KAIROS PRESS

Newtown Linford,

Leicester

1999

Magnificent

Mercury

History of a Regional Newspaper:

The first 125 years of the

by

Steve England,Librarian

to Home Page

books from

First Published in Great Britain byKAIROS PRESS

552 Bradgate Road, Newtown Linford, Leicester LE6 0HB1999

Copyright © Leicester Mercury, 1999

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in aretrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic,

mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission inwriting of the the copyright holders, nor be otherwise circulated in any form or

binding or cover other than the one in which it is published and without asimilar condition being imposed on the subsequent publisher.

ISBN 1-871344-21-2

Book design and layout by Robin Stevenson, Kairos PressBody text in Aldine 721 BT 10.5 pt.

Imagesetting by CDS Imaging, LeicesterCover design and film by Geoff Sanders, Creative Design Studio, Leicester Mercury

Printed in Great Britain by Norwood Press, Anstey, LeicesterBound by BadmintonPress, Syston, Leicester

CONTENTS

Page No

CHAPTER 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Setting the SceneBefore 1874

CHAPTER 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13The Birth1874 – 1900

CHAPTER 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Private Limited Company1900 – 1910

CHAPTER 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27First World War1910 – 1920

CHAPTER 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Public Company1920 – 1930

CHAPTER 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Unemployment & Newspaper Wars1930 – 1940

CHAPTER 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57War & Peace1940 – 1950

CHAPTER 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Mr Hewitt Sells Control1950 – 1960

CHAPTER 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Momentous Years1960 – 1970

CHAPTER 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Centenary Celebrations1970 – 1980

CHAPTER 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100The Arrival of Automation1980 – 1990

CHAPTER 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118Looking To The Future1990 – 1999

5

Dedicated to:Mr Terry Dwyer and the late Mr F Brian Thompson for their workon the official ‘Blue’ History of the Leicester Mercury; Miss Lisa

McQue for the loan of her PC; Janet Rowlands, Leigh-Ann Holland& Carole Inman; Mr Tony Foy, for helping me with the technology

behind the writing of this history; my wife, Sue, who now has meback under her feet on Sunday mornings; all former staff who have

contributed to this history.

A LASTING MEMORY MAKES A PERFECT GIFT

Many of the photographs in this book are available to order and make an excellent giftor an ideal reminder of personal memories.

These reprints from the original photographs reflect the changing face of Leicester overthe years*.

Reprints are available framed in a choice of quality mouldings for only £19.95 (postageextra).

Unframed prints are available at only £9.95 inc postage and packing.

Telephone orders 0116 222 4256 (24 hour answer phone).

Or write giving details of the page number and subject to:Martin Webbon, Leicester Mercury, St George Street, Leicester LE1 9FQ.

*print quality may vary dependent on the original.

Back cover photograph: A printer checks the first edition.

Endpapers: The first issue of the Leicester Daily Mercury, from Saturday January 31st 1879. The front

page was reset to match the original at the time of the Mercury centenary because the only copy inexistence was too mutilated to reproduce. Pages 2, 3 and 4 however are from the original type.

6

Chapter One

Setting the Scene

Before 1874

Queen Victoria had reigned since 1837 andwas to continue until her death in

January 1901. In November 1871, however,she was ‘deeply distressed’ by a speech by theradical MP Sir Charles Dilke at a meeting inNewcastle. He had denounced ‘the politicalcorruption that hangs about the monarchy’and called for Victoria to be deposed and arepublic established. Republicanism hadbeen given a boost by the novelist WilliamMakepeace Thackeray, who had delivered aseries of sneering attacks on Victoria’sHanoverian ancestors in his public lectureson The Four Georges. When he died in 1863,Victoria refused to allow him to be buried inPoets’ Corner in the south transept ofWestminster Abbey.

Liberal William Gladstone had beenPrime Minster since December 1868. Thedisestablishment of the Irish Church, theIrish Land Acts, the Education Actintroducing compulsory national elementaryeducation and the Ballot Act were among thegreat domestic measures of his government.

In Leicester, the population stood at95,083 according to the Census in 1871. Apopulation which rose from 17,000 to219,000 during the century not only had tobe clothed, fed and housed, it also had to beprovided with water, sanitation, transport,schools, hospitals and open spaces, as well asworkhouses, asylums and prisons.

To provide clean water, Thorntonreservoir was created in 1853, Cropston in1866 and Swithland in 1894. Each in turnproved inadequate. For sewage, a pumpingand drying station was erected near LeicesterAbbey. A number of obstructive mills wereblown up and the River Soar straightened toprevent floods after the passing of theLeicester Improvement, Drainage andMarkets Act in 1868 and a furtherImprovement Act in 1874.

The death rate began to fall and Leicestergradually changed from a most unhealthy toa fairly healthy town after the end of thecentury.

Below: Leicester in1868: Horsefair Streetlooking from GallowtreeGate before the TownHall was built.

7

The Mechanics’ Institute closed inJanuary 1870 and its books were freelypresented to the Central Library, which wasgiven by philanthropist Andrew Carnegieand erected on a site provided by the CityCouncil. The Town Museum had openedearlier in 1849, formed with a collection fromthe Literary and Philosophical Society, at theformer Proprietary School Building on NewWalk.

