''The Graphic'' was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by

William Luson Thomas William Luson Thomas (London 4 December 1830–1900) was a British wood-engraver and the founder of various British newspapers. Biography Thomas worked as a wood-engraver in Paris and was also an assistant to the British wood-engraver Willia ...

's company, Illustrated Newspapers Ltd with Thomas's brother, Lewis Samuel Thomas, as a co-founder. The Graphic was set up as a rival to the popular ''

Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...

''. In addition to its home market, the paper had subscribers all around the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. ''The Graphic'' sought to bring awareness to prevailing issues in the British empire such as poverty, homelessness, and public health. The newspaper aimed to cover home news and news from around the Empire, and devoted much attention to literature, arts, sciences, the fashionable world, sport, music and opera. Royal occasions, national celebrations, and ceremonies were also given prominent coverage. The newspaper used its illustrations to capture authentic scenes throughout London and had an immense influence on the art world with many admirers including

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

and

Hubert von Herkomer Sir Hubert von Herkomer (born as Hubert Herkomer; 26 May 1849 – 31 March 1914) was a Bavarian-born British painter, pioneering film-director, and composer. Though a very successful portrait artist, especially of men, he is mainly remembered fo ...

, who was also an early contributor of illustrations. From 1890 until 1926, Thomas's company, H. R. Baines & Co., published ''The Daily Graphic'' (a name later revived by Kemsley Newspapers between 1946 and 1952).

Publication history

Background

was a successful artist, wood-engraver and social reformer. Thomas also had an engraving establishment of his own and, aided by a large staff, illustrated and engraved numerous standard works. Exasperated and angered by the unsympathetic treatment of artists by the world's most successful illustrated paper, ''

The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...

'', and having a good business sense, Thomas resolved to set up an opposition. His illustrated paper, despite being more expensive than its competition, became an immediate success.

Realization

When it began in 1869, the newspaper was printed in a rented house. The first editor was

Henry Sutherland Edwards Henry Sutherland Edwards (1828–1906) was a British journalist. Biography He was born in Hendon on 5 September 1828, and educated in London and France. He was correspondent of ''The Times'' at the coronation of Alexander II of Russia, in ...

. ''The Graphic'' was published on Saturdays and its original cover price was sixpence, while the ''Illustrated London News'' was fivepence. A successful artist himself, founder Thomas recruited gifted artists, including

Luke Fildes Sir Samuel Luke Fildes (3 October 1843 – 28 February 1927) was a British painter and illustrator born in Liverpool and trained at the Royal College of Art, South Kensington and Royal Academy Schools. He was the grandson of the political act ...

Frank Holl Francis Montague Holl (London 4 July 1845 – 31 July 1888 London) was a British painter, specialising in somewhat sentimental paintings with a moment from a narrative situation, often drawing on the trends of social realism and the proble ...

, and

John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest s ...

. In its first year, it described itself to advertisers as "a superior illustrated weekly newspaper, containing twenty-four pages imperial

folio The term "folio" () has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging Paper size, sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for ...

, printed on fine toned paper of beautiful quality, made expressly for the purpose and admirably adapted for the display of

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

s". The premature death of co-founder Lewis Samuel Thomas in 1872 "as one of the founders of this newspaper, /nowiki>and who/nowiki> took an active interest in its management" left a marked gap in the early history of the publication. By 1882, the company owned three buildings and twenty printing presses, and employed more than 1,000 people. Luson Thomas's seventh son

George Holt Thomas George Holt Thomas (31 March 1869 – 1 January 1929) was an aviation industry pioneer and newspaper proprietor. In 1911, Holt Thomas founded the business which became Aircraft Manufacturing Company Limited or Airco. Son and grandson of succes ...

was a director of the newspaper company and became general manager. Holt Thomas founded ''

The Bystander ''The Bystander'' was a British weekly tabloid magazine including reviews, topical drawings, cartoons and short stories. Published from Fleet Street, it was started in 1903 by George Holt Thomas. Its first editor, William Comyns Beaumont, late ...

