The
Daily Telegraph & Courier was founded by Colonel Arthur
Sleigh to air a personal grievance against the Duke of Cambridge,
the future Commander-in-Chief of the British Army. Joseph
Moses Levy, the proprietor of the Sunday
Times, agreed to print the newspaper. The first edition of
the newspaper was published on 29th June, 1855. The venture was not
a success and when Sleigh was unable to pay his printing bill, Levy
took over the newspaper.
In 1855 there were ten newspapers published in London. The
Times, at sevenpence, was the most expensive and had a circulation
of 10,000. Its two main rivals, the Daily News
and the Morning Post, both cost fivepence.
Levy believed that if he could produce a cheaper newspaper than his
main competitors, he could expand the size of the overall market.
Levy appointed his son, Edward Levy-Lawson,
and Thornton Leigh Hunt, to edit the newspaper.
When he re-launched the newspaper on 17th September, 1855, Levy used
the slogan, "the largest, best, and cheapest newspaper in the
world".
Soon after joining the newspaper, Thornton
Leigh Hunt wrote a report on the possible future of the Daily
Telegraph. Hunt wrote: "We should report all striking
events in science, so told that the intelligent public can understand
what has happened and can see its bearing on our daily life and our
future. The same principle should apply to all other events - to fashion,
to new inventions, to new methods of conducting business."
After a couple of months the Daily Telegraph was outselling
The Times and by January 1856, Levy
was able to announce that circulation had reached 27,000. The early
Daily Telegraph supported the Liberal
Party and progressive causes such as the campaign against capital
punishment. It also urged reform of the House
of Lords and the banning of corporal punishment in the armed forces.
Thornton Leigh Hunt recruited a group
of highly talent journalists including George
Augustus Sala, J. M. Le Sage, and T.
P. Connor. Hunt and Edward Levy-Lawson
copied the approach of James Gordon Bennett, the owner of the highly
successful New York Herald,
in reporting unusual and sensational stories. Some examples of early
headlines used by the newspaper included A Child Devoured by Pigs,
Extraordinary Discovery of Man-Woman in Birmingham and
Shocking Occurrence: Five Men Smothered in a Gin Vat.
In its early days the Daily Telegraph gave considerable space
to the reporting of crime stories. For example, a report on one murder
case in 1856, filled a quarter of the newspaper. In 1864 the public
execution of Catherine Wilson, got three columns of detailed description.
Harry Levy-Lawson admitted that this reporting
was not always unbiased as the accused might be "described as
'a man of sullen aspect' or even 'of dissolute and repulsive appearance'
or when the penman took a kindlier view 'a gentleman-looking man having
the appearance of a foreigner'."
On the death of Thornton Leigh Hunt in
1873 Edwin Arnold became the new editor
of the Daily Telegraph. His views were less liberal than Hunt
and the paper began to question the policies of the government led
by William Gladstone. Arnold was particularly
upset by attempts to cut defence expenditure and claimed that Gladstone
would "fling half our Empire overboard and jettison India herself
in order to teach Britain modesty." Whereas Hunt used to describe
Gladstone in the Daily Telegraph as the "People's William",
Arnold favoured the more imperialistic policies of his Conservative
opponent, Benjamin Disraeli.
Edwin Arnold recruited staff that shared
his political opinions and worked closely with Ellis
Ashmead Bartlett, a strong advocate of British Imperialism in
the House of Commons. Under the editorship
of Arnold circulation of the newspaper continued to grow. In 1870
the daily average circulation was 196,855 and by 1877 it had risen
to 242,215.
Arnold had a deep love of exploration and persuaded the proprietor,
Edward Levy-Lawson, to spend large sums
of money to obtain dramatic stories. This included joining with Bennett
of the New York Herald to finance Stanley's search for David
Livingstone in Africa. The Daily Telegraph also largely
financed Sir Harry Johnson's exploration of Kilimanjaro.
In 1881 the Daily Telegraph made newspaper history when it
helped solve a murder. William Gold, a wealthy businessman, was murdered
on the London to Brighton train. A reporter
working for the newspaper, carried out his own inquiries and believed
he had discovered the killer. However, the man, Percy Lefroy, had
left his lodgings. After obtaining a photograph of the Lefroy from
his landlady, the Daily Telegraph published the first portrait
block to appear in any newspaper. As a result of the picture, twenty-nine
different men were arrested. However, this included Lefroy and he
was later convicted and executed for the crime.
