The Citizen

Written by John Lovell of The Citizen

The Citizen first appeared on the streets of Gloucester on May 1, 1876 - a four-page newspaper costing one half-penny.Throughout the previous month mysterious placards had appeared all over the city bearing just one word - CITIZEN. Everyone was asking what it meant. They found out on May Day when the initial run of just over 3,000 copies went on sale. From that day to this, The Citizen has formed a vital part of the city's life.The Citizen was launched by a Gloucester businessman, Samuel Bland, a far-sighted man of courage who saw the need for a daily newspaper which could reflect and represent the interests of the citi-zens of Gloucester. It was for this reason he called his newspaper The Citizen.The Citizen has been in St John's Lane all its life. The first edition was printed in St John's Hall on the site of the present Marks & Spencer's. Later, an old beer house with a brewhouse was acquired on the other side of the lane and the two premises were linked by a foot-bridge.On January 1, 1879, Bland formed a partnership with Thomas Henry Chance, proprietor of the Gloucester Journal and this amalgamation permitted both papers to expand, and on February 25, 1879 The Citizen achieved record sales of 10,000 copies. It was the day on which Charles Peace, the notorious murderer, was executed.Bland introduced machine typesetting to The Citizen in 1901, the year he became Mayor of Gloucester. He died in April 1903 and was succeeded by his son, George, as manager, with his partner, Thomas Henry Chance, taking over the editorship. Chance died in 1906 and was succeeded by his son, Godwin.During the First World War public demand for news soared and throughout the war The Citizen published a special Sunday edition, reverting to six-day publication when peace returned. And, of course, the war pushed up prices. On March 12, 1917, The Citizen cover price was doubled to one penny.The business became a private limited liability company in February 1920 as Chance & Bland Ltd, and in 1922, the Creed system of telegraph communication - the forerunner of high-speed teleprinters - was installed. Four years later The Citizen celebrated its first half century, 50 years in which it had become the premier newspaper in the county. In 1928, the company became Gloucestershire Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of the Northcliffe Newspaper Group. The effect was dramatic with the news service broadened and special editorial features introduced, but the new editor, Tom Bell, a Yorkshireman, was at pains to preserve Samuel Bland's original concept of a Gloucester paper for Gloucester people.In 1931, fire swept through The Citizen's offices causing extensive damage and severely hampering production. But it's an ill wind...The reconstruction of offices and plant enabled The Citizen to give a more efficient service to its readers and advertisers.The first Citizen had been printed on the premises of Forrester & Sheldrick, but the move across St John's Lane allowed Bland to install a press driven by a steam engine. By 1880, gas had replaced coal as a power source with a printing rate of 4,000 an hour, and nine years later the first of several rotary presses was installed. A more modern press was installed in 1906, and in 1924 this was replaced by a new press which brought to The Citizen the new tabloid format. In 1936 another new rotary press was installed which was used throughout out World War Two and beyond.Bell, who became a respected JP for Gloucester, edited the paper through World War Two and in 1947 launched The Citizen Flood Relief which did sterling work for those families in the lower areas of the city whose homes were damaged in the serious floods of that year.The Citizen made steady progress under the editorships of Jeffrey Robertson (1948-1964) and Kenneth Clapham (1964-1979) and it was during the latter's term of office that the paper received its last rotary press - one which permitted The Citizen to reach a maximum of 80 pages - a far cry from the four it managed at its birth. Meanwhile the introduction of regular specialist supplements such as the Homebuyer and Motorsearch, and the ever-growing demands of readers for more news and sport made it imperative for better and more efficient means of production to be found.The 70s and 80s and 90s saw a revolution in newspaper production and the traditional hot metal production gave way to initially to photocomposition and then to computers. July 1988 saw computers come to The Citizen and in a matter of months the paper was being made up on screen - one of the first provincial newspapers in the country to move into the new era of printing. At the same time the printing of the papers transferred to a new plant at Staverton Technology Park where The Citizen and its sister-paper, The Gloucestershire Echo, are now produced on the latest high-speed, colour-equipped presses. The building of this printery represents a massive investment by Northcliffe Newspapers and is an indication of the faith the company has in the future of Gloucestershire.Today The Citizen and Gloucestershire Echo are part of Gloucestershire Media which, in addition to the two paid for titles, also in-cludes the 'News' series of free newspapers distributed in Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury and Gloucestershire Today, an attractive monthly colour magazine. In July 1998, The Citizen launched an on-line service which now has two websites www.this is gloucestershire.co.uk and www.gloucestercitizen.co.ukThrough investment in the latest print technology and by continu-ally updating its electronic on-line services, The Citizen is ensuring that it offers local people the widest possible access to its facilities. At the same time through its comprehensive and campaigning news coverage it is continuing to inform and fight for local Citizens thereby staying true to its founder's vision of reflecting and representing the interests of the people in the area.