Daily Herald

The cover of the Daily Herald detailing the start of the Second World War

The Daily Herald was a British newspaper, published in London from 1912 to 1964 (although it was weekly during the first world war). It ceased publication when it was relaunched as The Sun.

Origins

In December 1910 the printers trade union, the London Society of Compositors (L.S.C.), became engaged in an industrial struggle to establish a standard 48 hour week, and started producing a daily strike bulletin called The World. Will Dyson, an Australian artist resident in London, contributed a cartoon. For the issue of January 25 1911 it was renamed the Daily Herald, and was published until the end of the strike in April 1911. At its peak it had daily sales of 25,000 copies.

Ben Tillett, the dockers leader and other radical trade unionists were inspired by its success to raise funds for a permanent labour movement daily, to compete with the newspapers that championed the two main political parties of the day, the Liberals and Conservatives, but independent of the official Labour Party and the Trades Union Congress, which were then planning a daily of their own (duly launched as the Daily Citizen in October 1912). The initial organizing group included Tillett, T.E. Naylor of the L.S.C., George Lansbury, socialist politician, Robert Williams of the Transport Workers, W. N. Ewer and Francis Meynell. Retaining the strike sheet name they formed a “Daily Herald” company to publish the new paper. The readers and supporters of the paper formed local branches of the Daily Herald League, through which they had their say in the running of the paper.

The syndicalist period 1912 - 1913

The first issue of the Daily Herald appeared on 15 April 1912, edited by William H. Seed. A key feature was Dyson’s cartoons, which made a major contribution to the paper’s political tone. Its politics were broadly syndicalist in orientation: it gave unconditional support to strikers and argued for a socialist revolution based on workers' self-organisation in trade unions. It also gave strong support to the suffragettes and to anticolonial struggles, especially in Ireland. Early issues dealt with the loss of the RMS Titanic, emphasizing the disproportionate loss of life among crew members and poor third-class passengers and demonstrating the distinct perspective of the new paper. The staff writers included W.P. Ryan, Langdon Everard and George Slocombe. G.K. Chesterton was a frequent contributor. His brother Cecil and Hilaire Belloc were occasional contributors.

After Seed was removed as editor Roland Kenney, Sheridan Jones and finally Charles Lapworth held the position.

In June 1913, the Daily Herald company was forced into liquidation. Lansbury and Lapworth formed a new company, the Limit Printing and Publishing Company. (When the Liberal leader Lloyd George was asked a question about the Herald he declares “That paper is the limit.”) The shortfall in production costs was guaranteed by wealthy friends of Lansbury, and Francis Meynell joined the board as their representative. From December 1912 until August 1914 one of the main financial supporters was H. D. Harben, also a founder of the New Statesman. From this point the members of the Daily Herald League had no formal influence on the paper.

In late 1913 Lapworth was asked to resign as editor by the other two board members. Lansbury and the paper’s financial backers were disturbed by Lapworth and other writers’ attacks on particular individuals, both in the establishment and the labour movement. “Hatred of conditions by all means, but not of persons” was how Lapworth quoted Lansbury. The aftermath was aired in the letter pages of The New Age between December 1913 and April 1914.

The Herald under Lansbury 1914 - 1922

The new paper had struggled financially but somehow survived, with Lansbury playing an ever-increasing role in keeping it afloat.

Under Lansbury, the Herald took an eclectic but relentlessly militant political position and achieved sales of 50,000-150,000 a day. But the advent of war in August 1914 – or rather the subsequent split on the left over whether to support or oppose the war – radically reduced its constituency. Lansbury and his colleagues, the core of the anti-war left, decided to go weekly. The paper played a key role in the campaign against the war for the next four years. It was in the forefront of the movement against conscription and supported conscientious objectors; and it welcomed the Russian revolutions of February and October 1917. There were also some notable journalistic scoops, most famously its story in 1917 on "How they starve at the Ritz", an expose of conspicuous consumption by the rich at a time of national hardship that panicked the government into introducing food-rationing.

The Herald resumed daily publication in 1919, and again played a crucial role propagandising for strikes and against armed intervention in Russia amidst the social turmoil of 1919 - 1921. When the radical wave subsided, however, the Herald found itself broke and unable to continue as an independent left daily. Reluctantly, Lansbury handed over the paper to the Trades Union Congress and the Labour Party in 1922.

The third Daily Herald, 1922 - 1929

The Herald was the official organ of the Trade Union Congress from 1922 onwards, during which point the fledgling Labour Party brought in Hampton Fyfe who recruited several prestigious journalists such as Douglas Cole and Evelyn Sharp who were supportive of socialism. He left in 1926 over disputes regarding what to publish in the Herald, at which point Frederic Salusbury was appointed as the interim Editor-in-Chief. Previous to Fyfe's resignation, Salusbury had served as an editor at the Daily Express during which time he created the newspaper's popular gossip column, the Beachcomber, which he successfully implemented in the Herald.

The fourth Daily Herald, 1930 - 1964

The TUC sold a 51 per cent share of the Herald to Odhams Press, publisher of The People, in 1930. Odhams was interested in using the capacity of its presses during the week; the TUC wanted Odhams' expertise in promoting newspapers. A giant promotion campaign ensued, and in 1933, the Herald became the world's best-selling daily newspaper, with certified net sales of 2 million. This accomplishment set off a newspaper war with more conservative London papers, such as the Daily Express. The Herald's sales declined as a result of the fierce competition. Despite being re-formatted and re-named as The Sun in 1964, it continued to lag behind other newspapers and was eventually sold to Rupert Murdoch's News International, which completely altered its format and editorial position.

Today, the photographic archive of the Daily Herald rests at the National Media Museum in Bradford.

Sources

• Stanley Reynolds: Poor Men's Guardians: A Record of the Struggles for a Democratic Newspaper Press, 1763-1973 (ISBN: 0853153019) Pages 173 to 178.
• Unpublished notes, written in 1960 by Robin Page Arnot, held by the Working Class Movement Library.
• The New Age – Letters to the Editor, particularly 18 December 1913, 8 January, 26 February and 5 March 1914.

External links

• Spartacus Educational page on the Daily Herald
• The New Age

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