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''Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper'', called the ''Sunday News'' after 1924, was an early Sunday newspaper in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, launched in 1842 and ceasing publication in 1931. On 16 February 1896, ''Lloyd’s Weekly'' became the only British newspaper in the nineteenth century to sell more than a million copies. In its heyday, ''Lloyd's Weekly'' was so popular that the
music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...
artiste Mathilda Wood changed her name to
Marie Lloyd Matilda Alice Victoria Wood (12 February 1870 – 7 October 1922), professionally known as Marie Lloyd (), was an English music hall singer, comedian and musical theatre actress. She was best known for her performances of songs such as "The Boy ...
“because everyone’s heard of Lloyd’s”.


Founding

Edward Lloyd launched ''Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper'' in 1842. It was the first of three popular papers to be created for those who only had the leisure to read on Sundays. It was followed by the ''
News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national "Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top" Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling ...
'' in 1843 and ''
Reynold's News ''Reynold's News'' was a Sunday newspaper in the United Kingdom, founded as ''Reynolds's Weekly Newspaper''Joanne Shattock, ''The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature'', p.2908 by George W. M. Reynolds in 1850, who became its first edit ...
'' in 1850. Lloyd was already a prolific publisher of periodicals and serialised fiction. He had created titles that sounded like newspapers, such as the ''Lloyd’s Penny Sunday Times and People’s Police Gazette'', but these were a sham to avoid paying
stamp duty Stamp duty is a tax that is levied on single property purchases or documents (including, historically, the majority of legal documents such as cheques, receipts, military commissions, marriage licences and land transactions). Historically, a ...
. The sham lay in printing fictitious or historical stories echoing current events so that readers could glean the outcome of the real event from the dénouement of the story. ''Lloyd’s Weekly'' got off to a complicated start. It first appeared in 1842 as ''Lloyd's Penny Illustrated Newspaper'', selling at one penny. Lloyd tried to keep his version free of stamp duty by printing the illustrations of current events without captions. Most of the text was devoted to literary and dramatic material but, in its seventh issue, the Stamp Office spotted “news” in the theatre listings. A more colourful version said that it was news of a lion's escape from a travelling menagerie, but this has never been found. Lloyd may have felt that it made a better story than announcement of a play due to open in Deptford. Lloyd was determined to publish a newspaper so he decided to pay the duty and the paper was relaunched as ''Lloyd's Illustrated London Newspaper'' priced at twopence, with a masthead showing
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and the
River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...
in the manner of the recently launched ''
The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...
'' which had been a terrific success from the start, despite costing sixpence. Breaking even financially was the real challenge: revenues net of stamp duty failed to cover the cost of the illustrations (stamp duty was more than the 1d duty on news because of the heavy duty on paper - 1½d per pound in weight). After another seven issues, Lloyd dropped all pictures and changed the name to ''Lloyd’s Weekly London Newspaper''. In the autumn of 1843, he raised the price to threepence, compensating for this by increasing the number of words per page. He used the postal service for distribution as postage was included in the 1d stamp duty — a useful concession that also enabled him to beat off the newsagents’ demand for a 1d commission. Even then, it was often a struggle to keep it going during the turbulence of the late 1840s. “London” was dropped from the title in 1848, probably reflecting the growing availability of rail transport.


