To give it it's full title, John Hartley's Original Clock Almanack, was founded in Halifax in Yorkshire, in 1865, by John Hartley a Pub Landlord well known for his Yorkshire Dialect Verse.
At first published by W Nicholson & Sons of London and Wakefield, on 1st of October annually. In the 1880s it had a circulation of 80,000. A popular format of the time, the Clock was one of many Almanacks available.
We tend today to think of almanacs as publications solely of astrology, e.g. "Old Moores Almanac", but in their heyday they were more akin to todays "Titbits", or perhaps "Womans Own".
As well as calendars The Clock had stories, poetry, cartoons, even plays, and its lifeblood, a great deal of advertising. Much of it medical, adverts for surgical appliances, pills capable of curing everything from varicose veins to cholera. Even one advert for alluring Paris Postcards.
In 1917 John Hartley died, and Walter Hampson who was already a regular contributor, was invited to take over the editorial control and the bulk of the writing. Which he did with much success. Another regular contributor at this time was the M.P. for Batley, and former Secretary for Mines, Sir Ben Turner. The publication also changed hands from W. Nicholson, to Watmoughs Ltd of Bradford who continued with it until it's demise probably due to a lack of advertising revenue in the late 1950s.
To give a taste of the Clock Almanack, one of Walter's stories taken from the 1931 edition is included in the Dialect Writing section.
