A HISTORY OF English Lotteries
Reading edition
NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME WRITTEN.
BY
JOHN ASHTON.
1893.
PUBLISHED BY The Leadenhall Prefs, Ltd: 50, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C. Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd: New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 743 & 745, Broadway.
THE LEADENHALL PRESS, LTD: LONDON, E. C. (T. 4630)
PREFACE.
In the following pages I have endeavoured to trace the history of the lottery in England, from the year 1569 to the present time; and it is somewhat surprising that such has not been previously attempted. It is possible that a paucity of material may have had something to do with it; but, in my case, I cannot complain of insufficient matter, but almost of an embarras des richesses; for not only could I draw on the stores of information contained in the library of the British Museum, but I also had the privilege of having the very fine collection of Mr. Andrew Tuer placed unreservedly at my disposal. Thus, I have been enabled to pick and choose my examples of lottery handbills and engravings, without having to utilize all the material that came to hand. I am especially indebted to the Leadenhall Press for the very great care they have taken in rendering the engravings as near facsimiles of the originals as possible.
I have tried, as far as in my power lay, to make this book one which will be, I hope, not only agreeable and interesting to the general reader, but one which, I also hope, will find its place in very many libraries, as a book of reference, and an authority on the subject on which I have written, as I have been very scrupulous as to verifying dates, giving correct Acts of Parliament, etc.
JOHN ASHTON.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Antiquity of the Lot—Old lotteries—Derivation of
word —First lottery in England: its scheme 1
CHAPTER II.
Posies and mottoes—Forcing the subscriptions—Towns and
their mottoes—Lottery for armour in 1585—A Royal lottery
at Harefield in 1602 17
CHAPTER III.
The Virginia lottery of 1612—Private lottery—Licence for
lottery to supply London with water—Two other schemes
—Lottery in behalf of fishing vessels—Irish Land
Lottery—One for redeeming English slaves—One for poor
maimed soldiers—Gambling lottery, concession for—“Royal
Oak” Lottery—Evils of lotteries—“Royal Fishing Company”
Lottery—Patentees 28
CHAPTER IV.
A book lottery—One for poor military officers—Lottery for
Prince Rupert’s jewels—A penny lottery—First State
lottery—Another in 1697—Private lotteries suppressed
—Statelottery in 1710—Curious history of a private
lottery—State lotteries in the reigns of Anne and
George I.—Private lotteries again suppressed—Raine’s
Charity—Marriage by lottery 44
CHAPTER V.
Penalties on private lotteries—State lottery not subscribed
for—Lapse in State lotteries—Private lotteries
—Westminster Bridge lottery—State lotteries—Discredit
thrown on them—British Museum lottery—Leheup’s fraud 59
CHAPTER VI.
Crowd at a lottery—Another State lottery, eighty-seven
blanks to a prize—A ticket sold twice over—Extravagant
prices paid for tickets—Praying for success—A lucky
innkeeper—Lottery for Cox’s Museum—Adam’s Adelphi Lottery
—Blue-coat boys and the lottery—Future arrangements for
drawing 71
CHAPTER VII.
Counterfeiting lottery tickets—Curious lotteries—Suicide
—Method of starting a State lottery—Lottery
office-keepers to be licensed—Charles (or “Patch”) Price 86
CHAPTER VIII.
Lottery for the Leverian Museum—Prosecution of unlicensed
lottery office-keepers—Suicide—Robbery of employers—Sharp
practice over a prize—Cheating by lottery office-keepers
—Complaint of a prisoner 103
CHAPTER IX.
Winners of prizes—Attempt to put down the practice of
insuring—Steps taken to prevent it—Specimen handbill
—Bish, the lottery office-keeper—Lottery for the “Pigot”
diamond—Lottery-office agencies—Shortening the time of
drawing the lottery—Story of Baron d’Aguilar 118
CHAPTER X.
The Boydell Lottery—Bowyer’s “Historic” Lottery 133
CHAPTER XI.
Launching a lottery—“The City” Lottery for houses—Poetic
handbills thereon—Parliamentary Committee on the lottery
—Report and evidence 147
CHAPTER XII.
“The Lottery Alphabet”—“The Philosopher’s Stone”—
“Fortune’s Ladder”—Enigmatical handbill—Lottery drawn
on St. Valentine’s Day—“Public Prizes”—and other
poetical handbills 162
CHAPTER XIII.
“Twenty Thousand; or, Tom Truelove’s Journal”—“London
and the Lottery”—“The Persian Ambassador”—“An Enigma”
—“Gently over the Stones” 180
CHAPTER XIV.
“Master and Man”—“Altogether”—Dr. Thornton’s “Royal
Botanical Lottery”—“Two Gold Finches”—“Dennis
Brulgruddery”—“Shakespeare’s Seven Ages” 189
CHAPTER XV.
A lucky Spaniard—Miss Mitford’s prize—The Spectator
on lucky numbers—Other anecdotes on luck—“Gretna Green”
—“A Prize for Poor Jack” 204
CHAPTER XVI.
Beginning of the end of lotteries—Curious handbills 217
CHAPTER XVII.
Protests against lotteries—Epitaph on Vansittart—“Three
Royal Weddings”—More opposition to the lottery—
“Twelfth Night Character” handbills—Ditto of tradesmen 221
CHAPTER XVIII.
“A Dialogue”—“The Race of Fortune”—“The Wish”—Enigmatical
handbill 245
CHAPTER XIX.
Tomkins’s picture lottery—The lottery abolished—Handbills 252
CHAPTER XX.
The last lottery—Attempts to get up excitement—The
procession—Alteration of date—Advertising car—“A
Ballad, 1826”—Drawing of the last lottery 265
CHAPTER XXI.
Handbills—Metrical list of lottery-office keepers—Bish’s
manifesto—“Epitaph in Memory of the State Lottery”—
“Little Goes”—The Times thereon—Their effect on the
public 279
CHAPTER XXII.
Description of lottery office-keepers—Insuring numbers
in the lottery—Servants bitten by the mania—Morocco
men—Many prosecutions—Cost to the country—Several
law cases—Story of Mr. Bartholomew 293
CHAPTER XXIII.
Suicides caused by the lottery—Story of a footman—Anecdote
told by Theodore Hook—Description of a lottery from its
commencement to its end 310
CHAPTER XXIV.
The lottery wheels—Anecdotes connected with the lottery—
The Glasgow lotteries—Advertising foreign lotteries—
“Art Union” Act—Dethier’s “Twelfth Cake Lottery”—
Tontines—Raffling—Pious lotteries—Sweet-stuff lotteries
for children—Hamburg lotteries 325
CHAPTER XXV.
“The Missing Word Competition:” its rise and fall 339
Index 353
A HISTORY OF ENGLISH LOTTERIES.