This article studies the frequency and contexts of mentioning the city of Petrozavodsk in the British press of 1850-1884, which included publications of the English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish counties. The use of an interdisciplinary method of content analysis made it possible to identify six contextual groups and divide all identified references into those related to: first, the production of steel and weapons; second, visits to the city by members of the imperial family; third, the construction of the railway; travel memories and travel recommendations; sixth, diseases in the city. The largest number of mentions of the city in the 19th century. falls on the Middle Victorian period and is thematically connected with military-industrial technologies, supplying the army. The thematic representation in the British press of the city of Petrozavodsk reflected the goals that the public and news agencies set for the British special correspondents sent to the North. On the pages of the British press, Petrozavodsk was presented as a center of military-industrial production, the achievements of which formed an opinion about the technical potential of the entire Russian Empire of the period under review.