PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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WESTERN MORNING NEWS
When Mr Spender took himself off to London to set up an office there, Mr William Hunt became the editor. When he in turn left, Mr Albert Groser, previosuly on the staff of the competing Western Daily Merciry, took his place. Mr Spender was responsible for introducing the London Letter in the paper. On October 5th 1861 the Western Morning News launched a weekly version called the Western Weekly News. The success of the two daily newspapers brought about the ending of the weeklies and in July 1862 the Morning News took over the Plymouth Mail. During 1899 and 1900 the Company published the Western Evening News mainly in order to provide up-to-date reports of the Boer War. The Western Morning News has, at different times, been published in several editions: Plymouth; Exeter; Exeter City and East Devon; Exeter, East Devon & Somerset; Devon; Cornwall; and even a Midnight Edition. Unfortunately the newspaper market in Devon was a bit overcrowded by 1920 and all newspapers ran into financial difficulties. In that year, Sir Leicester Harmsworth acquired the Western Morning News and from February 1st 1921 the Western Daily Mercury and Western Evening Herald were also taken over. The papers continued to be issued from the old Mercury offices in Frankfort Street. The Western Morning News was the last of the local newspapers to convert to the tabloid format, which it did on February 10th 1997. Plymouth Central Library has a microfilmed collection from July 1860 to date, although there are some gaps.
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