On this day

December 25, 1942

cover page of Maidstone Telegraph published on December 25, 1942

Maidstone Telegraph

The Maidstone Telegraph was founded in Kent in 1859 by Mr J. Lurcock, who ran a library in Earl Street, Maidstone. The four-page paper initially had a staff of two; printer George Russell, and a boy assistant, W.R. Brown. In 1871 it was renamed the Kent Messenger and Maidstone Telegraph. However in 1890 the then owners, the Masters brothers, facing a series of libel actions and unable to cover costs, were put in jail. They were assisted in their plight by Barham Pratt Boorman, who already owned the Kent Examiner and Ashford Chronicle. Boorman subsequently bought the Kent Messenger from the brothers. It has remained in the Boorman family ever since, and is the flagship newspaper for the KM Group.

 

For this newspaper, we have the following titles in, or planned for, our digital archive:

  • 1859–61 Maidstone Telegraph, Rochester & Chatham Gazette
  • 1861–97 Maidstone Telegraph, Malling Chronicle and West Kent Messenger
  • 1910–20 Kent messenger & Maidstone telegraph.
  • 1939–73 Kent Messenger (County ed.)
  • 1972–99 Kent messenger (Maidstone edition)

This newspaper is published by KM Group in Maidstone, Kent, England. It was digitised and first made available on the British Newspaper Archive in Mar 8, 2013 . The latest issues were added in Mar 6, 2024.