Daily Chronicle

For other uses, see Daily Chronicle (disambiguation).

The Daily Chronicle was a British newspaper that was published from 1872 to 1930 when it merged with the Daily News to become the News Chronicle.

History

The newspaper was founded in 1872 as the Clerkenwell News, as a halfpenny, (ha'penny) newspaper. In 1876, it was purchased by Edward Lloyd, renamed the Daily Chronicle and relaunched across London. Circulation soon increased from 8,000 to 140,000 copies an issue.^[1]

Under a succession of editors, the paper gained respect and by 1914 its circulation exceeded the combined sales of The Times, Daily Telegraph, Morning Post, Evening Standard and the Daily Graphic.

Most of Britain's national newspapers were published in support of political parties, and the Daily Chronicle was no exception: it supported the left-wing of the Liberal Party and David Lloyd George and the British participation in World War I. One of its reporters was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who became famous for his Sherlock Holmes detective stories.

On 9 April 1918, Prime Minister David Lloyd George misled the House of Commons about the strength of the British Army. Sir Frederick Maurice wrote a letter to the leading newspapers and accused David Lloyd George of misleading Parliament, but instead of making an enquiry into the allegations, Maurice was force to retire from the British Army. He was then hired as a military correspondent by the Daily Chronicle.

This action angered Lloyd George who formed a group (United Newspapers) to purchase the newspaper and get rid of Maurice. The editor then resigned in protest over what amounted to censorship. Following a succession of owners the newspaper was subsequently bought in 1926 by Sir David Yule of Bricket Wood, Hertfordshire, England.

In 1930, the Daily Chronicle merged with the Daily News to form the News Chronicle.

The paper featured Tim, Toots and Teeny as one of their cartoon strips, as mentioned in the Lesser Known British Comic Strips page.

Editors

1872: J. A. Manson

1877: R. Whelan Boyle

1890: Alfred Ewan Fletcher

1895: Henry William Massingham

1899: W. J. Fisher

1904: Robert Donald

1918: Ernest Perris

References

1. ^ "Lloyd, Edward", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

External links

• The Daily Chronicle - an advertising bookmark of the newspaper from 1894