W. L. Courtney replaced Edwin Arnold as
editor of the Daily Telegraph in 1899. One of his first moves
was to recruit J. L. Garvin from the Newcastle
Chronicle. Garvin became the newspaper's most important journalist
and was was given assignments such as the funeral of Queen
Victoria and the Coronation of Edward
VII. Garvin also accompanied the Prince of Wales (the future George
V) on his tour of India.
During the First World War, under the system
introduced by Lord Kitchener at the
War Office, Sir Philip Gibbs, was the Daily
Telegraph's correspondent on the Western
Front. Other journalists who reported the war for the paper included
Ashmead Bartlett (Gallipoli), G. T.
Stevens (Salonika) and W. T. Massey
(Palestine).
The newspaper also published several works by Rudyard
Kipling during the war including Fringes of the Fleet,
The New Army and France and War. After the war the Daily
Telegraph developed the idea of serializing books including several
on the First World War. This included War
Diaries (Sir John French), War
Memories and Naval Adventures (Sir Robert
Keyes) and the Fifth Army (Sir Hubert
Gough). The Daily Telegraph also serialized the memoirs
of Herbert Asquith and David
Lloyd George.
During the First World War, Captain Battine,
a cavalry officer was the Telegraph's military correspondent. He was
followed by Charles Repington (1919-25)
and Basil Liddell Hart (1925-35).
In 1927 Lord Burnham, who was heavily involved
in political work, decided to sell the Daily Telegraph to Sir
James Berry in 1927. Berry now controlled two national and six
provincial morning papers, eight provincial evening papers, eight
provincial weeklies and about seventy periodicals.
Berry was raised to the peerage (Baron Camrose) in 1929. Over the
next few years he concentrated on restoring the fortunes of the Daily
Telegraph. On 1st December 1930 he reduced the price from 2d.
to 1d. and within a few weeks the circulation doubled to over 200,000.
In 1937 Camrose purchased the right-wing Morning
Post. This was then amalgamated with the Daily Telegraph.
Sir James Berry had been brought up as
a Liberal but by the 1930s he was a progressive
Conservative. He broke with Neville
Chamberlain over appeasement and became a strong supporter of
Winston Churchill. On the outbreak of
the Second World War, Camrose served for a short
period as Minister of Information.
Throughout the war Viscount Camrose continued
to work on improving the sales of the Daily Telegraph. He took
great care with the appointment of staff and was also personally involved
in the layout of the newspaper. In 1939 Camrose made the decision
to carry news on the front page of the Daily Telegraph.
In 1939 the circulation of the Daily Telegraph was 830,000.
Sales continued to grow and by March 1947, sales reached over a million.
Viscount Camrose, died in Southampton
on 15th June 1954. His eldest son, John Seymour Berry, inherited his
title and his second son, Michael Berry, became editor-in-chief and
chairman of the newspaper.
(1)
Thornton Leigh Hunt, memorandum sent to
Joseph Moses Levy (1855)
We are only now at the beginning of a new era in science and let
us not forget that science is to be taught in every school. Our policy
should be one of making the leading daily paper take the lead also
in that department of general yet special intelligence.
We should report all striking events in science, so told that the
intelligent public can understand what has happened and can see its
bearing on our daily life and our future. The same principle should
apply to all other events - to fashion, to new inventions, to new
methods of conducting business.
A paper of high authority should always have at command such men as
can write with correctness, certainty, distinct force and authority
on military, on naval affairs, on law.
(2)
Edward Lawson, The Story of the Daily Telegraph (1955)
The editorial columns of the Daily Telegraph at this time (late
1850s) show more evidence of the mind of Thornton Hunt or his leader
writers than of its proprietors who were still fumbling with editorial
direction. Persistently the telegraph pursued its campaign for the
reform of the House of Lords - "the chartered lords of misrule
ogling in the ancient face of bigotry".
(3)
Edward Lawson, The Story of the Daily Telegraph (1955)
All the traditions of the Daily Telegraph were Liberal. From the beginning
it supported Palmerston. For Gladstone it coined the title of "the
People's William" and for many years Edward Levy-Lawson saw Gladstone
or Montagu Corry, his confidential secretary, almost daily.
