''The Sphere: An Illustrated Newspaper for the Home'' and, later, ''The Sphere: The Empire's Illustrated Weekly'', was a British newspaper, published by London Illustrated Newspapers weekly from 27 January 1900 until the closure of the paper on 27 June 1964.

Background

The first issue came out at the height of the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

and was a product of that conflict and the public appetite for images. At the time, it was in direct competition with ''

The Graphic ''The Graphic'' was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Ltd. Thomas's brother Lewis Samuel Thomas was a co-founder. The premature death of the latt ...

'' and '' Illustrated London News'', and evidence of this rivalry can be seen in the latter's publication shortly after of a new illustrated paper entitled ''The Spear'' in an attempt to confuse readers. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, the weekly issues were called 'war numbers' and over two hundred appeared between 1914 and 1919. In all, it totalled 3,343 issues, plus a special supplement issued in January 1965, entitled ''Winston Churchill: A Memorial Tribute''. ''The Sphere'' was founded by

Clement Shorter Clement King Shorter (19 July 1857 – 19 November 1926) was a British journalist and literary critic. After editing the '' Illustrated London News'', Shorter founded and edited ''Sketch'', ''The Sphere'', and ''Tatler''. Biography Clement S ...

(1857–1926), who also founded ''

Tatler ''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those interes ...

'' in the following year. It covered general news stories from the UK and around the world; much of the overseas news features were reported in detail as the title was targeted at British citizens living in the

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

. It was similar to the '' Illustrated London News'', another paper containing many graphic illustrations. Those featured in ''The Sphere'' were by renowned artists including W. G. Whitaker and

Montague Dawson Montague Dawson RSMA, FRSA (1890–1973) was a British painter who was renowned as a maritime artist. His most famous paintings depict sailing ships, usually clippers or warships of the 18th and 19th centuries. Life Montague Dawson was th ...

. Other illustrators included

Sidney Paget Sidney Edward Paget () (4 October 1860 – 28 January 1908) was a British artist of the Victorian era, best known for his illustrations that accompanied Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories in ''The Strand Magazine''. Life Sid ...

, Henry Matthew Brock,

Fortunino Matania Chevalier Fortunino Matania (16 April 1881 – 8 February 1963) was an Italian artist noted for his realistic portrayal of World War I trench warfare and of a wide range of historical subjects. Life Born in Naples, the son of artist Eduardo Mat ...

, Ernest Prater, Edmund Blampied, Victor Coverley-Price and Claude Grahame Muncaster (1903–1974); photographers included Christina Broom (1862–1939); and writers included Bryher, Eleanour Sinclair Rohde, and Michael Wolff, and Balkans war heroine Dr Caroline Matthews.

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Wor ...

's short story ''A Changed Man'' was first published in ''The Sphere'', in two instalments in the 21 and 28 April 1900 editions. During

the newspaper was bought by the shipping magnate John Ellerman.W. D. Rubinstein
‘Ellerman, Sir John Reeves, first baronet (1862–1933)’
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2006, accessed 1 Jan 2008 ''The Sphere'' was very popular during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

and the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in t ...

hold copies of the entire publication run of this newspaper. The Sphere is searchable on the

British Newspaper Archive The British Newspaper Archive web site provides access to searchable digitized archives of British and Irish newspapers. It was launched in November 2011. History The British Library Newspapers section was based in Colindale in north London, ...

In popular culture

In the film '' Three Faces East'' (1930), set in England during WWI, Frances Hawtree (

Constance Bennett Constance Campbell Bennett (October 22, 1904 – July 24, 1965) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress and producer. She was a major Hollywood star during the 1920s and 1930s; during the early 1930s, she was the highest-paid ...

) peruses a copy of ''The Sphere''.

References

Sources

''Illustrated London News'' Picture Library website

Information on the ''Illustrated London News'' Group

External links

Illustration of trench system from the Sphere magazine

Scran Scran is a Scottish online resource for educational use by the public, schools, further education and higher education. It presents nearly 490,000 (still and moving) images and sounds contributed by museums, galleries, archives and the media. ...

ID: 000-000-475-242-C,

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sphere Defunct newspapers published in the United Kingdom Defunct weekly newspapers Weekly newspapers published in the United Kingdom Newspapers established in 1900 Publications disestablished in 1964 1900 establishments in the United Kingdom 1964 disestablishments in the United Kingdom