Onward to the British Library. I found the Social Sciences room. You have to request that items be delivered to a particular room, and the last time I was there I didn’t care for the room, which was crowded with low ceilings. This one was better, and the staff friendly and helpful. I requested my books, and they went to the back and brought out a stack of…no, wait. It’s an entire cart.
I wheeled it to a table and began. I was seeking advertisements, not articles. I have a suspicion that Briggs was a master in marketing, so I wanted to see the development of his advertising. I have also been avoiding the fact that William Briggs was not the first to offer U of London coursework by correspondence, and I was immediately reminded of this.
Going back to 1886 editions of The Educational Times, the year before Briggs got things really going, I found advertisements for correspondence tutoring from ES Weymouth, whom I’ve been investigating. According to his obituary in The Lancet (19 December 1936) his University Examination Postal Institution educated many medical students. His ads from 1887 say it was founded in 1882, earlier than Briggs’ institution, and he claims by 1892 to be providing instruction for all University of London exams. He would be, I suspect I’ve found, the UCC’s main competitor, judging by the number and size of the ads over the years.
There were also ads for someone named Mr J Charleston of Manchester – those will continue for two years at least. Other competitors included James Jennings & Co (not sure who the Co would be), the mysterious E.M.M., a Mr Barnes (who notes of his services for exams that “failures are very rare”)…
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… and the biggie when it comes to using graphics: Tildesley of Edinburgh, the only other correspondence school to use a logo, in this case blowing right at Briggs’:
It’s the advertising war of the correspondence tutors, and I’m on it. I think this will be the focus of my talk in October.
