The Gravesend Omnibus, preserved in the local library, was a mischievous rag aimed at the steam boat punters. Published weekly and for the safety of the editor, one hopes anonymously, it describes itself as "an impertinent publication ... daring to depict the local follies of that exquisitely irritable asylum of Cockneys". People singled out for ridicule include "Cockney Fashionables" who "be in perpetual grin" at young ladies promenading on the pier and pretentious Londoners, including one who at the opening of the Literary and Scientific Institution "would insist on making a speech," resulting in "several gentlemen amused themselves by pelting him with oranges." All very "droll" I am sure.
Each edition features sketches of the local people the tourist would encounter. The Steam-boat Captains and Stewards, the Hotel Proprietors, the Ticket Collectors and Public House Landlords. A flavor of the uncomfortable relationship between tourist and tourist industry employee is capture below.
Lucy
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