Early years

Lloyd kept the paper in his own tight control. Most of it consisted of objective news reporting without comment or speculation. Ample coverage was given to foreign news, particularly from continental Europe. It also made room for theatre, books, poetry, sport and essay features. The content had to be morally sound so that women would want to read it too. Indigent men had been poorly served by the newspaper trade but indigent women had been entirely overlooked. In his previous publishing business, Lloyd had seen the vast unmet demand for something good to read among the growing numbers of people who had learnt their letters but found nothing that they could afford except trash or sermonizing. ''Lloyd’s Weekly'', and indeed the ''News of the World'' at that time, were a long way from being the purveyors of scandal, crime and sensation for which they have since been falsely condemned. In addition to the serious-minded content, ''Lloyd's Weekly'' set a high standard of vocabulary and syntax, and Lloyd's role in spreading literacy among the poor was considerable. The only regular political content in ''Lloyd’s Weekly'' appeared in a leading article on the front page. For the first ten years, the paper was outspokenly radical. This may well have reflected Lloyd's own political views, of which little is known. Unlike his rival, George W M Reynolds, he never became a Chartist. It is also clear that he would have chosen a radical slant because the paper was intended for those who had no vote – the urban poor who owned no property. To them, Whigs and Tories were equally irrelevant, if not actively hostile. This leader was the only contribution to the paper made by the “editor”. Lloyd kept the content and broader direction of the paper in his own hands. He had two editors in the early years – Robert Bell and William Carpenter – both well-known radicals. However, neither stayed long. Lloyd would then have commissioned the leaders in the same way that he commissioned other features. It is not known whether he ever wrote them himself, but that is unlikely. In 1852, he appointed Douglas Jerrold as editor. Jerrold was a journalist, writer and playwright with a powerful presence in the mid-century literary world. Lloyd was so anxious to enlist his help in raising the paper's profile that he paid him the extravagantly generous salary of £1,000 a year. Jerrold wrote gentler and much more elegant leaders than his predecessors had, but any supposed allegiance to 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. For example, while the political systems ...
was only evident in his lack of support for the
Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...
. "His radicalism was that of the humourist," his son Blanchard wrote in the biography of his father. "From his stern independence no minister could wrest a promise." Lloyd and Jerrold had a warm relationship on the paper and outside it. It was cut short by Jerrold's death in 1857. As a gesture to his dying friend, Lloyd appointed his son Blanchard as editor. Blanchard Jerrold remained in position until he died in 1885 but, as an absentee leader writer, he never played his father's important role in the development of the paper.


Later years

Within weeks of launch, circulation leapt to an encouraging 32,000-odd, but it had done little more than double by 1850. By 1857, however, its fortunes had turned for several reasons. Its coverage of
the Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition that took ...
of 1851 brought it to the notice of a wider public. Douglas Jerrold's appointment in 1852 boosted regular sales as did his exhaustive coverage of the
Duke of Wellington Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they ar ...
’s death and funeral that year, with the funeral alone generating 150,000 sales. On abolition of the stamp duty on news in 1855, Lloyd lowered the price to twopence and his early ambition to sell 100,000 copies every week could be realised at last. Lloyd then turned his attention to the efficiency of his production processes. In 1856, he imported two rotary presses made by
Richard Hoe Richard March Hoe (middle name spelled in some 1920s records as "Marsh"; September 12, 1812 – June 7, 1886) was an American inventor from New York City who designed a rotary printing press identical to Josiah Warren's original invention, and re ...
in New York that multiplied the speed of printing and were soon imported by the rest of
Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...
. Then, exasperated by the unreliability of
newsprint Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper consisting mainly of wood pulp and most commonly used to print newspapers and other publications and advertising material. Invented in 1844 by Charles Fenerty of Nova Scotia, Canada, it usually has ...
supplies, he decided to make his own. Having researched the paper trade, he went to
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to explore the potential of
esparto Esparto, halfah grass, or esparto grass is a fiber produced from two species of perennial grasses of north Africa, Spain and Portugal. It is used for crafts, such as cords, basketry, and espadrilles. '' Stipa tenacissima'' and '' Lygeum spar ...
grass as a raw material. He leased the harvesting rights to 100,000 acres and set up a paper mill at Bow Bridge in East London. In 1861, he started making all his own newsprint and was soon making enough to sell to other publishers. ''Lloyd's Weeklys circulation had risen to 170,000 by 1861, but it was soon to rise much more steeply. On 1 October 1861, the last duty on newspapers was abolished – the paper duty of a penny halfpenny per pound in weight. Lloyd lowered the price to a penny two weeks before the duty was lifted. Even with the much improved production, the first issue sold out at 350,000. Regular circulation had risen to 412,080 by 1865 and continued its upward path, passing the million mark in 1896 and reaching 1,500,000 during the 1914-18 war. As the century went on, ''Lloyd's Weekly'' attracted a sizeable readership in Australia and New Zealand. It also contained popular features that gave readers a feeling of personal connection with the paper. One was a section that answered readers' questions, many of which were legal, although the answers were often too cryptic to be much use to other readers. Another was a Lost Relatives column where missing persons could be traced through the good offices of fellow readers. In 1885, Lloyd's valued employee, Thomas Catling, took over the editorship. He was a keen supporter of William Gladstone and the Liberal Party. It is probably from this last period of Lloyd's life that his reputation as a stalwart Liberal Party supporter arose. The radicalism of ''Lloyd’s Weekly''’s early years had been considerably toned down, but the paper's views on social issues were hard to reconcile with Gladstone's parsimonious approach to the spending of public money. However, by the 1880s, the party itself was dividing itself three ways – the social reformers later led by
David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leadi ...
, the more traditional tendency of the Asquith faction and Gladstone's loyal supporters. Both this paper and Lloyd's other paper, the ''
Daily Chronicle The ''Daily Chronicle'' was a left-wing British newspaper that was published from 1872 to 1930 when it merged with the '' Daily News'' to become the '' News Chronicle''. Foundation The ''Daily Chronicle'' was developed by Edward Lloyd out of a ...
'', generally supported the Lloyd George arm. Gladstone's promotion of home rule for Ireland created difficulties for Catling. Although unaligned radicals supported it, the policy was unpopular with the general public. Catling was torn between supporting Gladstone and the risk of offending readers. Lloyd was clear: readers always came first and, if enough of them defected, a new editor would have to be found.


