Read all about it! The story of the Daily Herald | National Science and Media Museum (2024)

The years 1911–14 are remembered as ‘The Great Labour Unrest’, a time of strikes, rebellionand violence across the UK.Events like the 1911 Liverpool General Transport Strike, the 1913 Dublin Lockout and a growing women’s suffrage movement contributed to the zeitgeist of the era. A product of its time, the newly founded Daily Herald gave the labour movement a voice.

The Daily Herald began its life as a strike sheet for the London printing unions on 25 January 1911. Once the fight for better pay and a reduced working week of 48 hours was won, the Herald closed its doors on 28 April 1911.

But the idea of the Daily Herald persisted, and a committee was formed with the intent of permanently establishing a British socialist newspaper. It was chaired by David Walls of the Association of Correctors of the Press, and members included prominent trade unionists Tommy Naylor and Ben Tillett.

Labour politician George Lansbury—who went on to become the Herald’s first proprietor, editorand general manager—was also recruited to thecause. Together this groupsought funds and promised a paper that would be ‘one of inclusion and not exclusion’.

The Daily Herald relaunched with just £300 in its accounts on 15 April 1912—a far cry from the £10,000 that the committee initially envisaged as necessary. Dubbed the ‘Miracle of Fleet Street’by a competitor, the Herald was rebellious and, in the words of George Lansbury, ‘avowedly anti-official’.

During the First World War, the Daily Herald championed pacifism, conscientious objection and the Bolshevik Revolution. Writers for the newspaperencouraged debate on topics ranging from workers’ rights to women’s suffrage and independence for India.In fact, Lansbury’s unwavering editorial support for the labour movement and the Poplar Rates Rebellion landed him in jail during the 1920s.

Lev Kamenev, a Bolshevik revolutionary, reportedly gave the Herald around £40,000 in 1920, but even this was not enough to ensure the paper’s independence.

In 1922, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) took ownership; in 1929, Odhams Press purchased a controlling share (51%) in the Daily Herald. The new owners aimed to increase circulation, broaden the Herald’s appealand ensure its financial viability.

The Daily Herald sustained a bustling newsroom, editorial staff, and all the supports needed to bring a daily paper to press, though financial woes meant it was often understaffed. In 1927, it employed only fourgeneral reporters—less than half the amount of other national dailies. In 1928, its full editorial staff comprised only 44 people, a fraction of the size of its competitors.

The situation improved under Odhams’ ownership, though primary investments focused on brand, designand recruiting readers, with journalists and editors remaininga secondary financial priority.

The photographs show below depict the people who laboured daily on typically uncompetitive wages for almost 60 years, regardless of ownership.

The Daily Herald operated a ‘cuttings library’ that was the envy of Fleet Street. With pioneering photojournalist James Jarché at the head of a crack team of photographers, the Herald not only visualised the news, but brought artistry to current events and public interest stories.

Today, we know little about many ofthese photographers other than their names—but their dedication to documenting the news influenced emergent photojournalism practices.

We know even less about the people who worked behind the scenes to develop, editand organise the millions of images captured by the Herald’s photographers.

The Daily Herald Photographic Archiveis still housed within its original filing system and acts as a continuing record of the newspaper’s idiosyncratic editorial perspective on 20th-century history.These images also reveal the behind-the-scenes processes and people instrumental to producing and maintaining such an archive.

In late 1929 Odhams Press began a massive drive to boost the paper’s popularity—and, they hoped, achieve a degree of financial stability.

Ahead of the Daily Herald’s official relaunch in March 1930, its length was doubled from ten to twenty pages. The new management held rallies across the country, fronted by Labour Party members, and a weekly supplement called ‘The Helper’ galvanised an army of supporters to promote the ‘New Daily Herald’.

Recruiting readership was an ongoing concern for Odhams’ busy publicity department. Despite condemnation from the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association, gift schemes, competitionsand promotional campaigns became important tools for building the Herald’s loyal following. Gifts such as fountain pens and cameras were offered, as well as a free £10,000 family insurance policy for registered readers.

The campaign worked. On 17 October 1929, sales reached 332,554 copies. By the night of 17 March 1930, the Herald had a registered readership of 922,000.

This drive for an ever-increasing readership led to the opening of a second office in Manchester.

OnSaturday 28 June 1930, Labour politician J.R. Clynes—then Home Secretary, and also former MP for NorthEastManchester—opened the new Northernoffice on ChesterStreet, Oxford Road,with a golden key.

As Mr Clynes set the printing press in motion, crowds described as‘bigger than the opening crowd at Wembley and far greater thana Cup Final’ gathered outside. Rochdale-born star of stage and screen Gracie Fields sang as a procession of floats representing local industries and trade unions rolled down Oxford Roadto Belle VueGardens.

An estimated200,000 people travelled from far and wide, some arriving on special trains organised for the event.It was a marketing extravaganza, with plans fora Sunday edition announced and thedrive towards 2 million sales launched.

Though competition was fierce, the Daily Herald became the first paper to achieve 2 million daily net sales in June 1933. It heldthe coveted title of ‘World’s Best-Selling Paper’ for the next three years.

But the competition took its toll on the Herald. Its reliance on gift schemes and other promotions to recruit readers wasn’t sustainable.

While readership had increased, many subscribers had low incomes, and this made it difficult toattractreliable income from advertisers. On 14 September 1964, the Guardian reflected on the downfall of the Daily Herald, describing it as a victim of ‘its own [poverty] and that of its readers’.

The political radicalism expressed on the Herald’s pages was largely tempered in its later years. It continued to support official Labour policies, but the tone was moderate, reflecting changes in TUC leadership and thecommercial concerns of Odhams Press.

Nonetheless, fears that political partisanship were hampering the paper’s growth led to problems in the relationship between the owners. In the early 1960s, faced with a downward spiral in sales and the loss of advertising revenue, the TUC relinquished their shares in the newspaper.

Odhams Press attempted to improve their financial fortunes by seeking a new partnership. They even lined up a merger with Canadian publisher Roy Thomson. But just before the deal became official, a counter-offer fromCecil King, Chairman of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN),went directly to Odhams’ shareholders. They side-stepped Odhams’ management and accepted.

This controversial sale took place in March 1961. When MGN took control, they formed IPC Magazines to manage many of Odhams’ other titles. The new owners prioritised a massive drive to broaden the Herald’s appeal and gain a younger audience.

In September 1964 the paper relaunched as The Sun with the slogan ‘A Paper Born of the Age We Live In’. Despite this change of image and an initial upsurge in circulation, sales again declined. MGN/IPC decided to cut their losses and, in 1969, sold The Sun to Rupert Murdoch’s News International.

Despite never attaining financial stability, the ‘Miracle of Fleet Street’ survived for 52 years. True to its political origins, the Herald continued to represent working class and socialist causes. Its need for a broad readership meant it also featured fashion, pop culture and human-interest stories.

After its sale to News International, the Daily Herald’s photo library—still housed within its original filing system—was transferred to the National Portrait Gallery. In 1983, it transferred to the National Science and Media Museum which became its permanent home.

Our care for this unique archive includes ongoing efforts to digitise the collection and share stories about the people, places and ideas that featured on the pages of the Daily Herald. With the help of our partners at Google, we digitised more than 40,000 images between 2021 and 2022. You can explore some of them in the stories on this website, at Google Arts & Culture, and in the Science Museum Group Collection Online.