{"id":19447,"date":"2026-01-13T08:08:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T08:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/?p=19447"},"modified":"2026-01-08T13:29:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T13:29:42","slug":"reporting-debates-in-the-victorian-commons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2026\/01\/13\/reporting-debates-in-the-victorian-commons\/","title":{"rendered":"Reporting debates in the Victorian Commons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today we take it for granted that parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. During the Victorian era, however, there was no ‘official’ record. Dr Philip Salmon<\/a> shows how, before the advent of modern democracy, public interest in Parliament was sufficient for reports of debates to be produced and sold commercially. As democracy advanced, however, the public’s appetite began to change …<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the early 19th<\/sup> century the way debates and other goings-on in Parliament were reported and broadcast to the public underwent fundamental change. It was during this period that Hansard<\/em>, the famous record of parliamentary speeches and proceedings, first became established, while daily accounts of discussions in both Houses began to occupy a prominent place in many leading newspapers.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A<\/a>
\"\"\u2018A Knock Down Blow\u2019, cartoon by \u2018H.B.\u2019, 1842. Sir Robert Peel assails Lord John Russell with a volume of Hansard.<\/em> Image: P. Salmon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Amazingly, this coverage of parliamentary debates not only occurred in contravention of the \u2018official\u2019 orders of the Commons, banning strangers and reporting, but also operated as a commercial venture. Aided by the huge public interest in issues such as the abolition of slavery, Catholic emancipation and parliamentary reform, what went on in Parliament became big business. By the early 1830s an estimated 2 million people were reading parliamentary reports in the press, while Cobbett\u2019s Parliamentary Debates<\/em>, launched in 1803 and taken over by Thomas Curson Hansard in 1812, sold sufficient copies to turn a reasonable profit, at least until the 1850s.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A<\/a>
Thomas Curson Hansard (1776-1833): frontispiece, T. Hansard, Typographia: an historical sketch of the origin and progress of the art of printing<\/em> (1825)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Not every attempt to cash in on the public interest in Parliament succeeded. Hansard reckoned that by 1829 he had already seen off \u2018the greater part\u2019 of 18 rival publications, \u2018some promising to give a more condensed and some a more elongated account of the proceedings in Parliament\u2019. The ill-fated Parliamentary Review<\/em>, for example, rearranged all the debates by topic, providing background information and \u2018critical essays\u2019 analysing all the \u2018measures discussed\u2019 and arguments \u2018on both sides of the question\u2019. The extra work this involved, however, made it too expensive and out of date by the time it appeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hansard\u2019s approach, on the other hand, kept costs to a minimum. Rather than paying for his own reporters, Hansard concocted his account of the debates from the daily newspapers and with notes he sometimes received from MPs. His compilations, for that was what they really were, appeared in regular instalments which could later be bound together, rather than at the end of each session. His heavy reliance on the accuracy and selection criteria of the press reporters, however, was far from ideal. Debates on local or minor matters were often omitted, leading many MPs to complain, not least because of their growing need to satisfy constituency opinion. Worse still, speeches delivered late at night, after the reporters had left to file their copy, failed to get covered. Working conditions in the reporters’ gallery<\/a>, as Kathryn Rix has shown, were also far from ideal and underwent major change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sensing a gap in the market, in 1828 Charles Dickens\u2019 uncle, John Henry Barrow (1796-1858), a former lawyer turned journalist, launched the Mirror of Parliament<\/em>. Unlike Hansard<\/em>, Barrow not only employed his own dedicated team of reporters, but also paid them a \u2018most liberal remuneration\u2019 for each \u2018turn\u2019 in the press gallery. The debates that were later covered by his talented teenage nephew Charles Dickens, in particular, were singled out for praise by leading politicians, including Lord Stanley<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A<\/a>
Charles Dickens, aged 18, by Janet Barrow, 1830. Image credit: Dickens Museum<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

