The Standard was established as an evening paper in the Tory
interest (as the express organ of the opponents of the measure for
removing Roman Catholic disabilities) in 1827, its first
editor being Stanley Lees Giffard, father of the first earl
of Halsbury, who had Alaric Watts and Dr William
Maginn, famous as one of the originators of Fraser’s Magazine, as
The Standard.
his chief helpers. In the course of two or three years it became a
pecuniary, as it had from the first been a political, success, and
gradually ousted the Courier, which was for a time conducted by
William Mudford, whose son half a century later became the most
distinguished editor of the Standard. In course of time the latter
became the property of Mr Charles Baldwin, whose father was
proprietor of the Morning Herald, and when the father died the son
found himself in possession of both a morning and an evening journal.
In his hands neither of them prospered, although the Standard
retained a large circulation and constantly printed early and accurate
political information. At length, midway in the ’fifties, both papers
were purchased by Mr James Johnstone, Mr John Maxwell, the publisher,
being for a time associated with him in the ownership. Mr
Johnstone realized that he had before him a great opportunity, and
at once set to work to grasp it. He brought out the Standard as a
morning paper (29th June 1857), increased its size from four to eight
pages, and reduced the price from fourpence to twopence. One of
the most curious features of the early numbers was a novel by
William Howard Russell. The evening edition was continued. In
February 1858 Mr Johnstone again reduced the price, this time to
a penny. When that step was taken the Standard announced
that its politics were “enlightened amelioration and progress,” but
that it was “bound to no party”; and to those independent lines
it in the main adhered. In the course of four or five years it became
a financial success, and then began to attract to itself many brilliant
pens, one of its contributors in the ’sixties, Lord Robert Cecil,
being destined to become illustrious as marquess of Salisbury.
Lord Robert was an occasional leader-writer, whose contributions
were confined almost entirely to political subjects. It was at this
time that the Standard laid the foundation of the great reputation
for early and detailed foreign news which it has ever since enjoyed.
During the American Civil War it obtained the services of a representative
signing himself “Manhattan,” whose vivid and forcible
letters from the battlefield arrested attention from the beginning.
As the campaign progressed, these full, picturesque and accurate
accounts of the most terrible struggle of modern times were looked
for with eager interest. There were no “special cables” to discount
the poignant curiosity of the reader, and the paper reached a circulation
far beyond anything hitherto known. The distinction thus
acquired was maintained during the Prussian-Austrian War of 1866,
and greatly increased by the letters and telegrams describing the
triumphs and disasters of the campaign of 1870. In the early ’sixties
the staff had been reinforced by the engagement of Mr William
Heseltine Mudford. In the midst of his work as a parliamentary
reporter, he was sent as special correspondent to Jamaica in 1865
to report upon the troubles which involved the recall of Governor
Eyre; a further period in the gallery of the House of Commons
followed, and in 1873 Mr Mudford became business manager. Mr
Johnstone’s first editor was Captain Hamber, who afterwards
seceded to the short-lived Hour, with whom had been associated
Mr David Morier Evans as manager. He was succeeded by the
owner’s eldest son, to whom Mr (afterwards Sir) John Gorst was
joined in a consultative capacity. In 1876 Mr Mudford became
editor, still, however, retaining managerial control. Mr Johnstone,
the proprietor to whose energy and perspicacity the paper owed so
much, died in 1878, and under his will Mr Mudford was appointed
editor and manager for life, or until resignation. Already a great
property, the Standard in Mr Mudford’s hands entered upon a very
successful period. He had for his first assistant-editor Mr Gilbert
Venables, who was succeeded after a short term by Mr George
Byron Curtis, previously one of the leader-writers, who thus held the
position through nearly the whole of Mr Mudford’s long editorship.
The staff at this time comprised many men, and some women,
whose names are distinguished in letters as well as in journalism.
Mr Alfred Austin, Mr T. H. S. Escott, Miss Frances Power Cobbe
and Professor Palmer were all writing for the paper at the same time.
To them must be added, among others, Mr E. D. J. Wilson, the
brilliant political leader-writer (afterwards of The Times), Mr Percy
Greg, son of “Cassandra” Greg, Mr T. E. Kebbel and Dr Robert
Brown, who wrote copiously upon scientific and miscellaneous
subjects. Foremost among the war correspondents were Mr G. A.
Henty, who represented the paper on many a stricken field; Mr John
A. Cameron, who was killed at Abu Klea; and Mr William Maxwell.
In January 1900 Mr Mudford retired, and was succeeded in the editorship
by Mr G. Byron Curtis (d. 1907), Mr S. H. Jeyes, whose connexion
with the paper had begun in 1891, becoming assistant-editor.
In November 1904 the Standard, which had at that time taken rather
a strong line in deprecating the tariff reform movement within the
Unionist party, was sold to Mr C. Arthur Pearson (proprietor of the
Daily Express, see below), who was chairman of the Tariff Reform
League, and considerable changes were made in the paper, Mr H. A.
