This week on The Archive we are delighted to bring to you nearly 160 years’ worth of updates, with 10,876 new pages having joined us over the past seven days.

From specialist titles to regional ones, covering the south west and north west of England, as well as Scotland, this week’s updates cover a wide range of historical headlines from the distant and not-so distant past.

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We have updates this week to one of our more specialist titles – Field. Founded in 1853 as ‘The Country Gentleman’s Newspaper,’ this title is another long-runner, being the longest running country and field magazine in Britain, as well as the world. We are delighted to have added the year 1864 to this historic publication.

We move now to our regional updates, beginning with the Staffordshire Sentinel, to which we have added the year 1989. This newspaper was founded in 1854 and began as a liberal weekly newspaper, before switching to a daily edition in 1873 and becoming a ‘paper for the people’ in 1892 under Thomas Twyford, shedding its political leanings.

Staffordshire Sentinel | 7 January 1989

We have also added new pages to the eminently historic Chester Courant. Founded in 1732 as Adam’s Weekly Courant by printer Roger Adams to rival Chester’s first ever newspaper the Chester Weekly Journal, it stayed in his family for several decades and changed its name to the Chester Courant in 1793

We head north now for our next update – to the Huddersfield Daily Chronicle. This week sees the addition of the year 1889 to our holdings of this title, which covered local news between 1850 and 1916. This newspaper espoused liberal and progressive politics, supporting Free Trade and representing the ‘impartial chronicles of the opinions of public men.’

We remain in the north of England for our next new pages, but we cross the Yorkshire border into Lancashire as we have added new pages to the Warrington Daily Guardian. Established on 9 April 1853, it was the area’s ‘main local paper’ and in 1859 it had a circulation of 2,200.

Warrington Daily Guardian | 11 March 1897

Continuing our tour of our new regional titles, we move south to Plymouth, to the Western Evening Herald. A first for the area, this title was Plymouth’s first evening newspaper. It was launched on 22 April 1895 by the owners of the Western Daily Mercury, before being acquired by Sir Leicester Harmsworth in 1921, with its name being changed to the The Evening Herald and Western Evening News in 1923.

Rounding off our new pages this week is the North British Daily Mail, which was published in Glasgow. We have added the year 1879 to this particular title.

The Opening of the Savoy

In the August of 1889 Britain saw the opening of its first ever luxury hotel, The Savoy, situated in London’s Strand. The Savoy was built by Richard D’Oyley Carte, who had made a fortune from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions.

The Savoy | Illustrated London News | 16 June 1906

Our new pages from the Chester Courant offer a fascinating description of the opening of what would become a world famous hotel, which would play host to the likes of Oscar Wilde, Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin, Elizabeth Taylor, Babe Ruth, amongst many others.

The article describes how, on 5 November 1889, a ‘remarkable addition to the hotels of the metropolis was opened to the public yesterday.’ It continues:

The Savoy, as it is called, has many features which are quite novel to London. Its handsome river frontage, facing the gardens of the Thames Embankment, places at its command an extensive and highly interesting panoramic view, embracing on the one hand St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tower of London, and on the other hand, the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. Cleopatra’s Needle stands in the foreground, and on the opposite bank of the Thames, lies the picturesque foreshore, whilst in the far distance may be clearly seen the Crystal Palace and the Surrey Hills.

The View from the Savoy | Illustrated London News | 16 June 1906

The Savoy, however, was offering more than just ‘picturesque’ views:

Visitors to the Savoy Hotel will find that to every floor there is a terraced balcony, supported either by granite columns, or pillars of cream colour, having gilded capitals. Red and white striped blinds may be drawn at leisure, and the combined effect of the structure in red, white, cream and gold, rising from the roadway eight floors high, is particularly striking, and renders this most magnificent hotel one of the noblest objects in London.

An early advertisement for The Savoy | Truth | 26 September 1889

The Savoy soon became the first word in hotel luxury, with electric lights, electric lifts, and even hot and cold running water. Our Archive gives special insight into its opening – being reported in the regional and local titles to be found in our collection, a reminder to keep one’s search as broad as possible to find such gems!

Updated Titles

This week we have updated eight 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
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