Coventry Herald

The Coventry Herald, Coventry Herald and Observer or the Coventry Herald and Free Press was a newspaper that was established in 1808 by Alderman Nathaniel Merridew, a ribbon warehouseman and Congregationalist, in Coventry, England, and ran in print until 1940.[1][2][3]

Coventry Herald (1808–1830)

Merridew's Whig and Dissenting views were initially represented by the newspaper and it was the recognized publication of the Liberal party in Coventry.[2]The newspaper's control was given to Alderman Nathanial's third son Henry upon his death.[4] Originally just the Coventry Herald,[4] a political disagreement in 1828 with the Liberal party led to a competing newspaper, the Coventry Observer to be formed in 1828.[1]

Coventry Herald and Observer (1830–1863)

These papers were later merged into a single paper under Henry in 1830.[1] Henry's business failed and he sold to John Turner (1842), and later opened a boarding hotel in Boulogne-sur-Mer.[4] Successive owners include Charles Bray (1846)[1][2] While owned by Bray, the newspaper published some of the earliest prose writing of George Eliot.[5]

Coventry Herald and Free Press (1863–1940)

The newspaper changed names again in 1863, after merging with the Free Press and Midland Express in 1863.[6] During the 1860s, it was owned by Matthew Vincent, who claimed that he turned down an offer of £30,000 from Joseph Chamberlain to purchase it, because Chamberlain would have changed the political alignment of the newspaper.[7] In 1914 they absorbed the Coventry Times.[2] The paper stopped publication in 1940.[2]

Archives

Historical copies of the Coventry Herald, dating back to 1824, are available to search and view in digitised form at The British Newspaper Archive.[8]

The Coventry Observer (2014–present)

The Coventry Observer is local weekly newspaper published by Bullivant Media.[9]

References

1. Poole, Benjamin (1852). "Newspapers". The History of Coventry with an Appendix, Including a Chronology of Local Occurrences, Etc. D. Lewin. pp. 133–134.
2. "More information about Coventry Herald". British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 8 July 2014. Note: the information can be accessed by clicking on the (i) icon.
3. "Coventry Herald in British Newspaper Archive". Retrieved 27 July 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
4. "Obituary-Mr. John Merridew". The Gentleman's Magazine. 213. F. Jefferies: 639–641. 1862.
5. McCormick, Kathleen (Summer 1986). "George Eliot's Earliest Prose: The Coventry "Herald" and the Coventry Fiction". Victorian Periodicals Review. 19 (2): 57–62. JSTOR 20082202.
6. Arthur Miller Kaye Miller, ed. (1905). Catalogue of printed books in the library of the British Museum: Supplement. Newspapers published in Great Britain and Ireland. 1801-1900. W. Clowes and Sons. p. 205. Coventry Herald.
7. Alexander, Joseph Aloysius (1928). The Life of George Chaffey. Macmillan. pp. 154–155.
8. Digitised copies of the Coventry Herald
9. "Terms & Conditions". The Coventry Observer. Retrieved 13 December 2021.