Introduction

The lapsing of the Printing Act in 1695 was a watershed in newspaper history. With the removal of several onerous legal restrictions, printers were able to publish newspapers and other forms of printed material with unprecedented freedom. As a result, during the next 160 years millions of newspapers were produced in England. From only a handful of titles at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the newspaper press expanded rapidly until, by the early nineteenth century, newspapers had become part of the everyday life of English men and women. Newspapers were highly prized by a population hungry for news. Their contents were devoured and dissected, and the information and views they imparted provided a basis for public debate. As Jean Louis de Lolme noted in the late eighteenth century, ‘every man, down to the labourer, peruses them with a sort of eagerness’. ¹ Increasingly, the formation of public opinion – at least outside the narrow ruling elite – was heavily dependent on newspapers. But this relationship was neither one-way nor uncomplicated, since the newspaper press itself relied on the tenor of public sentiment to determine its own politics. This complex interplay between the press and popular politics meant that newspapers became an integral part of the political world, with their influence and power increasing steadily throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the importance of public opinion also grew. 1855 was another important moment in English newspaper history. In this year newspaper taxation was abolished, thus removing the most important government restriction on newspaper production. Yet despite the increased freedom and growth of the press after this date, already by 1855 the newspaper press was widely perceived to be the most crucial factor in forming and articulating public opinion. In addition, it was also thought to have a constitutional role: by 2defending the rights of citizens and warding against government corruption, the newspaper press was deemed to constitute the ‘fourth estate’ of the constitution.