''The Morning Chronicle'' was a

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, 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 p ...

founded in 1769 in London. It was notable for having been the first steady employer of essayist

William Hazlitt William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history of the English lan ...

as a political reporter and the first steady employer of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

as a journalist. It was the first newspaper to employ a salaried woman journalist

Eliza Lynn Linton Eliza Lynn Linton (10 February 1822 – 14 July 1898) was the first female salaried journalist in Britain and the author of over 20 novels. Despite her path-breaking role as an independent woman, many of her essays took a strong anti-feminist s ...

; for publishing the articles by

Henry Mayhew Henry Mayhew (25 November 1812 – 25 July 1887) was an English journalist, playwright, and advocate of reform. He was one of the co-founders of the satirical magazine ''Punch'' in 1841, and was the magazine's joint editor, with Mark Lemon, in ...

that were collected and published in book format in 1851 as ''

London Labour and the London Poor ''London Labour and the London Poor'' is a work of Victorian journalism by Henry Mayhew. In the 1840s, he observed, documented and described the state of working people in London for a series of articles in a newspaper, the ''Morning Chronicle'' ...

''; and for publishing other major writers, such as John Stuart Mill. The newspaper published under various owners until 1862, when its publication was suspended, with two subsequent attempts at continued publication. From 28 June 1769 to March 1789 it was published under the name ''The Morning Chronicle, and London Advertiser''. From 1789 to its final publication in 1865, it was published under the name ''The Morning Chronicle''.

Founding

The ''Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser'' was founded in 1769 by

William Woodfall Portrait of Portrait of William Woodfall, in the National Portrait Gallery (4672211). William Woodfall (baptised 7 February 1745 – 1803) was an English printer, publisher and Parliamentary reporter. Life William's father, Henry Woodfall, p ...

as publisher, editor, and reporter. From 1769 to 1789 the editor was William Woodfall. (In 1789 he sold his interest in the ''Morning Chronicle'' and in the same year founded ''The Diary, or Woodfall's Register'', which was the first to fully report on proceedings in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

as a regular feature. Since note-taking was prohibited, he worked from memory, at least to the extent of writing notes outside the chamber.) Woodfall's journalism slanted toward the Whig party in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

. Newspapers of the time were subject to persecution by the government, and in typical fashion Woodfall was convicted of libel and spent a year in Newgate prison in 1779; a similar fate also befell some of his successors.

Later owners and reporters

The ''Chronicle'' was bought by James Perry in 1789, bringing the journal firmly down on the Whig side against 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 ...

-owned '' London Gazette''. Circulation increased, and by 1810, the typical sale was 7,000 copies. The content often came from journalists labelled as radicals, a dangerous connotation in the aftermath of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

. From 1801 the former

United Irishman ''The United Irishman'' was an Irish nationalist newspaper co-founded by Arthur Griffith and William Rooney.Arthur Griffith ...

Peter Finnerty combined reporting for the ''Chronicle'' on Parliament with active participation in the election campaigns of

Sir Francis Burdett Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet (25 January 1770 – 23 January 1844) was a British politician and Member of Parliament who gained notoriety as a proponent (in advance of the Chartists) of universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts, vo ...

(1802 and 1804);

Richard Brinsley Sheridan Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan (30 October 17517 July 1816) was an Irish satirist, a politician, a playwright, poet, and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He is known for his plays such as '' The Rivals'', '' The ...

, the Irish playwright and satirist (1807); and the

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

and proponent of minimum wages, Samuel Whitbread (1811). As a war correspondent in 1809 he reported on the disasters of the

Walcheren Campaign The Walcheren Campaign ( ) was an unsuccessful British expedition to the Netherlands in 1809 intended to open another front in the Austrian Empire's struggle with France during the War of the Fifth Coalition. Sir John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chath ...

, laying blame at the feet of

Lord Castlereagh Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, (18 June 1769 – 12 August 1822), usually known as Lord Castlereagh, derived from the courtesy title Viscount Castlereagh ( ) by which he was styled from 1796 to 1821, was an Anglo-Irish politician ...

. 1811 Castlereagh succeeded in having him imprisoned for libel.

joined to report on Parliament in 1813, by which time several charges of libel and

seditious libel Sedition and seditious libel were criminal offences under English common law, and are still criminal offences in Canada. Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection ...

had been levelled against the newspaper and its contributors at one time or another, Perry being sentenced to three months in gaol in 1798. Woodfall died in 1803. Perry was succeeded by John Black, probably in 1817 when Perry developed a severe illness. It was Black who later employed Dickens, Mayhew, and John Stuart Mill. William Innel(l) Clement (the owner of several titles) purchased the Morning Chronicle on the death of James Perry in 1821 for £42,000, raising most of the purchase money by bills. The transaction involved him with Messrs. Hurst & Robinson, the publishers, and their bankruptcy in 1825 hit him very hard. After losing annually on the Morning Chronicle, Clement sold it to John Easthope in 1834 for £16,500.

began reporting for the ''Chronicle'' in 1834. It was in this medium that he also began publishing short stories under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

"Boz". The articles by

were published in 1849, accompanied by similar articles about other regions of the country, written by other journalists.

joined the newspaper in 1849 and, in doing so, became the UK's first salaried woman journalist on a daily newspaper. ''The Morning Chronicle'' was suspended with the 21 December 1862 issue and resumed with the 9 January 1864 issue. Then it was suspended again with the 10 January 1864 issue and again resumed with the 2 March 1865 issue.

Editors

:1769:

:1789: James Perry :1817: John Black :1834: Andrew Doyle :1848:

John Douglas Cook John Douglas Cook (1808?–1868) was a Scottish journalist, known as the founding editor of the '' Saturday Review''. Life He was born at Banchory-Ternan in Aberdeenshire, probably in 1808. At an early age he obtained an appointment in India, qu ...

Letters from Sydney, 1829

A series of letters, penned by

Edward Gibbon Wakefield Edward Gibbon Wakefield (20 March 179616 May 1862) is considered a key figure in the establishment of the colonies of South Australia and New Zealand (where he later served as a member of parliament). He also had significant interests in Brit ...

, actually in prison at the time for the abduction of a minor but purporting to come from a gentleman settler in Sydney,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, were published in the ''Chronicle'' in 1829. Each was dubbed "A letter from Sydney". These outlined his theory of systematic colonisation, which were embraced with enthusiasm by Robert Gouger, widely promulgated after being published as a book, and later led to the British colonisation of South Australia.

In Fiction

In Jules Verne's "Around the World in Eighty Days", ''The Morning Chronicle'' is mentioned among the papers reporting on Phileas Fogg's travel around the world. Verne attributes to the Chronicle a position hostile to Fogg and skeptical of his chances to complete his journey in 80 days.

References

External links

Google Chronology

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morning Chronicle, The London newspapers Publications established in 1769 Publications disestablished in 1862 Defunct newspapers published in the United Kingdom 1769 establishments in Great Britain 1862 disestablishments in the United Kingdom