Herbert Ingram

Herbert Ingram (1811-1860) was the father of pictorial journalism through his founding of the "Illustrated London News".

Ingram was born in humble surroundings at Swineshead near Boston, Lincolnshire on 27 May 1811. After being educated at Laughton's Charity School and the free school in Wormgate (a street in Boston), he was apprenticed as a fourteen-year-old to town printer Joseph Clarke. When Ingram finished his training he moved to London where he worked as a journeyman printer.

"Illustrated London News"

In 1832 Ingram established his own printing and newsagents business in Nottingham, in partnership with his brother in law, Nathaniel Cooke. As a newsagent he noticed that on the rare occasions when newspapers included woodcuts, their sales increased. He therefore came to the conclusion that it would be possible to make a good profit from a magazine that included a large number of illustrations.

However, it was to be a while before he could put this theory into practice. The newsagent business failed to make much progress until Ingram purchased the rights to a laxative known as Parr's Life Pills. The profits from marketing these pills provided the capital which enabled him to set up and publish The Illustrated London News.

Ingram moved back to London and after discussing the matter with his friend, Mark Lemon, the editor of "Punch", he decided to start his own magazine. The first edition appeared on 14 May 1842. Costing sixpence, the magazine had sixteen pages and thirty-two woodcuts and targeted a broadly middle class readership. It included pictures of the war in Afghanistan, a train crash in France, a steam-boat explosion in Canada and a fancy dress ball at Buckingham Palace.

That pictorials were viewed as being as important as text for reporting was clear from the first issue, which stated that the aim was to bring within the public grasp "... the very form and presence of events as they transpire; and whatever the broad and palpable delineations of wood engraving can achieve, will now be brought to bear upon every subject which attracts the attention of mankind".

Ingram was a staunch Liberal who favoured social reform. He announced in the "Illustrated London News" that the concern of the magazine would be "with the English poor" and the "three essential elements of discussion with us will be the poor laws, the factory laws, and the working of the mining system". The magazine was an immediate success and the first edition sold 26,000 copies. Within a few months it was selling over 65,000 copies a week. High prices were charged for advertisements and Ingram was soon making £12,000 a year from this publishing venture.

Encouraged by the success of the "Illustrated London News", Ingram decided in 1848 to start a daily newspaper, the "London Telegraph". When Andrew Spottiswoode started a rival paper, the "Pictorial Times", Ingram purchased it and merged it with the "Illustrated London News". In 1855 Ingram took over another rival, the "Illustrated Times".

He employed leading artists of the day to illustrate social events, news stories, towns and cities, indeed the whole spectrum of Victorian England was to be recorded pictorially in the Illustrated London News for many decades to come. Illustrations came from all corners of the globe. Events such as the American Civil War were depicted and profusely illustrated.

Special events were important to the success of the Illustrated London News. The magazine did very well during the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the edition that reported the funeral of the Duke of Wellington sold 150,000 or 250,000 copies, depending on which account you believe.

By 1855 he was using colour and had artists in this country as well as Europe racing to the scene of stories to capture the drama in print. The Crimean War caused a further boost to sales and by 1863 it was selling over 300,000 copies a week. This was far higher than other journals. For example, newspapers such as the "Daily News" sold 6,000 copies at this time, and even the largest selling newspaper, "The Times", only sold 70,000 copies.

Despite arguing the case for social reform, the paper claimed to be non partisan. Its first editorial had stated, "We commence our political discourse by a disavowal of the unconquerable aversion to the name of Party." However, this may have been no more than a desire to gain the widest possible readership, because as time progressed the paper displayed its Whig inclination.

It showed moderation and caution in its reportage and this extended to that of the Irish Famine, which was largely sympathetic even if not quite able to denounce the inadequacy of government policy or the ideas of prevailing economic or political orthodoxy. There was none of the overt negative stereotyping found in the most acerbic Punch cartoons. Overall there was an attitude that England had a responsibility towards the victims of what was largely interpreted as a natural disaster.

In the 20th century the Illustrated London News employed Britain's top artists including Frank Reynolds, "Henry M. Brock", Fortunino Matania, H. M. Bateman and "Lewis Baumer".

It was so successful that its formula was copied in many countries of the world. In the USA, notably by "Harper's Magazine" and by Frank Leslie in his various publications.

The "Illustrated London News" is still published today. Alison Booth, current editor, said: "He was very inventive and far-sighted and his legacy of bringing pictures to journalism can still be seen on the front pages of newspapers and magazines all over the world. The Illustrated London News had many imitators, but none came close. His first edition featured a great fire in Hamburg, Germany, and drawings portrayed the horror for readers. The popularity of the paper soared and attracted the most talented artists. Vincent van Gogh tried unsuccessfully to work for Herbert Ingram, and Degas submitted a picture of a ballet dancer."

MP for Boston

The local-boy-made-good never forgot his roots. In 1856 Ingram became the Liberal candidate in a by-election in his home town of Boston. With help from his friends Mark Lemon and Douglas Jerrold at Punch, and from the team at the Illustrated London News, Ingram advocated a policy of social reform. He told the people of Boston they needed a "representative who is at once the product and the embodiment of the progressive spirit of the age". The electorate responded to Ingram's message and he won an overwhelming victory. However, several daily newspapers attacked Punch and the Illustrated London News for the part they had played in Ingram's victory.

He continued his campaign for social reform in the British House of Commons.

Ingram was instrumental in bringing the railways to Boston, which forged new links with other parts of the country and got the town on track for a new era of growth. He also played a major part in supplying fresh piped water to the town, a move which was met with rejoicing and brass bands when the taps were turned on for the first time.

Death

In 1860 Ingram went to the U.S.A. with his eldest son to obtain material for the "Illustrated London News". On 8 September, they were aboard the Lady Elgin on Lake Michigan when the ship was sunk after colliding with another vessel. Herbert Ingram, his son, and hundreds of other passengers were drowned.

tatue

There is a statue of Ingram in the Market Place in Boston in front of St. Botolph's Church (Boston "Stump"). The statue was designed by Alexander Munro and was unveiled in October 1862. The allegorical figure at the base of the monument is a reference to Ingram's efforts to bring the first piped water to the town.

External links

* [http://www.iln.co.uk/ILN The Illustrated London News Group]
* [http://www.iln.org.uk My Illustrated London News]
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