The ''Essex County Standard'' is a weekly

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, spor ...

, published in Colchester, Essex. In August 2019 Newsquest announced it would no longer subscribe to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the body that provides independently verified circulation figures to advertisers. It is currently owned by the Newsquest Media Group, part of the American

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.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 ...

paper and "a Standard around which the loyal, the religious, and the well-affected of our County may rally". Originally printed in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of Londo ...

, it was acquired by a John Taylor in September 1831, who moved it to new premises in Colchester. The paper was sold to Edward Benham, T. Ralling, and Henry B. Harrison in 1866 though Ralling soon relinquished his interest. The paper was enlarged to eight pages in 1873. Managers of the paper dropped the price to 1 d (half a new pence) in 1891, causing a jump in circulation and in 1892, changed the title to ''Essex County Standard''. A series of changes in editor saw control of the paper ultimately fall into the hands of the Benham family: first Edward, then his wife Mary; next their sons

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

; and finally William's son Hervey. In 1964 the paper, then printed by web-offset

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

(a process pioneered by the Benhams and fellow newspaper proprietor Arnold Quick), was described by ''

Printing World Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

'' (a trade paper) as Britain's best produced weekly newspaper. Benham Newspapers Ltd. merged with Quick's Clacton based publishing company in 1970 to form Essex County Newspapers Ltd.

References

Newspapers published in Essex Weekly newspapers published in the United Kingdom Publications established in 1831 {{England-newspaper-stub