The Montgomeryshire Express first began as the Newton and Welshpool Express, launched in January 1860 by founder and proprietor Henry Parry. It underwent three name changes, first from its original title to the Montgomeryshire Express in 1877, then to the Montgomeryshire Express and Radnor Times in 1890. This newspaper was considered a rival to the Montgomery County Times and Shropshire and Mid-Wales Advertiser.

Henry Parry, a steadfast radical, was the paper’s first chief editor. Edward Stephens, who later became sole editor a few years before Parry’s death in 1875, assisted him. Stephens, who had also worked as a reporter for the Montgomeryshire Express, was also considered a radical.

In 1877, along with a title change to the Montgomeryshire Express, Edward Stephens and his partner, John Edwards, began printing with a new Otto engine printing machine. However, in June 1881, the partners had to approach the Oswestry Advertizer to ask them to print half of the Montgomeryshire Express as they were experiencing equipment faults with their own machinery.

The Montgomeryshire Express was a liberal paper, and this was reflected in its regular coverage of the Liberal Social Council. In 1906, two reporters from the paper interviewed the nearly 100-year-old David Price, who was thought to be the oldest liberal voter in the area, in their special feature ‘A Veteran Liberal of Llanidloes’. It also covered wider politics in its Political Intelligence column.

The Montgomeryshire Express served the historic county of Montgomeryshire, which is now part of Powys in Mid Wales.