Figure 1.--Here we see a Wigan newsagent and paper boys. The photograph is undated, but we suspect was taken in the early 1900s. What we are not sure is where the boys are going to sell the papers. We suspect on street corners. But we are not sure. Notice they do not have bicycles (which would hve been expensive) or bags to carry the papers. A reasder tells us, "The Newsboy pictures. I believe the newsboys outside the the newsagent's shop would have been delivering papers to the newsagents customers. They would have had a prescribed delivery route. I do not think the boys also collected payment , rather the customers settled their accounts each week when they went into the news agents shop."

The most common boy street traders sold newspapers. We do not have many images from the 18th and early-19th century. Thanks to photography, we do have images from the late-19th century. It must have been especially difficult to enforce the street trading regulations on news boys. We note a large number of photographs of boys selling newspapers. It is not always clear, however, just where they are selling. Here we see a Wigan newsagent and paper boys (figure 1).. The photograph is undated, but we suspect was taken in the early 1900s. What we are not sure is where the boys are going to sell the papers. We suspect on street corners. But we are not sure. Notice they do not have bicycles (which would hve been expensive) or bags for carrying the papers. The newboys of the 19th and early 20th century sold their newspapers on street corners. I believe that there were also newsboys in England. We have seen images of boys selling newspapers in England. It seems to us that many English images show men selling newspapers, more so than in America. There may be a time factor here. I think before World War I (1914-18) boys selling newspapers on the stree were fairly common. After the War we mostly see men. Child labor and school attendance laws may be a factor here. And these laws may have affected how newspapers were sold. School attendance laws would have made it difficult for boys to sell from street corners because of the time factor, but they would not have precluded paper routes before or after school. An English reader writes, "Boys most definitely did the majority of paper-selling over here in the UK. I have several images of this; the one difference is that often they tended to be just a couple of years older than in the US. Mostly they look to be in their early teens."

Street Vendors

We do not yet know a great deal about street vendors. The most common boy street traders sold newspapers. I am not sure what else boys sold on the streets. As far as we know only boys sold newspapers. We do note girls welling flowers and matches. I think by the 20th century girls were also selling chewing gum.

Chronology

We do not have many images from the 18th and early-19th century. Thanks to photography, we do have images from the late-19th century. It must have been especially difficult to enforce the street trading regulations on news boys. We note a large number of photographs of boys selling newspapers.

Background

One important question was who were these boys. Were the boys from poor families or perhaps orphaned street children. I have not yet found a source decribing just who the boys were. Perhaps readers will have some insights here.

Locations

It is not always clear, however, just where they are selling. Here we see a Wigan newsagent and paper boys (figure 1).. Wihan is a small town. The boys here are getting big city newspapers from a newsagent. Notice the advertisments for the Daily Dispatch and Examiner. The photograph is undated, but we suspect was taken in the early 1900s. What we are not sure is where the boys are going to sell the papers. We suspect on street corners. But we are not sure. Notice they do not have bicycles (which would hve been expensive) or bags for carrying the papers. The newboys of the 19th and early 20th century sold their newspapers on street corners. Here there could be disputes between boys as to who had the best street corners. A reader writes, "I think they sold on the spot. As far as I know, they had designated patches to sell from." I am not sure just how the locations were designated. I'm guessing that the biggest boys got the best spots.

Age

I believe that there were also newsboys in England. We have seen images of boys selling newspapers in England. It seems to us that many English images show men selling newspapers, more so than in America. There may be a time factor here. I think before World War I (1914-18) boys selling newspapers on the stree were fairly common. After the War we mostly see men. Child labor and school attendance laws may be a factor here. And these laws may have affected how newspapers were sold. School attendance laws would have made it difficult for boys to sell from street corners because of the time factor, but they would not have precluded paper routes before or after school. An English reader writes, "Boys most definitely did the majority of paper-selling over here in the UK. I have several images of this; the one difference is that often they tended to be just a couple of years older than in the US. Mostly they look to be in their early teens."

Headline Sheets

To help sell newspapers, the street sellers were given headline sheets by the newspapers. These selling aids may have been called broadsheets, although I am not sure about that. They were to picque the interest of people on the street so tht they would buy a paper to read the details. Some of these broad sheets photographs are quite famous. Probably the most famous was the one for the Titanic disaster. The Titanic newsboy is an iconic image, "Great Loss Of Life ..." from 1912. Another famous one is for the Jack the Ripper killings. It's an East End (London) newsboy during Autumn 1888.

Ned Parfett (1896-1918)

Ned Parfett was the newspaper boy in the icionuic Titanic disaster photograph. Notice that younger boys did not sell nespapers as was still common in America during 1912. Ned was born in 1896 and died in 1918. He was about 15 years old when when this photograph was taken of him selling newspapers about the Titanic disaster was taken. Ned had three brothers. They lived at Cornwall Road, Waterloo. Ned and his brothers enlisted in the Army during World War II. Ned enlisted in 1916. He became a dispatch rider. One brother served in Dardanelles campaign of 1915. He survived the war. Another brother served in the battle of the Somme in 1916. He survived the war as did Ned's third brother. Only Ned was killed in action. He died October 29, 1918. He was in the quartermaster's store when it was hit by a shell. Tragically it was only 2 weeks bedore the Armistic which ended the War. Ned is buried in the British war cemetery at Verchain-Maugré in France. He was awarded the Military Medal.

Created: 11:22 PM 2/24/2007
Last updated: 6:41 PM 1/3/2011