The ''Manchester Examiner'' was a newspaper based in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, England, that was founded around 1845–1846. Initially intended as an organ to promote the idea of
Manchester Liberalism
Manchester Liberalism (also called the Manchester School, Manchester Capitalism and Manchesterism) comprises the political, economic and social movements of the 19th century that originated in Manchester, England. Led by Richard Cobden and John ...
, a decline in its later years led to a takeover by a group who intended to use it to promote Liberal Unionism without actually being directly associated with the
Liberal Unionist Party (LUP). That scheme soon failed due to severe financial problems, leading the LUP to take control of the newspaper for a brief period just before the
1892 general election campaign. It was then sold at a significant loss to a competitor, who also owned the ''
Manchester Courier
The ''Manchester Courier'' was a daily newspaper founded in Manchester, England, by Thomas Sowler; the first edition was published on 1 January 1825. Alaric Alexander Watts was the paper's first editor, but remained in the position for only a yea ...
''. The last edition was published in 1894 before it was absorbed by the ''
Empire News
The ''Empire News'' was a Sunday newspaper in the United Kingdom.
The newspaper was founded in 1884 in Manchester as ''The Umpire''. A penny newspaper, it was the first successful provincial Sunday newspaper in England. Owned by H. S. Jennings, ...
''.
Manchester Liberalism
The ''Manchester Examiner'' was established as a rival to the
radical ''
Manchester Times'', which its proprietors considered not sufficiently representative of their
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
viewpoints. The initial owners were
Thomas Ballantyne,
John Bright
John Bright (16 November 1811 – 27 March 1889) was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, one of the greatest orators of his generation and a promoter of free trade policies.
A Quaker, Bright is most famous for battling the Corn La ...
,
Alexander Ireland,
William McKerrow and
Edward Watkin
Sir Edward William Watkin, 1st Baronet (26 September 1819 – 13 April 1901) was a British Member of Parliament and railway entrepreneur. He was an ambitious visionary, and presided over large-scale railway engineering projects to fulfil his b ...
.
The first edition of the ''Manchester Examiner'' was published on 10 January 1846. It absorbed the ''Manchester Times'' in 1848 and from June 1855, by now being run by
George Wilson, the newspaper was published every morning at a price of one penny. The price was set to undercut rivals such as the ''
Manchester Guardian'' and did so for some time until the rivals responded. Despite this competitive advantage, and in common with many other local newspapers, its influence in London was low and it suffered from difficulties in distribution. In 1856,
Richard Cobden
Richard Cobden (3 June 1804 – 2 April 1865) was an English Radical and Liberal politician, manufacturer, and a campaigner for free trade and peace. He was associated with the Anti-Corn Law League and the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty.
As a you ...
was inspired to become involved in establishing the ''
Morning Star'' in London as an imitator of the ''Manchester Examiner'' that would disseminate the school of Manchester radicalism more widely, but it was of an inferior journalistic standard and had little political impact.
The newspaper reached its point of greatest influence during the editorship of
Henry Dunckley but by 1888 it was in severe decline. There had been criticism of Dunckley's habit of leaving work for home while the bulk of the day's news was still arriving at the offices, and also of the editorial wavering over the issue of
Home Rule
Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...
, in contrast to the strong support shown for it by the ''Manchester Guardian'' that had caused the latter to surge ahead of its competitor. Around the end of 1888, together with its companion newspaper, the ''Manchester Weekly Times'', the ''Manchester Examiner'' was sold to the Manchester Press Company, a business headed by Sir Joseph Lee.
Liberal Unionism
The new owners, who were Liberal Unionists, believed that it could be a serious rival to the
Tory
A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...
-supporting ''Manchester Courier'' and the
Gladstonian Liberalist ''Manchester Guardian''. Despite originally believing that they could revive and run the newspaper without explicit support from the Liberal Unionist Party,
by 1890 they were struggling to sustain the newspaper business for which they had paid around £98,000. Various requests were made to Liberal grandees, such as
Lord Derby
Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, (29 March 1799 – 23 October 1869, known before 1834 as Edward Stanley, and from 1834 to 1851 as Lord Stanley) was a British statesman, three-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom ...
, in search of further funds but those people were reluctant to throw good money in the direction of what they perceived to be a failing enterprise, even when the expertise of
W. H. Smith was called upon to vouch that it could be made viable once more. Nonetheless, and by means that are uncertain, the party did in fact provide money and paid £8900 in the run-up to the 1892 general election to take direct control. An attempt to arrest the decline was made by founding the ''Manchester Evening Times'', which it was hoped would provide support for the morning newspaper in a manner similar to the successful introduction of the ''
Manchester Evening News
The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 20 ...
'' by the publishers of the ''Manchester Guardian''. The venture proving to be unsuccessful, the evening newspaper was closed after 49 issues. The new owners also reduced the price of the ''Manchester Examiner'' to halfpence but that, too, did not resolve the problems. In November 1891, it was sold to a syndicate headed by
Thomas Sowler
Sir Thomas Sowler (7 July 1818 – 4 April 1891) was an English newspaper proprietor in Manchester.
Early life
Thomas Sowler was born in Manchester to Thomas and Helen Sowler, one of three sons and three daughters. He bore the same name as h ...
, the owner of the ''Manchester Courier'', for what
Lord Wolmer at the time said was a "net sum recovered" of £390. Wolmer, himself a Liberal Unionist, had been a vocal supporter of efforts to keep the newspaper going at least until the election, telling the party's leader,
Lord Hartington
Spencer Compton Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire, (23 July 183324 March 1908), styled Lord Cavendish of Keighley between 1834 and 1858 and Marquess of Hartington between 1858 and 1891, was a British statesman. He has the distinction of having ...
,
Publication ceased in 1894
when it was absorbed by the ''Empire News''.
See also
*
Abraham Walter Paulton
Abraham Walter Paulton (1812–1876) was an English politician and journalist.
Life
He was son of Walter Paulton of Bolton, Lancashire, where he was born into a Roman Catholic family. He was sent to Stonyhurst College to be educated for the prie ...
References
Notes
Citations
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1845 establishments in the United Kingdom
1894 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Publications established in 1845
Publications disestablished in 1894
Newspapers published in Manchester
Defunct newspapers published in the United Kingdom
Liberal Unionist Party