THE gas lights pierced the gloom of a Victorian Christmas in Southampton – 130 years ago today.

December 1894 had been mild for the first three weeks of the month, but as Christmas approached the winds veered to the northwest and colder weather arrived with frosts and snow showers to exposed areas.

However, even with this chillier weather, people out and about in Southampton were still enjoying the festive spirit.

Whisky was on sale in the High Street for 3s 2d (16p) a bottle, and French brandy was snapped up for 2s 8d (13p).

Festive fun was on offer at one Southampton theatre with a show depicting “our great Indian Empire”.

Speciality acts included “grotesque instrumentalists”, ventriloquists and humorous impersonations.

Ginnett’s Circus, then one of the best-known touring companies, had rolled into town with an exotic bill of acts which included horses, elephants, bears, bulls and monkeys.

Christmas shopping was still a high priority, though maybe not quite as frantic as today.

Christmas Eve was the time to buy, and a glimpse at the Daily Echo of the time shows the main purchases to have been gloves, tobacco, cigars and hosiery from Tuck’s in the High Street, then Southampton’s main shopping area.

Housewives still complained about the prices paid for food. Lipton’s store at 169 High Street stacked an array of cakes – currant, royal ginger, seed, genoa, Madeira and fig – for Christmas tea, at 5d (2p) per pound.

And slices of delicious ham and beef started at 6d a pound, with turkeys 11d to 1s (4p to 5p) a pound. Indian and Chinese tea sold at 1s and coffee, endorsed by Arabi Pasha, ex-Minister for War for Egypt, was sold at 10d to 1s 2d (3p to 6p).

Business was booming in Southampton in the late 1800s. Good news for Christmas was the opening of a margarine factory in Northam and a new carpet factory at the Back of the Walls providing jobs for 500 girls.

Christmas past and present for children has always held the same wondrous excitement. Youngsters attending National Schools broke up on December 23 with a rip-roaring party.

A slap-up meal of roast mutton and plum pudding was laid on, followed by fruit and cakes in the school room. For well-off Victorian youngsters Christmas Day was a time for blazing coal fires, turkey, roast beef, Christmas puddings and traditional fare on the table.

Comfort and jollity, amid the flickering shadows from the fire and the mistletoe and holly, filled the house. After dinner a box of presents was brought in with a gift for each member of the household.

Children enjoyed popular games such as hunt the slipper, musical chairs, postman’s knock and blind man’s buff.

But not all families were lucky enough to enjoy Christmas.

While the rich were able to celebrate the festive season in style, the poor were dying of malnutrition.

One teenage boy was imprisoned for four days and given 12 strokes of the birch for stealing a coat to keep himself warm.

An unnamed vagrant froze to death in a Southampton park. The report on his inquest read: “A man of about 60...showed a lack of nourishment, whilst in his pockets only a halfpenny and some pawn tickets were found.

“It was another of those sad cases we hear of so frequently...another man starved in the midst of plenty.”

For the poor hollow-cheeked tramp who dared to beg along the highway from West End to Swaythling, it was six days’ hard labour imposed by a Southampton magistrate.

A report in the first edition of the Daily Echo after Christmas stated: “The inmates of the Isle of Wight workhouse had a merry time on Christmas Day thanks to the generous remembrance of numerous friends who sent ample supplies of dessert and other presents.”