# Sunday Dispatch

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{{Short description|Former British newspaper}}
{{italic title}}
[[File:British Forces in the Middle East, 1945-1947 E31102.jpg|thumb|Corporal E. Hopwood of [Acton, Wrexham](/source/Acton%2C_Wrexham), studies the ''Sunday Dispatch'' before voting in Egypt in the [United Kingdom general election](/source/1945_United_Kingdom_general_election) of 1945.]]
The '''''Sunday Dispatch''''' was a prominent British [newspaper](/source/newspaper), published between 27 September 1801 and 18 June 1961.<ref>[http://www.bl.uk/collections/brit19th.html Concise History of the British Newspaper in the 19th Century: The British Library Newspaper Library<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080224071628/http://www.bl.uk/collections/brit19th.html |date=2008-02-24 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.georgianindex.net/publications/newspapers/news-dates.html Georgian Index – British Newspapers<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> It was ultimately discontinued due to its merger with the [''Sunday Express''](/source/Daily_Express).<ref>{{cite news|title=Merging of "Sunday Dispatch"|date=19 June 1961|work=[The Times](/source/The_Times)|page=6}}</ref>

==History==
The newspaper was first published as the '''''Weekly Dispatch''''' in 1801, and was owned in the mid-1800s by notable solicitor [James Harmer](/source/James_Harmer), who served as a model for Jaggers, the [Charles Dickens](/source/Charles_Dickens) character from ''[Great Expectations](/source/Great_Expectations)''.<ref name="Gatrell">{{cite book|author=V. A. C. Gatrell|title=The Hanging Tree: Execution and the English People 1770-1868|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mqG8a74SkRMC&pg=PA435|year=1996|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-285332-5|page=435}}</ref> Circulation was 50,100 in 1837 but had slumped to 37,500 by 1850.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vann |first1=J. Don |last2=VanArsdel |first2=Rosemary |title=Victorian Periodicals: A guide to research |date=1978 |publisher=The Modern Language Association  of  America |location=New York |page=173 |edition=First}}</ref>

In 1903, the Newnes family sold the paper to [Alfred](/source/Alfred_Harmsworth%2C_1st_Viscount_Northcliffe) and [Harold Harmsworth](/source/Harold_Harmsworth%2C_1st_Viscount_Rothermere). The new owners then turned it around from [bankruptcy](/source/bankruptcy) and into the biggest selling Sunday newspaper in Britain at the time. {{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

The newspaper’s name was changed to the ''Sunday Dispatch'' in 1928.

Due to editor [Charles Eade](/source/Charles_Eade)'s role as Press Liaison officer for [Lord Mountbatten](/source/Louis_Mountbatten%2C_1st_Earl_Mountbatten_of_Burma) during [World War II](/source/World_War_II), distribution of the ''Dispatch'' was up from 800,000 to over 2 million copies per edition in 1947.<ref>[http://www.ampltd.co.uk/digital_guides/popular_newspapers_world_war_2_parts_1_to_5/ABC-Net-Sales.aspx Popular Newspapers During World War II, Parts 1 to 5, 1939-1945<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

In 1959, Eade and the editor of the ''Daily Sketch'' were fired due to a comment from [Randolph Churchill](/source/Randolph_Churchill) that [Esmond Harmsworth, 2nd Viscount Rothermere](/source/Esmond_Harmsworth%2C_2nd_Viscount_Rothermere), was "pornographer royal" for his ownership of both the ''[Daily Sketch](/source/Daily_Sketch)'' and ''Sunday Dispatch''.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/Columnists/Column/0,,403355,00.html | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Roy | last=Greenslade | title=Can Desmond really make things OK! at the Express? | date=12 December 2000}}</ref>

Under its last editor, [Walter Hayes](/source/Walter_Hayes), the ''Dispatch'' still maintained pre-printed posters with the headline "CHURCHILL IS DEAD", in preparation of the death of Randolph Churchill's father [Winston Churchill](/source/Winston_Churchill).<ref>[http://www.peebycartoons.com/biography/index.html Peter Betts {{!}}{{!}} Biography<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

In December 1960, the paper had a respectable circulation of 1,500,000 copies. Despite this, the ''Sunday Dispatch'' was merged with the ''Sunday Express'' in 1961.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dBk1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=TKYLAAAAIBAJ&pg=5247%2C1801929 |title=Sunday Paper Merger. "Dispatch" and "Express" |work=[The Glasgow Herald](/source/The_Glasgow_Herald) |page=1 |date=12 June 1961 |access-date=25 February 2018}}</ref><ref>[http://www.ketupa.net/dmgt2.htm DMGT, Rothermere and Northcliffe: landmarks<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061211215639/http://www.ketupa.net/dmgt2.htm|date=2006-12-11}}</ref>

