Samuel Storey (1841–1925) was a British politician born in
County Durham
County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly â€About North East E ...
. He became a
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
and the main founder of the ''
Sunderland Echo
The ''Sunderland Echo'' is a daily newspaper serving the Sunderland, South Tyneside and East Durham areas of North East England. The newspaper was founded by Samuel Storey, Edward Backhouse, Edward Temperley Gourley, Charles Palmer, Richar ...
''
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 ...
.
Early life
Samuel Storey was born in
Sherburn, near
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
* Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
, on 13 January 1841. He was the sixth son of County Durham
farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...
Robert Storey. When Robert died in 1843, his mother moved to
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
, where Samuel Storey was educated at ''St Andrew’s School''. He became a pupil-teacher there when he was 13 and then attended Durham Diocesan Training College from 1858 to 1859.
[''Sunderland Echo'' archive story]
After leaving college, Storey worked as a master at ''Birtley Church of England School'' from 1860 to 1864. However, when his mother moved from Newcastle to
Monkwearmouth
Monkwearmouth is an area of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear in North East England. Monkwearmouth is located at the north side of the mouth of the River Wear. It was one of the three original settlements on the banks of the River Wear along with Bish ...
, Sunderland, in around 1858, he became increasingly involved in events in the town, helping to establish Sunderland Working Men's Club in 1863.
Storey married Mary Ann Addison, daughter of John Addison of Monkwearmouth, in April 1864. By the end of that year, he moved to Monkwearmouth as well. Following the move, he worked as a traveller for Glaholm and Robson, a rope manufacturer, for three years before setting up on his own as an accountant.
Business life
It was in October 1865 that Storey and Thomas Steel, a Sunderland solicitor, set up the Atlas Building Society. Steel acted as the Society's solicitor, while Storey was its manager. In 1870, Storey succeeded his father-in-law as Actuary of the Monkwearmouth Savings Bank, a post he held until 1876. In the same year, he joined his brother-in-law, J.G. Addison, as a partner in the timber firm, Armstrong, Addison & Co. The 1870s also saw Storey speculate successfully in building land, mostly in the Monkwearmouth and
East Boldon
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...
areas.
Political life
Storey became involved in local politics from the time he moved to Sunderland. He worked for the
Whig candidate, Henry Fenwick, in the
1865 General Election but, the following year, helped to persuade the
Radical
Radical may refer to:
Politics and ideology Politics
*Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change
*Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...
John Candlish
John Candlish ( bapt. 28 April 1816 – 17 March 1874) was a British glass bottle manufacturer and Liberal Party politician.
Early life
Candlish was born in Tarset, Northumberland, the eldest son of farmer John Candlish and Mary, née Robson. A ...
to oppose Fenwick when he had to stand for re-election on taking office. Candlish was successful in the 1866 by-election and, from then on, Storey became increasingly prominent in the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
in Sunderland. His influence extended to North Durham, too, from 1874, when he helped to found the Sunderland and North Durham Liberal Club. Sunderland Liberal Association followed in 1876.
In 1868, Storey stood unsuccessfully for Sunderland's town council for Monkwearmouth Ward, but a year later he was successful. He remained a councillor for the ward until his election as an
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...
in 1877 and he stayed on the council until he resigned in 1890. During the 1870s, he led a radical revival in the council and was elected mayor in 1876, 1877 and, following the death of T.S. Turnbull in April 1880.
In April 1881, Storey was elected MP for Sunderland at the by-election which followed the resignation of
Sir Henry Havelock-Allan. He was re-elected at the General Elections of 1885, 1886 and 1892, but was defeated in 1895. He stood as Liberal candidate for Newcastle in 1900, when he was defeated, and as an Independent Tariff Reformer in Sunderland in the January 1910 election. He was elected this time, but retired at the December 1910 election.
Storey's political opinions were often at variance with his party's. In particular, he advocated
Home Rule for Ireland
The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1870 to the e ...
several years before
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
made this Liberal party policy and Storey's public opposition to Liberal policy on Ireland in 1880 gave the moderate Liberals in Sunderland a chance to prevent his election to Parliament in 1881. In the event, however, the radical wing was strong enough to counter this and secure his unopposed return.
In October 1903, he caused a considerable stir by resigning as Chairman of the Northern Liberal Association in order to become a Tariff Reformer, and he devoted most of his energies in the ensuing decade to that cause. He failed, however, to win the Sunderland Liberal Association over to Tariff Reform in 1904 but, the following year, was a prime mover in the formation of the Northern Tariff Reform Federation. This, he hoped, would bring together men of all shades of political opinion, since he insisted the question was an economic, not a party political, matter.
Storey spoke at meetings all over the country and won the Sunderland seat at the January 1910 election as an Independent Tariff Reform candidate. In the same year, he bought the ''Newcastle Daily Journal'', to help further the Tariff Reform cause in the North - the Tariff Reformers having been deprived of their 'loudest local advocate' when the ''North Mail'' was sold to a group of Liberals headed by Sir Christopher Furness in 1906.
Local politics remained a constant interest for Storey too, and he was a member of Durham County Council from 1892 to 1913. He was first elected to the authority as an
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...
in 1892, then as a councillor from 1898 to 1907, and again as an Alderman from 1907 to 1913. He served as vice-chairman of the council from 1892 to 1894 and 1897–1898, and as chairman from 1894 to 1897, and from 1898 to 1905. During this time, his major concerns were sanitary matters and education. Storey's contribution to Sunderland history, both politically and through his newspaper business, was formally recognised when he was presented with the Freedom of Sunderland on 7 October 1921.
