Originally published in Pearson's Weekly (C. Arthur Pearson Ltd.) vol.2 #59 (05 Sep 1891).
The founder of this famous and indispensable traveller's companion was Mr. George Bradshaw, a Manchester Quaker. The exact date of the first issue is not known, copies of that issue being lost; the earliest copy known is dated October, 1839. The companies were at first vehemently opposed to Mr. Bradshaw's scheme, and refused to supply their tables, on the ground that doing so would make punctuality a sort of obligation, and that failure would bring penalties.
The publication was not always called "Bradshaw's Guide." It began as "Bradshaw's Time Tables," and was afterwards altered to "Bradshaw's Companion." The "Companion" languished on until 1848, coming out occasionally. There are about twenty numbers. It was Adams, the London agent, who urged the necessity of regular, instead of fitful, appearance, which alone could give value and certainty to the information.
This suggestion led the enterprising G. Bradshaw to mature yet a third scheme. He had, moreover, not yet satisfied himself as to the title. "Time Tables" was too narrow; "Companion" was trivial and unbusinesslike; "Guide" was more the thing. Accordingly, by December, 1848, the first regular railway aide was ready.
The original idea of Bradshaw, and one which he adhered to for some years, was that of a companion or assistant to the railway traveller, who would find himself guided to and through the various cities he visited, by maps, tables of hackney-coach fares, etc. He would have, besides, the times of starting of the various railways; but these, owing to the chances of alteration, could not be securely depended upon. The "times," as they came out, could be purchased separately in a sheet, whereas those that were pasted into "Bradshaw" might be out of date. By degrees the companies were induced to give information, and to issue their time-tables regularly; and the "Guide" took the shape with which we are so familiar.
On the London and Birmingham Railway there was a curious method in practice of classifying the fares, which seemed to be regulated by the number of persons in a compartment, and which varied according as it was day or night. It was then announced, with an almost axiomatic gravity, that "first-class trains stop at first-class stations," as though there were some fixed relations between both.
Little or no account, indeed, was taken of the "waggon" or "open carriage," as the phrase went, companies in these times seeming to hold the third-class passenger in horror. We find also allusions to what were called "glass coaches." "No smoking is allowed at the stations or in the company’s carriages." An annual subscription ticket from London to Brighton and back was fixed at the startlingly prohibitive figure of £100.