Back Through The Pages: Andover Advertisers from the past

ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FOUR YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 26 OCTOBER 1860

FELONY

Emma Cannings of Hurstbourne Tarrant, a young girl of no more than 12 years of age, was summoned by Mrs Bevan, wife of John Bevan, an innkeeper of the same place, for having on the 12th of this month, stolen a pair of stays, her property. It appears that the defendant was hired by Mrs Bevan as a servant, and had not been in her situation more than one week, during which time she had stolen the pair of stays, for which she was now tried. Her mistress found them on her, and on being questioned as to how she came by them, said she took them till she could find time to put a string on her own, which she had broken. After investigation, about 18s in money, and several other articles belonging to Mrs Bevan were found in the girl’s box. The defendant who was crying the whole of the time, received a most severe admonition from the magistrates, who said that in consequence of her age, she had been tried under the Juvenile Defender’s Act, which gave them the power to fine her instead of sending her to gaol, and therefore a fine of 12s was levied. The girl’s father who was in court paid over the money for her.

Old cottages at Hurstbourne Tarrant (Image: Supplied) ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 27 OCTOBER 1899

MUNICIPAL ELECTION 1899

Ladies and Gentleman: On 1 November next you will be called upon to elect four new councillors to represent you on the Andover Town Council, and as one of the retiring councillors, I beg to offer myself for re-election. When you were good enough to place me in office in 1896, I promised you that in all matters that I was called upon to discuss and vote on, my first and only consideration should be for the benefit of the whole of the ratepayers and inhabitants of my native town. This consideration has been in the past, and will again in the future, be my greatest aim and endeavour. I do not suppose it necessary for me in this address to discuss any matters which have already occurred or are likely to occur in the future in relation to municipal business; but I am content to leave myself entirely in your hands, and if you think me a fit and proper person to again take my seat in the Council Chamber, as one of your representatives, I shall be pleased and proud to do so. I should like to add that during the three years in which I have represented you I have never been absent from my seat at a single council meeting. I am, your obedient servant, Stephen George Footner.  

Stephen Footner, elected mayor in 1899 (Image: Browne and Gradidge)

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO – FRIDAY24 OCTOBER 1924

CORRESPONDENCE: FOR PARENTS ONLY, WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR BOYS

Sir: Parents on the look-out for professions for their boys can take a tip from your report of the last meeting of the Whitchurch Board of Guardians and consider the advisability of making workhouse masters of them or, alternately, surveyors. I am sure many Whitchurch ratepayers would be interested to learn the cost per hour in drawing up an inventory of the board’s property for which the master has received a nice £10 cheque. These honorariums for services rendered seem to have been rather lavishly distributed in the last few months at the House on the Hill, and one wonders if it would not be possible now and again to find new recipients of these financial plums. It might be that the local officials are in the category of super-men but all the same one naturally asks oneself whether these men are not already paid adequate salaries for their supposedly full-time jobs and wonder how they find so much time for these extra jobs that are ‘thrust’ upon them, and have the guardians or district council - whatever the case may be - satisfied themselves that they are not paying for the same hours twice over? Surely there are people less well-endowed with this world’s goods who could quite as capably carry out these extra jobs? One notes, with surprise, that only one member of the ten raised any voice in protest against these latest examples of financial generosity. Yours faithfully, CURIOUS.  

SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 28 OCTOBER 1949

OPINION – CENOTAPH

A suggestion which appears to be both a sensible and thoughtful one, and which we now pass on to the borough council, was made this week. This was that some more substantial means of protection should be given to our Cenotaph as the low concrete posts and chains are quite inadequate. Others before us have pointed out that our principal memorial to the town’s dead, is treated almost daily in a fashion which is a bitter insult to those whose names are engraved upon it. Children play there, flowers are overturned and spoilt, litter is dropped upon it, onlookers use it as a vantage point from which to watch processions and ceremonies, and stallholders on market days strew their rubbish around its base. All this, we feel, is not from any deliberate purpose, but because there is an insufficient barrier both to mark the Cenotaph itself and to help people realise that this is honoured, if not hallowed ground, albeit in a public place. The ladies of the Women’s Section of the British Legion take it in turns to provide flowers every Saturday for the War Memorial and they usually clean the stonework as well, so it must be doubly galling to see the way in which it is abused. A more effective railing or hedge, as at Ludgershall, might be worth considering.

FORTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 28 OCTOBER 1977

YOUR OLD NEWSPAPERS WANTED

Andover’s Cricklade College wants your old newspapers, magazines and even cardboard boxes to pay off the £2,000 still owned on the college mini-bus. The ‘Great Cricklade Paper Chase’ starts on Monday and will last for five days. Everything collected will be sold to a recycling firm who will pay between £17-£20 a ton for it. Although there are over 600 students they still need help from the general public and firms in the area to collect enough paper. The minimum load the lorry will take is two tons, and a maximum seven-ton load will raise £119. Tesco’s in Chantry Way has given the college the ‘cardboard rights’ on all their boxes next week and the college would be grateful to anyone who can offer paper of any description.