daily herald

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. Contents [hide] 1 Origins 2 The syndicalist period 1912–1913 3 The Herald under Lansbury 1914–1922 4 The third Daily Herald, 1922–1929 5 The fourth Daily Herald, 1930–1964 6 Order of Industrial Heroism 7 Editors 8 References 9 Sources 10 External links //

Origins

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

Ben Tillett, the dockers' leader, and other radical trade unionists were inspired to raise funds for a permanent labour movement daily, to compete with the newspapers that championed the two main political parties, the Liberals and Conservatives, but independent of the official Labour Party and the Trades Union Congress, which were planning a daily of their own (launched as the Daily Citizen in October 1912).

The initial organizing group included Tillett, T.E. Naylor of the LSC, 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. Readers and supporters 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 appeared on 15 April 1912, edited by William H. Seed. A key feature was Dyson’s cartoons, which made a contribution to the paper’s political tone. Its politics were broadly syndicalist: 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 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.

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.