View source for Daily Herald (United Kingdom)

{{short description|British daily newspaper, published in London from 1912 to 1964, and precursor of 'The Sun'}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2013}}
{{italic title}}
{{for multi|the Scottish newspaper|The Herald (Glasgow)|other newspapers|Herald (newspaper)}}
[[File:Heraldcoverpage.jpg|thumb|right|The cover of the ''Daily Herald'' detailing the start of the [[Second World War]]]]
The '''''Daily Herald''''' was a [[History of British newspapers|British daily newspaper]], published daily in London from 1912 to 1964 (although it was weekly during the [[First World War]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/daily-herald-newspaper|title=The story of the Daily Herald newspaper &#124; National Science and Media Museum}}</ref>   It was published in the interest of the [[labour movement]] and supported the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]]. It underwent several changes of management before ceasing publication in 1964,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Daily Herald Archives (1912-1964) |url=https://www.historic-newspapers.co.uk/old-newspapers/daily-herald-archives/?srsltid=AfmBOoqlcmBRCjugFq9j4gKsNDId6ndH8XEw49j4Wjdyki3TKqSCWvp_ |access-date=2024-11-10 |website=Historic Newspapers |language=en-GB}}</ref> when it was relaunched as ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]'', in its pre-[[Rupert Murdoch|Murdoch]] form.
== Origins ==
In December 1910, the printers' union, the [[London Society of Compositors]] (LSC), became engaged in an industrial struggle to establish a 48-hour workweek and started a daily strike bulletin called ''The World''. [[Will Dyson]], an [[Australia]]n artist in London, contributed a cartoon. From 25 January 1911, it was renamed the ''Daily Herald'' and was published until the end of the strike in April 1911. At its peak, it had daily sales of 25,000.
[[Ben Tillett]], the [[Stevedore|dockers']] leader, and other radical trade unionists were inspired to raise funds for a permanent labour movement daily, to compete with the newspapers that championed the two main political parties, the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberals]] and [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]], but independent of the official [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] and the [[Trades Union Congress]], which were planning a daily of their own (launched as the ''Daily Citizen'' in October 1912).
The initial organising group included Tillett, [[Thomas Naylor (UK politician)|T. E. Naylor]] of the LSC, [[George Lansbury]], socialist politician, [[Robert Williams (trade unionist)|Robert Williams]] of the [[National Transport Workers' Federation|Transport Workers]], [[William Norman Ewer|W. N. Ewer]] and [[Francis Meynell]]. Retaining the strike sheet name, they formed a ''Daily Herald'' company. Readers and supporters formed local branches of the Daily Herald League, through which they had their say in the running of the paper.
== Syndicalist period, 1912–1913 ==
The first issue appeared on 15 April 1912, edited by William H. Seed. A key feature was Dyson's cartoons, which made a contribution to the paper's political tone. Its politics were broadly [[syndicalist]]: it gave unconditional support to strikers and argued for a socialist revolution based on workers' self-organisation in trade unions. It also gave strong support to [[suffragette]]s and to anti-colonial struggles, especially in [[Ireland]]. Early issues dealt with the loss of the RMS ''[[Titanic]]'', emphasising the disproportionate loss of life among crew members and poor third-class passengers, and demonstrating the distinct perspective of the new paper.
Staff writers included W. P. Ryan, Langdon Everard and George Slocombe. The editor of the Women's Page was Margaret Travers-Symons, and [[Katharine Susannah Prichard]] wrote for it.<ref>https://www.brandl.com.au/loving-words/310, 321</ref> [[Vance Palmer]]'s poems were used on the front page. [[G. K. Chesterton]] was a frequent contributor. His brother [[Cecil Chesterton|Cecil]] and [[Hilaire Belloc]] were occasional contributors. After Seed was removed as editor, [[Rowland Kenney]], the brother of [[Annie Kenney]]; C. Sheridan Jones; and finally [[Charles Lapworth (journalist)|Charles Lapworth]] held the position.
