Local historian Ruth Newman addressed the last monthly meeting on 'Salisbury in the 1780s'.  The most valuable source for her research was the Salisbury Journal, which, in those days, mostly covered national and international news, with just a column of local news.  But advertisements and announcements also provided a wealth of information about all aspects of life.  The SJ, founded in 1729 is, we were told, the oldest provincial newspaper in the country.  From it we learn that in 1780 England was at war with America, and the decade ended with the French revolution of 1789.

    Since it was the December meeting Ruth had been asked to give her talk a festive touch.  But she confessed that this was not easy as it was the Victorians who invented Christmas.  She noted that extreme weather was a constant topic and in the winter months there were many references to 'this inclement season of the year'.  She delighted her audience with a number of similar quotations and remarked that those who had been watching the TV series could imagine the ladies of Cranford speaking in such tones.

    We were given an insight into the elegant cultured society of Georgian England, though Salisbury, being neither so wealthy nor fashionable as, say, Bath, was not remodelled wholesale though some of the medieval buildings were given a fake fashionable façade.  We learned about the musical life, the theatres and assembly rooms.  And Salisbury was to the fore in England in philanthropy with its new infirmary and the progressive medical care provided by the Finch family with two asylums including Laverstock House. Another informative web site is HERE.   But Salisbury also had its brutal side.  The gallows at the end of Fisherton Street despatched poor citizens for relatively minor offences.

    We left the meeting well entertained and more knowledgeable about our historic city thanks to our enthusiastic speaker, and her main source – the Salisbury Journal.