The ''Dispatch'' is prominently featured in [Philip Norman](/source/Philip_Norman_(author))'s 1996 novel ''Everyone's Gone to the Moon''. The novel is centred on the reporting of the [British pop invasion](/source/British_pop_invasion) of America in the 1960s.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405E2DD1139F935A15756C0A960958260 | work=The New York Times | first=Janet | last=Maslin | title=Yesterday's Papers | date=26 May 1996}}</ref>

==Famous stories and headlines==
*September 1927 – In light of the trial verdict of the [murder of PC Gutteridge](/source/Murder_of_George_Gutteridge) of the [Metropolitan Police](/source/Metropolitan_Police), the headline read "Hanged by a microscope". An early case of [ballistics](/source/ballistics) science, it reflected the fact that microscopic examination of the [Smith & Wesson](/source/Smith_%26_Wesson) gun cartridge cases had provided the crucial evidence to convict car thieves Frederick Browne and Pat Kennedy of the [murder](/source/murder).<ref>[http://www.met.police.uk/history/george_gutteridge.htm Metropolitan Police Service – History of the Metropolitan Police Service<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
*1933 – published [Harry Price](/source/Harry_Price)'s book ''Leaves From a Psychist's Case-Book'' in a series of 10 articles<ref>[http://www.harryprice.co.uk/Writings/writ_by_price_into.htm Writings by Harry Price – Introduction<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
*1945 – the first [Miss Great Britain](/source/Miss_Great_Britain) contest was held by [Morecambe and Heysham Council](/source/Municipal_Borough_of_Morecambe_and_Heysham) in association with the ''Dispatch'', which as a preliminary to the personal appearance heats at [Morecambe](/source/Morecambe), photographic heats held in the newspaper attracted contestant from all over the country.<ref>[http://www.miss-gb.co.uk/history.asp Miss Great Britain<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The first prize was seven guineas and a basket of fruit.<ref>[http://www.hca.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/TDG/reports/korneeva-morecambe-wolfe.ppt http://www.hca.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/TDG/reports/korneeva-morecambe-wolfe.ppt]</ref>
*2 December 1945 – broke news that British spy [John Amery](/source/John_Amery) was dying of [tuberculosis](/source/tuberculosis). A post mortem revealed after his conviction and execution for [high treason](/source/high_treason) that he had not been suffering from the disease.<ref>[http://www.stephen-stratford.co.uk/john_amery.htm John Amery<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205041428/http://www.stephen-stratford.co.uk/john_amery.htm |date=2012-02-05 }}</ref> 
*13 February 1949 – in light of the importation of American "dark humour" comics, the headline read: "Horror has crept into the British nursery. Morals of little girls in plaits and boys with marbles bulging in their pockets are being corrupted by a torrent of indecent coloured magazines that are flooding bookstalls and newsagents."<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/nov/25/comics | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Michel | last=Faber | title=Review: Great British Comics by Paul Gravett & Peter Stanbury | date=24 November 2006}}</ref> The counter article was co-written by the Reverend [Marcus Morris](/source/Marcus_Morris_(priest)), later founder of ''[The Eagle](/source/Eagle_(British_comics))'' [comic](/source/comic)<ref name=autogenerated1>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20030825195337/http://www.dandare.org/eagle/morris/morris.htm ''The Eagle'' comic]}}</ref>
*1950 – in late summer, the ''Dispatch'' was partly responsible for launching the [Flying Saucer](/source/Unidentified_flying_object) debate in the UK, when in a circulation battle with the ''[Sunday Express](/source/Sunday_Express)''. Both papers competed to serialise the seminal books by [Major Donald Keyhoe](/source/Donald_Keyhoe) ''Flying Saucers are Real,'' [Frank Scully](/source/Frank_Scully)’s ''Behind the Flying Saucers'' and [Gerald Heard](/source/Gerald_Heard)'s ''Riddle of the Flying Saucers.'' Eade had been encouraged to promote "flying saucer" stories by his friend [Lord Mountbatten](/source/Louis_Mountbatten%2C_1st_Earl_Mountbatten_of_Burma) whom he had served as Press officer during the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War).<ref>[http://www.uk-ufo.org/condign/casehoax2.htm case histories photo hoaxes<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The ''Dispatch'' later reported on the 1951 [Mount Kilimanjaro incident](/source/Mount_Kilimanjaro)<ref>[http://www.xdream.freeserve.co.uk/UFOBase/Kilimanjaroarticles.htm Globe In Transit<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and the [West Freugh Incident](/source/West_Freugh_Incident) in April 1957<ref>[http://www.ufologie.net/htm/westfreugh57.htm ufo - UFOS at close sight: The West Freugh Incident, 1957<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.forteantimes.com/exclusive/DS7.shtml |title=BRITAIN'S SECRET UFO FILES |website=www.forteantimes.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011125062728/http://www.forteantimes.com/exclusive/DS7.shtml |archive-date=2001-11-25}} </ref>
*June 1953 – serialisation of ''"[The Rommel papers](/source/Erwin_Rommel)"'' edited by military historian [Basil Liddell Hart](/source/Basil_Liddell_Hart).<ref>[http://www.umds.ac.uk/lhcma/cats/liddell/li0924.shtml Liddell Hart 9 Military writings; books, 1925-1970<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
*25 April 1954 – the headline read "Doctor's Journal Launches a Startling Campaign – Smoking sensation – MP Urges Ban On Manufacture Of Cigarettes As Move Against Cancer Peril" on the risks of [smoking](/source/smoking) and [lung cancer](/source/lung_cancer). The article was later cited in 2000 by [Gallaher Tobacco](/source/Gallaher_Group) to the UK Parliamentary Health [select committee](/source/Select_committee_(United_Kingdom)) showing that such risks had been known for some while<ref>[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmhealth/27/0011324.htm House of Commons – Health – Minutes of Evidence<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gallaher-group.com/corporateresponsibility/relationship_gallaheruk_10.asp |title=Gallaher Group PLC - Corporate responsibility - government and society - Gallaher submission to the UK parliamentary health select committee - references |website=www.gallaher-group.com |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070304220539/http://www.gallaher-group.com/corporateresponsibility/relationship_gallaheruk_10.asp |archive-date=4 March 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
*1954 – broke the story that racing driver [Mike Hawthorn](/source/Mike_Hawthorn) was not called up for [National Service](/source/National_Service) because he cited that he was not in the country, while actually he was<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070910101301/http://www.mike-hawthorn.org.uk/callup.php Mike Hawthorn's Tribute Site – the story of Mike and National (Compulsory Military) Service – and how he managed to intentionally avoid it. During the enforcement period, 2.5 million young men did their time for National Service with around 6,000 called up every month. The disruption caused by national service to young lives was major<!-- Bot generated title -->]}}</ref>
*1959 – exposed a story about [Scientology](/source/Scientology) founder [L. Ron Hubbard](/source/L._Ron_Hubbard), where he sold shares at $65 each in a company that didn't exist. Hubbard apologised, and returned all monies, allegedly commenting: "It's lucky the police did not become involved, otherwise something most unpleasant might have happened."<ref>[http://www.clambake.org/archive/books/tsos/sos-15.html#p5 The Scandal of Scientology / Chapter 15: Is Scientology Political?<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

