The Cardiff Times

Last updated
The Cardiff Times
The Cardiff Times Oct 2 1858.jpg
Front page of the earliest surviving copy,
dated 2 October 1858
Type Weekly newspaper
Owners
  • Duncan & Sons
    (1857–1928)
  • Robert William John
    (1930–1955)
FounderDavid Duncan
Editor Beriah Gwynfe Evans
Launched2 October 1858
Ceased publication1928
Relaunched1930–1955
City Cardiff
Country Wales
OCLC number 751667788

The Cardiff Times was a Welsh newspaper that was published from 1857 to 1928 and again from 1930 to 1955. From 1857 until 1928 it was owned by Duncan & Sons, and circulated in the County of Glamorgan, Monmouthshire, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Cardiganshire, Brecknockshire, Radnorshire, Montgomeryshire and adjacent counties of England. [1] It was a liberal newspaper published in English and for the first forty years its main content was news about liberalism. Among its contributors were William Abraham (Mabon, 1842–1922). It had a sister paper, the daily South Wales Daily News , while the Western Mail and The Weekly Mail were its conservative-supporting rivals.

History

The city of Cardiff began to grow rapidly from 1830 due to the Industrial Revolution, as a series of new docks were built to handle the growing South Wales trade in iron and coal, bringing international seafarers into the city. [2] Despite this growth the city did not have its own dedicated newspaper, with The Silurian (published in Brecon) [3] and the Merthyr Guardian , both weekly newspapers with low readership, being the only news publications in the area. [4]

The Cardiff Times was the first Cardiff-based newspaper to be created, launched by Cardiff alderman David Duncan in October 1857. [4] [5] In its early years it was supportive of the Liberal Party and liberal causes, declaring its mission to "deliver the borough from the degrading position of being a mere appanage of the Bute Estate", [4] a reference to Bute family, who controlled much of the city at that time. [6] In 1868, following the defeat of their local candidate in the general election and taking advantage of a significant reduction in the cost of newspaper production, the Conservative Party decided to launch their own rival paper, the Western Mail , controlled by the Bute trustees and circulating daily. Faced with growing competition from the Western Mail, Duncan launched a sister paper to the Times, called the South Wales Daily News in 1872. The Weekly Mail responded by launching its own weekly to rival the Cardiff Times. [4]

In 1886, the Times expanded its coverage such that in addition to liberal political issues, it also featured serialised fiction and contributions from poets and bards, [1] including William Abraham, better known by his bardic name "Mabon". [3]

The Cardiff Times stopped publishing on 1 September 1928, [5] before being revived in 1930 by the publisher Robert William John. It stopped publishing permanently in 1955. [3]

References

  1. 1 2 "The Cardiff Times". National Library of Wales. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  2. ↑ "History". Cardiff Harbour. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 "Silurian, Cardiff, Merthyr, and Brecon Mercury, and South Wales General Advertiser". British Newspaper Archive.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Growing Prosperity". (Not)The Cardiff Museum. Archived from the original on September 5, 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  5. 1 2 George Watson; Ian R. Willison (1972). The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. Vol. 4. CUP Archive. p. 399.
  6. ↑ "The Butes". Cardiff Castle. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
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