By 1831, at the height of the reform crisis, the Mirror<\/em> had become \u2018the highest extant authority\u2019 of proceedings in Parliament. It wasn\u2019t just that Barrow\u2019s accounts of debates were much longer and closer to the original in terms of language and sentiment. Barrow also managed to cover far more speeches and include a broader range of MPs. The radical Henry Hunt\u2019s brief Commons career is a case in point. Where Hansard<\/em> printed 660 of his \u2018speeches\u2019, the Mirror<\/em> recorded over 1,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By now, however, the Mirror <\/em>was also in financial trouble. The main investor Henry Winchester MP<\/a> pulled out after haemorrhaging \u2018a considerable portion\u2019 of \u00a37,000 and although Frederick Gye<\/a>, the famous owner of the pleasure grounds at Vauxhall Gardens, stepped in, within a few years he had also \u2018lost a good deal of money\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1834 the Mirror<\/em> appealed to Parliament for financial assistance. The editor of The Times<\/em>, however, was unimpressed. \u2018That an individual who had embarked in the business of reporting for his own profit should throw the losses caused by his own unsuccessful management … upon the country… to the detriment of all other journalists [was] barefaced … impudence\u2019, he declared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commons agreed. A motion to support publication of an \u2018authentic report of the debates arising in the House\u2019 was defeated by 117 votes to 99. Although the Mirror<\/em> managed to soldier on, reducing its reporters\u2019 salaries and switching to a cheaper folio size, the writing was clearly on the wall. In 1841 it ceased operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, around the time that the Mirror of Parliament<\/em> folded, the newspaper reports upon which Hansard<\/em> relied so heavily for its commercial survival started to be replaced by a new form of coverage. By the late 1840s satirical and descriptive \u2018sketches\u2019 of parliamentary proceedings had begun to emerge as a staple of the rapidly expanding Victorian popular press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This created an obvious problem for Hansard<\/em>. With many newspapers eventually adopting some version of the \u2018parliamentary sketch\u2019, the number and range of press reports that Hansard<\/em> was able to use to compile debates shrank. In 1862 the Morning Chronicle<\/em>, which had continued to produce extensive daily coverage of debates, was forced to cease publication, leaving its arch-rival The Times<\/em> as the pre-eminent source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this changing public atmosphere, and with its subscriptions falling, it was now Hansard<\/em> that turned to Parliament for support. In 1855 the government agreed to purchase 100 copies for the various departments of state, providing a guaranteed annual income. In the late 1870s ministers agreed to subsidise coverage of the debates that the press usually ignored, and for the first time Hansard<\/em> started to use its own reporters, rather than relying solely on newspaper reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even this was not enough, however, and in 1888 Thomas Hansard junior (1813-91), who had been running the business since 1833,  retired and sold the entire operation to a new company, which reckoned it could produce an \u2018authorised report\u2019 without subsidy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next twenty years this venture and six successor operations, including one run by Reuters<\/em>, all tried to succeed where Hansard<\/em> had failed, and make a commercial success out of producing parliamentary debates. None of them succeeded. One even went bankrupt. In 1909 Parliament finally assumed responsibility for recording debates itself, employing its own staff of reporters and creating the department that continues to operate today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

P.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Details of the various historic Hansards available online can be found<\/em> here<\/a>. A BBC documentary about Charles Dickens and parliamentary reporting can be viewed<\/em> here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further Reading:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

J. Vice & S. Farrell, The History of Hansard<\/em> (2017) VIEW<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

K. Rix, \u2018 \u201cWhatever passed in Parliament ought to be communicated to the public\u201d: reporting the proceedings of the Reformed Commons, 1833-1850\u2019, Parliamentary History <\/em>(2014), xxxiii. 453-74<\/p>\n\n\n\n

http:\/\/www.carolineshenton.co.uk\/dickens-and-parliament\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

E. Peplow, The Story of Parliament: Parliament and the press<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P. Salmon, \u2018The House of Commons, 1801-1911\u2019, in A Short History of Parliament<\/em>, ed. C. Jones (2009), 248-69 VIEW<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A. Sparrow, Obscure Scribblers. A History of Parliamentary Journalism<\/em> (2003)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M. H. Port, ‘The Official Record’, Parliamentary History<\/em> (1990), ix. 175-83.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E. Brown, ‘John Henry Barrow and the Mirror of Parliament<\/em>‘, Parliamentary Affairs<\/em> (1956), lx. 311-23<\/p>\n\n\n\n

