The Dublin Gazette
The Dublin Gazette was the
. The most important notices were generally printed in both the Dublin and London gazettes.After the 1921–1922 partition of Ireland, The Dublin Gazette was superseded in Northern Ireland by The Belfast Gazette[2] and in the Irish Free State by Iris Oifigiúil.[1]
History
In 1670, when Elisha Leighton became Chief Secretary for Ireland, he began a gazette in Dublin, but stopped after a few months because there was "so little news to 'stuff'" it.[3][4] Notices relating to Ireland were occasionally published in the In late 1688 James II fled London and was deposed as king; in 1689 he established a power base in Dublin, summoned an Irish Parliament in May and established a gazette.[6] After James lost the Battle of the Boyne to William III, the office of King's Printer was restored to Andrew II Crooke, whose Dublin Intelligence claimed to be "published by authority" from 1690 to 1693.[7] This newspaper's official status was marginal; Dublin Castle made little input and reprimanded it for publishing a "scandalous" notice from the Jacobite Sir Theobald Butler.[8]
In 1705, under the
The first act of the Parliament of Ireland referring to the Gazette was in 1727, requiring the publication in "the Dublin-Gazette published by authority" of the details of each new inmate in debtors' prison, for the benefit of creditors.[10] That year three different periodicals were using the title "Dublin Gazette": the authorised one printed and published by J. Gowan from 21 June;[11] another by Christopher Dickson was titled the "Dublin Gazette" from 3 June until 4 July, when it was renamed Dickson's News-Letter and Flying Post;[12] while Thomas Hume's Dublin Courant was in August 1726 renamed The Dublin Gazette: or, Weekly Courant, and continued until at least 1729.[13]
The official status of the Gazette, through various changes of printer, is unclear prior to 21 August 1750, when the series of copies collected in the Chief Secretary's Office begins with issue No. 1.[14] Until some decades later, ownership of the title and any profits remained with the printer.[15] Until the 1770s, The Dublin Gazette had less of the character of an organ of government than its London counterpart, since it included foreign news reports and private advertisements besides official notices.[15] However, on 18 March 1776, an Order in Council was made which banned it from publishing news not "guaranteed" by the government.[16] A notice subsequently appeared in the Gazette on 13 April 1776, dated from Dublin Castle on 27 March, stating "that it is his majesty's royal pleasure, that for the future, the Dublin Gazette shall, as nearly as possible, be put upon the same footing as the London Gazette; and that it shall contain no other articles of news than such as are authorized by his majesty's government of this kingdom, or duly authenticated; and his excellency the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland has appointed Mr W. Roseingrave compiler of the said Dublin Gazette."[17][18]
The office of Compiler of The Dublin Gazette was in fact a
The printers of the Gazette held onto their ownership until almost the end of the 18th century. There was a sensation on 9 April 1799, when two rival versions were published, one by the established publisher, Sir St George O'Kelly, and a second by George II Grierson, the King's Printer, who claimed authorisation from Price, the new Compiler.
