AUGUST, 2019
AGONY COLUMNS AND THEIR APPEAL
TO READERS THROUGH THE AGES
By: Liese Sherwood
One of the pastimes of many Victo-
rians was newspapers‘ daily agony col-
umn. These included coded messages,
efforts to seek out missing relatives or
someone who caught a young man‘s (or
woman‘s) eye, as well as advice for those
with love or other troubles. Not only
could readers follow a budding romance
in these messages, they also sometimes
offered their own take on the advice
sought.
The earliest reference to an agony
column appeared in 1853, but personal
advertisements had already been appear-
ing in The Times of London. These usually
sought missing relatives or friends or sent
secret messages between lovers. (1) So
popular was the column and readers‘ in-
terest in deciphering and following these
short missives, Alice Clay in 1881 pro-
vided instructions on how to decode the
messages in her collection and analysis of
some that appeared from 1800-1870. (2)
Today‘s puzzlers can to try their hand at
decoding using Jean Palmer‘s 2008 col-
lection The Agony Column Codes & Ciphers.
(3) Fair warning, this pastime could
prove quite addictive.
14
By the mid-20 th century, the agony
column had become an advice column
overseen by an ―agony aunt,‖ (4) al-
though the roots of published letters
from those seeking guidance could be
traced back to John Dutton. He allowed
readers to seek guidance in letters which
he published in his Athenian Gazette, invit-
ing others to provide answers to the
questions raised. (5) After working for
Dutton answering some of these re-
quests, Daniel Defoe created his own
publication, Review, and became its agony
uncle in 1704. Women entered the advice
world in 1740 when Mrs. Eliza Haywood
at the Female Spectator and Miss Frances
Moore at the Old Maid added such col-
umns to their publications, firmly estab-
lishing the column as advice from ―agony
aunts.‖ (6) In contemporary papers,
blogs, and other social media posts, the
agony aunt or uncle still sees their role as
acknowledging the correspondent‘s story,
providing feedback, and sharing other
sources of help where needed. (8)
As recent agony aunts note the need
for advice still exists as does a means for
meeting others, and with the advent of
the comments section for such columns,
they still provide a way for readers to
chime with their own contribution on the
agony of love and other of life‘s adven-
tures.
__________________
( 1 )
h t t p s : / /
wordhistories.net/2017/01/27/agony-
column/
(2) Alice Clay (editor). The Agony Column
of the “Times”: 1800-1870. London: Chatto
and Windus, 1881. Page vi.
(3) Jean Palmer, Agony Column Codes and
Ciphers, England: Authors OnLine, 2005.
( 4 )
h t t p s : / /
wordhistories.net/2017/01/27/agony-
column/
(5) Robin Kent, Aunt Agony Advises. Lon-
don, W.H.Allen, 1979. Page 1.
(6) https://www.theguardian.com/
lifeandstyle/2009/nov/13/agony-aunts
(7) Petra Monica Boynton, ―Agony, Mis-
ery, Woe: A New Role For Media Advice
Columns‖ in The Lancet/Psychiatry. Vol-
ume 2. March, 2015, page 203.