In June 1913, the ''Daily Herald'' company was forced into liquidation. Lansbury and Charles Lapworth formed a new company, the Limit Printing and Publishing Company. (When the Liberal leader [[David Lloyd George|Lloyd George]] was asked a question about the ''Herald'', he declared, "That paper is the limit.")
The shortfall in production costs was guaranteed by wealthy friends of Lansbury, and Francis Meynell joined the board as their representative. From December 1912 until August 1914, one of the main financial supporters was [[H. D. Harben]], also a founder of the ''[[New Statesman]]''. From this point, the members of the Daily Herald League had no formal influence on the paper.
In late 1913, Lapworth was asked by the other two board members to resign as editor. Lansbury and the paper's financial backers were disturbed by Lapworth and other writers' attacks on individuals, both in the establishment and the labour movement. "Hatred of conditions by all means, but not of persons" was how Lapworth quoted Lansbury. The aftermath was aired in the letter pages of ''[[The New Age]]'' between December 1913 and April 1914.
== The ''Herald'' under Lansbury, 1914–1922 ==
[[File:Quiller-couch letter to Sassoon.jpg|thumb|220px|A handwritten letter to the ''Herald'''s literary editor [[Siegfried Sassoon]] from [[Arthur Quiller-Couch]], about the possibility of Quiller-Couch writing for the paper]]
The new paper struggled financially but somehow survived, with Lansbury playing an ever-increasing role in keeping it afloat.
Under Lansbury, the ''Herald'' took an eclectic but relentlessly militant political position and achieved sales of 50,000–150,000 a day. But [[World War I|war]] in August 1914—or rather the subsequent split on the left whether to support or oppose the war—radically reduced its constituency. Lansbury and his colleagues, core of the anti-war left, decided to go weekly. The paper played a key role in the campaign against the war for the next four years. It was in the forefront of the movement against conscription and supported conscientious objectors; and it welcomed the [[Russian Revolution (1917)|Russian Revolution]]s of [[February Revolution|February]] and [[October Revolution|October 1917]]. There were notable journalistic scoops, most famously its story in November 1917 on "How they starve at the Ritz", an exposé of [[conspicuous consumption]] by the rich at a time of national hardship. The story was extensively reprinted in leaflets and some historians believe that it pushed the government into introducing compulsory [[Rationing in the United Kingdom#First World War 1914–1918|rationing]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barnett |first=L. Margaret |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LbxwAwAAQBAJ&dq=%2522how+they+starve+at+the+ritz%2522&pg=PA142 |title=British Food Policy During the First World War |date=2014-04-24 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-70423-2 |pages=142–143 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lowe |first=Norman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxxHEAAAQBAJ&dq=%2522how+they+starve+at+the+ritz%2522&pg=PA345 |title=Mastering Modern British History |date=2017-09-16 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-137-60388-3 |pages=345 |language=en}}</ref>
The ''Herald'' resumed daily publication in 1919, and again played a role propagandising for strikes and against armed intervention in [[Russia]] amid the social turmoil of 1919–21. When the radical wave subsided, the ''Herald'' found itself broke and unable to continue as an independent left daily. Lansbury handed over the paper to the [[Trades Union Congress]] and the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] in 1922. The newspaper had begun to publish the [[Bobby Bear]] cartoon strip in 1919.
