Wrexham Guardian
 The front page from 2 January 1875 | |
| Type | Weekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Founded | 4 September 1869 |
| Political alignment | Conservative |
| Language | English |
| Ceased publication | 1954 |
| City | Wrexham |
| Country | Wales, United Kingdom |
| OCLC number | 750398181 |
The Wrexham Guardian was a weekly newspaper from Wrexham, a town in northern Wales. The first issue was published on 4 September 1869, and in February 1879, its name was changed to the North Wales Guardian.[1] It continued under that title until ceasing publication in 1954.[2]
The Wrexham Guardian was founded in response to Liberal successes in the 1868 general election in Wales. In response Welsh Conservatives established three Conservative supporting newspapers - the Guardian, the Western Mail, and Y Dwysogaeth - to promote the Conservative party.[3] The Guardian first appeared on 4 September 1869. In its early years it suffered from a high turnover of editors and publishers and failed to make a profit, being kept afloat by political subsidies. In 1879 it changed its name to the North Wales Guardian.
Establishment The Guardian was established and owned by the North Wales Constitutional Press Company Limited - a group of local gentry and landowners - although its first issue was printed and published by James Ramsden, the owner of the Chester Courant. The Guardian received a subsidy of around £1,000 per year from local Conservatives.[4] Despite this, the North Wales Constitutional Press Company continued to suffer from financial problems.[5] The Guardian frequently attacked the Liberal MP for the Denbigh Boroughs, Watkin Williams, and in 1878 Williams revealed (and supplied evidence to the Guardian local Liberal-supporting rival, the Wrexham Advertiser) that the Guardian was surviving courtesy of a financial subsidy from Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn and George Kenyon, who hid their involvement behind the North Wales Constitutional Press Company.[6] In August 1878 the newspaper was sold to Evan Morris and then to Frederick Edward Roe from Dover.
Roe was soon emboiled in a dispute with the Guardian's printers. He reduced the wages and number of printing staff and as a result was able to reduce the price of the newspaper to a penny in 1885. Roe sold the Guardian in September 1887 and in 1887 it was sold to Frederwick William Brodie and then Messrs Jarman & Co. in February 1894. The Guardian was then run by Sydney Gardnor Jarman and then his son, Percy. The price was reduced to half a penny in April 1914. The newspaper ceased on Percy's death in 1894.
Rivals
The Guardian's main rival was the Liberal-supporting Wrexham Advertiser.
Sales
October-December 1873 average sales of 1,856 a week[7]
1890 4,139 per week[8]
1894 5,100 per week[9]
Premises
The newspaper's original premises were the Guardian Office in Bank Place, Wrexham.[10]
1870 - moved to 26 Hope Street, Wrexham
1880 - moved to Argyle Street, Wrexham[11]
Editors
1869- John Ramsden
John Vaughan
George William Spencer
Alfred Lloyd Row
Herman Behrens
1874-1878 William Garratt Jones
John Hamyln Lakeman
1878-1887 Frederick Edward Roe
1887-1890 Frederick William Brodie
1890-Joseph Henry White (with Griffith Parry Edwards)
1890-1893 Griffith Parry Edwards
1893-1894 George Herbery Wykes
1894- Sydney Gardnor Jarman
Percy Jarman
References
[edit]- ^ British Museum. Dept. of Printed Books; Garnett, Richard (1905). Catalogue of Printed Books in the Library of the British Museum: Supplement. Newspapers Published in Great Britain and Ireland, 1801–1900. London: W. Clowes and Sons, Limited. p. 342. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ^ Peters, Lisa Jayne (2002). "Wrexham Newspapers 1848–1914". Cadair. Aberystwyth University. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ^ Peters, Lisa (2019). Cawood, Ian (ed.). "'We defy Mr Watkin Williams to point to a single instance ... where his personal character has been assailed': The Wrexham Guardian v Watkin Williams, MP". Print, Politics and the Provincial Press in Modern Britain. Peter Lang: 157.
- ^ Peters, Lisa (2011). Politics, Publishing and Personalities: Wrexham Newspapers, 1848-1914. Chester: University of Chester Press. p. 39. ISBN 9781905929870.
- ^ Peters, Lisa (2001). Isaac, Peter; McKay, Barry (eds.). "The Troubled History of a Welsh Newspaper Publishing Company: the North Wales Constitutional Press Company Limited". The Moving Market: Continuity and Change in the Book Trade. Print Networks. Oak Knoll Press: 121–123.
- ^ Peters, Lisa (2019). Cawood, Ian (ed.). "'We defy Mr Watkin Williams to point to a single instance ... where his personal character has been assailed': The Wrexham Guardian v Watkin Williams, MP". Print, Politics and the Provincial Press in Modern Britain. Peter Lang: 174–175.
- ^ "Dr Granville in a/c with the Constitutional Association (the Wrexham Guardian)". Flintshire Record Office. D/KT/22. 1873.
- ^ "North Wales Guardian". 25 January 1890.
- ^ North Wales Guardian (9 February 1894). "The Circulation of the Guardian - Important to Advertisers".
- ^ Peters, Lisa (2011). Politics, Publishing and Personalities: Wrexham Newspapers, 1848-1914. Chester: University of Chester Press. p. 37. ISBN 9781905929870.
- ^ Peters, Lisa Jayne. "Wrexham Newspapers, 1848-1914". Cadair. University of Wales PhD thesis.
External links
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