The Reformer Newspaper (published in Hertford) is now online

The British Newspaper Archive is regularly being updated and I note that within the last month the a number of issues of The Reformer for 1834-5 have been added (under the heading Hertfordshire Mercury & Reformer) and also 1868 issues of the Hertfordshire Mercury - so that the combined issues now stretch from 1834-1868. While it will be many years before all the papers that have are online, new material is always being added.

An Accident on the Railway in 1841

The Reformer reports on a railway accident 
near Broxbourne in 1841.

Many workers got injured in building the railways and it is probably impossible to identify James Thompson/Green, assuming either was his real name.

Grissell & Peto were major building contractors - but do you know of any other work they did in Hertfordshire?

Hemel Hempstead Statute Fair in 1841

The above report appeared in The Reformer of 2nd October, 1841, and suggests that the fair was not as successful as usual.  For future reference the news item is linked from the page of Old Hemel Hempstead News.

Poem: Lines on Visiting Throcking Wood

Come to the wood, where the shadows lie deep,
Where insects hum, and wild flowers love to creep,
There the red strawberries run along the ground,
And the brown ivy clings to all around ...

Read more from The Reformer 2 October 1841

James IZZARD of Great Amwell - Press Notices, 1841

Joseph Izzard was buried at Great Amwell in 1841, and later in the year the live and dead stock were sold and a notice was published in The Reformer relating to his estate.

The Reformer - a message from 1841

My New Years Resolution is to reform - as a result of buying this old newspaper. ...