The Council had been meeting in theChamber of the Old Guildhall, butdiscussions had been taking place on thesubject of a new Town Hall. Two sites dividedthe opinions of the Council. The old CattleMarket in Horsefair Street and the propertyin Friar Lane formerly belonging to the lateMr Beaumont Burnaby and purchased by theCouncil in 1866. Friar Lane was decidedupon, but rescinded in September 1872 infavour of the site of the Old Cattle Market,which had closed on April 6, 1872 and movedto Aylestone Road. Competitive designs wereadvertised for, the cost not to exceed £30,000.The first prize was awarded to Mr F J Hamesof London, who was appointed architect forthe work. A memorial stone was laid near themain entrance by the Mayor, AldermanWilliam Kempson on August 3, 1874, and thebuilding formerly opened on August 7, 1876.

In November 1872, two competingcompanies gave notice of an application toParliament through the Board of Trade for aProvisional Order to authorize theconstruction of tramways in Leicester. TheBelgrave Road line was constructed first bythe Leeds Company and opened for horsetram traffic on December 24, 1874.

By 1800, there were many newspapers inthe country, but they were being printed,page by page, on handpresses and typeset,letter by letter, by hand compositors. Newshad to released as soon as possible to readersand mechanisation of the press was required.In 1800, the 3rd Earl of Stanhope developedstereotyping using plaster moulds. They werehowever too small for newspaper formats.Curved metal stereo plates for newspaperpresses were not made until over 54 yearslater.

Newspapers locally began as early as 1695with the Rutland and Stamford Mercury (noconnection with the Leicester Mercury), whichwas published in Stamford and is reputed tobe the oldest newspaper under the same titlein Britain.

Leicester’s first newspaper – the Leicesterand Nottingham Journal – was published onMay 12, 1753, by J Gregory, in the MarketPlace. It had four pages, each eleven inchesby sixteen and a half inches, with three three

and a quarter inch columns per page andsold for two and a half old pence.

News reported tended to bepredominantly national and its politics Tory.The date of each cable reproduced was given,often a fortnight old. In its early days,advertisements were few and far between.Some interesting ones included an appeal bya promoter for gentlemen to enter birds for acockfight between the counties ofLeicestershire and Warwickshire; a noticeabout the London to Nottingham stagecoach, which left every Monday and Fridayat 5am and arrived in Nottingham onTuesdays and Saturdays, and anannouncement of the forthcoming sale of theManor of Halstead, two freehold houses,three cottages, 464 acres, the tithes ofMarefield and third presentation to theliving of Tilton, let at a yearly rent of£274/15s.

The outbreak of the American War ofIndependence and later the wars with Francewhetted the appetite for news and led to thesetting up of newsrooms in the town. Mr WSimpson, of the Wheatsheaf, GallowtreeGate, boasted he could obtain the Londonnewspapers 20 hours sooner than any othernewsroom keeper, as he was a clerk to thestage coach.

Several weekly papers began in Leicester,usually in opposition to the Government.They had various fates, finding that theJournal had become quite established.

First came the Leicester Herald and theLeicester Chronicle in 1791. Twenty-fiveyear-old Richard Phillips was the founder ofthe Herald. He had started a commercialacademy, followed by a bookseller’s business,a pamphlet room with ‘the most extensiveassortments of new publications in Europe,’a music and pianoforte department, a‘Navigation Office’ for the buying and sellingof canal companies’ shares and a departmentfor the sale of patent medicines.

He ran a Literary Society and it was tomembers he suggested starting a newspaperwith Liberal leanings. On the eve ofpublication he found to his surprise thatthere was a rival. Another bookseller by thename of Thomas Combe issued placardsannouncing the birth of the Chronicle.Phillips contacted him and suggested anamalgamation, but Combe did not agree andso the Herald and the Chronicle came outtogether. Both fought hard, against eachother and against the Government, but soonfailed. The Chronicle went first, early in1793, threatened with prosecution by theGovernment for ‘much politicalanimadversion calculated to make the peoplediscontented with the Government.’ Two

® The first mechanicalpress, a hand-presswith a mechanism forlaying on and takingoff sheets andautomatic inking, wasmade by FriedrichKoenig and Andrew FBauer. It was not asuccess. The firstcylinder presses, alsobuilt by Koenig, wereused by The Times in1814, producing1,100 sheets an hour.Readers were proudlyinformed that theyheld in their hands ‘thegreatest improvementconnected with printingsince the discovery ofthe art itself.’

® Edward Cowperpatented perfectingpresses in 1818,which printed bothsides of a sheet forbook and periodicalproduction. Thesewere called‘Applegarth andCowper Royals’ andwere driven by steamand could later printbetween 800 and1,000 perfectedsheets an hour.

® The firsttypesetting machinewas devised by DrWilliam Church. Typewas stored in boxesand released by keysand transferred to achannel which actedas a composing stick.

® The Times wasprinted on Applegarthand Cowper flatbed‘four feeder’ pressesfor 10 years from1828. They reached aspeed of 4,200impressions an hourand took four men tolay on white paperand four to take offprinted sheets.

8

months later, Phillips was prosecuted for‘publishing seditious literature’ and was sentto prison for 18 months. He carried onpublishing from prison, but soon after he wasreleased, he had to close it down in June 1795.

For 15 years, the Journal continued as thesole newspaper in the area. In 1810, theLeicester Chronicle was re-launched with astaunch Whig outlook and had among itsproprietors Walter Ruding, Whig squire ofWestcotes Hall. It appealed, it claimed, to

‘the modest and judicious of allparties – the middle class ofrespectable and patriotic men inwhich the moral and intellectualhealth of Britain lives.’

Leicester philatelist and friend of KeirHardie, Mr P H Cooper, of Greenhill Road,who died in 1965, had in his possession a‘proclamation’ made by Thomas Martin,printer, of Market Place, Leicester. Thepamphlet records the original announcementof the publication of The Leicester Chronicle,No 1 issue, dated November 10, 1810. It wassubtitled the Commercial and AgriculturalAdvertiser. The final note in the pamphletstates:

‘They (the proprietors) make theirappeal to the moderate and judiciousof all parties – TO THE BIGOTS OFNONE. They address themselves tothat middle class of respectable andpatriotic men, in which the moraland intellectual health of Britainlives, not languidly, but vigorously. Ifthey obtain the suffrage of thisportion of their countrymen, theywill console themselves for theneglect and enmity of the remainder.’

In a continuing, unsuccessful attempt tofind a suitable editor, the paper was sold to aLancastrian, Thomas Thompson, whobecame proprietor, printer, publisher andeditor.

The Chronicle had vicious oppositionfrom the rival Journal, now owned byGregory’s son-in-law, John Price. However,both papers flourished and it was 17 yearsbefore another dared to challenge them.

In 1827 came the second Leicester Herald,founded as a Corporation organ, with a Toryoutlook. In an era when the Press wasshackled and not allowed to criticise local ornational government, owners and editorscontinually ran into trouble. The LeicesterCorporation prosecuted the Chronicle’sowner for severely criticising theadministration of justice in the borough – thecase was dismissed on technical grounds.

George Brown, a prominent 19th centuryLeicester Radical, poured scorn on the city’sfirst Tory newspaper, the Leicester Journal,and its owner, John Price. He said:

‘These curs (the Journal mongrels)were quiet and inoffensive beforethey were infested with the PriceMange; then they became viciousand almost rabid, snarling at theirbetters almost very Friday.’

The quotation is included in a review of‘The Press in Leicester’ as it was in the late18th and early 19th centuries, by DerekFraser, published by the LeicestershireArchaeological and Historical Society.

Mr Fraser relates that provincialnewspapers in the 19th century ‘could bothguide and reflect local public opinion.’During the 1790s, the presence in Leicesterof two radical newspapers forced theLeicester Journal to become outspoken in itspolitical bias and this continued for the firstdecade of the 19th century. There was inLeicester then a Tory journal willing toexpress Tory opinions, though the editorialas a separate column had not yet arrived. Thedevelopment of the editorial in the LeicesterJournal was accelerated by the presence ofJohn Price, first as a partner in 1803, and thenas proprietor in 1806. That it was Price whowas responsible for a consistent use of theeditorial did not go unnoticed by the RadicalGeorge Brown. From 1807 the editorial inthe ‘Leicester’ column, where a strong Torypoint of view was expressed, became thecentral feature of the newspaper. John Pricewas an important figure in the provincialTory Press from 1803 to 1831. In many townsit was Radical editors who pioneerededitorials and the leading of public opinion.

In many towns, also, the Tory press wasslow to copy its rivals. In Leicester, though,Price was by no means the first to useeditorials. He made full use of this newexpedient and under his guidance theLeicester Journal became an effective forcein local affairs. During the proprietorship of

® Stereotyping wasinvented in 1829using ‘flongs’ – layersof paper sandwichedwith glue, which wereimpressed on thetype by beating orrolling and used asmatrices to castmetalplates. It was1845 before curvedstereos for rotarypresses were madeand 1855 before theywere produced fornewspaper printing.

®Wood engravingreached a highstandard innewspaper illustrationduring the 1860s. Thephotographic halftoneplate, invented in1881, replaced themand by the end of thecentury there were 95process engraversworking in Londonand many moreoutside the capital.

® The firstnewspaper rotarypress to print from acontinuous reel ofpaper was inventedby William Bullock in1865. He met anuntimely end whenhis clothes werecaught up in one ofhis Americanpresses. His machinewas improved on byHoe in Britain and itwas to become one ofthe commonest andmost durableletterpress machinesfor newspaperprinting. The HoeDouble Supplementpress printed 24,000copies an hour andby 1887 eight of themwere used in thiscountry.Above: The proclamation made by Thomas

Martin, printer, of Market Place, Leicester,announcing the publication of The LeicesterChronicle in 1810.

9

John Price, the Leicester Journal was neverthe tool of the Corporation, but another Torypaper, the Leicester Herald, definitely was.Begun in 1827 by Henry Joseph Wilkinson,later to be dismissed for irregularities fromthe post of retiring officer, it supported theinterests of the ‘Old True-Blue Flag.’ It was acompletely scurrilous publication, claimingthat its editor had duties more importantthan animadversions upon matters of generalpolicy – a reference to its frequent malignantattacks upon individuals. Its remarks sooninvolved Wilkinson in libel suits and in oneof them he was ordered to pay Richard Cooke£50 and Cave Brown £30. His inability to payresulted in a prison sentence, during whichtime the Leicester Herald was run by WilliamVickers, under whom, to his cost, wasrevealed the influence of the Corporationover it.

The weekly Leicestershire Mercury burst onto the scene in 1836. Staunchlynonconformist, it was edited, printed andpublished by Albert Cockshaw from offices inHigh Street. At first it cost 7d, but with thereduction of the stamp duty on newspapersthis was reduced to 4d within a few weeks.

