NationalLibraryOfScotland/Highland-News-1895-1922

Highland News 1895-1922 Dataset

Dataset description and context

This dataset contains digitised images from editions of the Highland News between 1895 and 1922. The National Library of Scotland has digitised from issue 594 (23 Feb 1895) to issue 2048 (30 December 1922) using the newspaper collections of Western Isles Libraries. Issues up to at least issue 695 (Sat 23 Jan 1897) are all the "West Coast" edition.

Highland News was founded in October 1883. The newspaper appeared first as a four-page work, issued on Mondays, and sub-titled "The Organ of the Highland Temperance League". It was printed in Dingwall by Lewis Munro until November 1884 when the printing was taken over by Philip Macleod in Inverness. The connection with the Temperance League was dropped in April 1885, although remaining politically liberal, and in November 1886 its issue day was changed to a Saturday. It flourished in the 1890s, expanding from four to eight pages and soon afterwards to twelve pages, and included contributions from some of the leading figures in the Celtic revival. In 1905 it came up for sale but was retained by the proprietor and editor John McLeod. In the 1950s, The Highland News and 6 other local newspapers were acquired by the Canadian-British newspaper mogul Roy Thomson, already owner of The Scotsman, becoming The Highland News Group. In April 1969, the Highland News and the Northern Chronicle merged into one paper.

The following further information is taken from The Edinburgh History of Scottish Newspapers, 1850-1950 by Hamish W. Fraser, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2023, available in physical and digital format at the National Library of Scotland:

"The four-page Highland News, sub-titled The Organ of the Highland Temperance League, appeared in October 1883. It came out on a Monday so as not to clash with other Highland papers and aimed to be a paper ‘with which to while away with gratification and benefit a winter evening at the fireside, and a budget of readable matter worthy of being posted to friends after perusal’. It was originally printed in Dingwall by Lewis Munro, but in November 1884 the printing was taken over by Philip Macleod in Inverness, who seems to have been behind the original idea. It was broadly Liberal but still strongly temperance. However, the identification with the Temperance League was formally dropped in April 1885, and in November 1886 issue day was changed to a Saturday.

Philip Macleod was proprietor for some years, but when the paper got into difficulties he was joined by John Macleod of Gartymore, secretary of the Land League, who was elected as MP for Sutherlandshire, unopposed, in a by-election in 1894. John Macleod is identified as editor in 1891, with Philip Macleod as manager. With some 37 employees in 1892, it was claimed that more copies of the Highland News were sold than all the other Inverness papers combined and that it outsold Aberdeen papers as far east as Elgin. There were various minor scrapes with the courts when the paper was sued by the new sheriff-depute of Skye for what it had to say about his appointment; by an abandoned young woman; by a Russian-Jewish shoemaker; and by the Presbytery of Lewis, whom it accused of drunkenness.

The two Macleods parted company after the 1892 general election and John Macleod became sole proprietor and editor. He was assisted by John Mackay, before the latter moved in 1898 to become sub-editor of the Liverpool Courier. John Macleod also launched a Fort-William News but it had only a brief existence from July 1898 to November 1899. The Highland News was expanded from four to eight pages and soon afterwards to twelve pages, thanks to investment in Linotype machines. It included contributions from some of the leading figures in the Celtic revival: Alexander McBain, author of a Gaelic Etymological Dictionary; Cameron Gillies, a London-based medical man who taught Gaelic classes in London; and John Murdoch. A pro-Boer position during the South African War lost it a substantial number of readers and lost John Macleod his seat.

Philip Macleod brought out the Highland Times as an advanced Liberal paper in February 1896, with John Whyte as editor. Whyte, who owned a bookshop and ran a circulating library in Inverness, had been assistant editor to Murdoch on the Highlander and editor of the Gael before joining the staff of the Scottish Leader. Thomas William Mackenzie, son of the noted campaigner for crofters’ rights, Alexander Mackenzie, returned from South Africa in 1902 to edit the paper but did not remain for more than a few months. His successor, E. J. Taylor, was president of the Highland League for the Taxation of Land Values. Perhaps because of this, the Highland Times hit difficulties, and Philip Macleod sank into bankruptcy in 1903. At the end of 1905, both the Highland Times and the Highland News were up for sale. However, John Macleod retained the News and took over the plant and title of the Times. It lost much of its radicalism and its emphasis was on photographs, calling itself the ‘Highland Illustrated Paper’. The Highland News continued under the editorship of Donald McDonald until 1931 and Duncan Grant, who was managing editor until 1939."

Dataset Summary

• Title: Highland News
• Time Period: 1895-1922
• Format: Image (jpg) files
• Processing: None
• Contents: Newspaper images: editions of the Highland News, containing news items from the Scottish Highlands
• Size: 11,240 image files

Considerations for Using this Data

Historical and Cultural Context

These documents should be understood within their historical context: due to the historical nature of the data, its language may include terms or sentiments that are considered inappropriate today. The language of the publications does not reflect the values of the National Library of Scotland. Rather, the language of the publications reflects historical values that offer insight on historical perceptions of places and people.

Additional Information

Licensing

This dataset is copyright undetermined: 'The copyright and related rights status of this Item has been reviewed by the organization that has made the Item available, but the organization was unable to make a conclusive determination as to the copyright status of the Item. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use.' http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/

Acknowledgments

Dataset context provided by National Library of Scotland Curator (Industrial Era), Suzanna Deupre