Victorian travel guide featuring Watford, Bushey and Oxhey

The influential publishing business was established in 1768 by John Murray I and developed by his son John Murray II, but it was his enterprising grandson, John Murray III, who not only published Charles Darwin’s, David Livingstone’s and William Gladstone’s books, but devised a series of handbooks for the intrepid Victorian traveller, the first three of which he wrote himself. His first handbook dated from 1836 and by 1915 the series had evolved into Blue Books.

The books covered the UK, Europe, North Africa, Egypt, Persia, the Holy Land, Russia, India and further afield. As a significant ‘by the way’, John Murray VII notes that Jane Austen, Lord Byron and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle were amongst the further well-known authors whose works his ancestral namesakes published. In more ‘recent’ times, you may remember Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation, the book linked to a television series. John Murray was the publisher. The cost of the handbooks ranged from 6/- to 12/-. That doesn't sound much but, taking inflation into account, Murray's Handbook of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire published in 1895 at 7/6d equates to £40 today. Publication of this particular handbook was delayed for three years after John Murray III passed away. Herbert Minton Cundall, author, artist and Secretary of the Hogarth Club was invited to take up the Editorship.

Cover of Murray’s Handbook of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire, 1895 (Image: Supplied)

The book's purchasers - the scholar and the gentleman according to a contemporary reader - would have been wealthy travellers indeed. On their journeys by rail or steamer, they could read about an area's general character and statistics, its geology, botany, history and antiquities. The addition of routes, plans and ten maps would have proved invaluable.

Near home, Route 4: London to Watford and Tring, a '31½-mile journey via the London and North-Western Railway' is worthy of a read. Bushey appears first as a large village 'which has become a suburb of Watford.' Descriptions follow of St James Church, with its 'fine ring' of eight bells, one of which was cited as over 600 years old (in 1895). Silus Titus' role in Bushey's early history is documented and artists Dr Munro, Prof Herkomer and artist/antiquary Henry Eldridge are mentioned.

Map covering the Watford area from the handbook (Image: Supplied)

Watford is listed as 'the most populous and thriving town in the county.' Its entry covers St Mary's Church, the London Orphan Asylum, Salters Almshouses and the Public Library in Queen Street, as Queens Road was then known. The contents of Cassiobury House and The Grove are described in great detail. Leavesden, home of the 'Metropolitan District Asylum for Idiots', reminds us of the harsh attitudes of the Victorians. Women patients predominated in the asylum, including those experiencing domestic troubles, depression, grief, smallpox, scarlatina and epileptic fits. A truly dark side of life in those days.

Oxhey, 'a hamlet', is included as the location of Oxhey Place, seat of the Bucknall family in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

Rickmansworth, lying on the 'Rick mere' is cited as 'irregularly built’ and 'the centre of a busy paper-making district. An extensive brewery employs many hands and there are works for printing woollen and silk goods.' St Mary's Church and the 'Gothic Town Hall' are included, as is Croxley Green, which is noted for the 'neat' All Saints Church and 'very pretty countryside.'

Moor Park's history is explained and local entries end with Rickmansworth Park and The Cedars, Chorleywood: 'a handsome E-manor house', residence of J.S. Gilliat, Esq.

Advertisement in the handbook for Rowland’s treatments, 1895 (Image: Supplied)

A supplement to this handbook, and no doubt others, is Murray's Handbook Advertiser, a 59-page travel guide. So where beyond Hertfordshire might the more adventurous Murray's Handbook reader of 1895 have been tempted to travel?

The advertisement section is eye-opening. Steamer companies offered 'splendid sea trips' to Australia and New Caledonia, the east coast of Africa, Bombay (Mumbai), China and Japan, as well as Europe, whilst first class hotels, including those with royal patronage, appear from across Europe and Egypt, as well as Moscow and St Petersbourg (sic). Curiously, the Manager of the Hotel d'Angleterre in the latter location had previously managed hotels in Manchester and Nottingham. 'Modern comforts' in those days included hydraulic lifts, smoking rooms, reading rooms, telephones, electric light and bathrooms. John Murray’s books were for Victorian trailblazers with deep pockets!

And, not forgetting well-travelled 'ladies... exposed to the sun and dust' venturing beyond Hertfordshire, Rowland's advertisement promoted its bottles of Kalydor for 'a healthy purity and delicacy of complexion', while its Macassar Oil revived and beautified sun-dried hair. Job done!

After an impressive span of 256 years in publishing, the entrepreneurial John Murray Press now publishes John Murray Journeys. But John Murray VII still uses the 19th century Murray’s Handbooks today for their ‘interesting historical perspective’.

With thanks to John Murray VII and the National Library of Scotland

• Lesley Dunlop is the daughter of the late Ted Parrish, a well-known local historian and documentary filmmaker. He wrote 96 nostalgic articles for the ‘Evening Post-Echo’ in 1982-83 which have since been published in ‘Echoes of Old Watford, Bushey & Oxhey’, available at www.pastdayspublishing.com and Bushey Museum. Lesley is currently working on ‘Two Lives, Two World Wars’, a companion volume that explores her father’s and grandfather’s lives and war experiences, in which Watford, Bushey and Oxhey’s history will take to the stage once again.