Douglas Jerrold’s Weekly Newspaper, was a weekly, owned and edited by Douglas Jerrold. It was produced within the late 1840s milieu of new, topical, periodical publications (e.g. Punch and the Illustrated London News), and offered detailed commentary on the events of the week past. It had four weekly editions: Town, Country, Town and Country, and Latest, illustrating the aspiration of the publisher to reach the largest possible audiences, however, the lack of illustrations and the price of sixpence for each may have contributed to its demise in 1851.
The paper’s founder and editor, Douglas William Jerrold made a career as actor, playwright and journalist. He was a contemporary and friend of Charles Dickens. As a journalist, he worked for Punch magazine, from 1841, producing a weekly column ‘Mrs Caudle's Curtain Lectures’, which was published in book form in 1846. Douglas Jerrold's Weekly Newspaper was founded in 1846, with two subsequent title changes– this was one of several attempts Jerrold made to pursue both writing, editing and ownership of newspapers.
Jerrold’s co-proprietor and publisher, Frederick Guest Tomlins’ career began with contributions to periodicals such as Henry Hetherington's Poor Man's Guardian in 1831. In 1834 he became associated with Thomas Mayhew in the publication of the Penny National Library, for which he edited, among other works, the Variorum History of England from Rapin to Hume (1836). For a long time afterwards he was in the employment of the publishers, Whittaker & Co. In 1847 Tomlins commenced business as a publisher in Southampton Street, Strand, London, and there issued his own periodicals, The Self-Educator and The Topic.
Describing the publication in 1847, Mitchell’s Newspaper Press Directory, stated that the newspaper was: ‘Liberal, and advocates the progressive amelioration of the masses, and the interests of Literature. The leading articles display a fullness of information, and considerable powers of reasoning, often enlivened with sallies of sportful wit...’
Commenting, in 1851, on features of the content, Mitchell’s also highlights several key sections of the paper, including: “… its 'Rhymes and Comicalities' of the week, in which a playful and brilliant fancy lets fly its telling shafts at the passing follies of the day. Among its lighter features, we also find a happy selection of the drolleries of the American press, and a column or two devoted to 'Town Talk,' the Gossip of the Clubs, and Official News".
Ed King, The British Library
For this newspaper, we have the following titles in, or planned for, our digital archive:
- 1846–48 Douglas Jerrold's Weekly Newspaper.
- 1849–49 Jerrolds' Weekly News and Financial Economist.
- 1849–51 The Weekly News and Financial Economist.
