From Redruth with a Good Book
- Amanda Harris
- 3 days ago
- 8 min read
January 2026
Tim Koch looks at a time when few long train journeys were taken without a book.
The above photograph is both “a snapshot in time” and is also “a picture that paints a thousand words.” It can tell us much about Redruth, Britain and the world on 23 April 1907.
To put the picture in some context, in 1907 the United Kingdom stood at the height of its power, presiding over a worldwide Empire (then thought of as a far less contentious state of affairs than it is today). In foreign matters, Britain was attempting to manage shifting alliances in Europe as the continent became increasingly unstable and Kaiser Wilhelm’s ambitious young Germany was attempting to emulate Britain and the other older imperial powers. Seven years later, Europe was to stumble into the First World War and the world changed forever.
Domestically in 1907, the nation was in a period of social and political transformation led by the reforming Liberal government elected the year before. Industrialisation continued to shape everyday life but, while Britain remained a leading industrial power, competition from abroad was increasing. Urban centres thrived but harsh working conditions produced labour activism and growing support for trade unions.
The fact that a small station such as Redruth could once support a kiosk that was well-stocked with many and diverse publications tells us much about the time.
Wyman’s had kiosks located in busy public places such as railway stations and specialised in popular fiction, periodicals, serialised novels and travel books. By 1907, Wyman’s had replaced W.H. Smith as the supplier of bookstalls for four of the great railway companies: Great Western, London & North Western, North London, and Bakerloo.
Publishers sold cheap editions of popular books as well as publishing books specifically for railway passengers often in small, soft-backed editions designed to fit into a traveller’s pocket or bag and to be easily held in the hand.
Further, at a time when books were expensive to buy, Wyman’s Circulating Library allowed those who paid a subscription to borrow them and, once read, return them to any Wyman’s bookstall along the rail network.
In the years leading up to the 1914-18 War, popular reading underwent a remarkable expansion driven by rising literacy rates, cheaper printing technologies and the growth of mass-market publishing. From newspapers to novels and magazines to comics, reading had become a central form of leisure for many segments of society, not just the educated elite.
It is also interesting to note that a bookstall in a small provincial station could support four employees. The young man in the bowler hat must have been in charge while the uniformed boys presumably traversed the platforms selling reading material, chocolate and tobacco to passengers while their train stopped briefly at the station, each lad earning perhaps five to seven shillings (25p - 35p) a week. Labour was cheap and commerce and industry took advantage of this fact.
A literal sign of the times was the signboard advertising T.A. Kistler and Son, a Redruth based supplier of “high class” pianos and organs.
Thomas A. Kistler and Son, 'the largest up to date establishment in Cornwall', began operating in Fore Street, Redruth, in 1860. In its early days, most business probably came from Cornwall’s numerous chapels and nonconformist sects wanting organs, harmoniums or pianos.
As the century went on and many people became better off, sales of domestic pianos probably became the mainstay of the business. The piano became the centrepiece of home entertainment and also a status symbol. Many middle-class and aspiring working-class families viewed pianoforte ownership as essential not only for entertainment but also for cultural refinement, especially for their daughters’ musical education.
By 1907, Kistler had clearly noted a new trend in home entertainment as the gramophone moved from a novelty item to a mainstream consumer product. Kistler sold these early record players and also the shellac discs that they played. Phonographs were also available but, as the tech-savvy youth of the time knew, they played the less satisfactory wax cylinder and were dying out.
After the 1914-18 War, gramophones - and later radios - began to eclipse the piano as the main home entertainment device. I tried to find out if Kistler moved into the radio (“wireless”) market but they had no advertisements in local papers after 1912.
Looking at the newspaper billboards in detail, the big domestic story of 23 April 1907 concerned industrial unrest. A billboard partly obscured by a Wyman’s newsboy reads:
WOOLWICH UNEMPLOYED MARCH TO SEE THE PREMIER
More clearly, another reads:
MARCH OF THE WOOLWICH MEN TO PARLIAMENT
The Royal Arsenal in Woolwich was one of Britain’s largest munitions factories and a rare example of a government owned firm. It was not only a factory but also the social and economic heart of the town. Its workers were suffering job cuts, wage issues, unstable contracts, and poor working conditions largely because the Arsenal workforce rose and fell sharply depending on military spending.
The Woolwich workers marched to Parliament on 22 April 1907 to protest at redundancies and to demand better job security. At the end of the march, a deputation met with the Prime Minister, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. The Woolwich case radicalised many and foreshadowed broader 20th-century debates on what would later be called nationalised industries and government support for unprofitable businesses.