As part of the 1817 absorption of the Exchequer of Ireland into the British Exchequer, the office of Compiler was among those scheduled to be abolished upon the demise of the present holder.[28] In 1834, George III Grierson testified that he as printer paid fees of £1200 to Price as Compiler,[29] that Price also received a salary of £300 from the Dublin Castle administration,[30] and that Price did no work but was accountable for any errors.[31] Price denied that his office was a sinecure,[22] but in September 1836 he surrendered his patent in return for an annual pension of £1,590,[23] which The Spectator reckoned eight times the value of the work he had been doing.[32] In 1850, Alexander Thom took over as printer from Grierson's sons.[33] Changes in 1836 and 1850 meant the printer produced the Gazette on a contract basis rather than retaining the profits, and government notices were included without charge.[33][23] In the 1880s annual profits for the government were £400–£500.[34]
Legal changes during the
In evidence to an official enquiry in 1856, the Secretary to the Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests for Ireland noted that a bequest for £3,000 had gone unclaimed for years despite being posted in the Gazette, and said, "there ought to be some better medium than the Gazette, which, it has been said, is a place to keep a secret."[38] When an 1891 Land Purchase Bill required certain notices be printed in the Dublin Gazette, Thomas Sexton secured an additional requirement to place the notice in a newspaper published in the same county as the land for purchase; he argued "that Gazette only circulates among officials, mainly in the City of Dublin".[39]
Until September 1887 the Gazette published average cereal prices from major towns. In 1898 the cessation was ruled in court to have the unintended consequence that
At the beginning of the
Printers
Dates | Name | Notes | Refs |
---|---|---|---|
1690 | James Malone | Authorised by James II; only known issue is dated 29 March | [43] |
c.Apr 1705–May 1708 | Edwin Sandys | Died in office | [44] |
1 Jun 1708–16 May 1724 | Ann Sandys | Using her late husband's name; their son Edwin was not a printer | [45] |
6 Jun 1724–23 Feb 1726 | Pressick Rider and Thomas Harbin | Dropped after Rider printed anti-government pamphlet. | [46] |
21 Jun 1727–2 Oct 1742 | John and Jonathan Gowan | Only John is named in the 1727 authorisation but both he and his father Jonathan in 1742 revocation; some copies credit 'J. Gowan'. Briefly restarted numbering at No. 1 but reverted. Issues after 14 July 1742 were not "printed by authority". | [47] |
28 Sep 1742–12 Jul 1743 | Thomas Bacon | briefly restarted numbering at No. 1 but reverted; last no. 1,658. | [48] |
23 Aug–10 Dec 1743 | Augustus Long | [49] | |
13 Dec 1743–[Jan 1746?] | Augustus Long and Samuel Forbes | Last known issue 10 April 1744 | [50][49] |
Feb 1746–[Jul 1750?] | Halhed Garland | Last known issue May 1748 | [51] |
21 Aug 1750–1754 | Richard James and John Butler | restarted numbering at No. 1 | [52] |
1754–Mar 1757 | Richard James | Died in office. | [53] |
5 Mar 1757–30 Jun 1761 | Alice James | widow of Richard James | [53] |
4 Jul 1761–1789 | Timothy Dyton | second husband of Alice James | [54][53] |
1789–Jul 1796 | Timothy Dyton and St. George O'Kelly | O'Kelly married Mary James, daughter of Richard and Alice James | [54] |
Jul 1796–Apr 1799 | St. George O'Kelly | After Dyton's death. | [55] |
Apr 1799–1821 | George II Grierson | King's Printer and grandson of George Grierson | [56] |
1821–Dec 1850 | George III Grierson and John Grierson | Sons of George II Grierson | [33] |
Jan 1851–27 Jan 1922 | Alexander Thom's | King's Printer from 1871. The firm of Thom's retained the contract after its founder's death. | [33][57] |
Supersession
From 1919, during the Irish War of Independence, the Gazette was challenged by the Irish Bulletin, the official newspaper of the rival government of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic, produced clandestinely by its Department of Propaganda and appearing weekly from 11 November 1919 to 11 July 1921.[58]
The Government of Ireland Act 1920 led to the creation of Northern Ireland in May 1921 and The Belfast Gazette, which first appeared on 7 June 1921, printed notices from the Northern Ireland government and the local authorities in its jurisdiction. Various Orders in Council, made by the Lord Lieutenant in 1921 and 1922 and his successor the Governor of Northern Ireland in 1922 and 1923, provided that references in previous legislation to The Dublin Gazette would be construed in relation to Northern Ireland as to the Belfast Gazette.[59]
The War of Independence resulted in the
In December 1922, the
Archives
A complete set of bound volumes of The Dublin Gazette 1750–1922 is now in the Oireachtas library. It was transferred to the Provisional Government from the Chief Secretary's office when Dublin Castle was handed over in January 1922.[14][64] Other large runs are in TCD Library,[65] the National Library of Ireland,[66] and the British Library.[67] The Oireachtas volumes from 1750 to 1815 (except 1759, 1776, 1777) have been digitised, and individual issues can be freely searched and downloaded from both the library's catalogue and JSTOR.[68] Subscription-based online archives include the
The "Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland", a website established for the centenary of the 1922
Sources
- Hammond, Joseph W. (1953). ""The Dublin Gazette," 1705–1922". Dublin Historical Record. 13 (3–4): 108–117. JSTOR 30103813.
