extended and changed at various intervals over the years. A sure sign of a town 'up and coming' was the advertisement of a 'light coach, setting out from Leeds to Scarborough returning to Malton to dine.' In the last year of the 18th century, there was a famine in the area, and a soup kitchen was set up in a brew house in the town. The Earl Fitzwilliam of the time subscribed to a fund, which helped provide 'good strong soup' for the hungry poor. In 1801 the population of Old and New Malton numbered 3,788. The workhouse contained 15 elderly people and 17 children. In 1809 Malton's Talbot Hotel was extended and modernised with a third floor being added and new stables being constructed across the road from the hotel. The town's Assembly Rooms were opened in 1814, a place in which 'polite society' could mingle. An 1833 Gazeteer stated that New Malton did a great deal of trade in coal, corn, butter, etc. There were two churches, four meeting houses for "dissenters", a free school and a national school. A bridge connected this town to Old Malton. Several schools or academies were operating by the 1820s, on a fee basis. According to the 1840 edition of White’s Gazetteer, Malton's "town and suburbs have much improved during the last twenty years, by the erection of houses; and gas works were constructed in 1832." The streets of Malton were lit with gas for the first time on 12 November 1832; the first electric light was lit in 1893, powered by a dynamo, in a single location. By 1867, the Malton Waterworks was supplying residents with water. By 1835, medical care was being provided at The Dispensary on Saville Street; this was a predecessor of the Malton Cottage Hospital which would not open until August 1905, funded by donations and a subscription. As late as 1841, dental care was provided by barbers; a Mr. Moseley was a prominent "surgeon-dentist". Newspapers were well established in 1855, when the tax on newspapers was repealed. The Malton Messenger and The Malton & Norton Gazette were both weekly publications. In 1856, the town was policed by the North Riding, with four men and a superintendent. Thomas Wilson was the Chief Police Officer. The Malton Town Gaol had been opened decades earlier. Work on new police house started in October 1893. By 1881, the Malton Fire