YORKSGEN-L Archives

Archiver > YORKSGEN > 2002-06 > 1022926890


From: "Roy Stockdill" <>
Subject: Re: [YKS] local newspapers
Date: Sat, 1 Jun 2002 11:21:25 +0000
In-Reply-To: <3CF87B12.1010909@internet.co.nz>


graham dixon <> wrote.....

> In general when did newspapers per se start in UK and was there
> newsletters or flyers or the like before newsletters.
> In particular, how early in the 19th century can newspapers or
> newsletters or announcements or proclamations be found.
> In particular for Leeds and surrounding towns.<<

THE first newspaper to be published in Britain was by Thomas Archer
of Pope's Head Alley, Cornhill, London, in 1621, but no known copies
survive. The earliest surviving newspaper was called The Weekly
Newes, published the following year by Nathaniel Butler. However, it
confined itself entirely to reporting foreign news, lest it should
attract the attention of the notorious Star Chamber, which looked
severely on libel and sedition. The first daily newspaper was called
the Daily Courant and was published by E. Mallet from next door to
the King's Arms tavern at Fleet Bridge, London, launched in 1702. It
was also the Daily Courant that carried the first illustrated trade
advertisement (for a patent chocolate-making machine) in 1703, though
classified advertising had appeared in other papers earlier.

Some early Yorkshire newspapers.....

The York Courant started about 1750 and the York Chronicle in 1772.
In the East Riding, the Hull Advertiser started in 1794 and the Hull
Packet in 1800. The Leeds Mercury was an early paper in the West
Riding, starting around 1750, the Sheffield Advertiser from 1762 and
the Doncaster Journal from 1786. In the North Riding newspapers seem
to have come considerably later, the Scarborough Herald launching in
1836 and the Richmond Chronicle in 1856.

The British Newspaper Library at Colindale (part of the British
Library), which we have already discussed, has extensive runs of some
of these old papers. Go to the library's website -
http://www.bl.uk/collections/newspapers.html - and you will be able
to access the library's entire catalogue of holdings. Type in the
search box the name of the place you are interested in - Leeds, say -
and a period and you will be shown whatever newspapers the library
has for that time. However, you CANNOT access the actual newspapers
online. You will either have to make a personal visit if you ever get
to London, or get someone (a professional researcher perhaps) to go
there for you.

I will repeat my earlier advice for those who do manage to get to
Colindale. It is a fantastic place to research, but be aware that it
gets very busy and at times you can wait half an hour or more for
your volume (or film, since many newspapers have been microfilmed
now) to be brought to you. You can order up to FOUR items in advance
by either phoning, faxing or e-mailing them the day before.
Instructions on how to do this are on the website.

A final warning - in reading old newspapers, it is very easy to get
side-tracked down all kinds of byways that have nothing to do with
what you are actually looking for! Be prepared for this!!!

Roy Stockdill
Editor, the Journal of One-Name Studies
Editor, "My Ancestors Were..." series (Society of Genealogists)
Web page of the Guild of One-Name Studies:- www.one-name.org
Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History:- www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html

Never ask a man if he comes from Yorkshire. If he does he will tell you, if he does not why humiliate him? - Canon Sydney Smith

This thread: