The
Daily Chronicle was a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
newspaperA newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
that was published from 1872 to 1930 when it merged with the
Daily NewsThe Daily News was a national daily newspaper in the United Kingdom.The News was founded in 1846 by Charles Dickens, who also served as the newspaper's first editor. It was conceived as a radical rival to the right-wing Morning Chronicle. The paper was not at first a commercial success...
to become the
News ChronicleThe News Chronicle was a British daily newspaper. It ceased publication on 17 October 1960, being absorbed into the Daily Mail. Its offices were in Bouverie Street, off Fleet Street, London, EC4Y 8DP, England.-Daily Chronicle:...
.
History
The newspaper was founded in 1872 as the
ClerkenwellClerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. From 1900 to 1965 it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance...
News, as a halfpenny, (ha'penny) newspaper. In 1876, it was purchased by
Edward LloydEdward Lloyd was a British publisher.Born in Thornton Heath, Lloyd studied shorthand at the London Mechanics' Institution, then wrote a book on stenography. Before he was eighteen, he had opened shops in London to sell cheap books and valentines.From 1835, he began publishing cheap books, many...
, renamed the
Daily Chronicle and relaunched across
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Circulation soon increased from 8,000 to 140,000 copies an issue.
Under a succession of editors, the paper gained respect and by 1914 its circulation exceeded the combined sales of
The TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
,
Daily Telegraph,
Morning PostThe Morning Post, as the paper was named on its masthead, was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by The Daily Telegraph.- History :...
,
Evening StandardThe Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
and the
Daily GraphicThe Daily Graphic: An Illustrated Evening Newspaper was the first American newspaper with daily illustrations. It was founded in New York in 1873 by a firm of Canadian engravers and began publication in March of that year...
.
Most of Britain's national newspapers were published in support of political parties, and the
Daily Chronicle was no exception: it supported the left-wing of the
Liberal PartyThe Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
and
David Lloyd GeorgeDavid Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
and the British participation in
World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. One of its reporters was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who became famous for his
Sherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
detective stories.
On 9 April 1918,
Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
David Lloyd George misled the
House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
about the strength of the
British ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
. Sir
Frederick MauriceMajor-General Sir Frederick Barton Maurice, 1st Baronet GCB GCMG GCVO DSO was a British general, military correspondent, writer and academic...
wrote a letter to the leading newspapers and accused David Lloyd George of misleading
ParliamentThe Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
, but instead of making an enquiry into the allegations, Maurice was force to retire from the British Army. He was then hired as a military correspondent by the
Daily Chronicle.
This action angered Lloyd George who formed a group (
United NewspapersUBM plc is a magazine publisher, news distributor and events organiser providing business information services principally to the technology, healthcare, media, automotive and financial services industries...
) to purchase the newspaper and get rid of Maurice. The editor then resigned in protest over what amounted to censorship. Following a succession of owners the newspaper was subsequently bought in 1926 by Sir David Yule of
Bricket WoodBricket Wood is a village in the county of Hertfordshire, England, approximately 4½ miles from St Albans. It is part of the parish of St Stephen. Its railway station is served by a London Midland service that runs between St Albans Abbey and Watford Junction stations.Close to the village stands...
,
HertfordshireHertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
In 1930, the
Daily Chronicle merged with the
Daily News to form the
News ChronicleThe News Chronicle was a British daily newspaper. It ceased publication on 17 October 1960, being absorbed into the Daily Mail. Its offices were in Bouverie Street, off Fleet Street, London, EC4Y 8DP, England.-Daily Chronicle:...
.
The paper featured
Tim, Toots and Teeny as one of their cartoon strips, as mentioned in the
Lesser Known British Comic StripsA number of comic strips in British newspaper ran for many years, but little information is still available on them. This page will list some that were published and hope their history could possibly be expanded....
page.
Editors
- 1872: J. A. Manson
- 1877: R. Whelan Boyle
- 1890: Alfred Ewan Fletcher
- 1895: Henry William Massingham
Henry William Massingham was an English journalist, editor of The Nation from 1907 to 1923. In his time it was considered the leading British Radical weekly.-Life:...
- 1899: W. J. Fisher
- 1904: Robert Donald
Sir Robert Donald was a British newspaper editor.Working as a clerk, Donald submitted free articles to a local journal, then gained employment at the Edinburgh Evening News. He also worked on The Courant and the Northampton Echo before becoming a freelancer. In 1888, he joined The Star, a new...
- 1918: Ernest Perris
External links