The Lady’s Newspaper was one of the earliest newspapers produced for an exclusively female audience. It marketed itself as a general newspaper, containing all of the news of the day, but presented in a way considered suitable and enjoyable for women to read. In its opening issue it stated that:

‘We shall make you acquainted with all the leading events of the day, without fatiguing or disgusting you with lengthy disquisitions. We can tell you that a battle has been won or lost, without shocking your sensibilities by its painful details. We can inform you that a minister has resigned, and yet omit the long dull speeches with preceded his doing so.’

It included regular features on London and Paris fashion, needlework patterns, book and theatre reviews, and serialised fiction, which appeared alongside surprisingly graphic accounts of wars and imperial uprisings, as well as in-depth political analysis and articles on current events. The newspaper had a very pro-imperial outlook, and also regularly included items on emigration and the life prospects of women in empire.

From 15th January 1848, the newspaper incorporated the Pictorial Times (1843-1848), and an editorial particularly drew attention to the resulting addition of chess problems to the publication. The Lady’s Newspaper continued to provide a varied and complex mix of news, much of which strayed from the traditional sphere assigned to women, until November 1862 when a note appeared which stated that:

‘At the urgent request of numerous subscribers, our Journal will be rendered more completely a Lady’s Newspaper than hitherto, and will deal less with political and other public events and general news, which, since the rapid progress made by cheap journalism, are so fully given in the newspapers especially devoted to them as to have become unnecessary in a class paper like our own.’

Thereafter the newspaper confined itself to more domestic subjects, with more of a focus on etiquette, entertaining, fashion and women’s accomplishments. In 1863 The Lady’s Newspaper merged with The Queen (1861-1863) and the Court Chronicle, to become The Lady’s Newspaper, The Queen & Court Chronicle.

Beth Gaskell - The British Library