The ''Evening News'', earlier styled as ''The Evening News'', and from 1889 to 1894 The Evening News and Post, was an

evening 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 London from 1881 to 1980, reappearing briefly in 1987. It became highly popular under the control of the Harmsworth brothers. For a long time it maintained the largest daily sale of any evening newspaper in London. After financial struggles and falling sales, it was eventually merged with its long-time rival the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' in 1980. The newspaper was revived for an eight-month period in 1987.

Early history

The newspaper was founded by Coleridge Kennard and Harry Marks. The first issue appeared on 26 July 1881. It was the first popular evening paper in London. It was priced at one halfpenny, distinguishing itself from the more serious

penny A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...

papers such as ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

''. The first issues were printed on light blue paper, and later editions on yellow and green paper. The rivalry between halfpenny papers in the late 19th century was fierce, and almost ended the ''Evening News''. According to some sources the paper was losing £40,000 a year. The brothers

Alfred Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interlu ...

and

Harold Harmsworth Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere, (26 April 1868 – 26 November 1940) was a leading British newspaper proprietor who owned Associated Newspapers Ltd. He is best known, like his brother Alfred Harmsworth, later Viscount Northcl ...

bought the paper for £25,000 in 1894. In 1888 Alfred had founded a paper called ''Answers'', which was modelled after another popular paper called ''

Tit-Bits ''Tit-Bits from all the interesting Books and Newspapers of the World'', more commonly known as ''Tit-Bits'', was a British weekly magazine founded by George Newnes, a founding figure in popular journalism, on 22 October 1881. History In 1886 ...

''. Harold gave up his clerk's job to handle the business side of the papers, while Alfred effectively controlled the papers with great success. Alfred later became ennobled as Lord Northcliffe, and Harold as Lord Rothermere. The brothers started several papers, of which the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' became the most influential. Under editor Kennedy Jones, the ''Evening News'' was one of the papers that transformed the English press with their so-called '

new journalism New Journalism is a style of news writing and journalism, developed in the 1960s and 1970s, that uses literary techniques unconventional at the time. It is characterized by a subjective perspective, a literary style reminiscent of long-form non- ...

'. This meant that the papers were aimed at a wider general public than the traditional ones, such as ''The Times''.

20th century

The ''Evening News'' became one of the leading papers in England under the control of Northcliffe. Evening newspapers were not considered to be good investments in 1900, and most of the London newspapers were losing money. At the same time the ''Evening News'' was making profit of £50,000 a year. The circulation numbers of English newspapers between the 1850s and the 1930s can only be guessed at. (The newspapers would not publish exact figures except in their advertising, which cannot be trusted.) Some authors have carefully estimated that in 1910 the circulation of the ''Evening News'' was 300,000. Among the halfpenny evening papers, that would amount to a share of 35.7 per cent. The estimate for the average circulation of July 1914 is approximately 600,000, which would have made it the biggest evening paper in London. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

(1914-1918) the paper was widely criticised for its views on women. Women were now being treated with equality in mind. Other newspapers such as the ''

Daily Sketch The ''Daily Sketch'' was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton. It was bought in 1920 by Lord Rothermere's Daily Mirror Newspapers, but in 1925 Rothermere sold it to William and Gomer Berry ...

'' had a much more neutral approach to the introduction of women ''en masse'' into workplaces in place of men, which took place owing to the military conscription that began in 1916. Northcliffe died in 1922. Subsequently, control of

Associated Newspapers DMG Media (stylised in lowercase) is an intermediate holding company for Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe Media, Harmsworth Printing, Harmsworth Media and other subsidiaries of Daily Mail and General Trust. It is based at Northcliffe House in ...

, including the ''Daily Mail'', ''Evening News'', '' Weekly Dispatch'' and ''

Overseas Daily Mail Overseas may refer to: *Overseas (album), ''Overseas'' (album), a 1957 album by pianist Tommy Flanagan and his trio *Overseas (band), an American indie rock band *Overseas (song), "Overseas" (song), a 2018 song by American rappers Desiigner and Lil ...

