Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper
Encyclopedia
Founding
The paper was launched by Edward LloydEdward Lloyd (publisher)
Edward Lloyd was a British publisher.Born in Thornton Heath, Lloyd studied shorthand at the London Mechanics' Institution, then wrote a book on stenography. Before he was eighteen, he had opened shops in London to sell cheap books and valentines.From 1835, he began publishing cheap books, many...
in 1842 as Lloyd's Illustrated London Newspaper, following the success of his Lloyd's Penny Weekly Miscellany. The new paper was intended as a rival for the Illustrated London News
Illustrated London News
The Illustrated London News was the world's first illustrated weekly newspaper; the first issue appeared on Saturday 14 May 1842. It was published weekly until 1971 and then increasingly less frequently until publication ceased in 2003.-History:...
. It sold for two pence, a third the price of the Illustrated, and offered eight pages of news with woodcut
Woodcut
Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...
illustrations.
Under Edward Lloyd
For seven weeks, Lloyd published the newspaper while illegally avoiding stamp dutyStamp duty
Stamp duty is a tax that is levied on documents. Historically, this included the majority of legal documents such as cheques, receipts, military commissions, marriage licences and land transactions. A physical stamp had to be attached to or impressed upon the document to denote that stamp duty...
. He was forced to relaunch the publication as Lloyd's Weekly London Newspaper and to increase the price to cover the duty. This developed as one of the first mass market
Mass market
The mass market is a general business term describing the largest group of consumers for a specified industry product. It is the opposite extreme of the term niche market.-General:...
newspapers, soon followed by the News of the World
News of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
and Reynold's Weekly Newspaper. In 1849, it was renamed Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper.
In 1852, Douglas William Jerrold
Douglas William Jerrold
Douglas William Jerrold was an English dramatist and writer.-Biography:Jerrold was born in London. His father, Samuel Jerrold, was an actor and lessee of the little theatre of Wilsby near Cranbrook in Kent. In 1807 Douglass moved to Sheerness, where he spent his childhood...
was appointed as editor, on a salary of £1,000 a year, and by 1853, he had increased circulation to 90,000 copies a week. He was succeeded in 1857 by his son, William Blanchard Jerrold
William Blanchard Jerrold
William Blanchard Jerrold , was an English journalist and author.-Biography:He was born in London, the eldest son of the dramatist, Douglas William Jerrold. Due to his disagreements with the practices at the elite Mao school, where he was educated for two and a half years, he quit school and began...
, who served until his death in 1884.
When stamp duty was removed in 1860, the newspaper immediately dropped its price to one penny. This allowed circulation to rise rapidly, to 500,000 copies in 1872, and in 1896 it became the first newspaper to regularly sell 1,000,000 copies an issue. By this period, the newspaper was so well known that music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
singer Marie Lloyd
Marie Lloyd
Matilda Alice Victoria Wood was an English music hall singer, best known as Marie Lloyd. Her ability to add lewdness to the most innocent of lyrics led to frequent clashes with the guardians of morality...
took her stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
from it.
Lloyd used the newspaper to promote moderate liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
politics, and it was usually supportive of William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
. He also spent large amounts of time promoting the newspaper, and paid his staff with coins embossed with its name, although this was stopped on the grounds that this constituted defacement and was a criminal offence under the Coinage Act 1861. In 1876, Lloyd purchased the Daily Chronicle
Daily Chronicle
The Daily Chronicle was a British newspaper that was published from 1872 to 1930 when it merged with the Daily News to become the News Chronicle.-History:...
as a companion to his Sunday newspaper.
Later years
Lloyd died in 1890, leaving the newspaper business to his son Frank. Robert DonaldRobert Donald
Sir Robert Donald was a British newspaper editor.Working as a clerk, Donald submitted free articles to a local journal, then gained employment at the Edinburgh Evening News. He also worked on The Courant and the Northampton Echo before becoming a freelancer. In 1888, he joined The Star, a new...
, editor of the Chronicle, also edited Lloyd's Weekly from 1906. He enjoyed a friendly relationship with Prime Minister David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
but, during 1918, Donald questioned many of Lloyd George's decisions, prompting Lloyd George to gather together a consortium led by Henry Dalziel
Henry Dalziel
Henry Dalziel VC was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces...
to purchase the newspapers under the name United Newspapers
United Business Media
UBM plc is a magazine publisher, news distributor and events organiser providing business information services principally to the technology, healthcare, media, automotive and financial services industries...
. Donald immediately resigned, complaining that Lloyd George was trying to "corner public opinion"
Under new ownership, the paper was renamed Lloyd's Sunday News, then in 1924 this was shortened to the Sunday News. United Newspapers suffered a financial crisis in 1929, leading to the merger of the Chronicle with The Daily News to form the News Chronicle
News Chronicle
The News Chronicle was a British daily newspaper. It ceased publication on 17 October 1960, being absorbed into the Daily Mail. Its offices were in Bouverie Street, off Fleet Street, London, EC4Y 8DP, England.-Daily Chronicle:...
. They sold the Sunday News to Edgar Wallace
Edgar Wallace
Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace was an English crime writer, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and numerous articles in newspapers and journals....
, who edited it for six months before its final collapse in August 1931, whereupon it was merged with the Sunday Graphic
Sunday Graphic
The Sunday Graphic was an English tabloid newspaper published in Fleet Street.The newspaper was founded in 1915 as the Sunday Herald and was later renamed the Illustrated Sunday Herald. In 1927 it changed its name to the Sunday Graphic, becoming the sister paper of the Daily Graphic. In 1931 it...
.
Editors
- 1842: Edward LloydEdward Lloyd (publisher)Edward Lloyd was a British publisher.Born in Thornton Heath, Lloyd studied shorthand at the London Mechanics' Institution, then wrote a book on stenography. Before he was eighteen, he had opened shops in London to sell cheap books and valentines.From 1835, he began publishing cheap books, many...
- 1852: Douglas William JerroldDouglas William JerroldDouglas William Jerrold was an English dramatist and writer.-Biography:Jerrold was born in London. His father, Samuel Jerrold, was an actor and lessee of the little theatre of Wilsby near Cranbrook in Kent. In 1807 Douglass moved to Sheerness, where he spent his childhood...
- 1857: William Blanchard JerroldWilliam Blanchard JerroldWilliam Blanchard Jerrold , was an English journalist and author.-Biography:He was born in London, the eldest son of the dramatist, Douglas William Jerrold. Due to his disagreements with the practices at the elite Mao school, where he was educated for two and a half years, he quit school and began...
- 1884: Thomas Catling
- 1906: Robert DonaldRobert DonaldSir Robert Donald was a British newspaper editor.Working as a clerk, Donald submitted free articles to a local journal, then gained employment at the Edinburgh Evening News. He also worked on The Courant and the Northampton Echo before becoming a freelancer. In 1888, he joined The Star, a new...
- 1919: William Sugden Robinson
- 1924: Ernest Perris
- 1931: Edgar WallaceEdgar WallaceRichard Horatio Edgar Wallace was an English crime writer, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and numerous articles in newspapers and journals....