- Murphy, Seán (January–February 2006). "300 Years of Irish Gazetteering". History Ireland. 14 (1): 11–12. JSTOR 27725383.
- Pollard, Mary (2000). A Dictionary of Members of the Dublin Book Trade 1550–1800. Bibliographical Society. ISBN 978-0-948170-11-9.
- Select Committee On Sinecure Offices (25 July 1834). Report; with Minutes of Evidence and Appendix. Parliamentary Papers. Vol. HC 1834 vi (519) 339. London.
References
- ^ a b c d e Brown, David; Hendriks, Sarah; Murtagh, Tim; Wallace, Ciarán (14 August 2020). "Published by Authority: The Dublin Gazette". Beyond 2022. Dublin. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
- ^ Note on The London Gazette et al. at societies.cam.ac.uk Archived December 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Hammond 1953 p. 108
- ^ Mahaffy, Robert Pentland (1910). Calendar of the State Papers relating to Ireland preserved in the Public Record Office. Vol. September 1669–December 1670, with Addenda 1625–70. London: HMSO by Eyre and Spottiswoode. pp. viii, 131, 303.
- ^ "No. 1492". The London Gazette. 4 March 1679. p. 2.
- ^ O'Kelly, Charles (1850). O'Callaghan, John Cornelius (ed.). Macariae Excidium, Or, The Destruction of Cyprus: Being a Secret History of the War of the Revolution in Ireland. Irish Archaeological Society. pp. 164–165.
- ^ Andrews, Helen (October 2009). "Crooke, Mary". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Royal Irish Academy. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
- ISBN 978-3-319-71586-5.
- ^ Madden, Richard Robert (1867). The History of Irish Periodical Literature: From the End of the 17th to the Middle of the 19th Century. Vol. I. London: T.C. Newby. pp. 234–235.
- ^ 1 Geo 2 c. 25 s. 10
- ^ Pollard 2000 p. 247
- ^ Pollard 2000 p. 151
- ISBN 978-0-521-13116-2.
- Cardwell, Edward (28 April 1845). "1. Superannuation and Retired Allowances ; Superannuation Allowances in the several Public Departments in Ireland, for the Year ending 31 March 1846 ; Vice-Regal Household". Estimates, &c. Miscellaneous Services; for the Year ending 31 March 1846. Parliamentary Papers. Vol. HC 1845 xxix (257-VI) 411. London: HMSO. p. 20.
- "Three of the Spectator's Practical Measures; No. 2 : The Pension System". The Spectator. 10 (Supplement to no. 496). Joseph Clayton: 12. 18 November 1837.
- Reg. (Metge) v. Chairman and Justices of County Meath (High Court of Appeal in Ireland June 1898).; 2 I.R. 592
- "Tithe Rent-charge in Ireland". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 59. UK: Commons. 23 June 1898. col. 1218.
- "Irish Magistrates' Cases". Justice of the Peace. 63 (27). London: 417–418. 8 July 1899.
- "The Dublin gazette". Catalogue. TCD Library. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
1705/8-9, 1713-4, 1731-43, 1751-73, 1801-2, 1822, 1824, 1826, 1830-1,1833-7, 1839 [ 2 vols. ] , 1841-4
- "The Dublin gazette". Catalogue. TCD Library. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
Publication Date Jan.1891-1922.
Newspaper Hardcopy ... 1708-1714; 1729-1731; 1760; 1765; 1767; 1775-1788; 1790 - 27 Jan. 1922
Very imperfect before 1714. Wanting the years 1732-1741, 1745-1755, 1761, 1768-1774, 1776-1781, 1787-1792, 1812-1843, 1853-54
External links
- Digitised issues (1750–1815) from the Oireachtas Library:
- Oireachtas Library Catalogue (Search Title = 'Dublin Gazette' and Historical Collection = 'Dublin Castle')
- JSTOR: Dublin Castle Collection or Title = "Dublin Gazette"