…at the world’s end there is a black friday, a general examination…
This week it’s Black Friday, where every retailer in the known universe is offering you a discount. So I am too! More on that shortly – this wouldn’t be Histories without a little trip in the time machine. But if you’re impatient for a great deal, for the next few days you can sign up for a whole year of Histories for only $20:
This version of Black Friday refers of course to the day after Thanksgiving – and this usage seems to have its origins in the early 1950s, apparently referring to the post-celebrations hangovers people suffered! But historically the phrase has been used on multiple occasions to refer to calamitous events.
The usual ‘first Black Friday’ example given is from the Black Friday gold panic of 24th September 1869, when three chaps called Jay Gould, James Fisk and Abel Corbin attempted to gain control of the gold market on the New York Gold Exchange. Corbin was the brother-in-law of President Ulysses S. Grant, who had been selling off gold to pay off the national debt after the American Civil War. The naughty trio used insider info and tried to push the price of gold up – but Grant flooded the market and there was a panic which affected the US economy for months. I’m not sure when the events that parked this crisis were first referred to as ‘Black Friday’, although the earliest reference I’ve found is from 1870 – and I’ve also found an 1869 book which refers to an earlier financial crisis, in London and Italy, also known as the Panic of 1866, starting on Friday 11th May. Anyway, ever since, the term has particularly been used for disastrous events of all varieties, from a related financial crisis in 1873 to worldwide terrorist attacks in 2015.
But… there’s an even earlier one too, and nothing to do with financial markets: Black Friday, 6th December 1745. This was when the Young Pretender to the English throne – better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie – had reached Derby with his army, but on this day decided to turn back, having learned of poor support in England and of government strength against him. Ultimately this retreat led to his defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 and the end of the Jacobite hopes to restore the Stuart dynasty. The very first reference to this Black Friday known to the Oxford English Dictionary dates from 28th July 1747, in a document called ‘Information for Archibald Stuart of the City of Edinburgh…’.1 Archibald was the Lord Provost of Edinburgh who had ‘accidentally’ failed to put a government-sponsored militia into action and thus allowed Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army into the city (he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for a few months). That 1747 document (author unknown) recalls the “Terror of the Rebels” and how the newspapers stirred this up, then notes:
This Black Friday is not yet out of Remembrance, and the Impression the Approach of the Rebels then made…
Amusingly, the OED does also offer one even earlier use of the phrase, from 1610 and referring to the Fridays when school exams were held. The document in question2 is by theologian and priest John Boys, Dean of Canterbury, and refers to the “schoole tricke” when…
…at the world’s end there is a black friday, a general examination; at which time [the] Schoolmaster in his own person shall reward every [student] according to his work. It behoveth every one therefore to be diligent in coming to school, to be careful in hearing, painful in examining, fruitful in practising.
I hope you find I’ve been fruitful in practising writing these trips into history every week for the last two years. Please help support the research that goes into it all, and please enjoy a Black Friday discount of 33% off the usual annual subscription of $30! (Offer available until 28th November. I offer no historical precedents for Cyber Monday!)
As well as the warm glow of patronage, paying subscribers will receive a collection of free history-related ebooks, and there will be occasional extra material just for you. In fact, there’s just such a piece in this week’s usual Friday newsletter. Look out for a treat on the centenary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb! Thanks for reading.