London’s Local Newspapers: Patterns of Change in the Victorian Period

Abstract

Writing on the history of the English newspaper press is still very fragmented. It is almost inevitable, given the diversity of interest and approach, that there should be large gaps in the coverage and that major themes and periods should be under-represented. Among the most important tasks facing historians of the press at this stage is the construction of an effective bibliographical record. At one level this means continuing to assemble listings of titles and locations. However, as the practice of bibliography is itself redefined in broader cultural terms, it also means identifying elements in the structure of the English press which help to reveal both its internal mechanisms and its external relationships. The aim of this chapter is to follow the second bibliographical objective and to discern the chronological and geographical development of the London locals. Alan Lee was the first modern historian to identify their interest and importance, and their absence from most views of the Victorian press seriously distorts the general picture.¹