From March 1902 until November 1905 the Devon and Exeter Gazette ran a series "The Talk at Uncle Tom Cobleigh's Club", partly comic, partly serious, written in the Devonshire dialect. A second series was created by A. J. Coles and published in the (Illustrated) Western Weekly News from July 1905 until the paper ceased publication in October 1939. The series was continued in the Western Times and Gazette until 1964. Both series included the character Jan Stewer (a character from Widecombe Fair) who recounted his experiences of the modern world in Devon dialect.Cock, Douglas J. (1980). Jan Stewer: A West Country Biography. Bradford-on-Avon: Moonraker Press. Coles's mother was from Willand in Devon. The first series sparked a popular correspondence from Devon natives around the world written in affectionate dialect as recollected at the time, the character even appearing on the BBC in the 1920s.
