Evening News (London)

The Evening News was an evening newspaper published in London from 1881 to 1980, reappearing briefly in 1987. It became highly popular under the control of the Harmsworth brothers. For a long time it maintained the largest daily sale of any evening newspaper in London. After financial struggles and falling sales it was eventually merged with its long-time rival the "Evening Standard" in 1980.

The paper was founded by Coleridge Kennard and Harry Marks. The first issue appeared on July 26 1881. It was the first popular evening paper in London. It was priced at one halfpenny, distinguishing itself from the more serious penny papers such as "The Times". The first issues were printed on light blue paper and later editions on yellow and green paper.

The rivalry between halfpenny papers in the late 19th century was fierce and almost ended the "Evening News". According to some sources the paper was losing £40,000 a year. In 1894 the brothers Alfred and Harold Harmsworth bought the paper for £25,000.

In 1888 Alfred had founded a paper caller "Answers" that was modelled after another popular paper called "Tit-Bits". Harold gave up his clerk’s job to handle the business-side of the papers while Alfred effectively controlled the papers with great success. Later on Alfred became Lord Northcliffe and Harold became Lord Rothermere. The brothers started several papers of which the Daily Mail became the most influential.

Under the editor Kennedy Jones the "Evening News" was one of the papers that transformed the English press with their so called "new journalism". This meant that the papers were aimed at a wider general public than the traditional ones, such as "The Times".

The "Evening News" became one of the leading papers in England under the control of Northcliffe. In 1900 evening newspapers were not considered to be good investments and most of the London newspapers were losing money. At the same time the "Evening News" was making profit of £50,000 a year.

The circulation numbers of English newspapers between 1850 and 1930s can only be guessed at. (The newspapers would not publish exact figures except in their advertising, which cannot be trusted.) Some authors have carefully estimated that in 1910 the circulation of the "Evening News" was 300,000. Among the halfpenny evening papers this would amount to a share of 35,7 percent. The estimate for the average circulation of July 1914 is approximately 600,000, which would make it the biggest evening paper in London.

Northcliffe died in 1922. After that the control of the Associated Newspapers, including the "Daily Mail", "Evening News", "Weekly Dispatch" and "Overseas Daily Mail", was bought by his brother Harold. After 1936 Harold’s son Esmond took over as the chairman of Associated Newspapers.

Although being the biggest evening paper in London for decades, at the turn of the 1980s the "Evening News" was struggling with financial problems and falling sales. In October 1980 Associated Newspapers announced that the newspaper would be closed at the end of the month. The last issue was on October 31 1980. The paper was merged with its long-time rival the "Evening Standard". For some time the resulting paper was called the "New Standard". The name "Evening News" is still featured on the titlepiece of the "Evening Standard".

The "Evening News" reappeared for few months in 1987 when it was launched by the "Evening Standard's" owners "Associated Newspapers" in order to counter Robert Maxwell's "London Daily News", this sparked a price war by the end of which the "Evening News" was being sold at 5p to the "London Daily News"' 10p. Following the collapse of the "London Daily News" the "Evening News" was once again integrated into the "Evening Standard".

ources

*Blake, R. (2004) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31202 "Harmsworth, Esmond Cecil, second Viscount Rothermere (1898–1978)."] Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Accessed March 20 2007.
*Engel, M. (1996) "Tickle the Public : One hundred years of the popular press". Gollancz, London.
*Herd, H. (1952) "The march of journalism : the story of the British press from 1622 to the present day". Allen & Unwin, London.
*Lee, A.J. (1976) "The Origins of the Popular Press in England 1855–1914". Croom Helm, London.
*Morison, S. (1932) "The English Newspaper : Some Account of the Physical Development of Journals Printed in London Between 1622 & the Present Day". Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
*Pound, R. & Harmsworth, G. (1959) "Northcliffe". Cassell, London.

External links

*Simms, R. (2006) [http://www.geocities.com/eveningnewsshortstoryindex/history.htm "The History of the Evening News"]

ee also

*Newspaper
*History of British newspapers