Daily Sketch, Number 1904, April 16, 1915

The Daily Sketch was a British tabloid newspaper, established in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton (1869–1925), one of the leading newspaper proprietors of his era. Hulton soon moved the paper to London, where it competed with the other leading British tabloid, the Daily Mirror. Like his father Edward Hulton (died 1904), Hulton was an astute entrepreneur who regarded newspaper publishing as primarily a commercial enterprise. He and his editors attracted a large readership by offering human interest news stories, news about sports, serialized stories, competitions in which readers could win prizes, and other features that entertained as much as they informed. Hulton early recognized the possibilities of picture journalism, and the front and back pages of the Daily Sketch always were given over completely to photographs. Many people in Britain came to see World War I through the prism of the newspaper, which devoted extensive coverage to the war. Presented here are 144 issues of the Daily Sketch from April 9, 1915, to May 31, 1916. Each issue generally contained news about the battles on the Western Front and other theaters of the war, with much attention paid to the wounded and to war heroes; information about the activities of the British royal family and other notables; news about the home front; features about women and families; short articles on political and social issues; cartoons; serialized stories; and advertisements. The issues generally ran to 12 pages.
Editor: Robinson, William Sugden, 1881-1968
References: Dilwyn Porter, “Hulton, Sir Edward, baronet (1869–1925),” in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2004).
Place: Europe; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; England
Institution: University of Pretoria Library
Physical description: 8 pages ; 20.4 x 31.5 centimeters