''Bell's Life in London, and Sporting Chronicle'' was a British weekly sporting paper published as a pink

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

between 1822 and 1886.

History

''Bell's Life'' was founded by Robert Bell, a London printer-publisher. Bell sold it to

William Innell Clement William Innell Clement (15 January 1780 – 24 January 1852) was an English newspaper proprietor. Biography Clement was born in the parish of St Clement Danes and baptised at St Anne's Church, Soho. Starting as a newsagent at a young age, he ...

, owner of ''

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'', in 1824 or 1825, and the paper swallowed up a competitor, '' Pierce Egan's Life in London and Sporting Guide''. From 1824 to 1852 it was edited by Vincent George Dowling, "during which time ''Bell's Life'' became Britain's leading sporting newspaper, without which no gentleman's Sunday was quite complete". Dowling's son, Frank Lewis Dowling, effectively edited the paper during the last year of his father's life, and succeeded him as editor from 1852 to 1867. By the 1860s ''Bell's Life'' was facing competition from '' The Field'', '' The Sportsman'', '' Sporting Life'', and '' The Sporting Times''. In 1885 Edward Hulton bought ''Bell's Life'' and made it a daily, but in 1886 it was absorbed by ''Sporting Life''.

Editorial policy

Though ''Bell's Life'' is now best known as a racing paper, it began life as an anti-establishment general newspaper aimed at the working class. From around 1830, it provided increasing coverage to racing. Soon it comprised more than a third of the paper, following general news and other sporting news (notably boxing). For 30 years, it remained the principal source of racing news while its general news with its acid comment, full coverage of scandal and cartoons provides an entertaining picture of Victorian Britain. ''Bell's'' problem was that it aimed at both the literate poor and the general sporting public who fall into all classes. It experimented variously with appearing more than once a week and eventually eliminated all its general news, covering sport alone; but the changes came too late.

Contributors

Contributors included: * Francis Frederick Brandt * agricultural writer Henry Corbet (1820–78) *

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

* Henry Hall Dixon * angling writer Edward Fitzgibbon (1803–57) * cricket writer Frederick Gale (1823–1904) * W. H. Leverell * card games writer Henry Jones (1831–1899) * William Russell Macdonald (1787–1854) * Rev. Charles Henry Newmarch (1824–1903) * sports writer William Ruff (1801–56) * Robert Smith Surtees * chess writer George Walker (1803–79) *

John Henry Walsh John Henry Walsh FRCS (21 October 1810 – 12 February 1888) was an English sports writer born in Hackney, London who wrote under the pseudonym "Stonehenge." Walsh was educated in private schools and became a fellow of the Royal College of Surg ...

ODNB The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

* Joseph Osborne "Beacon" author of The Horsebreeder's Handbook, owner/trainer of Grand National winner 1850/51

Notes and references

1822 establishments in England Defunct newspapers published in the United Kingdom Newspapers published in London Publications established in 1822 Publications disestablished in 1886 Sport in England Sports newspapers published in the United Kingdom Weekly newspapers published in the United Kingdom Defunct weekly newspapers Bells Life {{sports-newspaper-stub