This week at The Archive we have added six brand new Yorkshire newspapers, whilst we have added 83,278 brand new pages to our collection in total. Meanwhile, from Blairgowrie to Bridport, from Edinburgh to Evesham, from Lincoln to Liverpool, we’ve added pages to our existing titles from across England, Wales and Scotland.
So read on to find out more about all of our new and updated titles of the week, and also to discover more about the HMS Montagu, a battleship that ran aground in late May 1906.
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We begin our journey through our new Yorkshire newspapers this week with the Armley and Wortley News, which was established in 1889 in Armley, which is a district in the west of Leeds. Armley saw much growth in the industrial revolution, and its newspaper was published by J.W. Birdsall from Brach Road, with the full title of the Armley and Wortley News and Holbeck, Farnley, Burley, Kirkstall, Headingley and Woodhouse Reporter.
Filling four pages, the Armley and Wortley News appeared every Friday at the cost of just one halfpenny. The first edition addressed the ‘long want felt by the people of this wide and populous district’ for a ‘journal devoted entirely to their interests, and to a full chronicling of all items of news occurring in the district.’ Indeed, the Armley and Wortley News provided ‘District News’ from the area, with sections devoted to the latest from the likes of Woodhouse and Stanningley, as well as updates from Leeds County Council, the Armley Burial Board and other ‘local gossip.’
An informative local newspaper, this title also printed national and international news, alongside special interest features, such as ‘Hints for Housewives’ and a ‘Medical Column.’ The Armley and Wortley News also reported extensively on sport, with sections devoted to both cricket and football. Finally, the newspaper published poetry and serialised fiction.
In 1933 the Armley and Wortley News was incorporated into the Leeds Guardian, which was established during the previous year.
We leave Leeds now to introduce our next new title of the week, which was founded in the market town of Bingley in 1889, and it is the Bingley Chronicle. This Liberal newspaper was published by Robinson & Co., and appeared every Friday at the cost of one pence, later reducing its price to just one halfpenny.
Whilst reporting on national and international matters, the Bingley Chronicle filled its four pages with mostly local news, detailing the latest from the Bingley District Council, the Bingley Technical Institute and the Bingley Petty Sessions, as well as from the surrounding towns and villages. The newspaper, meanwhile, published ‘Football Notes,’ correspondence, and serialised fiction.
The Bingley Chronicle was later incorporated into the Keighley News.
We’re back to the city of Leeds now and we’re delighted to welcome the Leeds Evening Express to our collection of Yorkshire newspapers. Founded in 1857 as the weekly Leeds Express, in 1867 the newspaper switched to a daily publication pattern, becoming the Leeds Evening Express. The title circulated ‘very largely in Leeds and throughout Yorkshire and the neighbouring counties,’ and indeed, it could be found at ‘hotels, news-rooms, and other public institutions,’ with a guaranteed circulation of 30,000 copies by the late 1880s.
Published by Frederick R. Spark from the Express Buildings at Swinegate, Leeds, both the weekly and daily versions of the Express filled eight pages and cost one pence. With a particular focus on literature, the Leeds Evening Express published serialised fiction, as well as local, national and international news. The newspaper, which was ‘Independent Liberal’ in its politics, also published notices of births, marriages and deaths, and the latest from the West Riding Sessions.
We remain in Leeds for our next new title, and it’s a particularly special one which we introduce now. It is the Magnet (Leeds), an ‘organ of the musical hall profession,’ which was first published in 1866. Circulating throughout Great Britain and Ireland, it appeared every Saturday at the cost of one penny, and dealt with matters musical and theatrical, with accompanying illustrations.
The twelve pages of the Magnet were filled with advertisements for music hall performances across the country, whilst the publication also featured a ‘Music Hall Directory,’ listing the names of music halls across the United Kingdom, with the names of agents and contacts for them. ‘A Journal Devoted to the Interests of the Music Hall Profession,’ this title included music hall ‘notes’ from Dublin, Paris and Liverpool, as well as ‘American Jottings.’
Our penultimate new title of the week is the South Bank Express, which was founded in the industrial town of South Bank in Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, in 1909. Situated on the south bank of the River Tees, South Bank has a long history of steelmaking, and was previously known as Tees Tilery.
Its newspaper, the South Bank Express, first appeared on 27 March 1909 at the cost of one halfpence. Circulating ‘throughout the Cleveland District,’ the title filled four pages and appeared every Saturday. With a particular focus on local news, with reports from local organisations and churches, as well as photographs of local personalities, the South Bank Express also featured ‘Cleveland Tit-Bits’ and ‘Town and Country Jottings.’
Meanwhile, the North Yorkshire title featured a column devoted to ‘Sports and Pastimes,’ as well as serialised fiction. In 1934 the publication became known as the South Bank Standard and Express.
Our final new title of the week is the South Leeds Echo, which started life as the Hunslet & Holbeck News in 1883. This Liberal title appeared every Saturday at the cost of one halfpence, covering Hunslet and Holbeck, inner city areas of Leeds with an industrial past. Indeed, the title circulated across Leeds, in Hunslet and Holbeck as well as Wortley, Armley, Beeston, Stourton, Rothwell, Bramley, Oulton, and Farmley.