H. Jordan, ‘The Reports of Parliamentary Debates, 1803-1908’, Economica<\/em> (1931), xxxiv. 437-49<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an updated version of an article originally published on the Victorian Commons website<\/a> on 17 November 2017, written by Dr Philip Salmon<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we take it for granted that parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. During the Victorian era, however, there was no ‘official’ record. Dr Philip Salmon shows how, before the advent of modern democracy, public interest in Parliament was sufficient for reports of debates to be produced and sold commercially. As democracy advanced, however, the public’s appetite began to change … During the early 19th … Continue reading Reporting debates in the Victorian Commons<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37925350,"featured_media":19475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[124494893,4706867,774275741,774275561],"tags":[774276181,35890,1789396,11050603,770342275,774275571,774276206],"class_list":["post-19447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-victorian-commons","category-19th-century-history","category-parliamentary-life","category-victorian","tag-charles-dickens","tag-featured","tag-hansard","tag-parliamentary-reporting","tag-recording-parliament","tag-reporting-parliament","tag-thomas-curson-hansard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/new-enhance-photo-base-1-1-1-2.jpg?fit=2267%2C1133&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2QYNW-53F","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1117,"url":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2015\/12\/01\/the-story-of-parliament-parliament-and-the-press\/","url_meta":{"origin":19447,"position":0},"title":"The ‘Story of Parliament’: Parliament and the press","author":"Emma Peplow","date":"December 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this year the History published \u2018The Story of Parliament: Celebrating 750 years of parliament in Britain\u2019 to mark the anniversary of Simon de Montfort\u2019s parliament in 1265. 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It is unsurprising that the use of 'deal' and 'Brexit' have been common over the last few years, but, as Dr Patrick Little from our Commons 1640-1660 project explores below,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Parliamentary Life"","block_context":{"text":"Parliamentary Life","link":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/category\/topics\/parliamentary-life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/dr-johnson.jpg?fit=910%2C1106&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/dr-johnson.jpg?fit=910%2C1106&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/dr-johnson.jpg?fit=910%2C1106&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/dr-johnson.jpg?fit=910%2C1106&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":498,"url":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2013\/10\/28\/parliament-preachers-and-the-putney-debates\/","url_meta":{"origin":19447,"position":2},"title":"Recording speech in early modern England: Parliament, preachers and the Putney debates","author":"History of Parliament","date":"October 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In his work on the 1624 Parliamentary Diaries, Philip Baker deals with the difficulties in deciphering 17th Century record keeping on a daily basis. 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Lesley explains the Hansard at Huddersfield project which aims to provide some interesting search facilities and visualisations of the results from the record of the UK parliament. 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This measure widened\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Victorian"","block_context":{"text":"Victorian","link":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/category\/periods\/victorian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/canvassing-a-lady-voter1.jpg?fit=448%2C316&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":541,"url":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2013\/12\/19\/cobbett-at-250-a-failed-mp\/","url_meta":{"origin":19447,"position":5},"title":"‘Parliaments, politics and people’ seminar – ‘Cobbett at 250: a failed MP?’","author":"History of Parliament","date":"December 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Victorian Commons\u2019 Dr Kathryn Rix reports back from our last \u2018Parliaments, politics and people\u2019 seminar of the term\u2026 This term\u2019s programme for our \u2018Parliaments, Politics and People\u2019 seminar concluded with a fascinating paper from Dr. John Stevenson, of Worcester College, Oxford, on William Cobbett (1763-1835), marking the 250th anniversary\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Victorian"","block_context":{"text":"Victorian","link":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/category\/periods\/victorian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Holding-Featured-Image-4.jpeg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Holding-Featured-Image-4.jpeg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Holding-Featured-Image-4.jpeg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Holding-Featured-Image-4.jpeg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Holding-Featured-Image-4.jpeg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37925350"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19447"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19477,"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19447\/revisions\/19477"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}