==Former journalists and editors==
* [Gordon Beckles](/source/Gordon_Beckles) – became assistant editor at age 25 in 1927, journalist, editor and author
*[Ursula Bloom](/source/Ursula_Bloom) – reporter. Later a novelist who wrote under numerous [pseudonym](/source/pseudonym)s, she published over 500 books in her lifetime, an achievement that won her recognition in the [Guinness Book of Records](/source/Guinness_Book_of_Records).<ref>[http://www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk/bloom.htm Ursula Bloom (1892-1984)<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228100752/http://www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk/bloom.htm |date=2013-12-28 }}</ref>
*William Brittain – editor from 1931 to 1934. He then bought the short-lived ''[London Daily Recorder](/source/London_Daily_Recorder)''<ref>{{cite magazine| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,819189,00.html?promoid=googlep | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524081022/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,819189,00.html?promoid=googlep | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 24, 2011 | magazine=Time | title=The Press: The Promising Editor | date=9 November 1953}}</ref>
*[Collin Brooks](/source/Collin_Brooks) – editor, 1930s.<ref>[http://www.history.bham.ac.uk/pubs/c.htm Departments of Medieval and Modern History<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
*[Randolph Churchill](/source/Randolph_Churchill) – political columnist. Resigned in 1936 following paper's refusal to publish one of his articles.<ref>[http://aolsvc.timeforkids.kol.aol.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,897052,00.html Randolph's Resignation - TIME<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
* [Dorothy Crisp](/source/Dorothy_Crisp) – a regular contributor of provocative articles. One edition in 1943 was banned in Ireland because it contained her criticisms of the de Valera's government.
*[Charles Eade](/source/Charles_Eade) – editor, Press Liaison officer for [Lord Mountbatten](/source/Louis_Mountbatten%2C_1st_Earl_Mountbatten_of_Burma) during the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War)
*Alastair Forbes – wrote weekly column called "Behind the World Political Scene" from 1945, but he was fired in 1956.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wheatcroft |first=Geoffrey |date=2005-05-27 |title=Alastair Forbes |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/may/27/pressandpublishing.usnews |access-date=2024-02-26 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
*[Charles Graves](/source/Charles_Patrick_Graves) – journalist brother of [Robert Graves](/source/Robert_Graves)
*[Walter Hayes](/source/Walter_Hayes) – editor, 1957–1961. Later [Ford](/source/Ford_Motor_Company) PR Vice President.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1088808.stm | work=BBC News | title=Aston Martin creator dies | date=27 December 2000}}</ref>
*Gerald McKnight – editor. Later founder of ''[News Shopper](/source/News_Shopper)''<ref>[http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/aboutus/ourhistory/ News Shopper: About/Contact Us: Our History<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
*Reverend [Marcus Morris](/source/Marcus_Morris_(publisher)) – first feature he ever wrote. Later founder of ''[The Eagle](/source/Eagle_(British_comics))'' [comic](/source/comic)<ref name=autogenerated1 />
*[Max Miller](/source/Max_Miller_(comedian)) – the comedian wrote a weekly column.<ref>[http://www.nicklewis.org/great-writings/george-orwell/the-art-of-donald-mcgill "The Art of Donald McGill" {{!}} Nick Lewis: The Blog<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
*[Bill Tidy](/source/Bill_Tidy) – [cartoonist](/source/cartoonist)<ref>[http://opal.kent.ac.uk/cartoonx-cgi/artist.py?id=184 Tidy, Bill<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
*Margaret Williams – reporter. Went to [Berlin](/source/Berlin) in 1946 with the first batch of British Army wives to rejoin their husbands serving in Germany.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/97/a4460997.shtml BBC - WW2 People's War - The Williams at War<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
*[Ian Wooldridge](/source/Ian_Wooldridge) – journalist<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2332011.ece |location=London |title=Ian Wooldridge - Obituaries, News - ''Independent.co.uk'' |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070308140610/http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2332011.ece |archive-date=March 8, 2007 }}</ref>

