The floods in Hungary (illustration taken from The Graphic of March 1879)

News items from the last week in March 1879 as presented by The Graphic, an illustrated weekly newspaper from London. The text and illustrations are as produced in the original publication, with the addition of links to recent articles in the media on the same, or similar topics.

WOKING

Cremation: The promoters of the Crematorium at Woking have been snubbed by the Home Secretary, and will have to get Parliament to pass an Act in their favour before they can carry out their project of burning dead bodies instead of burying them.  We presume they selected Woking as the scene of their experiment with the idea that the inhabitants of that village are so accustomed to funeral rites that they would not be startled by any novelty in the method of disposing of the dead.  It seems, however, that they were mistaken, and that the Wokingites are staunch Conservatives in funeral matters.  They regard cremation with horror, and have spoken out very energetically on the subject …

WARS

Auctioneering belongings of those killed at Islandwana (illustration from The Graphic of 1879)

A field auction:  This was held outside the fort at Helpmakaar shortly after the disaster at Islandlwhana.  Here were sold the kits of some of the officers of the 24th Regiment who fell in action.  The competition was very keen, as all that were left behind were absolutely destitute of everything but that which they stood up in.  Here and there some little trinket left behind would turn up, or something else well known to many who stood around, when the poor brave comrade, now lying dead in Zululand, was as full of life and strength as they are now.  But war is a rough school, and in its many duties and excitement leave little leisure for such reflections as these.

Posting dispatches – Afghanistan (illustration from The Graphic of March 1879)

Our artist posting a budget: “In travelling about country in Afghanistan, it is not always you can conveniently find a post-office, though there are many in the camp here and there.  It will so happen that you may be travelling from one to another on the very day the bags of the English mail leave either of these stations; then your only chance is to waylay the two fleet little ponies, whose riders will not delay a moment, and, as you hold out your budget of news or sketches in passing, they are snatched up by the flying courier, and are whirled away through the Khyber, across India and down to Bombay, and then away to England.”

WEATHER

Chart showing weather patterns in the UK from 20.3.1879- 26.3.1879 (taken from The Graphic)

Severe weather: The recurrence of severe winter weather after a day or two of promising mildness has been general.  London has again been subjected to snow, sleet, cold, winds, mud, and general discomfort, but on Thursday there was a very welcome change for the better.  The reports from all parts of the country, especially the North, speak of great inclemency.  Heavy snowstorms have fallen in Scotland, and the easterly gales have been exceedingly bitter.  Around the coasts the weather has been very tempestuous, and many ports have been filled with vessels which dare not venture to sea.

Floods in Hungary (illustration from The Graphic of March 1879)

The floods in Hungary:  It is difficult for any but those who have actually witnessed such a calamity to form an adequate conception of the dreadful nature or the extent of the terrible disaster which has happened in Hungary. Szegedin, the capital of Csongrád, is situated on a marshy plain, and was divided into the town proper, and the upper and lower suburbs … The loss of life is not and cannot be known until the waters abate, and the land is again pumped dry, but it is calculated that at least 84,000 persons have been made homeless and completely ruined.  On Saturday, the 15th inst., most of the stone houses, some of them very large, fell, covering, in one instance, eighty families, and in another fifty-six persons, within the ruins.   According to the Times, the area laid under water is about 960 square miles …

Advertisement from The Graphic of 29 March 1879

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2018