Mr Walter Cockshaw of Shropshire Roadin Leicester informs me Albert Cockshawwas his great great uncle and he describes theLeicestershire Mercury as the forerunner ofa free independent press, a symbol of thefuture. Walter left school in 1934 and his first

job as copy boy in the proof-readingdepartment of the Leicester Mercury.

Mrs Enid Allison of Wicklow Drive,Leicester, also tells me Albert Cockshaw wasa relative, her third great great uncle. She sayshe was quite a character and a pioneer in hisday. His father Isaac was an art master, bookseller, engraver and printer. He ran anacademy for young gentlemen and had oneof the earliest circulating art libraries in thecountry. After his death in 1818, his two sons,Albert and Isaac Junior, carried on thebusiness in High Street, but later Isaac Junioropened a shop in Gallowtree Gate oppositethe Three Crowns Hotel, which was thenlocated at the corner of Horsefair Street.

Albert was a dedicated radical andnon-conformist. Acutely aware of thepoverty and misery that surrounded him, heused the printed word to help to change theorder of things. Along with other reformers,he advocated the disestablishment of theChurch, the abolition of slavery, extendedsuffrage and the abolition of the Church rate.

His former news room at his house waslet as a general committee room and it washere that the Leicester Literary andPhilosophical Society was launched on May15, 1835. Alfred Paget was the provisionalSecretary and George Shaw, Esq, MD, was inthe Chair. The Leicester Medical Society alsoused the premises.

He was always in conflict with the town’sCorporation. After publishing one of hismany pamphlets in 1833, entitled ‘A letter tothe People of Leicester on Corporate Reform,dedicated (without permission) to the Mayorand Magistrates,’ he was charged with libelalong with the editor of the LeicesterChronicle, who also published it. The wholeaffair provoked questions in the House ofCommons. The charges were dismissed,however, when it came before the King’sBench Division, on an objection by thedefendant’s counsel. This was certainly ablow to the town’s Corporation, who hadbrought the case.

On the Mercury staff was the localeminent Chartist, Thomas Cooper. He wasfound to be contributing to another newpaper, the Midland Counties Illuminator. Hewas sacked and became the Illuminator’seditor in 1840, at 30 shillings a week. Heeventually owned it, but it failed and for twoyears he ran a succession of otherunsuccessful Chartist newspapers –Chartists’ Rushlight, The Extinguisher,Commonwealthian and Chartist Pioneer.

Albert Cockshaw was overwhelmed bythe many enterprises he was engaged in andhe was declared bankrupt in 1840, but hisstrong beliefs were unshaken. He moved to

® The firstmechanical folder tobe attached to arotary press was atthe North British DailyMail in 1870.Previously, flat sheetswere delivered tovendors, whoemployed newsboysto hand-fold thembefore deliveringthem.

® Newspaper taxwas introduced in1712 and abolished in1855. It started atabout one penny acopy but had risen tofour pence by 1815when The Times costseven pence. Bothnewspapers andreaders resented thetax and there weremany attempts atevading it, includingfaking newspaperstamps.

Below: John Biggs.

10

London, where he was appointed to theexecutive committee of the Anti-StateChurch Association. He was also a member ofthe Liberation Society and was associatedwith the publication of the ‘Nonconformist’journal.

Albert Cockshaw died on December 10,1870, at his son-in-law’s house at OultonHall, near Stone, in Staffordshire, where hehad resided for some years. The final wordsin his obituary in the Leicester Chronicle ofDecember 17 say: ‘He no doubt with vividremembrance of the past is happy in thechange to the Great Presence in which he nowlives’ – a final epitaph to a man who struggledto change the shape of our society.

The Leicestershire Mercury continued, butwith one proprietor following another. In 1843it was in the hands of J Burton. Seven yearslater, Burton’s former partner, G H Smallfield,took charge, but found it was too much tomanage and sold his interest to the Biggsfamily, hosiery manufacturers. J F Hollings,a headmaster and brother-in-law of John andWilliam Biggs, was entrusted with the job ofrunning the paper.

In Loughborough, the town’s firstnewspaper, The Loughborough Telegraph,was born in 1837. It must have achieved somesuccess, because its wider circulation resultedin the title change to The Leicester,Nottingham and Derby Telegraph. But it didnot last, because of the crippling governmentstamp duty of 4d a copy. In 1859, Mr JohnGray started the Loughborough Monitor,which was printed in the Angel Yard, offMarket Place. It was later renamed theLoughborough Monitor, Castle Donington,Ashby and Melton Herald, showing itsincreased circulation. Mr Rollings Leebought it for £45 in 1862 and merged the titlewith the Loughborough News in 1870 tobecome the Loughborough Monitor andNews. Two more new publications, theLoughborough Advertiser andLoughborough Herald, were later bought bythe Monitor.

The Leicester Herald had, for the secondand last time, gone out of existence in 1842.The Leicester Advertiser, named originallyPayne’s Leicester and Midland CountiesAdvertiser, was launched as an auctioneer’ssheet, published ‘for the purpose offacilitating business’ and it cost two and a halfpence in contrast to the four and half pencecharged for most other papers by now. Itsoriginal neutrality and commercial aim wassacrificed to become the second Tory paper.

