Ready-Made Clothing Advertisements in Two Provincial Newspapers, 1800–1850

Provincial newspapers have been used for evidence to investigate the retailing of clothing and textiles in the late eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth centuries, for respectable 'polite' society.2 The primary concern of newspaper advertising during this period has been seen as to influence the consumption of the middle classes. The lists of the newest fashionable goods were detailed at length in advertisements, not only promoting novelties, but also giving the consumer an idea about the status and layout of the shops, usually located in the main streets of a town.3 This article will offer a different perspective by investigating advertisements placed by ready-made clothing retailers, in two provincial newspapers. Ready-made clothing retailers, also known as clothes dealers and salesmen, were associated with low-status, cheap, functional clothing. Some also dealt in second-hand clothing and often took goods in exchange to facilitate transactions.4 By examining to whom ready-made clothing sellers directed their advertisements, insights into the readership of the newspapers can be gained. This article will suggest that such provincial county newspapers had an ordinary working-class readership during the first half of the nineteenth century, as they appear to have been the target of clothing advertisements by ready-made clothing retailers. In addition, the advertisements reveal hitherto unknown local businesses, particularly manufacturing concerns, which the newspaper helped to promote, and in doing so, fostered a local trade identity.