Bell's Life was founded by Robert Bell, a London printer-publisher. Bell sold it to William Innell Clement, owner of The Observer, in 1824 or 1825, and the paper swallowed up a competitor, Pierce Egan's Life in London and Sporting Guide. From 1824 to 1852 it was edited by Vincent George Dowling, "during which time Bell's Life became Britain's leading sporting newspaper, without which no gentleman's Sunday was quite complete".[1] Dowling's son, Frank Lewis Dowling, effectively edited the paper during the last year of his father's life, and succeeded him as editor from 1852 to 1867. By the 1860s Bell's Life was facing competition from The Field, The Sportsman, Sporting Life, and The Sporting Times. In 1885 Edward Hulton bought Bell's Life and made it a daily, but in 1886 it was absorbed by Sporting Life.[2]
Editorial policyedit
Though Bell's Life is now best known as a racing paper it began life as an anti-establishment general newspaper aimed at the working class. From around 1830 it gave increasing coverage to racing and this soon comprised more than a third of the paper, following general news and followed in its turn by other sporting news (notably boxing but all other sports too). For thirty years it remained the principal source of racing news while its general news with its acid comment, full coverage of scandal and cartoons provides an entertaining picture of Victorian Britain. Bell's problem was that it aimed at both the literate poor and the general sporting public who fall into all classes. It experimented variously with appearing more than once a week and eventually eliminated all its general news, covering sport alone; but the changes came too late.
bell, life, london, sporting, chronicle, english, weekly, sporting, paper, published, pink, broadsheet, between, 1822, 1886, contents, history, editorial, policy, contributors, notes, referenceshistory, editbell, life, founded, robert, bell, london, printer, p. Bell s Life in London and Sporting Chronicle was an English weekly sporting paper published as a pink broadsheet between 1822 and 1886 Contents 1 History 2 Editorial policy 3 Contributors 4 Notes and referencesHistory editBell s Life was founded by Robert Bell a London printer publisher Bell sold it to William Innell Clement owner of The Observer in 1824 or 1825 and the paper swallowed up a competitor Pierce Egan s Life in London and Sporting Guide From 1824 to 1852 it was edited by Vincent George Dowling during which time Bell s Life became Britain s leading sporting newspaper without which no gentleman s Sunday was quite complete 1 Dowling s son Frank Lewis Dowling effectively edited the paper during the last year of his father s life and succeeded him as editor from 1852 to 1867 By the 1860s Bell s Life was facing competition from The Field The Sportsman Sporting Life and The Sporting Times In 1885 Edward Hulton bought Bell s Life and made it a daily but in 1886 it was absorbed by Sporting Life 2 Editorial policy editThough Bell s Life is now best known as a racing paper it began life as an anti establishment general newspaper aimed at the working class From around 1830 it gave increasing coverage to racing and this soon comprised more than a third of the paper following general news and followed in its turn by other sporting news notably boxing but all other sports too For thirty years it remained the principal source of racing news while its general news with its acid comment full coverage of scandal and cartoons provides an entertaining picture of Victorian Britain Bell s problem was that it aimed at both the literate poor and the general sporting public who fall into all classes It experimented variously with appearing more than once a week and eventually eliminated all its general news covering sport alone but the changes came too late Contributors editContributors included Francis Frederick Brandt agricultural writer Henry Corbet 1820 78 Charles Dickens Henry Hall Dixon angling writer Edward Fitzgibbon 1803 57 cricket writer Frederick Gale 1823 1904 W H Leverell card games writer Henry Jones 1831 1899 William Russell Macdonald 1787 1854 3 Rev Charles Henry Newmarch 1824 1903 sports writer William Ruff 1801 56 Robert Smith Surtees chess writer George Walker 1803 79 John Henry Walsh 4 Joseph Osborne Beacon author of The Horsebreeder s Handbook owner trainer of Grand National winner 1850 51Notes and references edit Tony Mason Dowling Vincent George 1785 1852 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press 2004 accessed 29 Dec 2007 Waterloo Directory of English Newspapers and Periodicals Lee Sidney ed 1894 Macdonald William Russell Dictionary of National Biography Vol 38 London Smith Elder amp Co ODNB nbsp nbsp This article about a newspaper on sports is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Bell 27s Life in London amp oldid 1161304815, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
