but it reached no great volume for some time. Remember that a voyage to America in those days often took six weeks, and to India as many months. Railways, steamers, and electric telegraphs, the means by which the Empire as we know it has been made possible, were only just coming into commercial use when Victoria ascended the Throne. Exports and imports amounted to only one-quarter their present sum.

Let us now enumerate a few of the events which have led to the vast changes of the reign. First among them must be placed the introduction of the agents - steam and the telegraph - already mentioned. The Penny Post, started in 1939, was both an effect and a cause of better inter-communication. First compulsory and then free education may be counted among the priceless boons to the toilers of England, and the extension of the franchise has in the most peaceable fashion turned the country form plutocracy to almost absolute democracy. The abolition of the duty on foreign corn has brought the loaf within reach of the poorest pocket, and probably the consequent depression of English agriculture is the lesser of two evils. The amazing development of the iron and coal industries of the north has given employment to thousands upon thousands, and placed England first among the engineering countries of the world.

Abroad, the Queen has seen her realm at war on more than twenty occasions, in China, Afghanistan, India, New Zealand, Abyssinia, the Crimea, Ashanti, Egypt, the Soudan, Burma, South Africa, and elsewhere. At home there were in the early days of the reign the Chartist riots, due to the disaffected work-people of the great trade centres, which fizzled out in 1848 when business gave them better occupation. The Irish grievance we have had nearly always with us - Fenian, Land League, and boycott are grim reminders of terrible days - and the murders of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr Burke at Phoenix Park, Dublin, in 1882, stand out as the greatest political crime in the land during the reign. Of disasters, especially by sea, the list is too long to even indicate, but such names as those of the Birkenhead, Eurydice, Serpent, Victoria and Wasp will recall a few of them.

Has the Queen, then, left her country better than she found it? There can be not the least doubt as to the answer. England today is happier, busier, and more uniformly prosperous; the bulk of her citizens in al degree of life are better men and better women; the national vices are, we may fairly, hope, less deeply ingrained, and the national virtues for the most part remain undiminished.