'', was bought by his brother Harold. After 1936, Harold's son Esmond took over as chairman of Associated Newspapers. Ninety-four short stories by crime fiction writer

Will Scott William Scott (1893–1972) was an English footballer and football manager who managed in England in the 1940s and 1950s. Scott began his career as an amateur with South Shields prior to the First World War, but joined the Navy in 1914. He gue ...

were published in the paper between 1952 and 1964. In 1960, as part of the same takeover that merged the ''

News Chronicle The ''News Chronicle'' was a British daily newspaper. Formed by the merger of '' The Daily News'' and the ''Daily Chronicle'' in 1930, it ceased publication on 17 October 1960,''Liberal Democrat News'' 15 October 2010, accessed 15 October 2010 be ...

'' into the ''Daily Mail'', the ''Evening News'' incorporated another London evening paper, ''

The Star ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. For some years the merged paper was called ''The Evening News and Star''.

Demise and reappearance

Although it had been the biggest evening paper in London over several decades, by the 1970s the ''Evening News'' was struggling with financial problems and falling sales, for television was eating away its market share. It switched from

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...

to tabloid in September 1974, and stopped printing on Saturdays in June 1979. In October 1980, Associated Newspapers announced that the newspaper would be closed at the end of the month. The last issue was on 31 October 1980. The paper was merged with its long-time rival the ''

''. For some time the resulting paper was called the ''New Standard''. The name ''Evening News'' continued to feature on the titlepiece of the ''Evening Standard'' until the relaunch of the ''Evening News'' in the late 1980s. The ''Evening News'' reappeared for a few months in 1987 when it was launched by the ''Evening Standard''s owner Associated Newspapers in order to counter

Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, member of parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster. Early in his life, Maxwell escaped from N ...

's ''

London Daily News The ''London Daily News'' was a short-lived London newspaper owned by Robert Maxwell. It was published from 24 February to 23 July 1987. History The ''London Daily News'' was intended to be a "24-hour" paper challenging the local dominance of t ...

''; this sparked a price war, by the end of which the ''Evening News'' was being sold at 5p, while copies of the ''London Daily News'' were 10p. The revived newspaper was edited by Lori Miles, one of the first female editors in

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...

. Following the collapse of the ''London Daily News'' in July, the ''Evening News'' continued for a further three months as a separate brand from the ''Evening Standard'', catering for a more "female and South London" readership before being re-absorbed into its sister publication and former rival on 30 October 1987. 1st Edition - geograph

Editors

:1881: Martin Fradd :1882: Charles Williams :1883:

Frank Harris Frank Harris (14 February 1855 – 26 August 1931) was an Irish-American editor, novelist, short story writer, journalist and publisher, who was friendly with many well-known figures of his day. Born in Ireland, he emigrated to the United State ...

:1887: I. Rubie :1889: W. R. Lawson :1889: J. H. Copleston :1894: Kennedy Jones :1896: Walter J. Evans :1922: Charles Beattie :1924: Frank Fitzhugh :1943:

Guy Schofield Edward Guy Schofield (10 July 1902 – 14 February 1990) was a British newspaper editor. Born in Leeds, Schofield attended Leeds Modern School, then began his career in 1918 on the ''Leeds Mercury'', before moving to the ''Daily Dispatch'' an ...

:1950: J. Marshall :1954: Reg Willis :1967: John Gold :1974:

Louis Kirby Louis Kirby (30 November 1928–14 October 2006) was a British newspaper editor. In 1971, the ''Sketch'' merged with the ''Mail''. ''Sketch'' editor David English was appointed as editor of the merged newspaper, leaving Kirby as acting editor ...

:1987: Lori Miles

Sources

*Blake, R. (2004
''Harmsworth, Esmond Cecil, second Viscount Rothermere (1898–1978).''
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Accessed March 20, 2007. *Engel, M. (1996) ''Tickle the Public: One hundred years of the popular press''. Gollancz, London. *Herd, H. (1952) ''The march of journalism: the story of the British press from 1622 to the present day''. Allen & Unwin, London. *Lee, A.J. (1976) ''The Origins of the Popular Press in England 1855–1914''. Croom Helm, London. *Morison, S. (1932) ''The English Newspaper: Some Account of the Physical Development of Journals Printed in London Between 1622 & the Present Day''. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. *Pound, R. & Harmsworth, G. (1959) ''Northcliffe''. Cassell, London.

References

External links

*Simms, R. (2006

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evening News Daily Mail and General Trust Defunct newspapers published in the United Kingdom Publications established in 1881 Publications disestablished in 1980 Publications disestablished in 1987 1881 establishments in England Evening newspapers 1881 in London