Western Mail & Echo Ltd Records,

Records of Western Mail & Echo Ltd and related companies, 1869-1980, including advertisement and circulation revenue, 1869-1899; deeds of partnership of Owen and Carr, 1878; records of Daniel Owen & Co. Ltd, 1884-1895; Western Mail Ltd ledgers, registers, cash books and registers of member shares, 1896-1936; David Duncan & Sons Ltd, private ledgers, cash books and journals, 1906-1930, and liquidator's record book, 1929-1930; papers relating to the amalgamation of Western Mail Ltd with David Duncan & Sons, 1928-1931; miscellaneous papers and correspondence, 1893-1950; papers relating to the Weterns Mail Mumbles Lifeboat disaster fund and the Six Bells disaster fund, 1948-1964; and managing director's monthly reports, 1966-1978.

The Western Mail was founded in Cardiff, Glamorgan, in 1869 by the Marquess of Bute, initially intended as a Conservative newspaper. From 1869 to 1901, its editor was Henry Lascelles Carr (d. 1902). In 1877, Bute sold the paper to Carr and Daniel Owen. In 1884, the owners formed Daniel Owen and Co. Ltd as a joint stock company, which became Western Mail Ltd in 1896. In 1877 it started to publish the Evening Express. In 1893, a fire destroyed the original Western Mail building in St Mary's Street, and a new building was opened in 1895. Carr was succeeded as editor, by William Davies, who had been assistant editor since 1894; he remained editor 1901-1931. In 1928, the Western Mail lost its independence when William and Gomer Berry of Allied Newspapers acquired a controlling share. In the same year, Western Mail Ltd was amalgamated with David Duncan & Sons, which had been publishing the South Wales Daily News from 1872 and the South Wales Echo since 1884, and the company became Western Mail and Echo Ltd. As a result of the merger, the less successful Evening Express and South Wales Daily News papers came to an end. In 1960, the newspapers left St Mary's Street and moved to Thomson House, Cardiff. The business is now owned by Trinity Mirror PLC, and Western Mail and Echo Ltd is an operating company in its Regionals Division. The Western Mail has a tradition of organising popular appeals for funds to assist Welsh causes, including the Owen Rhoscomyl Memorial Fund (1919), Mumbles Lifeboat Disaster Fund (1947), Llanddow Air Disaster Fund (1950), and Six Bells Colliery Disaster Fund (1960).

Arranged into the following: volumes; general; amalgamation of Western Mail Ltd with David Duncan & Sons; and general.

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Donated by the Western Mail & Echo Ltd, Thompson House, Westgate Street, Cardiff, per Mr Elis Evans, Llanfihangel Crucornau, Gwent, formerly Deputy Managing Director, 1986.

The Western Mail was founded in Cardiff, Glamorgan, in 1869 by the Marquess of Bute, initially intended as a Conservative newspaper. From 1869 to 1901, its editor was Henry Lascelles Carr (d. 1902). In 1877, Bute sold the paper to Carr and Daniel Owen. In 1884, the owners formed Daniel Owen and Co. Ltd as a joint stock company, which became Western Mail Ltd in 1896. In 1877 it started to publish the Evening Express. In 1893, a fire destroyed the original Western Mail building in St Mary's Street, and a new building was opened in 1895. Carr was succeeded as editor, by William Davies, who had been assistant editor since 1894; he remained editor 1901-1931. In 1928, the Western Mail lost its independence when William and Gomer Berry of Allied Newspapers acquired a controlling share. In the same year, Western Mail Ltd was amalgamated with David Duncan & Sons, which had been publishing the South Wales Daily News from 1872 and the South Wales Echo since 1884, and the company became Western Mail and Echo Ltd. As a result of the merger, the less successful Evening Express and South Wales Daily News papers came to an end. In 1960, the newspapers left St Mary's Street and moved to Thomson House, Cardiff. The business is now owned by Trinity Mirror PLC, and Western Mail and Echo Ltd is an operating company in its Regionals Division. The Western Mail has a tradition of organising popular appeals for funds to assist Welsh causes, including the Owen Rhoscomyl Memorial Fund (1919), Mumbles Lifeboat Disaster Fund (1947), Llanddow Air Disaster Fund (1950), and Six Bells Colliery Disaster Fund (1960).

Title supplied from contents of fonds.

A hard copy of the catalogue is available in Minor Lists and Summaries, 1987, pp. 121-124, at the National Library of Wales.

May 2003

Compiled by Rhys Jones for the ANW project. The following sources were used to compile this description: NLW, Minor Lists and Summaries, 1987; Cosslett, John, History Behind the Headlines: the story of Western Mail & Echo Ltd and its newspapers (Cardiff, 1996).

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