'' and later ''Empire Illustrated'' before abandoning newspapers in 1906 and making a greater name for himself in the aviation industry.

Demise

''The Graphic'' continued to be published weekly under that title until 23 April 1932; it was renamed ''The National Graphic'' between 28 April and 14 July 1932. On 15 August 1932, ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine reported the name change to ''The National Graphic'' and that editor

William Comyns Beaumont William Comyns Beaumont, also known as Comyns Beaumont and Appian Way (17 October 1873 – 30 December 1955),
Benny J Peise ...

of ''The Bystander'' had taken over, replacing

Alan John Bott Captain Alan John Bott (14 January 1893 – 17 September 1952) was a World War I flying ace who was credited with five aerial victories. He later became a journalist, editor and publisher who founded Pan Books.Shores ''et.al.'' (1990), p.82. P ...

. It ceased publication in August 1932 after 3,266 issues.

Innovations

''The Graphic'' was designed to compete with the ''

'' (established in 1842), and became its most successful rival. Earlier rivals such as the ''

Illustrated Times ''The Illustrated Times Weekly Newspaper'' was a British newspaper and rival to ''The Illustrated London News'' published between 1855 and 1872. The publisher was the Fleet Street bookseller David Bogue and the editor was Henry Vizetelly. Orig ...

'' and the ''

Pictorial Times An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be displayed through other media, including a project ...

'' had either failed to compete or been merged with the ''ILN''. It appealed to the same

middle-class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...

readership, but ''The Graphic'', as its name suggests, was intended to use images in a more vivid and striking way than the rather staid ''ILN''. To this end it employed some of the most important artists of the day, making an immediate splash in 1869 with ''Houseless and Hungry'', Luke Fildes' dramatic image of the shivering London poor seeking shelter in a workhouse. It is much more difficult to produce and print illustrations than type. Improvements in process work and machinery at the end of the 1880s allowed Thomas to realize a long-cherished project, a daily illustrated paper.

''The Daily Graphic''

On 4 January 1890, Thomas' company, H. R. Baines & Co., started publication of the first daily illustrated newspaper in England, which was called ''The Daily Graphic''. In 1926 ''The Daily Graphic'' was acquired by

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

and

Gomer Gomer ( ''Gōmer''; ) was the eldest son of Japheth (and of the Japhetic line), and father of Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah, according to the "Table of Nations" in the Hebrew Bible ( Genesis 10). The eponymous Gomer, "standing for the whole ...

Berry (later Viscount Camrose and Viscount Kemsley) of Allied Newspapers. It was published until 16 October 1926, when it was incorporated with the Allied Newspapers' own ''

Daily Sketch The ''Daily Sketch'' was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton, 1st Baronet. The ''Sketch'' was Conservative in its politics and populist in its tone during its existence through all its ch ...

''. Twenty years later, the ''Daily Sketch'' was renamed the ''Daily Graphic'' for a period but the name disappeared for the second and final time when the ''Sketch'' was sold to

Associated Newspapers DMG Media (stylised in lowercase) is an intermediate holding company for Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe Media, Harmsworth Printing, Harmsworth Media and other subsidiaries of Daily Mail and General Trust. It is based at 9 Derry Street in ...

at the end of 1952.

Contributors

Artists

Artists employed on ''The Graphic'' and ''The Daily Graphic'' at the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century included

Helen Allingham Helen Allingham (Birth name, née Paterson; 26 September 1848 – 28 September 1926) was a British watercolourist and illustrator of the Victorian era. Biography Helen Mary Elizabeth Paterson was born on 26 September 1848, at Swadlincote in ...

Edmund Blampied Edmund Blampied (30 March 1886 – 26 August 1966) was one of the most eminent artists to come from the Channel Islands, yet he received no formal training in art until he was 15 years old. He was noted mostly for his etchings and drypoin ...

, Alexander Boyd,

Frank Brangwyn Sir Frank William Brangwyn (12 May 1867 – 11 June 1956) was a Welsh artist, painter, watercolourist, printmaker, illustrator and designer. Brangwyn worked in a wide range of artistic fields. As well as paintings and drawings, he produc ...

Randolph Caldecott Randolph Caldecott ( ; 22 March 1846 – 12 February 1886) was a British artist and illustrator, born in Chester. The Caldecott Medal was named in his honour. He exercised his art chiefly in book illustrations. His abilities as an artist were pr ...

Lance Calkin George Lance Calkin (22 June 1859 – 10 October 1936) was a British painter. Calkin was the second child in a family of seven siblings. He was born in London, to Emily and George Calkin, a musician and composer. He was educated in a private sch ...

Frank Cadogan Cowper Frank Cadogan Cowper (16 October 1877 – 17 November 1958)"Obituary: Frank ...

, Léon Daviel,

John Charles Dollman John Charles Dollman RWS RI ROI (6 May 1851 – 11 December 1934) was an English painter and illustrator. Life Dollman was born in Hove on 6 May 1851 and moved to London to study at South Kensington and the Royal Academy Schools, after wh ...

, James H. Dowd,

Godefroy Durand Godefroy Durand (1832, Düsseldorf – 27 September 1896, Paris) was a German-born French illustrator and draughtsman, who worked in both France and Great Britain. Life Durand was born in Düsseldorf to French parents. He trained in Paris und ...

Harry Furniss Harry Furniss (26 March 185414 January 1925) was a British illustrator. He established his career on the ''Illustrated London News'' before moving to '' Punch''. He also illustrated Lewis Carroll's novel '' Sylvie and Bruno''. Biography Althoug ...

John Percival Gülich John Percival Gülich (also Gulich) (26 December 1864 – 11 December 1898) was a British illustrator, engraver and artist. Biography Gülich was born in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon in 1864, the son of Hermann Gülich, a London merchant of ...

George du Maurier George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier (6 March 1834 – 8 October 1896) was a Franco-British cartoonist and writer known for work in ''Punch (magazine), Punch'' and a Gothic fiction, Gothic novel ''Trilby (novel), Trilby'', featuring the char ...

, Phil May,

George Percy Jacomb-Hood George Percy Jacomb-Hood (6 July 1857 – 11 December 1929) was a painter, etcher and illustrator. He was a founding member of the New English Art Club and Society of Portrait Painters. Early life Jacomb-Hood was born on 6 July 1857 at Redh ...

Ernest Prater Ernest Prater (1864–1950) was a noted English artist and book illustrator, notable also for his work as a war correspondent and reportage artist during the Anglo-Boer War. Life and works Prater was born in Islington in London, of Cornish des ...

Leonard Raven-Hill Leonard Raven-Hill (10 March 1867 – 31 March 1942) was an English artist, illustrator and cartoonist. Life He was born in Bath and educated at Bristol Grammar School and the Devon county school. He studied art at the Lambeth School of Art and ...

Sidney Sime Sidney Herbert Sime (; 1865 – 22 May 1941) — he usually signed his works as S. H. Sime — was an early 20th century English artist, mostly remembered for his fantastic and satirical artwork, especially his story illustrations for Irish ...

, Snaffles (Charles Johnson Payne), George Stampa,

Edmund Sullivan Edmund Joseph Sullivan (1869–1933), usually known as E. J. Sullivan, was a British book illustrator who worked in a style which merged the British tradition of illustration from the 1860s with aspects of Art Nouveau. Life Sullivan was bo ...

, Bert Thomas, F. H. Townsend,

Harrison Weir Harrison William Weir (5 May 18243 January 1906), known as "The Father of the animal fancy, Cat Fancy", was a British artist. He organised the first cat show in England, at the The Crystal Palace, Crystal Palace, London, in July 1871. He and ...

