The Visitor is a weekly paid-for newspaper

Newspaper

A 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...

 published in Morecambe

Morecambe

Morecambe is a resort town and civil parish within the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England. As of 2001 it has a resident population of 38,917. It faces into Morecambe Bay...

, Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, England

England

England 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...

. It covers Morecambe and the surrounding district including Overton

Overton, Lancashire

Overton is a village and civil parish within the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England. It is located to the south west of Lancaster, between Heysham and the estuary of the River Lune. Neighbouring villages include Middleton and Sunderland Point; Glasson is on the opposite side of the river...

, Middleton, Heysham

Heysham

Heysham is a large coastal village near Lancaster in the county of Lancashire, England. Overlooking Morecambe Bay, it is a ferry port with services to the Isle of Man and Ireland. Heysham is the site of two nuclear power stations which are landmarks visible from hills in the surrounding area...

, Slyne, Hest Bank

Hest Bank

Slyne-with-Hest is a civil parish in the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England. It had a population of 3,163 recorded in the 2001 census. The parish is north of Lancaster and consists of two villages; Slyne, on the A6 road, and Hest Bank on the coast....

, Bolton-le-Sands

Bolton-le-Sands

Bolton-le-Sands is a large village and civil parish of the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England. The parish had a population of 4,098 recorded in the 2001 census,...

 and Carnforth

Carnforth

- References :...

.

The paper is published from offices in Victoria Street, Morecambe by Lancaster & Morecambe Newspapers Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Johnston Press plc. It is currently printed by Broughton Printers, Fulwood, Preston for issue every Wednesday. It is sold around the Morecambe Bay area from Grange-over-Sands

Grange-over-Sands

Grange-over-Sands is a town and civil parish by the sea – with a wide tidal range, hence the "sands" name – in Cumbria, England. Historically, Grange-over-Sands was part of the County of Lancashire until 1974, when Cumbria was created under Local Government re-organisation which absorbed the area...

 and Kendal

Kendal

Kendal, anciently known as Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish within the South Lakeland District of Cumbria, England...

 in the north to Galgate

Galgate

Galgate is a village in the City of Lancaster, just south of Lancaster University, and about south of Lancaster itself in the English county of Lancashire.-Etymology:...

 in the south.

History

The newspaper was founded in 1874, the first issue being on Thursday, June 4, 1874 at a cover price of 1d. It then had the fuller title, The Morecambe Visitor and General Advertiser, and consisted of four pages, 18 inches x 12 inches . The founding proprietor, George Bingham, had started the paper more as a service to the visiting holiday makers than the resident population, hence the origin of its name. Initially it was issued in the summer months only but after good sales George decided to publish it weekly throughout the year. A new office was opened in Victoria Street, Morecambe, which became the centre for both editorial and printing. This office remains to this day as the base for the paper, although printing is contracted elsewhere.

In 1898, Arthur Caunt joined the newspaper as a reporter and this started the long involvement of the Caunt family with the paper which lasted until 1986. Arthur took over as editor and proprietor in 1906 and formed the family company, The Morecambe Press Ltd. He remained in that role until he died in 1938. His son, James Caunt, then took over until he died in January 1959. Responsibilities then passed to James’s son, Arthur. Sadly, Arthur died 12 months later in a car accident, and his sister, Muriel Bates, found herself having to take the helm. After two years, Muriel passed the editorial role to an ‘outsider’, Derek Mosey, but remained as proprietor. The family finally sold the business in 1986 to United Provincial Newspapers, who then merged the paper with the Lancaster Guardian to be run jointly under the new subsidiary company, Lancaster & Morecambe Newspapers Ltd. The company has subsequently been taken into the Johnston Press

Johnston Press

Johnston Press plc is a newspaper publishing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. Its flagship titles are The Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post; it also operates many other newspapers around the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man. It is the second-largest publisher...

 group.

Perhaps the most sensational episode in the paper’s history occurred with the edition of August 6th 1947. James Caunt, the editor, and not afraid to speak his mind in the Mustard and Cress editorial piece, penned a diatribe against British Jews for not doing more to prevent Zionist killing of British troops in Palestine. This brought a wave of condemnation, eventually resulting in the judiciary summoning Caunt for seditious libel. Widespread press coverage was given, even a report in the Sydney Morning Herald paper. In a high profile trial at Liverpool Assizes, with Caunt being defended by the nation’s leading advocate, he was found not guilty. The Visitor reported the acquittal on the front page, normally reserved for advertisements only. Soon afterwards, this led the paper to decide to permanently have news on the front page and to move advertisements to the inside pages, becoming the first local newspaper to do so.

For many years after the Second World War, the paper had the strap line "founded in 1874 when income tax was 1d in the £". This was originally a sideswipe by James Caunt at the high-taxing post-war Labour government, but became a long-running hall mark of the paper.

In 2005 the paper received a special RNLI award for its support and coverage of the lifeboats during the Cockle Picking tragedy in Morecambe Bay in February 2004 (in which 23 Chinese cocklers perished).

Editors

Term	Editor
1874 – 1906	George Bingham
1906 – 1938	Arthur Caunt
1938 – 1959	James Caunt
1959 – 1960	Arthur Caunt (Jnr.)
1960 – 1962	Muriel Bates
1962 – 1992	Derek Mosey
1992 – 1998	Mike Whalley
1998 – 2009	Glen Cooper
2009 – 2010	Ingrid Kent (acting editor)
2010 – present	Steve Brauner