How it
all began
Newspaper designed
for a growing resort
ONE hundred and fifty years
ago, local printer Cyrus Clarke
spotted a market for a new
weekly newspaper as
Eastbourne began to establish
its status as a seaside resort
and attract increasing num-
bers of visitors.
So on July 11, 1859, Clarke
launched the Eastbourne Gazette
and Fashionable Intelligencer from
his business at 6 Seaside Road.
It was not the town's first local
paper. The Eastbourne Chronicle
was launched three years before.
But Mr Clarke clearly took the
view that the town's growing pros-
perity could support more than one
newspaper - a view shared by oth-
ers who launched other papers with
varying degrees of success through
19th century.
The town had been linked to the
outside world by railway for 10
years, and the 7th Duke of
Devonshire's vision of a stylish des-
tination for visitors was become a
reality.
'Fashionable intelligence' was an
essential part of the Gazette's early
editorial mix, as reflected by the
front page of that first edition. A
'List of Visitors' tells us who was in
town and where they were staying:
'Cavendish Place - No3, Mrs
Captain Morrison and family; 4, Mr
and Mrs Barling...'
In an 'Address to Readers' Cyrus
Clarke explained that 'the starting
of a weekly newspaper in
Eastbourne serves to indicate the
great advance the town has made
and its onward progressive spirit'.
He continued: 'Everything of local
interest, places of worship, list of
visitors, postal arrangements, tide
table, walks and drives interesting
to the public and visitors will be
found in its columns'.
Little is known about the length of
Clarke's proprietorship of the
Gazette, but it was certainly not
long, as the paper changed hands
several times over the next decade.
Clarke sold to W.S.Doeg, who in
turn sold it on to a Samuel
Hayward. Under his ownership the
paper's independence was replaced
by a firm conservative line. But it
was passed on again, this time to
T.S.Goward.
Then in 1871, the recently married
Thomas Beckett borrowed �60 from
his father-in-law towards the pur-
chase of the Gazette.
He acquired a lease on 4 Pevensey
Road, which was to be Beckett's
home, office and production and
distribution centre for the following
decades.
Aided by his wife, Beckett reported,
edited, sold advertisements, and
printed and delivered the Gazette.
Mrs Beckett, in between looking
after a growing family, also sold
advertisement space, often while
doing the family shopping.
Beckett's energy and enthusiasm
resulted in constant improvements
and innovations in the Gazette. It
was one of the first newpapers out-
side London to reproduce photo-
graphs. Queen Victoria's Diamond
Jubilee in 1897 was marked with
an impressive four page picture
special.
There were regular reports of
Parliamentary business concerning
the town and county and, by the
end of the 19th century,
Parliamentary election results were
announced from the first floor win-
dow of 4 Pevensey Road.
By the turn of the century Beckett
was leading a very successful busi-
ness and had become part of the
establishment of the town. In 1908
he turned his business into a limit-
ed company and, with his health
deteriorating, involved his sons,
Arthur and Alfred.
MMeerrggeerr
The Eastbourne Chronicle
remained a challenger for local
readers until 1955 when it was
merged with the Eastbourne Herald
- born in the 1920s as an edition of
the Sussex County Herald, in which
Thomas Beckett had purchased an
interest. The Eastbourne Courier,
also launched in the 19th Century,
survived until the 1950s when it
folded.
The Gazette remained the domi-
nant local news source up to and
after World War Two. The merger
of the Herald and the Chronicle,
however, created a significant new
readership, and this combined with
a growing preference by major
advertisers for an end of the week
newspaper saw the balance tilt, and
by the end of the 1960s the Herald
was selling nearly twice as many
copies as the Gazette.
From its days as a separate and
independent news provider, the
Gazette was becoming part of a bi-
weekly news and advertising serv-
ice from the Beckett company,
spreading its wings in the 1980s
with editions in Hailsham and
Seaford.
Old Cyrus could hardly have
dreamed of the technological
changes that have accompanied the
Gazette over the past 150 years.
Those first editions were produced
by compositors assembling lines of
type by the letter and printed on a
flatbed press. Later came Linotype
machines that produced lines of
type, and rotary presses, first at
the much expanded Pevensey Road
site, and later in Commercial Road.
In the 1980s computers replaced
'hot metal' with page make up
using bromide paper, and web-off-
set replaced letterpress printing,
bringing colour to the Gazette's
pages.
Finally, the advances of the digital
age have placed the creation of
final pages in the hands of the jour-
nalists, and today the newspaper
compositor is an extinct species.
Whatever the method of producing
the news, the words on the paper
serve the same purpose as envis-
aged by Cyrus Clarke. He stated in
his first edition that he hoped to
report progress 'and ere long to tell
readers the Eastbourne Gazette has
a prosperous career among the jour-
nals of the day'. He would surely be
delighted to see his creation still
serving the town 150 years later.
We are indebted to Derrick Platt,
former chief exectuve of
T.R.Beckett Ltd, for much of the
background information provided in
this article
Devonshire Place, captured by an artist when Eastbourne was
emerging as a fashionable resort for the well-to-do.
Celebrating Queen
Victoria's Diamond Jubilee
Teacher who flogged a
boy to death
Sainsbury's opens a new
store in....1914
How the Gazette fell out
with the council
Advertisements from
yesteryear
The First World War in
Eastbourne
The future Queen Mother
dazzles the town
The Crumbles murder
The birth of the council
Town is devastated by
German bombing raids
Railway tragedy of 1958
Dr Bodkins Adams trial
The Congress Theatre
opens
MP Ian Gow is murdered
The Great Storm of 1987
News from
past decades
on following
pages.....
TTHHIISS ssuupppplleemmeenntt hhaass bbeeeenn ccoommppiilleedd bbyy
PPeetteerr AAuussttiinn,, AAnnnneemmaarriiee FFiieelldd aanndd
NNiiggeell JJaarrrreetttt..
OOuurr ggrraatteeffuull tthhaannkkss ggoo ttoo hhiissttoorriiaann
JJoohhnn SSuurrtteeeess aanndd tthhee EEaassttbboouurrnnee LLooccaall
HHiissttoorryy SSoocciieettyy ffoorr tthheeiirr hheellpp,, aaddvviiccee
aanndd ccoonnssiiddeerraabbllee ccoonnttrriibbuuttiioonn ooff
mmaatteerriiaall..
DDrr SSuurrtteeeess iiss tthhee aauutthhoorr ooff aa nnuummbbeerr ooff
bbooookkss oonn EEaassttbboouurrnnee aanndd tthhee ssuurrrroouunndd--
iinngg aarreeaass..
Gazette, Wednesday, September 23, 2009 63Visit our Website at www.eastbourneherald.co.uk

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