Publishing life
Samuel Storey was one of the original seven founders of the ''
Sunderland Echo
The ''Sunderland Echo'' is a daily newspaper serving the Sunderland, South Tyneside and East Durham areas of North East England. The newspaper was founded by Samuel Storey, Edward Backhouse, Edward Temperley Gourley, Charles Palmer, Richar ...
'', a regional daily newspaper which is still published. The first edition of the ''Echo'' was printed on 22 December 1873, on a flat-bed press in Press Lane, Sunderland. Five hundred copies of the four-page issue were produced at noon and 4 p.m., and sold for a
ha'penny each. Today the ''Echo'' is printed on a £12 million full colour press, which was installed at its purpose-built base in
Pennywell
Pennywell is one of the UK's largest post-war social housing schemes, and is situated in the central-west area of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, North East England. Pennywell is the largest local authority housing estate in the City of Sunderland. ...
, Sunderland, in 1996. More than 44,000
tabloid copies are printed each day, which sell for 45p each.
Storey founded the paper to fill a gap in both the newspaper and political markets.
Although the 100,000-strong population of Sunderland was served by two weekly newspapers, there were no daily papers, and none at all reflecting the Radical views held by Storey and his partners.
He promised readers in the first edition that, if things went wrong, the "''Echo'' would try its best to put them right". But he added: "Always with moderation and without esteeming all those who oppose us as fools and knaves." Early copies of the ''Echo'' also included lengthy reports of Liberal meetings, and critical articles on Liberal opponents.
The ''Sunderland Echo'' was launched with an initial investment of £3,500, raised by donations of £500 each from Storey and his business partners. Those joining the venture were:
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
banker
Edward Backhouse
Edward Backhouse (1808–1879) was a Quaker philanthropist and writer on church history. He was also one of the founding fathers of the ''Sunderland Echo'' newspaper. He was recognised as having the gift of vocal ministry in 1854.
Early life
...
,
shipbroker
Shipbroking is a financial service, which forms part of the global shipping industry. Shipbrokers are specialist intermediaries/negotiators (i.e. brokers) between shipowners and charterers who use ships to transport cargo, or between buyers an ...
and MP
Edward Temperley Gourley
Sir Edward Temperley Gourley (8 June 1826 – 15 April 1902) was a coal fitter, shipowner and politician born in Sunderland, England. He was knighted for his political work.
Early life
Edward Temperley Gourley - known as E.T. Gourley - was ...
,
shipbuilder
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...
and MP
Charles Palmer Charles Palmer may refer to:
* Charles Palmer (1777–1851), Member of Parliament for Bath
* Sir Charles Palmer, 1st Baronet (1822–1907), English shipbuilder, businessman and Liberal Member of Parliament, 1874–1907
* Sir Charles Palmer, 2nd Ba ...
,
newspaper editor
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies.
The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
Richard Ruddock, rope-maker
Thomas Glaholm and
draper
Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher.
History
Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period ...
Thomas Scott Turnbull. Only Ruddock, however, had any knowledge of newspapers and the money was quickly used up.
Ruddock, Gourley and Palmer withdrew from the venture early on and Storey took over their shares.
A further £7,000 in investment enabled the remaining partners to abandon the "wheezing flat-bed press" and, in July 1876, the ''Echo'' was moved to a new premises at 14 Bridge Street, Sunderland. Bridge Street was to remain the home of the ''Echo'' for the next 100 years and, in 1923, Storey paid a visit to mark the paper's 50th anniversary. He died two years later.
![Sunderland Echo delivery van](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Sunderland_Echo_delivery_van.jpg)
Besides the ''Sunderland Echo'', Storey started the ''Tyneside Daily Echo'' in
Gateshead
Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...
in 1879, which was moved to Newcastle in 1880 and discontinued in 1888. But it was a partnership with
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...
, from 1882 to 1885, which saw his newspaper business take off. The pair started several new papers and bought up many existing ones. Their chain included the ''
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...
Express'' and ''Wolverhampton Star'', which were amalgamated as the
''Express and Star'' by the syndicate in 1884. Other papers in their stable were the ''
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
Telegraph'',
''Portsmouth Evening News'',
''The Echo'' in London and the ''North Eastern Daily and Weekly Gazettes'' at
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
. Two papers which the syndicate tried but failed to buy were the ''
Shields Gazette
The ''Shields Gazette'', established in 1849, is a daily newspaper. It was known as the oldest provincial evening newspaper in the United Kingdom.
It was originally established as a weekly paper - the ''North and South Shields Gazette and Nort ...
'' and the ''
Northern Echo''.
One of its last purchases was the ''Northern Daily Mail'', in
Hartlepool
Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...
. When the syndicate broke up in 1885, Storey retained the ''Northern Daily Mail'', the ''Hampshire Telegraph'', the ''Portsmouth Evening News'', and his own ''Sunderland and Tyneside Echoes''. These papers were to become the basis of his new business idea, Portsmouth and Sunderland Newspapers.
Personal life
Samuel Storey died in 1925, aged 84, several months after the death of his eldest son, Frederick George Storey. The chairmanship of his company passed to his grandson,
Samuel
Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bibl ...
(the elder son of Frederick Storey), who carried on with his grandfather's political activities too, joining Sunderland Brough Council in 1928 and being elected as the town's MP in the same year, holding this position until 1945.
References
Further reading
* ''Samuel Storey of Sunderland, his life and career'', by P. J. Storey (ISBN#??)
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Storey, Samuel
1841 births
1925 deaths
Councillors in Tyne and Wear
People from Sunderland
Politicians from Tyne and Wear
Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 1880–1885
UK MPs 1885–1886
UK MPs 1886–1892
UK MPs 1892–1895
UK MPs 1910
19th-century British newspaper founders