==Editors==
:1801: Robert Bell<ref name="Shattock">{{cite book|first=Joanne|last=Shattock|section=The Weekly Dispatch|title=The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature|volume=4|edition=3|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1999|page=2904|section-url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgebibliog0000unse/page/n1485}}</ref>
:1815: George Kent<ref name="Shattock"/>
:1816: Robert Bell<ref name="Shattock"/>
:1818: Williams

:1838: [James Harmer](/source/James_Harmer) and Joseph Wrightson<ref name="Shattock"/>
:1856: Sydney French<ref name="Shattock"/>
:1862: [Thomas James Serle](/source/Thomas_James_Serle)<ref name="Shattock"/>
:1875: [Ashton Wentworth Dilke](/source/Ashton_Wentworth_Dilke)<ref name="Shattock"/>
:1876: [Henry Fox Bourne](/source/Henry_Fox_Bourne)<ref name="Shattock"/>
:1883: [W. A. Hunter](/source/W._A._Hunter)
:1892: [Frank Smith](/source/Frank_Smith_(socialist))
:1895: [Charles John Tibbits](/source/Charles_John_Tibbits)<ref>{{cite book | first=Sandra | last=Kemp | author-link=Sandra Kemp | section=Tibbits, Mrs Annie O. | title=Edwardian Fiction: An Oxford Companion | year=1997 | publisher=Oxford University Press | section-url=https://archive.org/details/edwardianfiction0000kemp/page/387 | page=387 }}</ref>
:1903: [Evelyn Wrench](/source/Evelyn_Wrench)

:1911: Montagu Cotton<ref name="Butler & Sloman"/>
:1915: [Hannen Swaffer](/source/Hannen_Swaffer)<ref name="Butler & Sloman"/>
:1919: Bernard Falk<ref name="Butler & Sloman"/>
:1933: Harry Lane<ref name="Butler & Sloman"/>
:1934: William Brittain<ref name="Butler & Sloman"/>
:1936: [Collin Brooks](/source/Collin_Brooks)<ref name="Butler & Sloman"/>
:1938: [Charles Eade](/source/Charles_Eade)<ref name="Butler & Sloman"/>
:1959: [Bert Gunn](/source/Bert_Gunn)<ref name="Butler & Sloman">{{cite book|first1=David|last1=Butler|author1-link=David Butler (psephologist)|first2=Anne|last2=Sloman|section=Sunday Dispatch|title=British Political Facts, 1900–1979|edition=5|publisher=Macmillan|year=1980|page=445|section-url=https://archive.org/details/britishpolitical0000butl/page/445}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

===Bibliography===
*N.J.Crowson - ''Fleet Street, Press Barons and Politics'' Cambridge University Press/Royal Historical Society. {{ISBN|0-521-66239-7}}

{{Defunct UK newspapers}}

Category:Publications established in 1801
Category:Publications disestablished in 1961
Category:Defunct weekly newspapers
Category:1801 establishments in the United Kingdom
Category:1961 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Category:Defunct Sunday newspapers published in the United Kingdom

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sunday Dispatch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Dispatch) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Dispatch?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.