Shrewsbury Chronicle
TypeWeekly newspaper[1]
Owner(s)Midland News Association
EditorCaroline Jones
Founded23 November 1772
Headquarters7 Bellstone,
Shrewsbury,
SY1 1HU
Circulation25,521 (as of 2022)[2]
Websiteshrewsburychronicle.com

The Shrewsbury Chronicle is a local news newspaper in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. It is one of the oldest weekly newspapers in the United Kingdom, publishing its first edition in 1772.[3]

It is printed on Wednesday evening and is on sale or distributed on Thursday. It covers Shrewsbury and the surrounding area, including Church Stretton.

The editor of the Shrewsbury Chronicle is Caroline Jones, who took over from Leon Burakowski in 2020. The newspaper is published by the independently owned Midland News Association.[4]

History

Founded by Thomas Wood, a drapery salesman-turned-printer who had been a partner in the Birmingham Chronicle newspaper, the Shrewsbury Chronicle was first published on Monday 23 November 1772.[5] It was then titled The Shrewsbury Chronicle, or Wood's British Commercial Pamphlet[6] and eight pages long.[5] Following Wood's death in 1801, his widow Mary (nee Horlick) carried on the paper until her own death in 1808, making her "one of the earliest, if not the earliest, of women newspaper proprietors".[7][8]

In the 1830s the paper, under the editorship of John Watton, supported the Whigs.[9][10]

The paper covered national, international and local news, with advertisements alone on its front page until February 1953 when major Shropshire-interest news stories began being carried on it.[11]

The paper came out as a daily paper for just under a fortnight during the General Strike of 1926, its contents largely taken from BBC bulletins.[12]

Over the centuries the paper has had many different offices and printing works around Shrewsbury, apart from a period between 1916 and 1927 when printing was done at Newport because of structural defects pending a rebuild,[13] and later, several times, printing had to be done in Walsall when the works, then in Castle Foregate, was flooded.[14] It is now based in Abbey Foregate.

In 2004 circulation was over 19,000, the highest for 20 years.[15][better source needed] In 2008 the paper's circulation was 14,015.[16]

The paper was awarded Best Campaigning Newspaper in Great Britain 2005 by the Newspaper Society.[15][better source needed] In 2009, its campaigning on local issues was noted by the Shrewsbury MP, Daniel Kawczynski, as was its fundraising.[17][better source needed]

In 2009 the paper moved to a part-free, part-paid model, with some copies free and others for sale.[16]

Notable Journalists and Contributors

Essayist William Hazlitt's first published work, when a 13-year-old student, was a letter to the Chronicle, printed in July 1791, condemning the riots in Birmingham.[18]

Henry Lucy, later known as a political journalist under pen-name "Toby, M.P.", was chief reporter at the Chronicle in 1864.[19]

Shropshire author Mary Webb's first published work was a five-verse poem carried by the paper, written on hearing news of the Shrewsbury rail accident in 1907. Her brother gave it to the Chronicle without telling Webb, and the paper printed it anonymously.[20][better source needed]

Fyfe Robertson, the Scots broadcaster, was briefly a trainee reporter with the Chronicle in 1921.[12][better source needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Shrewsbury Chronicle - UK media directory from". HoldtheFrontPage. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  2. ^ "Shrewsbury Chronicle". Audit Bureau of Circulations (UK). 22 February 2023. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  3. ^ "The Shrewsbury Chronicle, 1772-1922". The Spectator. 19 December 1922. Retrieved 23 October 2018. We congratulate that good old country paper, the Shrewsbury Chronicle, on completing its hundred and fiftieth year. It is a few weeks younger than the Morning Post, having first appeared on November 28rd,1772, as the Shrewsbury Chronicle; or, Wood's British Commercial Pamphlet. Thomas Wood,- the publisher, had had experience of a Birmingham weekly before he went to Shrewsbury.
  4. ^ "Weekly editor and journalism MBE made redundant". Hold the Front Page. Society of Editors. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  5. ^ a b Through Nine Reigns, 200 Years of The Shrewsbury Chronicle. Shrewsbury Chronicle. 23 November 1972. p. 50.Bi-Centenary Souvenir.
  6. ^ Through Nine Reigns, 200 Years of The Shrewsbury Chronicle. p. 49.Illustration of first front page.
  7. ^ The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle. J.B. Nichols. 1801. pp. 380–. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  8. ^ Through Nine Reigns, 200 Years of The Shrewsbury Chronicle. p. 51.
  9. ^ William Page (1979). The Victoria History of Shropshire. Constable. pp. 263, 312, 313.
  10. ^ Jeremy Black (18 October 2010). The English Press in the Eighteenth Century (Routledge Revivals). Routledge. p. 79. ISBN 978-1-136-83630-5. Retrieved 23 October 2018. I have however received letters of thanks for my introducing so many articles in favour of Mr. Pitt which I have done gratis - Wood to James Bland Burges MP, 1789
  11. ^ Through Nine Reigns, 200 Years of The Shrewsbury Chronicle. p. 55.
  12. ^ a b Through Nine Reigns, 200 years of The Shrewsbury Chronicle. p. 53.
  13. ^ Through Nine Reigns, 200 Years of The Shrewsbury Chronicle. pp. 52–53.
  14. ^ Through Nine Reigns, 200 Years of The Shrewsbury Chronicle. pp. 53, 54.
  15. ^ a b "An Application to Ofcom for an FM Independent Local Radio Licence for SHREWSBURY" (PDF). National Archives. Shrewsbury & Oswestry FM Ltd. 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 January 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  16. ^ a b "Shrewsbury Chronicle adopts part-paid part-free strategy". The Press Gazette. 23 April 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  17. ^ HC Deb, 20 January 2009 c192WH
  18. ^ Stephen, Leslie (1891). "Hazlitt, William" . In Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney (eds.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 25. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  19. ^ Rachel Matthews (18 May 2017). The History of the Provincial Press in England. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 78–. ISBN 978-1-4411-5646-4. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  20. ^ Francis, Peter (2006). A Matter of Life and Death - The Secrets of Shrewsbury Cemetery. Logaston Press. p. 41. ISBN 1-904396-58-5.

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