Gwynne becoming editor. In 1910 Mr Pearson, owing to ill-health,
transferred his interests in the proprietary company he had formed
in 1904 to Mr Davison Dalziel.
The Daily Chronicle arose, as already mentioned, out of the local Clerkenwell News, the latter paper having been purchased by Mr Edward Lloyd in 1877, and converted into “an Imperial morning paper” on independent Liberal lines. Under the editorship of Mr R. Whelan Boyle the Daily Chronicle soon took rank among the other London daily journals, the only Daily Chronicle. traces of its original character being shown in the attention paid to metropolitan affairs and the appearance of numerous small advertisements. The independent tone of the journal was conspicuous in its treatment of the Home Rule question. At first deprecating the system of combined agitation and outrage with which the term was synonymous, the Daily Chronicle, under the editorship of Mr A. E. Fletcher (1890–1895), ceased to be a Unionist journal, and supported Mr Gladstone’s Bill of 1893. Another instance was afforded in the course of the Boer War. During the negotiations and the early stages of the campaign, the Daily Chronicle, which was then edited by Mr H. W. Massingham (b. 1860), strove for peace by supporting the Boer side against the diplomacy of Mr Chamberlain. Mr Massingham’s policy was, however, not to the liking of the proprietors, and he retired from the editorship towards the end of 1899, Mr W. J. Fisher succeeding him as editor. In 1904 Mr Robert Donald became editor, and the price was reduced to a halfpenny. Mr Massingham during his editorship, ably seconded by Mr (afterwards Sir) Henry Norman (b. 1858), had largely increased the interest of the paper, particularly on its literary side. A new impetus had been given in this direction in 1891, when a “literary page” was started, conducted at first by Mr J. A. Manson, and after 1892 by Mr Massingham, when he became assistant-editor under Mr Fletcher. The Chronicle had taken a leading part in many public movements since 1877. It was conspicuous in its advocacy of the cause of the men in the London dock strike of 1889; and in the great mining dispute for a “living wage,” which was brought to a close by Lord Rosebery in November 1893, raised over £13,000 for the relief committees. Much attention was given to the theosophical discussion of 1891 and to the exposure of the adventurer “De Rougemont” after he had appeared before the British Association at Bristol in 1898. The Chronicle took an active part in the negotiations which led to the Venezuelan Arbitration Treaty of 1897; it energetically pleaded the cause of the Armenians and Cretans during the massacres of 1896, and it encouraged the Greeks in the war with Turkey in 1897. Its foreign policy was, however, more distinguished by goodwill than by discretion—and notably in the latter instance. The Chronicle also worked strenuously for the Progressive cause in London in regard to the County Council, Borough Councils and the School Board. Its new successes included the first announcement of the revolution in eastern Rumelia (1885); the first circumstantial account of the death of Prince Rudolph (1889); Nansen’s own narrative of his expedition towards the North Pole; Sir Martin Conway’s journey across Spitzbergen in 1896; and the first ascent of Aconcagua in 1897.
In 1890 the illustrated morning daily paper, the Daily Graphic, was founded by W. L. Thomas (1830–1901) as an offshoot from the weekly illustrated Graphic, and soon came into favour.Daily Graphic.
In 1906 a new Liberal morning daily was started by Mr Franklin Thomason in the shape of the Tribune, edited by Mr W. Hill, who retired after a few months, with Mr L. T. Hobhouse as political editor. Later Mr Pryor became managing editor, but at the beginning of 1908, after heavy losses, the publication was stopped.Tribune.
Two morning papers, at the popular price of halfpenny, appeared in the spring of 1892, the Morning and the Morning Leader. They raced for priority of publication, the former winning by a day. The Morning Leader, under the same management as the (evening) Star, continued to flourish, but the Morning had but a brief career.Morning Leader.
The halfpenny Daily Mail was originated by Mr Alfred Charles Harmsworth (b. 1865), who was subsequently created a baronet (1904) and in 1905 a peer as Baron Northcliffe; it appeared in 1896, on the same day as Sir G. Newnes’s penny Courier (which only lasted a few weeks). In the evolution of English journalism the foundation of the Daily Mail carried still farther the Daily Mail. work begun by the Daily Telegraph in earlier days. It was the first halfpenny morning newspaper to place at the disposal of its readers a news service competing with that of any of the higher-priced newspapers, and soon took an increasingly important place in the Press. At the opening of the 20th century it claimed a regular circulation of about a million copies daily (and had occasionally sold as many as 1,500,000 copies of a single issue), and it was produced simultaneously in London and Manchester, the whole of the contents being telegraphed nightly. In May 1904 it began publishing a continental edition in Paris. The sensational success of the Daily Mail, which first made Lord Northcliffe one of the dominant personalities in English journalism, was due, not to individual writers, but to a consistent policy of catering for a modern public and serving them with lively news and articles, and constant change of interest. Its large circulation, and resulting advertising revenue, gave it an influence which in politics was used on the Unionist side; but the readers of the Daily Mail went to it, not for politics, but for news, brightly and briefly displayed. Its triumph represented the
