The Graphic

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This article is about the British newspaper. For other uses, see Graphic (disambiguation).
Front page of The Graphic during the Tichborne case in 1873

The Graphic was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by

Illustrated London News
.

The influence of The Graphic within the art world was immense; its many admirers included Vincent van Gogh and Hubert von Herkomer.[2]

It continued to be published weekly under this title until 23 April 1932 and then changed the title to The National Graphic between 28 April and 14 July 1932; it then ceased publication, after 3,266 issues. From 1890 until 1926, Luson Thomas's company, H. R. Baines & Co., published The Daily Graphic, a name later revived by Kemsley Newspapers between 1946 and 1952.

Background

An illustration from the newspaper from 1884

The Graphic was founded by William Luson Thomas, a successful artist, wood-engraver and social reformer. Earlier he, his brother and his brother-in-law had been persuaded to go to New York and assist in launching two newspapers, Picture Gallery and Republic. Thomas also had an engraving establishment of his own and, aided by a large staff, illustrated and engraved numerous standard works.[3] Exasperated, even angered, by the unsympathetic treatment of artists by the world's most successful illustrated paper, The Illustrated London News, and having a good business sense Luson Thomas resolved to set up an opposition. His illustrated paper, despite being more expensive than its competition, became an immediate success.[2]

Realisation

When it began in 1869, the newspaper was printed in a rented house. By 1882, the company owned three buildings and twenty printing presses, and employed more than 1,000 people. The first editor was Henry Sutherland Edwards. A successful artist himself, the founder Thomas recruited gifted artists including Luke Fildes, Hubert von Herkomer, Frank Holl, and John Everett Millais.

The Graphic was published on a Saturday and its original cover price was sixpence, while the Illustrated London News was fivepence.[2] In its first year, it described itself to advertisers as "a superior illustrated weekly newspaper, containing twenty-four pages imperial folio, printed on fine toned paper of beautiful quality, made expressly for the purpose and admirably adapted for the display of engravings".

In addition to its home market the paper had subscribers all around the British Empire and North America. The Graphic covered home news and news from around the Empire, and devoted much attention to literature, arts, sciences, the fashionable world, sport, music and opera. Royal occasions and national celebrations and ceremonials were also given prominent coverage.

Artists

Artists employed on The Graphic and The Daily Graphic at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century included

Edmund Sullivan, Bert Thomas, F. H. Townsend, Harrison Weir, and Henry Woods
.

The notable illustrator Henry William Brewer, contributed a regular illustrated article on architecture to the magazine for 25 years, until his death in 1903.[4][5]

Writers

Writers for the paper included George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, H. Rider Haggard and Anthony Trollope.[6] Malcolm Charles Salaman was employed there from 1890 to 1899. Beatrice Grimshaw travelled the South Pacific reporting on her experiences for the Daily Graphic.[7] Mary Frances Billington served the Graphic as a special correspondent from 1890 to 1897, reporting from India in essays that were compiled into Woman in India (1895).[8] Joseph Ashby-Sterry wrote the Bystander column for the paper for 18 years.

Weekly topics

There were at least three pages dedicated to advertising, with many adverts for toothpaste, soap products and 'miracle-cure' pills.

Innovations

The Graphic was designed to compete with the

middle-class
readership, but The Graphic, as its name suggests, was intended to use images in a more vivid and striking way than the rather staid ILN. To this end it employed some of the most important artists of the day, making an immediate splash in 1869 with Houseless and Hungry, Luke Fildes' dramatic image of the shivering London poor seeking shelter in a workhouse.

It is much more difficult to produce and print illustrations than type. Improvements in process work and machinery at the end of the 1880s allowed Luson Thomas to realise a long-cherished project, a daily illustrated paper.[3]

The Daily Graphic

On 4 January 1890, Luson Thomas's company, H. R. Baines & Co., commenced publication of the first daily illustrated newspaper in England, which was called The Daily Graphic.[a] It was published until 16 October 1926, when it was incorporated with the

Associated Newspapers at the end of 1952.[11]

Demise

Luson Thomas's seventh son

The Bystander and later Empire Illustrated before abandoning newspapers in 1906 and making a greater name for himself in the aviation industry.[12]

On 15 August 1932,

Alan John Bott.[13]

References

  1. ^ This newspaper is not to be confused with its American precursor of the same name, published between 1873 and 1889, which was the first American daily illustrated newspaper.
  1. ^ The Graphic, 16 March 1872, p.243.
  2. ^ a b c Mark Bills, "Thomas, William Luson (1830–1900)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
  3. ^ a b Mr William Luson Thomas, Obituary. The Times, Thursday, October 18, 1900; pg. 7; Issue 36276
  4. ^ "Henry William Brewer". British Map Engravers – A Supplement. British Map Engravers. 15 October 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  5. ^ "The Late Mr H W Brewer". The Norfolk News. 24 October 1903.
  6. ^ "Imperial Views". www.library.yale.edu. Archived from the original on 2000-08-16.
  7. ^ "DANGERS OF PEARL DIVING". The Queenslander. 18 March 1905. p. 40. Retrieved 10 December 2011 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ Fred Hunter, "Billington, Mary Frances (1862–1925)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press 2004).
  9. ^ "Victorian Illustrated Newspapers and Journals". British Library. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  10. ^ "A Graphic Sketch", Daily Mirror page 2, 2 July 1946
  11. ^ "Our London Correspondence", Manchester Guardian page 4, 2 January 1953
  12. ^ Vincent Orange, ‘Thomas, George Holt (1870–1929)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
  13. ^ Time Magazine: "Eight Less One", August 15, 1925
  • Mitchell's Newspaper Press Directory, 1870
  • The Reference Specialist British Library Newspapers

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Graphic.
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