This chapter covers the use of local newspaper archives – sources, what to expect from the newspapers, and practical tips for working with them.

What To Expect From Local Newspapers

The oldest provincial newspapers date from the early 18th century (the Norwich Post, widely regarded as the first provincial newspaper, was first published in 1701) and they consist of a single folded sheet, usually produced on a Saturday, with two columns per page.

They contain a mixture of local, national and international news (the latter two reprinted from London papers) and can be very rich in local detail. For example, the Norwich Mercury for Saturday 13 December 1738 has two pages of international (foreign affairs) and London news.

On the third page, the first half of column one is London news; then there’s a local list of births this week (split between male and female), and burials (split by 10-year groupings, i.e. those under 10, aged 10–20, 20–30, etc.) and a total split by male and female.

The rest of pages 2 and 3 are advertisements, which include Mr Ellis the coroner announcing that he’s moved but will continue his ‘surgery and Apothecary’s business’, advertisements for theatrical productions, and advertisements for new pubs or entertainments, and farms and businesses to let (with details of the property and stock). Some of the theatrical acts have enormously detailed descriptions.

Most of page 4 contains advertisements, including sale of liquor and a note of rents; many of the advertisements relate to the printing and pharmaceutical business of the newspaper owner, for example, The Oxford Almanack, Dr Bateman’s Pectoral Drops (for colds), Angelical Tincture (for coughs), and a list by the publisher of what he can print.

By 1800, newspapers had grown in sheet size and fonts had decreased in size, so although the Norwich Mercury for Saturday 4 January 1800 is still only four pages long, there are five narrow columns per page and a lot more information crammed in.

Again, it’s a mixture of local and national news; page 1 contains advertisements (including one for the English State Lottery), and notifications of state business (such as Great Ellingham Inclosure).

On page 2, the first column contains assize figures for bread and corn, a bill of mortality for the week and – as it’s the first newspaper of the year – figures for the previous year. There is also information about London prices and the stock exchange. The second half of the fifth column deals with schools, and the remainder of the page deals with London news.

Page 3 gives information about quarter sessions and local news, including ships and cargoes into the port of Wells, people who had to go to hospital and why (such as Thomas Gill, who had a compound fractured leg because a loaded wagon of coal ran him over), and a note of people fined for selling light measures of bread. The second half of column three contains news from other local places (such as Yarmouth and Cambridge); the first half of column four is ‘letters to the editor’, and the remainder of the page includes notices such as those of subscription balls, assemblies and land tax collections.

Page 4 is entirely London news.

Stamp Duty And Changes In Circulation

Stamp duty had a big effect on the circulation of local newspapers. The first tax started in 1712, at just ½d a copy; it was increased in 1797 to 3½d and again in 1815 to 4d a copy, which meant that newspapers cost 6d or 7d, so only the rich could afford to buy them. William Cobbet began publishing his weekly Political Register in 1816 for 2d a copy, and John and Leigh Hunt, publishers of the Examiner, called attention on their front page to what they called ‘a tax on knowledge’.

More and more publishers evaded the stamp duty, and in 1819 Parliament passed the Six Acts to try to reduce the circulation of radical newspapers and pamphlets. The publishers had to deposit a bond with the government as surety against conviction for sedition or libel – £300 for London publishers and £200 for provincial publishers. The stamp duty was stated as 4d on all journals that were sold for less than 6d, appeared more frequently than every 26 days, or contained ‘any Public News, Intelligence or Occurrences, or any Remarks or Observations thereon, or upon any Matter in Church or State’.

Selling an unstamped journal meant a fine of £20 but only the Attorney-General or Stamp Office official could start a prosecution, so a blind eye was often turned to pro-Government publications evading the duty whereas radical publishers ended up in prison. There were also taxes on advertisements and the paper itself, so the cost of newspapers limited their circulation.

Campaigns were mounted against the duty, which was reduced to 1d on newsapapers (and removed for journals) in 1836; this led to a huge increase in the number of newspapers. The duty was finally abolished in 1855, and then the number of newspapers grew rapidly; by 1870 most villages had at least a ‘share’ in a regional paper.

The number of newspapers decreased after around the 1950s when the cost of producing the newspapers tended to be greater than the income from advertisements and sales.