''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish

compact Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to: * Interstate compact * Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines * Compact government, a type of colonial rule utilized in Britis ...

newspaper and daily news website headquartered in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a

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 ...

until August 2004. Its parent company, JPIMedia, also publishes the ''

Edinburgh Evening News The ''Edinburgh Evening News'' is a daily newspaper and website based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded by John Wilson (1844–1909) and first published in 1873. It is printed daily, except on Sundays. It is owned by JPIMedia, which als ...

''. It had an audited print circulation of 16,349 for July to December 2018. Its website, Scotsman.com, had an average of 138,000 unique visitors a day as of 2017. The title celebrated its bicentenary on 25 January 2017.

History

Scotsman Office 1860 by Peddie and Kinnear

''The Scotsman'' was launched in 1817 as a liberal weekly newspaper by lawyer William Ritchie and customs official

Charles Maclaren Charles Maclaren (7 October 1782 – 10 September 1866) was a Scottish journalist and geologist. He co-founded ''The Scotsman'' newspaper, was its editor for 27 years, and edited the 6th Edition of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' and the firs ...

in response to the "unblushing subservience" of competing newspapers to the Edinburgh establishment. The paper was pledged to "impartiality, firmness and independence". After the abolition of newspaper

stamp tax Stamp duty is a tax that is levied on single property purchases or documents (including, historically, the majority of legal documents such as cheques, receipts, military commissions, marriage licences and land transactions). A physical revenu ...

in Scotland in 1855, ''The Scotsman'' was relaunched as a daily newspaper priced at 1d and a circulation of 6,000 copies. The fledgling paper was originally based at 257 High Street on the Royal Mile. In 1860, The Scotsman obtained a purpose built office on Cockburn Street in

designed in the Scots baronial style by the architects Peddie & Kinnear. This backed onto their original offices on the Royal Mile. The building bears the initials "JR" for John Ritchie, the founder of the company. On 19 December 1904, they moved to huge new offices at the top of the street, facing onto North Bridge, designed by

Dunn & Findlay Dunn & Findlay were a firm of Scottish architects operating in the late 19th century and responsible for a number of important commercial buildings including the '' Scotsman'' buildings which form part of the Edinburgh Old Town skyline. Each ...

(Findlay being the son of the then owner). This huge building had taken three years to build and also had connected printworks on Market Street (now the City Art Centre). The printworks connected below road level direct to

Waverley station Edinburgh Waverley railway station (also known simply as Waverley; gd, Waverley Dhùn Èideann) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. It is the north ...

in a highly efficient production line. In 1953 the newspaper was bought by Canadian millionaire Roy Thomson who was in the process of building a large media group. The paper was bought in 1995 by David and Frederick Barclay for £85 million. They moved the newspaper from its Edinburgh office on North Bridge, which is now an upmarket hotel, to modern offices in Holyrood Road designed by Edinburgh architects CDA, near the subsequent location of the Scottish Parliament Building. The daily was awarded by the Society for News Design (SND) the World's Best Designed Newspaper™ for 1994. In December 2005, ''The Scotsman'' along with its sister titles owned by The Scotsman Publications Ltd was acquired, in a £160million deal, by Johnston Press, a company founded in Scotland and at the time one of the top three largest local newspaper publishers in the UK. Ian Stewart has been the editor since June 2012, after a reshuffle of senior management in April 2012 during which John McLellan who was the paper's editor-in-chief was dismissed. Ian Stewart was previously editor of ''

'' and remains as the editor of ''

Scotland on Sunday ''Scotland on Sunday'' is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by JPIMedia and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate '' The Scotsman''. It was originally printed in broadsheet format but in 20 ...

''. In 2012, ''The Scotsman'' was named Newspaper of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards. In 2006 Barclay Brothers sold Barclay House to Irish property magnate Lochlann Quinn, and in 2013 Scottish video games maker Rockstar North, of Grand Theft Auto fame, signed the lease, causing Johnston Press group to move out in June 2014. Johnston Press have downsized to refurbished premises at Orchard Brae House in Queensferry Road, Edinburgh, a move which was quoted as saving the group £1million per annum in rent. The newspaper backed a 'No' vote in the

referendum on Scottish independence A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was, "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No". The "No" sid ...

. In November 2018, Johnston Press filed for

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...

. Shortly after filing for administration, the company was bought out by JPIMedia, a company which was bought by former ''Daily Mirror'' exec David Montgomery's new National World group in 2020.

Editors

:1817: William Ritchie :1817:

:1818: John Ramsay McCulloch :1843: John Hill Burton (acting) :1846:

Alexander Russel Alexander Russel (or sometimes Russell) FRSE (1814–1876) was a Scottish newspaper editor, who spent nearly 30 years as the editor of ''The Scotsman''. Early life Russel was born on 10 December 1814 in Edinburgh; his father, a solicitor an ...

:1876: Robert Wallace :1880: Charles Alfred Cooper :1905: John Pettigrew Croal :1924: George A. Waters :1944: James Murray Watson :1955: John Buchanan (acting) :1956:

Alastair Dunnett Sir Alastair MacTavish Dunnett (26 December 1908 – 2 September 1998) was a Scottish journalist and newspaper editor. He edited '' The Daily Record'' newspaper for nine years and ''The Scotsman'' newspaper from 1956 to 1972. In 1975 he b ...

:1972: Eric MacKay :1985:

Chris Baur Christopher Frank Baur (born 28 May 1942) is Scottish broadcast journalist. Between 1985 and 1988, he was the editor of ''The Scotsman'' newspaper. Education Baur was educated at Dalhousie Preparatory School and Strathallan School in Perthshire ...

:1988: Magnus Linklater :1994: Andrew Jaspan :1995: James Seaton :1997:

Martin Clarke Martin "Marty" Clarke ( ga, Máirtín Ó Cléirigh; born 13 November 1987) is a Gaelic and former Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 2007 to 2009 and again from ...

:1998: Alan Ruddock :2000: Tim Luckhurst :2000: Rebecca Hardy :2001: Iain Martin :2004:

John McGurk John McGurk (17 September 1874 – 22 November 1944) was a British coal miner and trade unionist. Born in Barnsley, West Riding of Yorkshire, McGurk grew up in Pendlebury, Lancashire, and began working at a coal mine aged 12. He became active ...

:2006: Mike Gilson :2009: John McLellan :2012: Ian Stewart :2017: Frank O'Donnell :2020: Euan McGrory :2021: Neil McIntosh

References

External links

*
''The Scotsman'' Digital Archive 1817–1950

Johnston Press

Comprehensive Design Architects
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scotsman, The 1817 establishments in Scotland 19th century in Scotland Mass media in Edinburgh Newspapers published in Scotland Newspapers with Scottish Gaelic content Publications established in 1817 Scottish brands Newspapers published by Johnston Press British news websites

History

Editors

See also

References

Further reading

External links