The ''Bristol Mercury'' was a

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

published in the English city of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

between 1716 and 1909. The first edition in 1716 was published by Henry Greep. It was relaunched in 1747 as the ''Weekly Intelligencer'', and again in 1790 with William Bulgin and Robert Rosser as proprietors with a liberal outlook. In the first half of the 19th century, William Henry Somerton was writing for the ''Mercury'', including reporting the

Bristol Riots of 1831 Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

, which took place after the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

rejected the second Reform Bill. The reporting and coverage of other issues of the day, in which the ''Mercury'' was seen as 'reformist', along with other regional papers, was influential in the reform of parliament in 1832. His sons followed him in working for the paper. In 1836, the ''Mercury'' started using a Napier

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in wh ...

. In addition to covering local and national news stories by local reporters, the ''Mercury'' carried syndicated content from other papers. This included poetry and in 1840 published two to four poems in each weekly edition. Extensive coverage was also given to social issues of the time. By 1864, the ''Mercury'' was widely distributed throughout the south west of England and south Wales. In 1878, the paper installed new rotary printing presses in offices in Broad Street moving from its earlier premises in Tower Lane. The ''Mercury'' combined with the ''Daily Post'' to become the ''Bristol Mercury and Daily Post'' from 1878 to 1901 and then the ''Bristol Daily Mercury'' until its closure in 1909. Between 1878 and 1909, a weekly supplement known as the ''Bristol Weekly Mercury'' was also produced.

References

{{Defunct newspapers of the United Kingdom Newspapers published in Bristol Defunct newspapers published in the United Kingdom