''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, a type of agreement used by U.S. states * Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines * Compact government, a t ...

newspaper and daily news website headquartered in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. 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 and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...

until August 2004. Its parent company, National World, also publishes the '' Edinburgh Evening News''. It had an audited print circulation of 8,762 for July to December 2022. 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 conceived in 1816 and first launched on 25 January 1817 as a liberal weekly newspaper by lawyer William Ritchie and

customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

official Charles Maclaren in response to the "unblushing subservience" of competing newspapers to the Edinburgh establishment. These two plus John Ramsay McCulloch were co-founders of the venture. The paper was pledged to "impartiality, firmness and independence". The price was originally 6d plus 4d tax. After the abolition of newspaper

stamp tax Stamp duty is a duty (tax), 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). Histo ...

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 The Royal Mile () is the nickname of a series of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. The term originated in the early 20th century and has since entered popular usage. The Royal ...

in Edinburgh. Until 1860 the Scotsman shared a building with the

Caledonian Mercury The ''Caledonian Mercury'' was a newspaper in Edinburgh, Scotland, published three times a week between 1720 and 1867. In 2010 an online publication launched using the name. 17th century A short-lived predecessor, the '' Mercurius Caledonius'', ...

newspaper. In 1860, The Scotsman obtained its own purpose built office on Cockburn Street in

designed in the

Scots baronial Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th-century Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival which Revivalism (architecture), revived the forms and ornaments of historical Architecture of Scotland in the Middle Ages, ...

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 much larger new offices at the top of Cockburn Street, facing onto North Bridge, designed by Dunn & Findlay (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 (in 2024 the City Art Centre). The printworks connected below road level direct to Waverley station in an 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 Sir David Rowat Barclay (27 October 1934 – 10 January 2021) and Sir Frederick Hugh Barclay (born 27 October 1934), commonly referred to as the "Barclay Brothers" or "Barclay Twins", were British billionaire brothers, of whom 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 Scottish Parliament Building (; ) is the home of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood, within the World Heritage Site, UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Edinburgh. Construction of the building commenced in June 1999 ...

. The daily was awarded by the

Society for News Design A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

(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 '' Edinburgh Evening News'' and remains as the editor of '' Scotland on Sunday''. In 2012, ''The Scotsman'' was named Newspaper of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards. In 2006 the 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. 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: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

. Shortly after filing for administration, the company was bought out by JPIMedia, a company which was bought by former ''Daily Mirror'' executive David Montgomery's new National World group in 2020. In July 2023 an extra 52 years were added to the archive alongside the previous archives (1951–2002).

Editors

:1817: William Ritchie :1817: Charles Maclaren :1818: John Ramsay McCulloch :1843: John Hill Burton (acting) :1846: Alexander Russel :1876: Robert Wallace :1880: Charles Alfred Cooper :1905: John Pettigrew Croal :1924:

George A. Waters George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

:1944: James Murray Watson :1955: John Buchanan (acting) :1956: Alastair Dunnett :1972: Eric MacKay :1985: Chris Baur :1988: Magnus Linklater :1994: Andrew Jaspan :1995: James Seaton :1997: Martin Clarke :1998: Alan Ruddock :2000: Tim Luckhurst :2000: Rebecca Hardy :2001: Iain Martin :2004: John McGurk :2006: Mike Gilson :2009: John McLellan :2012: Ian Stewart :2017: Frank O'Donnell :2020: Euan McGrory :2021: Neil McIntosh :2024: Alan Young

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 Newspapers published by Johnston Press British news websites

History

Editors

See also

References

Further reading

External links