''The Cardiff Times'' was a Welsh newspaper that was published from 1857 to 1928 and again from 1930 to 1955. From 1857 until 1928 it was owned by Duncan & Sons, and circulated in the County of

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire (; or informally ') is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. ...

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...

Cardiganshire Ceredigion (), historically Cardiganshire (, ), is a county in the west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. Ab ...

Brecknockshire Brecknockshire ( or ), also known as the County of Brecknock, Breconshire, or the County of Brecon, was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was created in 1 ...

Radnorshire Radnorshire () was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974, later becoming a Districts of Wales, district of Powys from 1974 to 1996. It covered a sparsely populat ...

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire ( ) was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was named after its county town, Montgomery, Powys, Montgomery, which in turn was named after ...

and adjacent counties of England. It was a liberal newspaper published in English and for the first forty years its main content was news about liberalism. Among its contributors were William Abraham (Mabon, 1842–1922). It had a sister paper, the daily ''

South Wales Daily News South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

'', while the '' Western Mail'' and '' The Weekly Mail'' were its conservative-supporting rivals.

History

The city of Cardiff began to grow rapidly from 1830 due to the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

, as a series of new docks were built to handle the growing South Wales trade in iron and coal, bringing international seafarers into the city. Despite this growth the city did not have its own dedicated newspaper, with '' The Silurian'' (published in

Brecon Brecon (; ; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the county town of Breck ...

) and the '' Merthyr Guardian'', both weekly newspapers with low readership, being the only news publications in the area. The ''Cardiff Times'' was the first Cardiff-based newspaper to be created, launched by Cardiff alderman David Duncan in October 1857. In its early years it was supportive of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

and liberal causes, declaring its mission to "deliver the borough from the degrading position of being a mere appanage of the Bute Estate", a reference to Bute family, who controlled much of the city at that time. In 1868, following the defeat of their local candidate in the general election and taking advantage of a significant reduction in the cost of newspaper production, the Conservative Party decided to launch their own rival paper, the '' Western Mail'', controlled by the Bute trustees and circulating daily. Faced with growing competition from the ''Western Mail'', Duncan launched a sister paper to the ''Times'', called the ''

'' in 1872. '' The Weekly Mail'' responded by launching its own weekly to rival the ''Cardiff Times''. In 1886, the ''Times'' expanded its coverage such that in addition to liberal political issues, it also featured

serialised fiction In literature, a serial is a printing or publishing format by which a single larger work, often a work of narrative fiction, is published in smaller, sequential instalments. The instalments are also known as ''numbers'', ''parts'', ''fascicul ...

and contributions from poets and

bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is an oral repository and professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's a ...

s, including William Abraham, better known by his bardic name "Mabon". The ''Cardiff Times'' stopped publishing on 1 September 1928, before being revived in 1930 by the publisher Robert William John. It stopped publishing permanently in 1955.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardiff Times Newspapers published in Wales 1857 establishments in Wales 1955 disestablishments in Wales Newspapers established in 1857 Newspapers disestablished in the 1950s