Edward Arnold who in Eastern policy was continually and vehemently
against Gladstone. The break was gradual. During Disraeli's second
administration the Daily Telegraph "crossed the floor"
and became a Conservative newspaper.
(4)
Edward Lawson, The Story of the Daily Telegraph (1955)
Reviewing the files, the honest biographer cannot dispute that the
Daily Telegraph thrived on crime. So did, does, and will every newspaper,
but the reformers must realize that when crime is not reported in
a way that will attract the reader it will not be reported at all.
That being said in defence of the full reporting of crime, the honest
biographer must also admit that in its early days the Daily Telegraph
sometimes over did it.
(5)
Laurence Jerrold, The Daily Telegraph (1st September, 1914)
I succeeded
in smuggling myself onto one of the stations (in Paris) where trains
of wounded were arriving. It is difficult now for a journalist to
get anywhere. They are being watched and spied upon with energetic
zeal by everyone. It is a wonder that we are even allowed to leave
our homes or hotels, and to have our drinks at the cafe like any other
inhabitants not under such grave disabilities.
In vain we ask for a permit to go to places fifty or a hundred miles
from Paris. we are told at once 'Pas de journalists'. A journalist,
therefore, is everywhere tabooed, an outlaw and an outcast in the
eyes of the strict public official. We have, therefore, to make the
best of it, and it is only through some exceeding act of condescension
that we may venture into a railway station.
(6)
Edward Lawson, The Story of the Daily Telegraph (1955)
The 1914-18
war was one of the least satisfactory for newspaper enterprise. The
Service departments were groping ineffectually for a system combining
military security and control with the morale-promoting benefit of
keeping the nation fully informed from free and independent sources
about the achievement and life of soldiers in the field.
In the early stages, the Daily Telegraph made the most of its
opportunities. Major Granville Fortescue, a distinguished American
correspondent and author, was sent to Belgium and made the best use
of such advantages as fell to a neutral. War correspondents were sent
to France but none were allowed near the front. Not till August 18th
were newspapers allowed to announce the landing of the British Expeditionary
Force, though it was no secret here or in Germany.
Kitchener said to Sir Reginald Brade, the permanent under-secretary,
"I do not know anything of this damned business, you look after
the Press." Brade took the view that this damned business of
war reporting like most expert jobs was done by professionals, and,
in accord with this not very cordial brief, he looked after the Press
to the extent of allowing them a limited number of correspondents
on a pooling basis. Therefore the Daily Telegraph cannot claim
exclusive credit for the work of any of their war correspondents.
Sir Philip Gibbs, not a Telegraph man, was their chief correspondent
on the Western Front and within the limits permitted to any correspondent
his work was brilliant but the circumstances of control and organization
no single paper could claim that its war reporting was outstanding.
(7)
Edward Lawson, The Story of the Daily Telegraph (1955)
The first
of a line of military correspondents was Captain Battine, a cavalry
officer who came to the Telegraph on the recommendation of Sir John
French. Battine was succeeded by Colonel Repington when he left The
Times. He wrote at a time in international affairs when his special
knowledge and talent were particularly valuable. Though his critics
chose to regard him as a somewhat extinct volcano his contributions
to the Telegraph in the comparatively short period before his
death retained the distinction which characterized all that he did.
Repington's follower was the remarkable critic and publicist, Captain
B. H. Liddell Hart. At the time Liddell Hart was lawn tennis correspondent
and assistant military correspondent of the Morning Post. He
was selected because of a particularly able account he had published
of a rather unimportant tactical exercise. Given a very free hand
and considerable space he soon showed the fine quality of his original
mind and became a military writer of international importance.
(8)
Edward Lawson, The Story of the Daily Telegraph (1955)
The Morning
Post, a newspaper of long and honourable tradition, and fine purpose,
was suffering a decline in some ways similar to that of the Daily
Telegraph, the chief reason of which was that it persistently
and resolutely maintained a policy of extreme conservatism which had
little support in the country at large. The decline had gone further
than that of the Daily Telegraph because the circulation was
lower. Lord Camrose's intention was not necessary to cease separate
publication, and indeed the Morning Post continued independently
for months. On consideration he decided that continuance was not a
practical proposition. So the decision was taken to amalgamate.
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