The first halfpenny morning

FOR 61 years, The Northern Echo unwittingly confused its readers. On May 30, 1906, its front page titlepiece was redesigned to include the statement: "Founded 1869".

It wasn't until April 26, 1967, that the paper changed its front page declaration to read the more historically accurate: 'Founded 1870'.

The confusion arises because John Hyslop Bell came to Darlington around the middle of 1869 and began preparing for his great publishing venture. He rented an office in a former thread and shoelace factory in Priestgate - it may have been conveniently empty or it may, given Bell's early espousal of telegraphy, have been conveniently located, close to Northgate Post Office. Incoming telegraphs could have been quickly collected by foot although early in his operation a pneumatic tube connected the sub editors' room with the Post Office and telegrams from London zooped through for immediate attention.

The location in Priestgate has proved long lastingly convenient. In 1908, when the lease on the former thread factory came up for sale, the Echo was able to buy it along with the empty adjoining corner plot of land that ran around into did the Echo consider leaving Bell's original site.

From here in late 1869, Bell printed first a prospectus and then three months of print trials of The Northern, Echo. The prospectus for the new paper was a declaration of intent for the "new daily newspaper for the North of England".

Much was made of the fact that the paper would sell for 1/2d - yes, "one halfpenny!!" - and this would become the Echo's first claim to fame. Halfpenny evening newspapers were not uncommon but they largely rehashed the contents of morning papers and sold in a smaller locality; no regional morning paper had yet been successful charging just half-a-penny.

However, this was Bell's founding principle and his decision. He wanted the paper to be as cheap as possible so it would attract as many readers as possible. "Having regard to the ... great and growing eagerness for early information evinced by all classes of the community, the projectors have come to the conclusion that a Halfpenny Morning Newspaper has become a necessity of the times," says the prospectus, "and they claim the honour of having taken the initiative in supplying that want. They are satisfied that the efficient maintenance of such a daily paper is not only eminently desirable, but also very possible; and not only a possibility, but one that may, by the intelligent application of recent improvements in newspaper machinery and management, be made a commercial success."

It could have been commercial suicide, though. For decades to come, the Echo's development was hampered by Bell's selfless decision. A halfpenny paper simply did not generate the income required for investment to develop the product.

Little wonder that some sceptics scoffed at Bell's sentiments. Sir Joseph Cowen, the Newcastle Liberal MP, remarked dismissively: I don't know what they mean by a halfpenny morning paper." But then, Sir Joseph was proprietor of the Newcastle Daily Chronicle. He was the North-East's leading newspaper baron and pioneer - his Chronicle, which had become a daily in 1858, was the region's leading newspaper, overshadowing its morning rival, the Newcastle Daily Journal, which had converted from weekly in 1861. The halfpenny upstart in Darlington might not have immediately threatened Sir Joseph's dominance it wasn't until 1903 that the Echo made a serious attempt to take Tyneside - but it did halve the distance between himself and his nearest Liberal morning rival in Leeds.

After trumpeting the price in the prospectus, Bell's second announcement was the paper's name: The Northern Echo. It wasn't until the 1960s. that the paper decided it needed more oomph and so the definite article at the beginning of its name received a capital T.

It would appear that Bell was inspired to adopt the name "the Echo" by the success of a halfpenny mid-day and evening London paper called The Echo which had been published two years earlier by Henry Cassell (Bell's inspiration for the Echo also came from further afield, from the Petit journal which served Paris).
Alternatively, it may be that in Darlington alone within the previous 15 years there had been two Mercurys, a Times, a Telegraph and an Express so his choice of name was pretty limited.

As well as all its other attributes, Cassell's Echo was also a Liberal paper and, as Bell announced in his prospectus, The Northern Echo was "to supply a want of the age and district, viz, a well-conducted, high-class Daily Newspaper, advocating Advanced Liberal opinions, and published at a price which will bring it within reach of all classes of the people".

For; prime among all of Bell's attributes, was the fact that he was a Liberal. He was invited to Darlington in 1869 by the Pease family who had ruled the town, unchallenged until frighteningly recently, since they had had the foresight to bring the railways to it in 1825. Their style was beneficent, munificent, philanthropic and paternal. They were very much dyed-in-the-wool (they'd started as 18th Century linen merchants) Liberals and needed an organ to espouse their cause.