The Leicester Journal
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Leicester’s first newspaper, The Leicester Journal was launched on 12 May 1753 by John Gregory (1727-1789). The first edition was a single sheet, folded to make four pages. It was priced twopence and carried four advertisements. The paper’s editorial policy was set out in an introductory poem:[1]
To rescue Truth from Party lies,
To make you all alert and wise…
And favour neither Whig nor Tory,
But fairly lay the case before ye.[1]
In its early years “the paper consisted of four small pages, filled with news taken from the London journals and very meagre paragraphs concerning local affairs, and presenting nothing in the shape of a leading article.”[1] In 1755 Gregory joined forces with Samuel Cresswell of Nottingham, and the paper was renamed The Leicester and Nottingham Journal. Their partnership ended in 1759 when Cresswell returned to Nottingham and launched The Nottingham and Newark Journal, but Gregory retained the longer title until 1786, when the paper once again became The Leicester Journal. John Gregory was an Alderman and served a term as Mayor in 1779. He died 22 March 1789 and was buried in St Martin’s church.[2]
After Gregory’s death, his son, also called John, became editor. He continued his father’s even-handed editorial approach and the paper continued virtually unchanged. By that time the paper had grown to twelve pages and now carried many advertisements and notices regarding trade and other local events, readers’ letters and poems, sporting events, charitable appeals, and reports of the trials at the local assizes also featured regularly. It was still published weekly, on Saturdays.
In 1792 two rival ‘radical’ newspapers were established in Leicester but both were short-lived: The Leicester Herald was run by Richard Phillips, and The Leicester Chronicle by Thomas Combe. The Chronicle closed in February 1793, under threat of government prosecution; and Phillips was imprisoned for eighteen months for selling Thomas Paine's Rights of Man. He continued editing the Herald from his prison cell but after his release a fire at his home finally persuaded him to close the paper and sever his connection with Leicester.
In 1803 Gregory went into partnership with his son-in-law John Price, and when Gregory died in 1806, Price took over the running of The Leicester Journal. In the changed political climate of the early 19th century, Price abandoned the non-partisan approach of the Gregorys and developed the use of editorial columns to aggressively promote a Tory agenda. This editorial stance continued when John Price’s son, Charles, became editor in 1831, and carried on under a succession of later editors over the course of the next twenty years.[2]
References
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