In August 1920, [[Lev Kamenev]], a leading member of the [[Bolshevik]] regime visiting London as part of the negotiations that led to the March 1921 [[Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement]], sent a telegram addressed to [[Lenin]] in Moscow that was intercepted and deciphered by British intelligence. The telegram stated that Kamenev had paid £40,000.00 to the ''Daily Herald'', and a further payment of £10,000 would be made shortly.<ref>Gilbert, Martin. ''Winston S. Churchill, Volume IV 1917–1922''. Heinemann: London. 1975. pp.423–424.</ref>
Historical copies of the ''Daily Herald'' are available to search and view in digitised form at the [[British Newspaper Archive]].<ref name=BNA>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results?newspaperTitle=Daily+Herald|title=Results &#124; Daily Herald &#124; Publication &#124; British Newspaper Archive|via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]}}</ref>
== The third ''Daily Herald'', 1922–1929 ==
The ''Herald'' was the official organ of the [[Trade Union Congress]] from 1922, during which point the fledgling [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] brought in [[Hamilton Fyfe]], who recruited prestigious journalists such as [[G. D. H. Cole|Douglas Cole]] (better known as G.D.H. Cole) and [[Evelyn Sharp, Baroness Sharp|Evelyn Sharp]], who were supportive of socialism. He left in 1926 over disputes regarding what to publish, at which point [[Frederic Salusbury|Frederick Salusbury]] was appointed acting editor-in-chief. Prior to Fyfe's resignation, Salusbury had served as a columnist at the ''[[Daily Express]],'' where he helped create the Express' famous [[Beachcomber (pen name)|Beachcomber]] gossip column with [[D. B. Wyndham Lewis|Dominic Wyndham Lewis]]. During his brief time as acting editor, Salusbury began to attract middle- and upper-class readership, although the publication was primarily marketed to tradesmen.
Between 1923 and 1964, the newspaper awarded the [[Order of Industrial Heroism]], popularly known as the "Workers' VC," to honour examples of heroism carried out by ordinary workers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.unionhistory.info/timeline/Tl_Display.php?Where=Dc1Title+contains+%27The+Daily+Herald+Order+of+Industrial+Heroism,+1923%27|title=TUC &#124; History Online|website=unionhistory.info}}</ref>
== The fourth ''Daily Herald'', 1930–1964 ==
The TUC sold a 51 per cent share of the ''Herald'' to [[Odhams Press]], publisher of ''[[The Sunday People|The People]]'', a Sunday paper, in 1930. Odhams (then run by [[Julius Elias, 1st Viscount Southwood|Lord Southwood]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://hornseyhistorical.org.uk/julius-salter-elias-viscount-southwood-1873-1946/|title=Julius Salter Elias, Viscount Southwood, 1873 – 1946 - From Office Boy to Press Baron|date=15 May 2022 }}</ref>) was interested in using its presses during the week; the TUC wanted Odhams' expertise in promoting newspapers. A promotion campaign ensued, and in 1933, the ''Herald'' became the world's best-selling daily newspaper, with certified net sales of 2 million. This accomplishment set off a war with more [[Conservatism|conservative]] London papers, such as the ''[[Daily Express]]''.
The ''Daily Herald'' strongly condemned the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|Nazi-Soviet Pact]] and the [[Winter War|Soviet invasion of Finland]]. In an editorial about the latter, the paper stated:<blockquote>Now finally Stalin's Russia sacrifices all claims to the respect of the working class movement...The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is dead. Stalin's new imperialist Russia takes its place.<ref>Bill Jones,''The Russia complex : the British Labour Party and the Soviet Union''. Manchester [England] : Manchester University Press, 1977. {{ISBN|0719006961}}  (p.36).</ref><ref>Paul Corthorn; Jonathan Shaw Davis;  ''The British Labour Party and the wider world : domestic politics, internationalism and foreign policy'' New York, NY : Tauris Academic Studies, 2008. {{ISBN|9781435649651}}. (p.97)</ref></blockquote>The ''Herald'''s sales were static or in decline during the post-war period, but a survey in 1958 suggested that it had the highest level of appreciation of any newspaper among its almost exclusively [[working class]] readership.<ref>Curran, p.86</ref> Amongst the oldest and poorest people living in Britain, 59% of them were male, the highest proportion of any newspaper being published at the time.<ref>Roy Greenslade [https://books.google.com/books?id=KPR0pB9UCS4C&pg=PA112 ''Press Gang: How Newspapers Make Profits From Propaganda''], London: Pan, 2004, [2003], p.112</ref> According to [[Roy Greenslade]], the editorial staff were firmly entrenched between those advocating populism or politics with no "synthesis" between the positions possible.<ref>Gereenslade, p.114</ref>