Then as now, news from abroad held little interest for the Island Race. The only billboard covering foreign news read:
GEN. BOTHA’S PROPOSAL FOR AN ARMY OF BOERS
General Botha was Louis Botha, a South African soldier and politician who fought against the British in the Boer War of 1899-1902. After the British granted self-government to the Transvaal in 1906, Botha was elected Prime Minister. Between April and May 1907, he took part in a conference of colonial premiers held in London and this is where the “Army of Boers” headline came from.
The Sphere magazine of 13 April 1907 put on its front cover, 'A man of the moment - Mr Botha, Prime Minister of the Transvaal, who comes to the Colonial Conference'. Here, the former Boer general declared the Transvaal’s loyalty to the British Empire. Not for the last time, many fellow Afrikaners thought him too conciliatory to the old enemy, Britain.
“Army of Boers” refers to Botha’s efforts to integrate former Boer fighters into a structured, professional army or military reserve. His plan was a way to maintain security and to preserve a sense of Boer identity in the new Transvaal. It was a step toward reconciliation that balanced British authority with Boer self-determination and helped prepare the way for the eventual merging of the Transvaal, Cape, Natal and Orange River colonies into the Union of South Africa in 1910, with Botha becoming the first Prime Minister of the unified country.
Tragedy and comedy have always been two very popular ways to sell newspapers. One tragic story headlined had a satisfying mix of an unusual death combined with the increasingly popular entertainment of cinema or 'bioscope'.
BIOSCOPE ‘TRAGEDY’ STRANGE DISCLOSURES
A popular newspaper of 23 April 1907 reported:
BIOSCOPE TRAGEDY. FAKED PICTURE CASE. 'Accidentally run over' was the verdict of the coroner's jury on Monday (22nd April) after a long inquiry into the extraordinary circumstances attending the death of a man named Zeitz, who was killed at Stoat's Nest, on the London and Brighton railway line.
The death occurred during the making of a short film drama (strangely described as a 'faked picture').
The typically simple melodramatic plot was described to the inquest:
A railway worker discovers three men placing sleepers across the line to wreck the train. He is struck down and rendered unconscious. His faithful dog, seeing his master's danger, returns to the home for assistance. Unable to get assistance the dog pulls the end of the signal and sets it to danger, thereby stopping the train.
Unfortunately for the actor, simply referred to as Zeitz, when the cameras began to roll in a railway siding casually borrowed for the occasion:
He was fatally injured by some sleepers which he was supposed to have discovered lying in the path of an approaching engine. But, instead pulling up, the engine ran into the sleepers and threw them upon Zeitz's prostrate body.
The inquest revealed much confusion as to whether the engine driver knew there was an actor near the track or where he thought he should have stopped the train. The newspaper solemnly concluded:
By Zeitz's death, that which was intended to be nothing but sensationalism for purposes of entertainment was turned into a terrible reality.
The most common headline referred to a minor comical incident involving the King’s visit to Italy.
THE KING AND THE MONK AMUSING ADVENTURE
KING AT NAPLES AMUSING INCIDENT
KING AND QUEEN MISTAKEN FOR BEGGARS
On 23 April, even an American newspaper, The Humboldt Times, reported on the King’s 'amusing experience':
NAPLES, April 22. —The King and Queen of England (sic) arrived on the Royal Yacht, visited many points of interest and had an amusing experience. At the Church of Santa Chiara, their Majesties found the edifices closed because the monks were at lunch. A member of the royal party knocked at the door for admittance. A monk came to the door and, thinking that those outside were beggars, he did not open it but called out. “Begone in peace, there is nothing for you here.” King Edward laughed heartily. The visitors then tried to explain that they were sightseers, but the monk, irritated at the persistence, shouted, “Don’t bother us, this is no time for sightseeing. The brothers are at lunch!”
Any story that demonstrated that foreigners were a funny bunch was very popular. Plus ça change.
Referencing the growth of the railway network with the resulting spread of station bookstalls and the fast distribution of newspapers by train, the website of the National Railway Museum holds that:
As a result of the faster spread of news, the availability of affordable reading material and the chance to read while travelling, station bookstalls significantly influenced literacy levels, awareness of current events and opportunities for self-improvement.
This is something to think about the next time you witness fellow passengers spending the entire journey between Penzance and Paddington mindlessly scrolling through their mobile phones and quite possibly looking at content that does little for their literacy, awareness or self-improvement.
Thank you so much Tim for another really interesting insight. Who knew what would be revealed from a single photograph. Would love to have watched the man and three boys at work. I wonder if they were readers. Must admit I would never go on a long journey without a book. One of the greatest joys!
Hope everyone is surviving the endless rain and wind. Small reminder from our garden that Spring is not far. The snowdrops are evidently feasting off last year's crop of windfalls. Tasty.
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