Dorset’s first newspaper
Roger Guttridge recalls the Sherborne Mercury and the ‘Sherborne Men’ who distributed it
Published in August ’19
There’s an old Cornish saying that describes a gossip or newsmonger as ‘a regular Sherborne’, and it is hard to imagine a finer tribute to Dorset’s first newspaper. The Sherborne Mercury or Weekly Advertiser pioneered the distribution of news and advertisements not only in Dorset but throughout the West Country. Those who distributed it became known as ‘Sherborne Men’ and their occupation as ‘riding Sherborne’.
The Mercury, earliest ancestor of the present-day Western Gazette, was launched in 1737 by London printers William Bettinson and G. Price. London newspapers had been around for decades but in the early 18th century, provincial titles also began to appear, among them the Gloucester Journal in 1722, the Exeter Journal in about 1726 and the Salisbury Journal in 1729.
The Mercury’s first issue on 22 February 1737 comprised four pages ‘containing the most material articles of News Foreign and Domestick’. The only illustrations were decorative artwork around the masthead and depictions of Mercury and a galloping postboy on the top corners of the front page. The paper was printed in Long Street, Sherborne, and sold for 2d, a quarter of which went in tax.
The edition was dominated by political news from Europe, but there was one story that would be at home in a tabloid today. From Omagh, Ireland, it was reported that 68-year-old Mrs John Delap had given birth to a son. The story claimed: ‘Her pregnancy, ’tis thought, was chiefly owing to the plentiful quantity of whisky her husband lately drank: they have had no child these 20 years past; for in the year 1715 the husband took an oath not to drink any of the liquor for 20 years, but the term being expired, he returned again to the use of it, and did not drink of it above a month when his wife was discovered to be with child.’ The Mercury promised that the recipe for this ‘fecundifying liquor’ would be ‘speedily published’.
Home news included bankruptcies, stock prices and obituaries of the Lord High Chancellor, Lord Talbot, who had died of ‘an inflammation of the lungs’, of Mrs Andrews of Huntingdonshire ‘in her 113th year’ and of the former Opera House singer, Mrs Barbier. There was also news of ‘great rains’, floods and impassable roads across England.
The Mercury offered ‘good encouragement’ to ‘industrious, honest men’ from villages near Sherborne who were willing to distribute the paper. But it was hazardous work. In June 1737, James Arnold disappeared with his papers on the walk from Sherborne to Taunton and was feared dead or to have ‘come to some misfortune’. A reward for information was offered. In 1739, Richard Carrington died suddenly on his way to Warminster and his customers were asked to ‘send their respective debts to the Widow Carrington at Sherborne’.
Few local stories appeared in the early years, most of the editorial content being national and international news copied from the London papers. Even this was often weeks old. The Sherborne Men made up the deficiency by word of mouth, hence the ‘regular Sherborne’ phrase.
An exception was a story on the famous raid by smugglers on Poole Custom House in 1747. The Mercury reported: ‘We have the following extraordinary account from Poole in Dorsetshire, viz that on Wednesday morning, about two o’clock, a numerous company of persons unknown, armed with blunderbusses, pistols, swords, etc, came into the town, broke open his Majesty’s Custom house there, and forcibly carried off a large quantity of tea, which had been lately brought in by the Swift privateer, who took a smuggling vessel. They told the watchman that they came for their own, and would have it, but would do no other damage. And accordingly did not.’
The Mercury’s circulation area at this time included Dorset, Somerset and parts of Wiltshire and Devon. After Price’s death, Bettinson continued alone but in 1744, a serious local rival appeared. The Western Flying Post or Yeovil Mercury was launched by Robert Goadby, a young and energetic entrepreneur, who quickly established an efficient distribution network stretching as far west as Falmouth. The two papers co-existed for a time but in 1746 Bettinson died and his wife Hannah eventually sold the Mercury to Goadby. He moved his operation to the Sherborne premises and in 1749 merged the titles as the Western Flying Post or Sherborne and Yeovil Mercury. The first issue featured an elaborate front page engraving of the set-piece Public Fireworks soon to be displayed in London to celebrate the end of the War of the Austrian Succession.
Then, as now, advertising was the key to success in newspapers and Goadby made more from a dozen advertisements than from the cover price for 3000 copies. Goadby died in 1778 and over the next 80 years the Mercury saw a succession of owners and rivals. In 1851 it merged with one of its competitors, the Yeovil Times, and the printing moved to Yeovil. In 1863, another competitor was born, the Western Gazette, and it was soon to prove the most formidable rival of all. Founder Charles Clinker had been producing the Bridport News almost single-handed and saw Yeovil, with its central position and three railway stations, as the perfect place to start a newspaper covering Dorset and Somerset. His venture was an instant success, outselling the Mercury from the outset, rising to 10,000 copies within four years and taking over its older rival in 1867 to become the Western Gazette and Flying Post. The latter part of the title was dropped in 1872.
