And so it was that my fourth great-grandfather, Thomas Bulmer, came into the world in late December of 1782, just as the American War of Independence was coming to an end. It had been a very expensive war for England...
On 11 July 1778, W. Jackson, the proprietor of a store in High Street, advertised his wares in the Oxford Journal including a fine selection of stationery supplies. While the majority of the English were still illiterate in the late eighteenth century,...