The ''Bombay'' ''Gazette'' (established in 1789) was among the first

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

newspapers published from

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

(now Mumbai),

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

History

Initially found in 1789 as the " Bombay Herald", the newspaper's name was changed to "Bombay Gazette" in 1791. It remained the leading paper of the city for a long time and covered important events such as the first session of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

in 1885. The ''Bombay Gazette'' and ''Bombay Courier'' were the earliest English language Indian newspapers published in Bombay (now Mumbai). The newspaper continued to be published up to the early 1900s. The Bombay Gazette started printing paper on silk from 26 April 1841. Surviving copies of the Bombay Gazette can be found in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

(Colindale collection).

Owners and editors

The owners and editors of Bombay Gazette included the British journalist and politician, James Mackenzie Maclean, Adolphus Pope (1821), Fair (1826), Francis Warden (1827), R. X. Murphy (1833), Grattan Geary (1890), Sir Frank Beaman and Galium (1840). It was not unheard of for its proprietors to include British civil servants. In 1911,

Sir Pherozeshah Mehta Sir Pherozeshah Merwanjee Mehta (4 August 1845 – 5 November 1915) was an Indian politician and lawyer from Bombay. He was knighted by the British Government in India for his service to the law. He became the Municipal commissioner of Bomba ...

and Benjamin Horniman attempted to purchase Bombay Gazette, to counteract the influence of another newspaper

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

, and to give a voice to Indian nationalists, but his attempts were thwarted by one of the directors, Sir Frank Beaman, which led Mehta to establish a separate newspaper, ''

The Bombay Chronicle ''The Bombay Chronicle'' was an English-language newspaper, published from Mumbai (then Bombay), started in 1910 by Sir Pherozeshah Mehta (1845-1915), a prominent lawyer, who later became the president of the Indian National Congress in 1890, a ...

'' in 1913.

Content

Bombay Gazette commenced as a weekly newspaper, in 1825 and was published every Wednesday. After some forty years, it became a bi-weekly. The newspaper contained articles of local interest, especially those concerning Bombay city itself, proclamations, obituaries (mostly of British residents and rich Indians) advertisements and news regarding the British colonial government in India. For instance, on 13 January 1880, Bombay Gazette published a news article -

"A large hyena is prowling about Malabar Hill on the western side between Mr. Nicol's residence and Vaucluse, as good sport as a Mazagon tiger."

It was known to oscillate its stand between extremes of conservative pro-establishment to liberal pro-Indian, based on the opinions of the current editor and owner. The newspaper employed both Eurasian and Indian reporters, and a Parsi reporter for legal articles (Nanabhoy Masani and later, Darashaw Chichghar).

References

{{Reflist English-language newspapers published in India Newspapers published in Mumbai Publications established in 1789 1789 establishments in British India