''Bell's Life in London, and Sporting Chronicle'' was an English weekly sporting paper published as a pink

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner and tabloid–compact formats. Description Many broadsheets measure roughly ...

between 1822 and 1886.

History

''Bell's Life'' was founded by Robert Bell, a London printer-publisher. Bell sold it to William Innell Clement, owner of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'', in 1824 or 1825, and the paper swallowed up a competitor, '' Pierce Egan's Life in London and Sporting Guide''. From 1824 to 1852 it was edited by Vincent George Dowling, "during which time ''Bell's Life'' became Britain's leading sporting newspaper, without which no gentleman's Sunday was quite complete". Dowling's son, Frank Lewis Dowling, effectively edited the paper during the last year of his father's life, and succeeded him as editor from 1852 to 1867. By the 1860s ''Bell's Life'' was facing competition from '' The Field'', '' The Sportsman'', '' Sporting Life'', and ''

The Sporting Times ''The Sporting Times'' (founded 1865, ceased publication 1932) was a weekly British newspaper devoted chiefly to sport, and in particular to horse racing. It was informally known as ''The Pink 'Un'', as it was printed on salmon-coloured pape ...

''. In 1885 Edward Hulton bought ''Bell's Life'' and made it a daily, but in 1886 it was absorbed by ''Sporting Life''.

Editorial policy

Though ''Bell's Life'' is now best known as a racing paper it began life as an anti-establishment general newspaper aimed at the working class. From around 1830 it gave increasing coverage to racing and this soon comprised more than a third of the paper, following general news and followed in its turn by other sporting news (notably boxing but all other sports too). For thirty years it remained the principal source of racing news while its general news with its acid comment, full coverage of scandal and cartoons provides an entertaining picture of Victorian Britain. ''Bell's'' problem was that it aimed at both the literate poor and the general sporting public who fall into all classes. It experimented variously with appearing more than once a week and eventually eliminated all its general news, covering sport alone; but the changes came too late.

Contributors

Contributors included: * Francis Frederick Brandt * agricultural writer Henry Corbet (1820–78) *

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

* Henry Hall Dixon * angling writer Edward Fitzgibbon (1803–57) * cricket writer Frederick Gale (1823–1904) * W. H. Leverell * card games writer Henry Jones (1831–1899) * William Russell Macdonald (1787–1854) * Rev. Charles Henry Newmarch (1824–1903) * sports writer William Ruff (1801–56) *

Robert Smith Surtees Robert Smith Surtees (17 May 180516 March 1864) was an English editor, novelist and sporting writer, widely known as R. S. Surtees. He was the second son of Anthony Surtees of Hamsterley Hall, a member of an old County Durham family. He is reme ...

* chess writer George Walker (1803–79) * John Henry Walsh ODNB * Joseph Osborne "Beacon" author of The Horsebreeder's Handbook, owner/trainer of Grand National winner 1850/51

Notes and references

{{Reflist 1822 establishments in England Defunct newspapers published in the United Kingdom Newspapers published in London Publications established in 1822 Publications disestablished in 1886 Sport in England Sports newspapers published in the United Kingdom Weekly newspapers published in the United Kingdom Defunct weekly newspapers Bells Life