The Weekly Budget Revealed

click to enlarge

Tremendous thanks to Edward Album who has tracked down a copy of the Christmas 1878 issue of The Weekly Budget, fragments of which were found pasted to the navvy hut wall.  The British Library's newspaper archive at Colindale in London were able to supply a copy.   Above is the title page, with the all important date of publication.   The editor filled the front page with "A Christmas Portrait of the Editor of the Weekly Budget - by an artist who has never seen him".   Hardly a rib tickler by today's standards.

Below is an enlargement of one frame of the cartoon strip style of layout on page 9 (of 16)

I have chosen this frame as it is recognisable from the fragments on our board.  The story, such as it is, is entitled "He Would Be A Farmer" and it tells the tale of the travails of an itinerant and his family who are seeking to make it as farmers.   There are few or no jokes as such but the illustrations seem be there to assist with reading the captions.

The font throughout is incredibly small and it would have been necessary to use a magnifying glass to read the paper.   Skimming through the paper there does not seem to be anything of particular note that would have merited the pages being pasted to the hut wall but I shall read it in detail and report further.   Edward Album did take the opportunity of glancing at some issues either side of the Christmas double issue of 1878 in the hope that there may be reference to the then new Settle-Carlisle railway but without result.   What he did find were lots of references to war in Afghanistan . . . . .