James Thompson, the historian, tookcontrol of the Leicester Chronicle. He was aman highly regarded in Leicester, havinghelped to found the Mechanics Institute and

the Leicester Historical and ArchaeologicalSociety and was honorary curator of thetown’s museum. The paper made rapidprogress. He was soon able to acquire theLeicestershire Mercury as well and in 1864he merged the two under the banner ofLeicestershire Chronicle and Mercury, withoffices in the Market Place. It became themost ‘sympathetic’ newspaper in its attitudetowards Chartism in the county. Between1846 and 1850, the Leicestershire Mercury’scirculation rose from 750 to 1,100.

In 1848, two young men anxious to learnthe printing trade entered Mr JamesThompson’s office. They were FrancisHewitt and Thomas Windley – both weredestined in due course to become Mayors ofLeicester. Francis Hewitt was born in May,1832, into a family of farmers, who lived inthe Naseby area on the county border ofLeicestershire and Northamptonshire. Hisfather died when he was twelve and he had toearn a living. Thomas Windley recalled‘They were the days of Tom Cooper and theChartist risings, the days when Leicestermustered perhaps 40,000 population, whenthe staple industry was the hosiery trade andthe Leicester working man was noted over

Above: JamesThompson, historian,who took over TheLeicester Chronicle.

11

the country for his gaunt visage and hisextreme poverty; times when the municipalfranchise was limited to a few hundreds ofburgesses, when strikes and lockouts wereannual occurrences, when books were scarceand newspapers were dear. Those were thedays of toil and struggle for freedom, forjustice, for enfranchisement, for civil andreligious liberty.’

Hewitt and Windley were indenturedwith two others at four shillings a week,rising annually by one shilling a week for thefollowing six years. Not exactly modelapprentices, (on one or two occasions, theywere known to have taken half-days off andeven return from a weekend at Hewitt’suncle’s farm at Welford a day late, havingwalked there and back – a round trip of 40miles), they did however progress well andHewitt eventually became an assistantreporter, having learnt Pitman’s shorthand.Francis Hewitt saw the prospect ofadvancement in sales and in 1859 went intopartnership in a stationer’s and bookseller’sbusiness at Caxton House, 80 Granby Street,opposite the former Picture House. Verysoon, his partner retired, leaving him as soleproprietor.

He asked Francis Drake, a Leicesterarchitect and Fellow of the Society of Arts, todesign him a new shop front in 1868. Twoyears earlier he had been elected to the Boardof Guardians of the Poor and was renownedas a reformer.Above: Thomas Cooper, Leicester Chartist Leader.

12

Chapter Two

The Birth

1874 – 1900

James Thompson had for a long time toyedwith the idea of starting a daily Liberal

paper in Leicester and the failure of otherpeople’s attempts did not deter him. Hepublished the very first evening newspaper inLeicester on January 31, 1874, at 3 StMartin’s, Leicester.

James was born five years after his fatherbought the Chronicle and his main educationwas entrusted to the minister of GreatMeeting, the chapel in which the very soul ofLeicester piety and radicalism was nurturedin the 18th and 19th centuries. After joininghis father as a Chronicle reporter, he becamejoint proprietor in 1841 and sole owner in1864.

His evening publication was a halfpennypaper, consisting of four pages, each 20 in by14 in, with five columns to the page. The frontpage was devoted entirely to advertisements,with more on page two. Most were Liberalelection addresses or notices in the first issue,as the General Election was due to be held.Readers were told that it was ‘published daily(except Fridays) at 3pm and 6pm.’ It wasphysically impossible to publish two papers

(including the weekly LeicestershireChronicle and Mercury) on Fridays and sothe Leicester Daily Mercury, as it was named,did not appear on that day. After only threeweeks, the publishing times were changed to4pm and 6pm.

In the first issue, the leader, notunexpectedly, extolled the Liberal viewpointand the back page was devoted to a report ofa ‘Great Liberal Demonstration’ at the CornExchange to adopt two Liberal candidates forthe Borough, P A Taylor and A McArthur.Page three contained news, much of it aboutLiberal prospects in other constituencies. Ina three-line paragraph, readers wereinformed that ‘the laying down of thetramway rails have been commenced – thefirst rail was laid on Tuesday near thehorse-trough on the Belgrave Road.’ Note thegrammatical error – it was certainly not thelast mistake. For the first three days of thefollowing week, the date above the leadercolumn appeared as: Monday, February 2;Monday, February 3 and Monday,February 4!

Amusingly, on the front page of the firstedition, there was an advertisement whichinformed the reader:

Above: St Martin’s, Leicester, in 1974 with itstraffic and modern lighting – No. 3 St Martin’s,in the centre, was the first home of the LeicesterMercury.

1874® Advertisementswere accepted at theminimum rate oftwenty words for 6dfor one insertionrising to sixty wordsfor six insertions for5/6d. Each additionalword would cost onehalfpenny and sixinsertions qualified forone free insertion inthe Chronicle as well.

® The principalagents from whomcopies could bebought werepublished, with MrHewitt of GranbyStreet heading thelist. It also mentionedMr Oldershaw ofGranby Street, MrBent of Town HallLane, Mr Catlow ofHumberstone Gate,Mrs Emery ofBelgrave Gate and MrBradley of WelfordRoad.

Above: No. 3 StMartin’s in 1974 fromthe rear.

First edition of The Leicester Daily Mercury.(The full four pages of this edition are reproducedon the end-papers of this book.)