Revamp

In 1889, Lloyd hatched a plan to revamp the paper. Its format had changed little since 1843. It had become feasible to leaven the text with line drawings as well as to print a longer paper without going broke. A delay in delivery of new printing presses (Richard Hoe had died in 1886) gave Lloyd a great deal of anxiety and he fell ill, probably from a heart attack. After a month or two convalescing, Lloyd returned to work. The plan was close to fruition in early 1890 when he again fell ill. This time he did not recover and he died on 8 April 1890, barely a month before the new-style ''Lloyd’s Weekly'' was ready to run.


After Lloyd's death

Catling retired in 1906 and was succeeded by Robert Donald, who was already editor of the ''Daily Chronicle''. He continued until 1918 when Lloyd George bought out both Lloyd papers following the debacle over the ''Chronicle''s support for his adversary, Sir Frederick Maurice. After the takeover, ''Lloyd’s Weekly'' ceased to prosper. Its second editor from 1924 was Ernest Perris, who was also editor of the ''Chronicle''. That did well under the new ownership, so it may be that steering two newspapers to success proved too much for him. The name had already been changed from ''Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper'' to ''Lloyd’s Weekly News'' in 1902 and to ''Lloyd’s Sunday News'' in 1918. ''Lloyd’s'' was dropped in 1924. By the time of the 1929 financial crash, the two papers were enmeshed in a corporate muddle created by two further changes of ownership. The
Cadbury family The Cadbury family is a British family of wealthy Quaker industrialists descending from Richard Tapper Cadbury. * Richard Tapper Cadbury (1768–1860), draper and abolitionist, who financed his sons' start-up business; married Elizabeth Head **J ...
gave the ''Daily Chronicle'' an extended half-life in the ''
News Chronicle The ''News Chronicle'' was a British daily newspaper. Formed by the merger of '' The Daily News'' and the '' Daily Chronicle'' in 1930, it ceased publication on 17 October 1960,''Liberal Democrat News'' 15 October 2010, accessed 15 October 2010 b ...
'' until 1960. The ''Sunday Newss potential saviour, the popular writer
Edgar Wallace Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer of crime and adventure fiction. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was ...
, failed to make a go of it in 1930. The paper folded in 1931 when Allied Newspapers bought the title and merged it into the ''
Sunday Graphic The ''Sunday Graphic'' was a weekly English tabloid newspaper that was published in Fleet Street. The newspaper was founded in 1915 as the ''Sunday Herald'' and was later renamed the ''Illustrated Sunday Herald''. It was acquired by Alli ...
''.


Editors

:1842: Robert Bell :1844: William Carpenter :1845: Edward Lloyd :1852: Douglas William Jerrold :1857: William Blanchard Jerrold :1884: Thomas Catling :1906: Robert Donald :1919: William Sugden Robinson :1924: Ernest Perris :1930:
Edgar Wallace Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer of crime and adventure fiction. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was ...


References


External links

{{Defunct UK newspapers Defunct newspapers published in the United Kingdom Newspapers established in 1842 Publications disestablished in 1931 1842 establishments in the United Kingdom 1931 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Defunct Sunday newspapers published in the United Kingdom