, and Henry Woods. The notable illustrator

Henry William Brewer Henry William Brewer (7 August 1836 – 6 October 1903) was a British illustrator, notable for his detailed city panoramas, held to be one of the most outstanding architectural draughtsmen of his day. Family and early life Brewer was born in ...

, contributed a regular illustrated article on architecture to the magazine for 25 years, until his death in 1903.

Writers

Writers for the paper included

George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrot ...

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

H. Rider Haggard Sir Henry Rider Haggard (; 22 June 1856 – 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure fiction romances set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of the lost world literary genre. He was also involved in land reform t ...

and

Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope ( ; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among the best-known of his 47 novels are two series of six novels each collectively known as the ''Chronicles of Barsetshire ...

Malcolm Charles Salaman Malcolm Charles Salaman (6 September 1855 – 22 January 1940) was an English author, journalist and critic. He was born and died in London. Life He was educated at University College School and at Owens College, Manchester. Although he had st ...

was employed there from 1890 to 1899.

Beatrice Grimshaw Beatrice Ethel Grimshaw (3 February 1870 – 30 June 1953) was an Irish writer and traveller. Beginning in 1903, she worked as a travel writer for the ''Daily Graphic'' and ''The Times'', leading her to move to the Territory of Papua, wh ...

travelled the South Pacific reporting on her experiences for the ''Daily Graphic''. Mary Frances Billington served the ''Graphic'' as a special correspondent from 1890 to 1897, reporting from India in essays that were compiled into ''Woman in India'' (1895).Fred Hunter
"Billington, Mary Frances (1862–1925)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press 2004). Joseph Ashby-Sterry wrote the Bystander column for the paper for 18 years.

Weekly topics

* Topics of the Week: 12 paragraphs of

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

coverage. * Amusements: A roundup of activities for the week, for the middle-class reader. * Our illustrations: a summary of all the illustrations in the edition. * Home: a summary of the news in Britain. *

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

news * Legal: Trials and cases of interest to the target reader. * A weekly serial written by popular authors of the time, such as

William Black William Black may refer to: Politicians * William Black (Ontario politician) (1867–1944), speaker of the Legislature of Ontario and Conservative MLA * William Black (Canadian politician) (1869–1930), Progressive party member of the Canadian Hou ...

(although this seemed to appear in the 1880s). * Book reviews * A summary of the new developments in science. *

Rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

notes: information about the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

and tips about crops, and other news concerning the rampant unrest of the farm labourers. * New Music: Reviews of the latest music and musicals. * Obituaries: of Church leaders, factory owners, European royalty, musicians and noteworthy Victorians. * Sport: coverage of football and cricket (with

W.G. Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English cricketer who is widely considered one of the sport's all-time greatest players. Always known by his initials as "WG", his first-class career spanned a record-equalling 4 ...

) * Motoring: c. 1903–1908

Dorothy Levitt Dorothy Elizabeth Levitt (born Elizabeth Levi; 5 January 1882 – 17 May 1922) was a British racing driver and journalist. She was the first British woman racing driver, holder of the world's first water speed record, the women's world land ...

, ''The Fastest Girl on Earth'', wrote a column on motoring from the point of view of 'A woman's right to motor'. A collection of her articles formed the basis of the book '' The Woman and the Car: A chatty little handbook for all women who motor or who want to motor'' in 1907/9. There were at least three pages dedicated to advertising, with many adverts for toothpaste, soap products, and 'miracle-cure' pills.

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

* '' Mitchell's Newspaper Press Directory'', 1870 * ''The Reference Specialist British Library Newspapers''

External links

* ttp://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/news/victoriannews/index.html Publication dates(British Library website)
''The Graphic''
archives at

HathiTrust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries. Its holdings include content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digit ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graphic, The 1869 establishments in the United Kingdom 1932 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Defunct newspapers published in the United Kingdom Defunct weekly newspapers Newspapers established in 1869 Publications disestablished in 1932