Warminster Journal

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Warminster Journal
TypeWeekly newspaper
FormatTabloid
Owner(s)Coates & Parker Ltd
EditorRay Shorto and Diana Watkins
Founded1881
HeadquartersWarminster
Circulationunaudited
Websitewarminsterjournal.co.uk

The Warminster Journal is a weekly, newspaper published in Warminster, Wiltshire in South West England. The paper serves the, west Wiltshire towns of Warminster and Westbury as well as the villages of the Wylye Valley, Chitterne, Mere, Chapmanslade, Corsley, and Horningsham, in South West Wiltshire.

History[]

The newspaper’s founder, Benjamin Walter Coates, was a son of the Rev. John Coates, master of King James's School, Almondbury. B. W. Coates moved to Warminster in the 1860s and in 1876 bought an existing printing business. Coates was interested in running a newspaper, but Warminster already had the Warminster Herald, founded in 1857.[1]

A Conservative and a loyal member of the Church of England, in 1881 Coates finally launched the Warminster and Westbury Journal and Wilts County Advertiser as a weekly broadsheet, after a substantial investment in new staff and machinery. The first issue was dated Saturday 19 November 1881, and for twelve years the new paper was in competition with the Warminster Herald.[1] In 1884, both newspapers were published weekly and priced at one penny, and the Journal was noted as having a Conservative affiliation, while the Herald was non-aligned.[2] The Herald ceased publication in 1893. Coates retired as editor in 1898 and was succeeded by his 28-year-old younger son Alfred Coates, who edited the Journal for sixty years.[1]

In 1900, Samuel Hillier Parker, originally from Sunderland, joined the newspaper as an assistant, and in 1912 Alfred Coates made him a partner.[1] Apart from a single year beginning during the First World War, the paper has appeared weekly ever since 1881.[3] Due to key staff leaving to join the armed forces, publication was suspended in April 1918 and did not begin again until 15 August 1919.[1]

The issue of 4 July 1903 announced a forthcoming one-night visit to Westbury by Buffalo Bill’s show "Wild West and Rough Riders of the World".[4] The paper of 18 July 1903 said this was due to Westbury’s improved railway service.[5]

Samuel Parker died in 1935, and Alfred Coates continued the newspaper and printing business until 1958, when he finally retired, selling Coates & Parker to Charlie Mills. Mills died in 1970, leaving the business to his wife and daughter, Elsie and Gladys Mills. As of 2021, his grandchildren Ray Shorto and Diana Watkins are joint editors of the newspaper.[1]

The circulation was stated in 1989 as 5,600.[6]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f "The History of Coates and Parker", coatesandparker.co.uk, accessed 27 April 2021
  2. ^ Sir John Richard Somers Vine, The County Companion, Diary, Statistical Chronicle and Magisterial and Official Directory (1884), p. 313
  3. ^ "Warminster - Thumbnail History:". Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  4. ^ "THE WILD WEST AT WESTBURY", Warminster & Westbury Journal and Wilts County Advertiser, 4 July 1903, p. 5
  5. ^ Warminster & Westbury Journal and Wilts County Advertiser, 18 July 1903, p. 5
  6. ^ Benn's Media Directory, Part 2 (1989), p. 212: “Warminster Journal, Fri, Coates & Parker Ltd, 36 Market Place, Warminster, Wilts BA12 9AN Tel: 0985 213030, 212945 Circ: 5,600.”

External links[]

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