This week at The Archive we continue to add brand new pages and titles, with a trio of brand new publications joining us this week, and a total of 136,062 new pages added. Our brand new titles this week cover sporting interests, as well as local news from Lancashire and North Wales.

Watch out for our extensive updates to our existing titles. We’ve updated 24 of our existing titles, spanning the British Isles and Ireland. From Whitstable to Wakefield, from Worthing to Wexford, from Motherwell to Merthyr, from Croydon to Chelsea and over to Clonmel, you’re sure to find fascinating historical news stories from nearly 150 years of headlines.

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And now to our first new title of the week, the Sporting Chronicle. Founded in 1871 by Edward Hulton, the Sporting Chronicle was the north of England’s answer to the southern-based Sporting Life. Published on a daily basis in Manchester, this title originally had an emphasis on horse racing, and was known as a national daily horse racing paper.

Sporting Chronicle | 6 January 1916

Affectionately known as the Chron, by 1883 the Sporting Chronicle had a readership of 30,000. At its peak, its circulation numbered 120,000. Expanding from its racing focus to feature other sports and athletics, it merged with Hulton’s other title the Athletic News in 1931. The Sporting Chronicle ran until 1983; its rival, Sporting Life, lasting another fifteen years before it too disappeared from the shelves.

You can discover our other sporting titles here.

We move to now to North Wales for our next title – the North Wales Weekly News. Founded by local printer Robert Evans Jones, the first edition of this title appeared on Valentine’s Day 1889, and was named the Weekly News and Visitor’s Chronicle for Colwyn Bay. The newspaper was originally printed in Llanduno, but in 1900 Jones’s brother William built a print-works at Conway Quay, where it stayed until 1972 when printing operations were moved to Llanduno Junction.

North Wales Weekly News | 5 March 1970

Meanwhile, the switch to its current title was made in 1905, and the North Wales Weekly News celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2014.

Rounding off our new titles this week is the Rochdale Times. Appearing weekly on a Saturday, issues of this newspaper during the 1870s contained such features as ‘Accidents and Offences,’ ‘Foreign Intelligence,’ as well as a focus on literature, including poems and a ‘Literary Extracts’ section. A fascinating insight into local Rochdale doings, this publication included advertisements as well as all the latest Rochdale news.

Rochdale Times | 26 May 1920

We have also made updates this week to twenty four of our existing titles. We’ve added pages to fifteen of our English titles, seven of our Irish titles and one each for Wales and Scotland. Particular highlights include the 37,798 pages that we have added to the historic Leicester Chronicle, which was founded in 1792 and was liberal in its ethos. By contrast, we’ve added nearly 5,000 pages to the Tory-leaning Newcastle Journal, which was founded in 1832 by John Hernamen and Robert Perring.

We must also make mention of the updates to the charmingly named Dublin Builder. Published in Dublin, this was a ‘Monthly Journal Dedicated to Architecture, Engineering, and Sanitary Improvement.’

75 Years Since the Potsdam Conference

75 years ago this week, on 17 July 1945, newspapers abounded with headlines such as ‘Big Three Begin at Potsdam‘ (Gloucestershire Echo), ‘Big Three Talks Begin in Potsdam this Afternoon‘ (Hull Daily Mail) and ‘Stalin Arrives in Potsdam – Takes Lunch with President Truman‘ (Birmingham Mail).

The First Meeting of the ‘Big Three’ | Illustrated London News | 28 July 1945

This was of course the beginning of the Potsdam Conference, which saw the ‘Big Three’ of Winston Churchill (who was later superseded by Clement Attlee after the landslide Labour victory in late July), Harry S Truman, and Joseph Stalin came together to discuss the future of Germany.

The Conference Begins | The Sphere | 28 July 1945

The Hull Daily Mail appears to make light of the situation, describing how German women much admired Chief of Staff Anthony Eden:

‘They say he was the best dressed man in the world,’ one hausfrau remarked, ‘I have to admit he is.’

‘The best dressed man in the world’ Anthony Eden with Mary Churchill and a group of men from the Royal Navy and Royal Marines | The Sphere | 28 July 1945

The Hull Daily Mail also notes the ‘surprising’ behaviour of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and how ‘such a prominent figure should wander about an enemy capital so informally.’ Of course, our newspapers do treat the Potsdam Conference with a little less levity, and in particular the new pages which we have added to the Leicester Chronicle reveal how the decisions made at the conference were received back at home.

Winston Churcill rests on the ruins of Adolf Hitler’s infamous bunker | Illustrated London News | 28 July 1945

A feature in the 11 August 1945 edition of the Leicester Chronicle expresses approval of the Potsdam Declaration, explaining how ‘this policy seems to be accepted as sensible, liberal, and humane.’

It goes on to explain how:

The official report…makes it clear that German militarism and Nazism will be extirpated together, now and in the future, measures necessary to assure that Germany never again will threaten her neighbours or the peace of the world. It is not the intention of the Allies to destroy or enslave the German people. It is their intention that the German people be given the opportunity to prepare for the eventual reconstruction of their life on a democratic and peaceful basis.

The last meeting of the ‘Big Three’ at Potsdam (note, Churchill has been replaced by Attlee) | The Sphere | 11 August 1945

What is clear from these lines is the absolute intent to ensure that the events of the Second World War were never again to be repeated. The Potsdam Conference represented, to many, a type of closure to the war in Europe, whose people were exhausted and whose lives had been destroyed. Headlines and articles to be found in the newspapers of our Archive are a fascinating window into attitudes of this time, and you can explore them in further detail here.

New Titles

Updated Titles

This week we have updated twenty four of our existing titles.

You can learn more about each of the titles we add to every week by clicking on their names. On each paper’s title page, you can read a FREE sample issue, learn more about our current holdings, and our plans for digitisation.

You can keep up to date with all the latest additions by visiting the recently added page.  You can even look ahead to see what we’re going to add tomorrow