13

‘Whereas a paper has been publishedconnected with the Advertiser, aTory print called the LeicesterEvening Times, the imprint being JHunter, 3 Horsefair Street, Mr JamesHunter, of 26 New Walk, begs toinform the public that he has noconnection with the miserableproduction in question and uponcalling upon Mr Cox for anexplanation he said it was his Super-intendent’s wife’s maiden name.’

Leicester went to the polls on its fourthday of publication and the leader of theprevious evening made it clear what itintended the voters to do:

‘Tomorrow between the hours of 8and 4 the electors of Leicester willrecord their suffrages under the ballotfor the candidates of whom theyapprove. We cannot doubt what willbe the result. Messrs Taylor andMcArthur will obtain a majority ofthousands over the misguided younggentleman who has consented to bepolitically pilloried to please theTories of Leicester.’

In the event, Taylor received 7,408 votes,McArthur 7,283 and the ‘misguided younggentleman’ named Warner, 5,615. DespiteLeicester’s preference for Gladstone, Disraelihad won.

With the election over, more room wasfound for news and advertisements. Thepaper gave much space to the progress of theAshanti War and a certain amount also to thebringing home of the remains of DavidLivingstone and the internment inWestminster Abbey.

As a historian, James Thompson wishedto continue to tell the story of Leicester, notfrom hindsight, but day by day, as ithappened. Production was largely by hand –handwriting, hand typesetting and handcartsfor the distribution of his editions. The salein the early days was small at about 5,000

copies a day. James employed 25 people, notcounting the newsboys, who were apparentlyso unruly that each afternoon a policemanhad to be on hand to keep them in order.

Thomas Windley recalls: ‘It was toadvocate reforms that the Leicester Mercurywas started and among its contributors werethe Rev J P Mursell, Edward Miall, WilliamBiggs and other well-known reformers.’

James was an energetic campaigner forthe preservation of old Leicester and for thecreation of modern facilities to meet the city’sgrowing needs. He called for a ‘People’s Park’in an area of land reclamation in AbbeyMeadows on the River Soar. Eventually, thepark was designed by a Derbyshire firm, butit was so like the one James imagined, that itwould be natural to suppose they knew of hisideas.

Through the columns of his newspapers,he was a fiery crusader in matters of publicwelfare, campaigning vigorously for bettersanitation and drainage in the city, which, hebelieved, was far more important thatbuilding a new Town Hall, extending theMarket Place or renovating the Post Office.The Town Council, which held its meetingjust round the corner at the Guildhall,constantly came under fire.

James Thompson died on May 20 1877at the age of 60 after years of fighting off theeffects of an incurable disease and the townmourned the passing of a great editor, who,it was said, had brought ‘dignity andauthority’ to the status of newspapers.

The tributes spoke of him as a reformingleader writer (he had written practicallyevery leader in the Chronicle for 30 years), amost courageous opponent of abuses, everready with his pen to advocate local andnational reforms.

Early in 1877 he saw a threat toLeicester’s 14th century Guildhall and cameout strongly on the side of its conservation.He did not live to see the outcome of his plea,nor was he to see the construction of Abbey

Park.

When he died, a pocket edition ofhis great history of Leicester, which hehad published in two parts, in 1849 and1871, was being distributed as a timelymemorial to a great man of Leicester.

Francis Hewitt was 45 years of agewhen James Thompson’s death gavehim the opportunity to buy theLeicester Daily Mercury and theLeicestershire Chronicle and Mercuryfrom Thompson’s executors. The lateMr P H Cooper of Greenhill Road,Leicester, had in his possession theoriginal transfer agreement of theLeicester Chronicle to Mr Hewitt.

1874® The rateable valueof property inLeicester (on March25 1874) was£289,508 and therates stood at 7/4d inthe pound, but thiscaused no concerncompared with thatover the income taxof 4d in the pound.Organisations rose upall over the country toput pressure on theGovernment toabolish income tax,which was then in its33rd year. It was at itslowest (it had been1/4d in 1856-57) but itwas claimed that itwas a grossly unfairand unnecessary tax.When, on April 16,1874, the Chancellorof the Exchequer (SirStafford Northcote)announced a usefulsurplus, he alsocalmed the publicagitation somewhatby reducing incometax to 3d. In 1875, itfell another penny,but from that pointstarted the upwardtrend which, in spiteof spasmodic smallfluctuations, resultedin the 10/- in thepound rate during theSecond World War.

After just over three months, staff felt the need for a more powerfulprinting press. It had started with a Wharfedale, which it now advertisedfor sale:

‘To newspaper proprietors. To be sold, cheap, second-handtwo-feeder single cylinder news machine now used in the printingof the Leicester Chronicle and Mercury and sold in consequence ofsetting up more powerful machinery. Will print a sheet 52” x 32”.’

To print with this machine meant cutting each page first, printingeach side separately and then passing it through a folding machine. Thetype used was bourgoise, brevier, minion and nonpareil. Headings werenever across more than one column and they were inclined to containadjectives which expresses an opinion: horrible, tragic, amusing, etc.

A Victory web machine was bought and it was an improvement,although the process was still extremely laborious judged by today’smodern standards.

14

Three generations of the Hewitts, Top left: Francis, Top right:Frank and Below Right: F Vernon.

Below: F Hewitt, Bookseller, Stationer and General NewsAgent of 14 and 15 Granby Street, Leicester – his advertisementin 1865.

