William Knight

May 26

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

New-Hampshire Gazette (May 26, 1775).

“HAIR-DRESSERS … The Business is still carried on in the same Shop.”

William Knight, a “PERUKE MAKER and HAIR DRESSER,” placed advertisements for the wigs he made and the services he provided on several occasions.  In the January 22, 1773, edition of the New-Hampshire Gazette, for instance, he announced that he “open’d SHOP near LIBERTY BRIDGE” in Portsmouth, where he will be ready to serve any Persons on reasonable Terms.”  Six months later, he established a partnership with Peter Man.  On July 30, they published an advertisement to advise prospective clients that they “carry on their Business in all its Branches, at their Shop on the Parade in Portsmouth.”  They continued together for nearly two years, but as the Revolutionary War began Man and Knight decided to part ways.

That prompted another newspaper advertisement, one that deployed standard language for such circumstances.  Upon “having agreed to dissolve the Partnership which was between them,” they called on “all Persons with whom they have Accounts open to close them as soon as possible.”  They did not indicate why they ended their partnership, though perhaps Knight retired or moved to another town.  He did not place any more advertisements in the New-Hampshire Gazette.  Man, on the other hand, used the notice about the partnership ending for a second purpose.  With a manicule to draw attention, he proclaimed, “The Business is still carried on in the same Shop, on the Parade and constant Attendance given.”  Even as one iteration of the business closed, Man hoped to maintain the clientele that he and Knight had established over the past two years as well as attract new customers for wigs and styling.

He was not the only one to advertise such services.  In an advertisement for the inn that he operated in nearby Greenland, John Williams added a nota bene to inform “Amy Gentlemen Travellers inclining to have their Hair or Wigs dressed before they go to Town, may have it done by said WILLIAMS in the genteelest and most fashionable Manner.”  Even as the New-Hampshire Gazette carried the “Freshest ADVICES FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC” about the imperial crisis, advertisers catered to ladies and gentlemen who wanted their hair or wigs presentable for appearing in public.

February 5

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

New-Hampshire Gazette (February 5, 1773).

“He has open’d SHOP near LIBERTY BRIDGE.”

William Knight, a “PERUKE MAKER and HAIR DRESSER, from London,” took to the pages of the New-Hampshire Gazette in January and February 1773 to alert readers that “he has open’d SHOP” in Portsmouth.  The wigmaker announced that he “will be ready to serve any Persons on reasonable Terms, who incline to employ him, and at shortest Notice.”  He gave no other directions to his shop other than stating that it was “near LIBERTY BRIDGE,” a landmark familiar to residents of the town.

The bridge likely gained that name in late 1765 or early 1766 as colonizers protested the Stamp Act that went into effect on November 1, 1765.  In November 1765, Barnabas Clarke ran an advertisement that did not include any directions to his shop.  A month later, he simply stated that prospective customers could purchase flour, pork, and other commodities “At his STORE in Portsmouth.”  At the end of March 1766, however, he published a new advertisement that included a headline that prominently made reference to what became a significant landmark: “TO BE SOLD / By Barnabas Clarke, / Near Liberty-Bridge.”  By then, the bridge had been known by that name for at least a couple of months.  The January 20, 1766, edition of the Boston Evening-Post carried a story about a protest against that Stamp Act that occurred in Portsmouth on January 9, reporting that “a flag with the words … LIBERTY, PROPERTY, and NO STAMPS … is now fixed near LIBERTY-BRIDGE.”

Although Parliament relented and repealed the Stamp Act in the spring of 1766, colonizers continued to refer to the bridge as Liberty Bridge.  That name continued to appear in advertisements that ran in the New-Hampshire Gazette throughout the imperial crisis that culminated in thirteen colonies declaring independence.  Even a newcomer, like Knight, a wigmaker “form London,” evoked memories of the Stamp Act and protests when he incorporated the landmark into his newspaper advertisement and the directions he gave when he spoke to colonizers as he went about his business around town.