The Lichfield Mercury and Midland Chronicle was first published in July 1815 by James Amphlett at premises in Boar Street Lichfield. The back page carried news of Waterloo. The New Monthly Magazine Vol 4 No. 19 August 1815 mentions the new paper in a less than complimentary fashion: “The first number of a new provincial paper, under the title of the Lichfield Mercury and Midland Chronicle, appeared at Lichfield on the 7th of July. It is published by James Amphlett, whom we understand to have been the conductor of the infamous Staffordshire Mercury. We presume that it is destined to supersede that organ of disaffection; but notwithstanding its tone of moderation, it does not seem to promise stability.”
John Woolrich bought the paper in 1821, then sold it on to a group of gentlemen in 1825. According to the History, Gazetteer & Directory of Stafford, 1834, the Lichfield Mercury was published every Friday by George Walker Hinde “in the ancient house at the corner of the market place in which the celebrated Dr. Johnson was born”. Hinde, previously Editor, had become owner and publisher but the paper was then discontinued.
In 1877, printer, Frederic Brown, a conservative, established a new Lichfield Mercury in opposition to the Lichfield Chronicle of which he had previously been a proprietor. When Brown died in 1901, ownership passed to his brother Edward. He in turn sold it to W. H. Smith & Son in 1905.
The paper was later acquired by Allison & Bowen, owners of the Staffordshire Chronicle. It was sold on to a syndicate which incorporated the Lichfield Mercury Ltd in 1934.
For this newspaper, we have the following titles in, or planned for, our digital archive:
- 1877–1999 The Lichfield Mercury