15

Mr Tony Waddington of Witney, Oxfordshire, hassend me an eight-page pamphlet, entitled Sixty YearsWith The Press (1881-1941) by former sports writer SamBerridge. He writes: ‘It was on May 2, 1881, when youngSam Berridge walked into the Mercury office in StMartin’s for an interview with the manager, Mr James(Jimmy) Thompson. He was not alone either, foranother boy was there also and each, we found out later,thought we were competitors for the vacancy. That wasnot so, for there were two openings and we both got ajob. Thus Sam Berridge and J E (‘Jimmy’) Blockley, wholater became head of the stereo-typing department,where closely associated for many years. The first thingthat attracted my attention whilst waiting for thatinterview was a placard standing against the wall in thevestibule that read ‘Death of Lord Beaconsfield,’ whichhad occurred a week or so previously. In due course Iwas apprenticed as a compositor. By the way, I amwriting these recollections on the late Mr FrancisHewitt’s desk on which I signed my indentures,situated, I was told, in the room in which Mr T T Paget,the subsequent banker and MP for South Leicestershirefor many years, was born.

Besides the Leicester Daily Mercury, as it was thentitled, the Loughborough Herald and the Melton MowbrayMercury and Oakham and Uppingham News (twobi-weeklies) and the Leicester Chronicle and Mercury, aweekly publication largely sought for its serial storiesand general and district news of the week, were thepapers turned out by a comparatively small staff. But allwere happy in their lot and made the most of theopportunity as piece-time compositors, whilst theapprentices were set a task according to age, with a fewcoppers per 1,000 ens in excess of that task. Weapprentices were not confined to the case all the time.

There were other jobs to do. Every Saturday morning Iwas detailed to take the ‘L C and M’ second editionforme from St Martin’s to Lamb and Palmer’s in GranbyPlace. It was only a single slip-in sheet that constitutedthe second edition, but that forme hung rather heavybefore the journey either way was complete.

The Francis Hewitt and Son enterprise made rapidheadway. It really commenced when everyone wasastounded when the Saturday issue containing 12 pagesfor half a penny made its appearance. From that time,the Mercury became an even more household necessityas a result of its news value and advertising medium.

A further step along the path of progress was whenMr Francis Hewitt acquired the Leicester Daily Post,previously controlled by the Rev Joseph Wood,chairman of the Leicester School Board and Minister atWycliffe Congregational Church. Mr Angus Galbraith,editor of the Mercury, was transferred to the Post in asimilar capacity, with Mr Harry Hackett, the chiefreporter, commencing a long and honoured career aseditor of the Leicester Mercury (in 1882).

In my early days at St Martin’s, the only transportavailable was a handcart, supplemented by a cab in anemergency. It was on a Friday morning after theChronicle run had not been any too smooth. ‘Fetch afly,’ ordered the manager. A four-wheeler was obtainedfrom a nearby cab rank and off we go post haste for theMidland Station in Campbell Street, but not for far. Atthe top of Grey Friars, there was a sudden stop and itwas found that a piece of the cab floor had given wayunder the weight of the parcels. That cabby didn’t halflet go. What he said about the Chronicle and everyoneconnected with it would not pass any editor in theseenlightened days. But we weathered the storm andremained to see many alterations for the better.’

16

The Granby Street bookseller had servedhis apprenticeship with James Thompson inwhat historians now record as the ‘HungryForties,’ when the people of Leicester, ingreat masses, were workless and starving, agrim forerunner to the prosperity which the20th century was to bring to the city ofLeicester.

For ten years after becoming the owner ofthe Mercury, he retained his bookshop andhis flair for knowing what the public wantedwas shown when, during the Egyptian wars,he placed in his windows copies of theIllustrated London News and other pictorialperiodicals with their graphic reproductionof war scenes – the police had to be called tocontrol the crowds surging round the shop tolook at the pictures.

He had been elected to the Board ofGuardians in 1866 and in 1871 had beaten aTory by 255 to 18 votes for a seat on the TownCouncil, representing North St Margaret’sWard. He had also given active assistance toLiberal parliamentary candidates and shortlyafter the general election of 1880, which sawGladstone and the Liberal Party at the headof the polls, the Liberals of the NorthLeicestershire constituency persuaded himto establish two more newspapers, theLoughborough Herald and the MeltonMowbray Mercury. Two years later hebought the Leicester Daily Post, a morningnewspaper which had been founded by aNottingham man. It was published from 39Humberstone Gate, now the Mannie SocialClub, with the Rev J Woods as editor.

Ready-set type used to be taken from theLeicester Mercury offices in St Martin’s toHumberstone Gate by hand-truck. On oneoccasion this truck collapsed under theweight in Cank Street and the type wasspilled all over the road. He now owned fivenewspapers.

Francis left the Town Council for healthreasons after his first term ended, but in 1878he had sufficiently recovered to allow hisname to go forward in the place of his friendThomas Windley, who had been made analderman. He was returned unopposed andin 1882 he was elected Mayor of Leicester.During his year of office, the Mayoresspresented him with a son and to celebrate theevent they were presented by the boroughwith a silver cradle. His son was given thename Leicester to mark the occasion. Thiswas Francis Hewitt’s second son in sevenchildren. By his first wife he had a son,Francis, and a daughter. After her death, hemarried Miss Elizabeth Cook, by whom hehad four daughters and a son. Both sons weredestined to join their father’s business, theelder at the age of 27 becoming a partner withhis father in 1888 by which time the Mercuryhad doubled its circulation to 10,000 a day.

