''The Friend'' is a weekly

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

magazine published in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, UK. It is the only Quaker weekly in the world, and has been published continuously since 1843. It began as a monthly and in January 1892 became a weekly. It is one of the oldest continuously published publications in the world still in operation. Others (e.g. '' Punch'') which began publication before ''The Friend'' have had lengthy interruptions in publication and/or have closed down.

Independence

''The Friend'' is completely independent from Britain Yearly Meeting, although since 2004 it has occupied space in Friends House. It is owned by The Friend Publications Ltd., a trust which also publishes ''Friends Quarterly''. The Trustees of ''The Friend'' are appointed from members of Britain Yearly Meeting. The Trustees appoint the Editor who, along with the other members of staff, is entirely responsible for the day-to-day management of the magazine, and its content. Among the initial trustees were Josiah Forster, George Stacey, John Hodgkin.''The Friend'' Vol. 71 (1931) p.1183

Editorial policy

As an independent publication, ''The Friend'' is free to report critically on trends within Quakerism in Britain and around the world, and on the governance of Britain Yearly Meeting. It also reports on the activities of Friends and Friends' groups and it is a forum for theological debate. There is a great deal of opinion in the magazine, and the letters page provides a forum for readers to express their views. One of the ways ''The Friend'' exercises its responsibility to give readers an independent viewpoint is by covering Meeting for Sufferings, the standing consultative body of Britain Yearly Meeting, which meets five times a year. Meeting for Sufferings often deals with controversial issues, on which ''The Friend'' reports and comments.

''The Friend'' Online

In recent years, ''The Friend'' has begun offering all its content online to subscribers. It is intended to make the issues for the period 1914 to 1918 available as a digital archive.

The printing of ''The Friend''

For many years, ''The Friend'' was printed by an old Quaker firm, Headley Brothers, of Ashford, Kent. Headley Brothers went into administration in 2017. From 23 June 2017 ''The Friend'' appears in full colour, printed by Warners Midland plc. ''The Friend'' appears every Friday. It has . In its entire history, ''The Friend'' has failed to appear twice, due to paper rationing during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Between 1892 and some time after 1931, the magazine was printed by The Orphans Press,

Leominster Leominster ( ) is a market town in Herefordshire, England; it is located at the confluence of the River Lugg and its tributary the River Kenwater. The town is north of Hereford and south of Ludlow in Shropshire. With a population of almos ...

List of Editors

The main source for this list is an annotated typescript held a
The Library of the Society of Friends
London. *1843-1849 Charles Tylor *1849-1852 Joseph Barrett *1852-1857 Edward Newman, "under the guidance of Charles Gilpin, the proprietor". *1858-1859 Alfred William Bennett *1859-1871 John Frank *1872-1875 Joshua Rowntree *1875-1878 John Stephenson Rowntree *1878-1891 Joseph Stickney Sewell *1892-1912 Henry Stanley Newman, assisted by E. B. Reynolds *1912-1931 Edward Bassett Reynolds. *1932-1949 Hubert William Peet *1950-1965 Bernard Hall Canter *1966-1973 Clifford Haig *1974-1990 David Firth *1990-1993 Sally Juniper *1993-1997 Deborah Padfield *1997-2004 Harry Albright *September 2004 - April 2010 Judy Kirby *April 2010 - November 2018 Ian Kirk-Smith *January 2019 onward - Joseph Jones''The Friend'', 23-11-2018, p.5

References

External links

*
''The Friend'' as a source for genealogical research
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friend Religious magazines published in the United Kingdom Weekly magazines published in the United Kingdom Christian magazines Magazines published in London Magazines established in 1842 Quaker organizations Quakerism in the United Kingdom Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom