In volume 32 of S.D.N.Q., Christopher Elrington wrote about the different “notes and queries” that had been published in England.1 There was one very short-lived “notes and queries” that escaped his attention. In July 1894 The Great Western Magazine was published in Bath from 13 Northumberland Place. In order to increase the circulation of this new magazine correspondents were advertised for in at least one local newspaper.2 This should not be confused with the Great Western Magazine that was published in America in the 1840s which contained a miscellany of American literature, or the Great Western Magazine published in London by George Burns & Co., or for that matter the Great Western Railway Magazine that started in the 1880s! The editor of the 1894 The Great Western Magazine was keen to point out after several months how:
... the title of this Magazine seems to have suggested to the minds of a great many people that it must have some connection with the Great Western Railway, we take this opportunity of modestly declining any such association with the potentates of Paddington.3
In June the Bristol Mercury carried a short piece about this forthcoming publication:
With the first of next month will appear the first number of a new monthly periodical, under the title of the “Great Western Magazine.” The promoter is Mr Herbert Clark Russell, the son of a gentleman well known by his writings in all parts of the country, Mr W. Clark Russell, of Sydney place, Bath. The publication will partake of a local character, inasmuch that it will be edited to suit the tastes and requirements of the reading public of Bath, Bristol, Clifton, and Cheltenham; many novelties in magazine literature will be imported, and special features included in the synopsis are original serial stories (written exclusively for the magazine by well known authors), and interviews with interesting and distinguished people living in the vicinity. The intention is to make the articles bright and chatty, and the effort is likely to result in a very readable publication.4
After the first issue was published the Weston-super-Mare Gazette ran a piece to promote it under its ‘New Books’ section:
The Great Western Magazine is the title of a new applicant for public appreciation. The price is 6d, and it is printed at Bath. The contents are varied and quite in keeping with popular taste; its aim is to be amusing, to supply high class fiction and light crisp articles. The first number certainly fulfils the editorial promise, and we believe the second and future numbers are to be made more valuable by the addition of views and sketches – a feature that cannot be ignored in starting a magazine in the present day. “A romance of modern Madrid” opens interestingly, whilst “The Mystery of Kewstoke Woods” should prove attractive in this neighbourhood. The tale is quite new to us, and is well-written by Walter Wilson. Mr Henry Ferris, of Southside, is the local agent for the magazine.5
The last issue appears to have been published in November 1894, making it one of the shortest running periodicals in the county’s history. Only five issues were published and there appears to be no information in contemporary newspapers as to why it ceased operating.
What has this got to do with S.D.N.Q. you might be asking? On page 175 is the heading ‘WEST OF ENGLAND NOTES & QUERIES’ but why? Perhaps after a few months of low sales of the Great Western Magazine, its proprietor decided to try and expand into more historical fields of interest. Was he aware of S.D.N.Q. that was by now six years old and possibly of some competition? The advertisement reads:
It is proposed to devote a certain space of “The Great Western Magazine” each month to Notes & Queries upon questions of interest to the people of the west of England at large. With this object in view, therefore, the Editor freely invites all who wish for information upon any particular point connected with the archaeology, folk-lore, traditions, history, &c, of this part of the country, to make these pages a medium of enquiry, and he will likewise feel grateful to those who may possess such information as is thus sought after, if they will contribute any of the particulars desired. As the space must necessarily be limited, it will be very convenient if correspondents will ask or answer questions in the briefest manner possible. The Editor confidently hopes that, in the course of time, “West of England Notes and Queries” will become a storehouse of useful and interesting information relating to the West Country.
This was followed by an appeal for information about the Merchants’ Hall in Bristol and a note on ‘Water-finding by means of the Divining Rod’. In the next issue, on p.237 the first issue of ‘West of England Notes and Queries’ was printed containing articles on water finding and the Merchants’ Hall. The last part contained no other “West of England Notes and Queries”, only finishing with a short account about the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The Water Diving ‘note’ was based on the work of the mildly famous Mr Leicester Gataker. Born in Bath in 1874, he started dowsing in the 1890s and was based in Weston-super-Mare.6 The article in which he features describes him as an ‘Expert water spring discoverer’ of Weston-super-Mare.
Because of its short life span there are only a handful of copies to be found in local libraries and at the British Library. A list of the more substantial articles that it contains which relate to Somerset or Dorset is printed below:
Page Title
16-20 Bath in literary annals by R.E.M. Peach; continued on pages 66-69
20-28 The mystery of Kewstoke Woods by Walter Wilson
28-34 The Albion Cabinet Works, Bath; Mr Norris was manager
96-102 The very thing! By Mrs Alfred Phillips; continued on pages
139-146, 202-209, 281-288 Manvers family
130-137 How Tom Kent went to the Bath Races by Ralph Wiltshire
147-156 Bath fancy dress balls
157-164 The great brewery of Shepton Mallet
165-169 What Bath does not want; the decline of Bath
193-201 Some famous West Country lifeboats
237-238 Water divining; Weston-super-Mare
259-265 Great Western Railway and the The Great Western Magazine
268-273 Bath glove manufactory; Mr Heathfield
303-304 Clifton Suspension Bridge
Interestingly, on page 114 is an illustration by Walter Rossiter (1871-1948) with the title ‘The West of England Society’. Strangely, this has no connection to any of the adjacent pages. As it has some Somerset connections it is included in this issue of S.D.N.Q. on page 183. Rossiter also designed the illustration for the cover and was born in Bath, studied art in London, Paris and Rouen. He was a member of the pastel society, and exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, the Paris Salon, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool and the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol.7
1. C.R. Elrington, ‘One Hundred Years of Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries’ in Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries, vol. 32, pt 328 (1988), 689-94.
2. Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 19 May 1894.
3. The Great Western Magazine, 259.
4. Bristol Mercury, 23 June 1894.
5. Weston-super-Mare Gazette, 14 July 1894.
6. Wikipedia entry for Leicester Gataker, 1874-1942, accessed 27 July 2020. More can also be found in a booklet by Stephen Tollyfield, Leicester Gataker of Weston Super Mare Water Finder.
7. I am very grateful to Rachel Hassall for the information on Rossiter.
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