Newspaper Surveys Articles

When in 1894, a private company was formed the first Secretary and General Manager was W.J.Pearce, who came from Plymouth,

No more than 13 of the papers in the Berrow's group have been established for more than 100 years. The oldest of course, is the founder member, Berrow's Journal,

At the end of the 18th century, William Holl, with the encouragement of Lord Sandys, established a new weekly newspaper called the Worcester Herald.

By 1836, Henry Deighton was the sole owner, and the paper was printed and published from 53 High Strret (on the corner of Church Street), where the Deighton family had kept a bookshop,

From October 11, 1753, the title became Berrow's Worcester Journal. Harvey Berrow carried on the Journal until his death on August 16th, 1776, when his eldest son, also Harvey Berrow, continued the publication, but not for long.

On taking over the Worcester Journal, Harvery Berrow issued the following announcement, adored with a curious engraving of 'The West Prospect of Worcester': '

By 1725, the old title of Worcester Postman, was changed to that of the Worcester Journal, and the imprint, which had been simply 'Printed by S.Bryan' and the date, became 'Printed by Stephen Bryan'. In 1730, the name became the Weekly Worcester Journal

Stephen Bryan served his apprenticeship in London, taking up his freedom on June 3rd, 1706. He had a press in Worcester by 1709 for in that year he printed a sermon by E.Chandler, and began publishing his Worcester Postman.

It has been argued that even before 1709 Worcester had a newspaper. Local Historians, Dr.Nash and Valentine Green, both linked the Worcester newspaper with the period following the Glorious Revolution which deposed James 11.

The Postman assumed a new title c.1720, The Worcester Post or Western Journal. This is thought to counter the Ludlow Postman, or Weekly Journal,

In January, 1701, Francis Burges of Norwich, published the first provincial paper, a four-page foolscap sheet, which he called the Norwich Post.

Pekin boasts of a printed sheet on silk which appeared every week for over a thousand years, but in the modern sense, it cannot claim to be a newspaper.

The men who supplied the newsheets gathered their news mostly by spending their days going the rounds of the London Taverns and Coffee houses.

Provincial newspapers did not exist until the 18th century. Before then however, there were newsletters written by 'reporters' employed by persons of rank to keep them informed of happenings during their absence from Court

The story started with the publication of the single-sheet Worcester Postman in 1690, when the Press had finally won its fight for freedom against rigorous repression and control. The Post-Man dated December 8th to Decemeber 16th, 1710 is the earliest copy

Worcester has been an important centre of printing from the mid 16th century. The first of that craft to practise in Worcester began there in 1548.

One of the features of Berrow's Worcester Journal was the comments on local affairs by 'Crowquill'. The nom-de-plume comes from the fact that in medival times reed pens and quills were chiefly used, and artists to this day found a turkey quill,

All newspapers were published in High Street, though it appears that the Worcester Chronicle was for a time pubished from Copenhagen Street, but in B.W.J. 13.11.1937, on the amalgamation of the B.W.J with the Worcestershire Advertiser, it was stated that

Provincial newspapers contain a source of information on a district or a local community which cannot be found elsewhere. They contain feature articles on topics not to be found in books or official papers, with full accounts of local social and political