With a focus mainly on local issues, the South Leeds Echo published news from the district, with the latest from the Hunslet Board of Guardians. The title also printed correspondence, football news, poetry and serialised fiction. In 1890 the publication changed its name to the South & West Leeds Echo, before becoming the South Leeds Echo just a year later.
That’s it from our six brand new Yorkshire newspapers, but we have updated over forty of our existing titles from England, Wales and Scotland. And our Scottish updates are particularly special ones this week, as we have added new pages to the Edinburgh Evening News, which celebrated its 150th anniversary on 27 May, and we extend our congratulations to the paper on this remarkable milestone. We’ve also added new pages to some of our other Scottish papers, including to the Dundee Courier, the Galloway Advertiser and Wigtownshire Free Press, the Blairgowrie Advertiser and to the Weekly Free Press and Aberdeen Herald.
We’ve not neglected our Welsh titles either this week, with new pages joining the Monmouthshire Beacon. Other highlights include the nearly 20,000 brand new pages that we have added to Ipswich’s East Anglian Daily Times, whilst new pages join our special sporting title the Athletic News, and the American-focused title the American Register.
30 May 1906 – The HMS Montagu Runs Aground
On 30 May 1906 battleship HMS Montagu ran aground in the fog on Shutter Rock, off Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel. The Montagu had been testing new wireless equipment; whilst faulty navigation led to the incident. Thankfully, no lives were lost, although the engine rooms and boiler rooms were flooded, thanks to a long gash on her starboard side.
On 8 June 1906 our new newspaper title the Bingley Chronicle included an illustration of the ‘stranded battleship.’ It also provided some background for its readers regarding the stricken ship:
H.M.S. Montagu, which ran ashore on the Shutter Rock, Lundy Island, was the third modern battleship built at Devonport dockyard. She was laid down on Nov. 23, 1899, and launched by Lady Charles Scott on March 5, 1901. She is of the the Duncan class, and was commissioned at Devonport on October 31 last for further service in the Channel Fleet. She is a first-class twin-screw battleship of 14,000 tons. Her crew numbered 750. The Montague cost one and a half millions to build and equip.
The newspaper article went on to describe how:
Lundy Island, at the mouth of the Bristol Channel, is two and a half miles long and one mile broad, and is part of Devonshire. The owner of the island is Mr. Heaven, and the present lessee is Mr. George S. Taylor. The locality has always been regarded as extremely dangerous and a large number of casualties in local traffic occur every year. The Shutters, mentioned in Kingsley’s ‘Westward Ho!’ are a jagged collection of rocks lying half out the water to the south-east of the island, a few hundred yards from the cove which constitutes the only landing place.
Just a few days after the incident, on 1 June 1906, the Bingley Chronicle published an account of a ‘trip to the scene’ of the wreck of the ship. Indeed, the newspaper reported how an ‘Ilfracombe correspondent’ telegraphed how ‘the stranding of the battleship Montagu’ had excited ‘immense interest along the North Devon coast.’ In response to such ‘excitement,’ the ‘excursion steamer Westward Ho made a special trip from Ilfracombe to the scene of the disaster.’
The Bingley Chronicle relayed how:
The day was an ideal one, the sea being calm, with a slight ground swell, and the steamer was crowded. Lundy was reached in about an hour. Passing the jagged point to the north known as Shutter Rock, the excursionists saw the great battleship lying within a few yards of the great wall of granite that rose hundreds of feet above her. The Montagu looked small against the great mass of rock. She lay with her bow towards the eastern end, with her port exposed to the Atlantic rollers. To the casual observer the Montagu looks as if she may yet be got off. The damage to her side and bottom is hidden beneath the water.
The same newspaper on 8 June 1906 expressed ‘hope for the Montagu,’ reporting how ‘the officials at the Pembroke Dockyard are sanguine that if the weather continues reasonably fair for a few weeks the salvage operation on the battleship Montagu will be successful.’
However the salvage operation on the Montagu was not destined to be a successful one, with re-floating efforts called off later on in 1906. The Western Marine Salvage Company of Penzance then stepped in to salvage the ship for scrap metal, after it was clear that the battleship could no longer be re-floated. As for the captain and navigation officer of the Montagu, they were both severely reprimanded at a court martial, whilst the wreck of the Montagu is a popular diving location today.
Find out more about naval history, shipwrecks, and much more besides in the pages of our newspapers today.
New Titles
| Title | Years Added |
| Armley and Wortley News | 1889-1891 |
| Bingley Chronicle | 1895-1898, 1900-1909 |
| Leeds Evening Express | 1862-1864, 1876-1877, 1889, 1896, 1898 |
| Magnet (Leeds) | 1875, 1883-1884 |
| South Bank Express | 1909, 1912 |
| South Leeds Echo | 1887-1895 |
Updated Titles
This week we have updated 42 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.
