The colonial despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871
London Daily News
Well-known author Charles Dickens founded the London Daily News in 1846. The aim of its foundation was to provide a Liberal rival to the morning Conservative newspapers, such as the Times.1 The Daily News was said to campaign for reform, its opening editorial claimed to advance the ‘Principles of Improvement; of Education, Civil and Religious Liberty,
and Equal Legislation.'2
Initially, the paper was commercially disastrous; however its circulation improved
by 1849. The improvement and growth in its distribution was related to the price reduction
of newspapers as newspaper taxes were slowly being abolished.3 The London Daily News gradually established itself as one of the most popular daily papers. By the end of the nineteenth century it claimed to have the largest circulation of any Liberal Paper in the world. Its circulation peaked at 93,000 copies in 1890.4