swindon advertiser

The Swindon Advertiser a daily tabloid newspaper, published in Swindon. The newspaper founded in 1854, and had an audited average daily circulation at the end of 2017 of 8,828.^[1]

It claims to have been the UK‘s first provincial ‘penny-paper’.^[2]

It owned by Newsquest, the UK subsidiary of U.S.-based Gannett Company.

It is the original of the four newspapers that had their headquarters in the Newsquest Wiltshire building in Victoria Road, Swindon, the others being three weeklies:

History

The Swindon Advertiser was founded in 1854 by William Morris (Great Grandfather of Desmond Morris). Originally intended to be a weekly paper, His aim was to produce a newspaper “that would act as a mouthpiece for the poor.”^[2] Morris decided to print one issue a month due to the Stamp Tax laws at the time only applying to newspapers published every 28 days.

It originally printed as a broadsheet on 6 February 1854 and titled the “Swindon Advertiser and Monthly Record” using a hand press in his father’s shop in Wood Street. Morris was sole writer, editor, printer and also delivered it personally, selling each copy for a penny. Using the inclusion of advertisements from local businesses, the second edition doubled in size.