OVER the past few weeks, The Gazette has been announcing on its front page that it has proudly served the local community for 125 years.

It was in January 1878 that John Bird, who arrived from Tiverton in Devon, established a weekly newspaper in Basingstoke, which he called The Hants and Berks Gazette.

The office and printing works were set up in upper Church Street, and within weeks, the local folk were able to read all about the news, social functions, sports fixtures, and everything else that people expect from a local newspaper.

Basingstoke in 1878 was on the verge of being developed into a commercial and industrial town.

With a population of just over 6,000, the town was basically a small, but busy, community within an area of one square mile.

Although the railway had been built through the north of the town, in 1839, there was still a certain amount of activity at the Basingstoke Canal wharf until the latter years of the 19th century.

The shops, houses, and other buildings had been fitted up with gas lighting after 1834, which allowed the local folk to enjoy their evenings without the discomfort of candlelight affecting their eyesight.

Transport through the town was still by horse and cart or stagecoach, although the latter was slowly being phased out.

It was a common sight to see stables at the rear of businesses, especially public houses and hotels, where horses were kept for various purposes.

Right up until the 1970s, the old Anchor public house in London Street still had its stables behind the building, but its demolition some years later removed an historic construction dating back to the early 17th century.

In 1878, the introduction of several sporting clubs in the town saw the formation of football and cricket teams.

The first recorded town football match was between Basingstoke and Andover, which Basingstoke won 2-0.

The cricket club was revived that year and was moved from its early ground, on Basingstoke Common, to a rented pitch at the Folly in Bounty Road.

The town’s industrial development was about to take off in a move by Thomas Burberry (the raincoat manufacturer) who decided to transfer part of his business to a new factory in Station Hill in 1878, which became known as Gerrish, Ames and Simpkins.

(This building was demolished in 1967 for the Town Development Scheme.) Meanwhile, the local shopkeepers in 1878 had to face the problem of keeping their staff in the face of increasing complaints by overworked assistants. The result was the first “early closing” days, when staff could finish work at 7pm instead of 10pm.

With Basingstoke being on the main railway line between London and the South of England, it was inevitable that Queen Victoria would pass through the town by train, and on one day in the summer the train had to have its engine changed en-route to her destination.

So, at Basingstoke, the train came to a halt and the Queen waited patiently for the coupling to be made.

With the Queen was her youngest daughter Beatrice, who was 21 years old – her ninth and last child.

Although not reported in the local newspaper, it was recorded in a local man’s diary that “Her Highness gazed out of her compartment window at the scenic beauty of the town”.

But when an 88-year-old local man was interviewed in the mid- 1950s, he stated that the Queen pulled down her window-blind to stop people staring at her. As an 11- year-old boy he remembered the incident quite well.