The [[TI Media|International Publishing Corporation]] acquired Odhams shares around 1961 when they took over that company and the minority stake owned by the TUC in 1964.<ref>James Curran and [[Jean Seaton]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=EFAKNr-M59cC&pg=PA85 ''Power Without Responsibility''], Abingdon: Routledge, 2010, p.85</ref> In 1955, the title's share of total newspaper circulation and advertising sales were both 10.8%, but this had declined to 8.1% and 3.5%, respectively, by 1964.<ref>Greenslade, p.155</ref>
Following a study commissioned from market researcher [[Mark Abrams]], whose conclusions suggested reasons why the ''Herald'' was in decline, it was reborn as ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]'' in 1964 under editor [[Sydney Jacobson]]. Roy Greenslade, though, has suggested that the ''Daily Herald'' was, in fact, losing readers to its own stable mate, the ''[[Daily Mirror]]'', rather than because of social changes.<ref>Roy Greenslade [https://books.google.com/books?id=KPR0pB9UCS4C&pg=PA157 ''Press Gang''], p.157</ref> By 1969, the original ''Sun'' had fewer readers than the ''Herald'' at the end of its existence. The newspaper was sold to [[Rupert Murdoch]]'s [[News Limited]] (the holding group for all of his interests at the time), and its format and (eventually) its politics were significantly altered.
The photographic archive of the ''Daily Herald'', including the work of photographers such as [[James Jarché]], is at the [[National Science and Media Museum]] in [[Bradford]]. In 2022, nearly 50,000 images from the Daily Herald Archive were digitised and published online in partnership with [[Google Arts & Culture]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/about-us/press-office/national-science-and-media-museum-collaborates-google-arts-culture-unveil|title=National Science and Media Museum collaborates with Google Arts & Culture to unveil newly digitised archive images in AI-powered experiment &#124; National Science and Media Museum}}</ref>
==Editors==
:1912: William H. Seed
:1912: Rowland Kenney
:1913: [[Charles Lapworth (journalist)|Charles Lapworth]]
:1913: [[George Lansbury]]
:1922: [[W. P. Ryan]]
:1922: [[Hamilton Fyfe]]
:1926: [[William Mellor (journalist)|William Mellor]]
:1931:  W. H. Stevenson
:1936: [[Francis Williams (journalist)|Francis Williams]]
:1940: [[Percy Cudlipp]]
:1953: [[Sydney Elliott]]
:1957: [[Douglas Machray]]
:1960: [[John Beaven]]
:1962: [[Sydney Jacobson]]
Source: D. Butler and A. Sloman, ''British Political Facts, 1900–1975'', London: Macmillan, 1975, p.&nbsp;378
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Sources==
*Stanley Reynolds ''Poor Men's Guardians: A Record of the Struggles for a Democratic Newspaper Press, 1763–1973'' ({{ISBN|0853153019}}) Pages 173 to 178.
*Unpublished notes, written in 1960 by Robin Page Arnot, held by the [[Working Class Movement Library]].
*The New Age – Letters to the Editor, particularly 18 December 1913, 8 January, 26 February and 5 March 1914.
*James Curran ''The British Press: a Manifesto'', Macmillan, London, 1978
==External links==
*[https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/daily-herald-archive Daily Herald Archive]
*[http://www.spartacus-educational.com/Jherald.htm Spartacus Educational page on the Daily Herald]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070210234829/http://dl.lib.brown.edu:8080/exist/mjp/show_series.xq?id=1158589415603817 The New Age]
{{Defunct UK newspapers}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daily Herald (Uk Newspaper)}}
[[Category:Newspapers established in 1912]]
[[Category:Publications disestablished in 1964]]
[[Category:Defunct newspapers published in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Socialist newspapers published in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1912 establishments in England]]
[[Category:1964 disestablishments in England]]
[[Category:Odhams Press newspapers]]