1888 was an important year in theLeicester Mercury’s history. The premises inSt Martin’s had become wholly inadequate.The publications were being even morewidely read and set a standard of journalismwhich was fully recognised. The businessacquired property in Albion Street andWellington Street. It had been up for auction

Opposite page: ATriumphal Arch erectedin Belgrave Gate

specially for the RoyalVisit of the Prince andPrincess of Wales whenthey came to open theAbbey Park in May1882.

Left: Albion Streetoffices were completedfor occupation in 1890 –the architect hadincorporated this strikingheraldic griffin

sculpture.

17

in 1883 and when it came on to the marketagain Francis bought it for £4,900. Itcontained three cottages in Albion Street,numbers 25, 27 and 29, an engineer’s shop,stables and three malthouses. The cottagesmade way for the boiler-house entry andpublishing office, the engineer’s premises forthe front office and the stable for the sideentrance. Completion came in 1890 and themove from St Martin’s was made. It was to bethe home of the evening paper and itsassociated weeklies for nearly 80 years untilthe move the St George Street in 1967.

Francis found he could no longercombine the editorship with his many otherduties, therefore in 1890 he appointed MrHarry Hackett, an employee of 12 years, as thefirst non-proprietor editor. Francis was onthe Board of directors of the PressAssociation and in 1892 he was electedchairman (an honour in the newspaperworld) and he took part in the moving of theheadquarters from Wine Office Court, offFleet Street, to better premises in New BridgeStreet, Blackfriars. Later, he was alsoPresident of the Newspaper Society, theprovincial newspapers’ employers’organisation and did much to unitemanagements under the Society’s banner.

To celebrate the move to Albion Street,he entertained staff and a few leadingLeicester business men to dinner in whateventually became the composing room.

Mr Sam Berridge recalls the move: ‘It wasa great day when we entered the more

spacious and convenient premises in AlbionStreet in 1889, which really marked thebeginning of rapid growth of an up-to-dateand enterprising newspaper venture. Beforethe actual commencement of business in thenew building, however, Mr Francis Hewittentertained the staff to dinner in what was tobe the composing room in celebration of theoccasion. Mr Hewitt’s guests includedseveral personal friends and well-knownlocal businessmen. Thus the composingroom made history at the very outset. We hadalready replaced the Wharfdale with aVictory web machine whilst at St Martin’s,but it was not long before that was scrappedin favour of the more up-to-date and rapidHoe Rotary presses. This was a revelationindeed, for where in the old Wharfdale daysa paper had three operations – printing eachside separately and then feeding each sheetthrough a folding machine. But the Hoe didaway with all that by feeding from a reel ofpaper some four and a half miles long toproduce the finished article and counted intodozens into the bargain.’

It was not long before the first fourlinotype setting machines were bought, thefirst to introduce linotype in Leicester andone of the first in the Midlands. By 1894 theLeicester Mercury circulation figures hit15,000 copies a day and extra staff werecontinually being engaged and newmachinery purchased. In 1895 a secondone-unit web press was bought.

Right: Harry Hackett,the Leicester Mercury’sfirst non-proprietoreditor.

1895® The average wageof a compositor wasbetween 28 shillingsand 30 shillings aweek and there wasno limit to the amountof hours he might beasked to work. If hecould write, he woulddouble up as areporter as well.

® To be first with thestory was the name ofthe game – even if itmeant setting thetype for a court caseheld elsewhere at alocal firm of printersand bringing it back.A simultaneous firebell as that whichwould alert the FireBrigade in BowlingGreen Street wouldsound and the fireengine would have aplace reserved for areporter from theLeicester Mercury!

18

Francis was spending more and moretime in the healing environment ofHunstanton as his health was failing, leavinghis eldest son, Francis, more usually calledFrank, more and more in charge. In 1897, atthe age of 65, Francis died after a long anddistinguished career of public service. Ashelter was erected to the memory of Francisin Hunstanton on the cliff tops overlookingthe sea in 1898. The local council renovatedthe shelter in the early 1980s.

The newspaper undertook changes in theeditorial make-up, in line with many otherpapers. Readers were more educated andwanted general knowledge as well as the latestnews in their paper. Useful hints onhousekeeping and cookery found their wayinto the weeklies, with supplementscontaining a serial story by a well-knownauthor. Illustrations in the form of drawings,mostly portraits, were frequently used.

Frank’s early training had been on thecommercial side of the business and he oftenjoked that the editorial side constituted the‘overhead expenses.’ He started dailyeditorial conferences, attended by himself,the editor, chief sub-editor and the manager,Mr James Thomson, a genial Scot who hadbeen in the position since 1877.

For half an hour, they would discuss themain news items of the day and decide whatand how they should be featured. Specialeditions with outstanding news of the daybecame more frequent. 1892 saw the first one– the death of the Duke of Clarence, eldest sonof the future King Edward VII – and othersfollowed – an account of the execution of aLoughborough murderer in 1894 and a traindisaster at Wellingborough in 1898.

Left: The FrancisHewitt shelter atHunstanton.

Below: The NewsRoom on the corner ofBelvoir Street andGranby Street, Leicester,built in 1898.

Bottom: Detail of thecarvings in a archway atthe News Room. It hasbeen suggested the twofigures representThought and Study.

19