western flying post or yeovil mercury
western flying post
or Yeovil Mercury
The first newspaper printed and published in Somerset was produced in Taunton in 1725, the second was produced in Bath in 1744. Just five months later on Monday, 30 July 1744 the first issue of 'The Western Flying Post, or Yeovil Mercury' was launched in Yeovil by Robert Goadby.
Robert Goadby had moved to Yeovil in 1744 and set up a hand-printing press in a property known as The Bow, or Under Bow, on the corner of Grope Lane (today's Wine Street) and High Street, facing the Borough.
Goadby's
newspaper, the
Western Flying
Post or Yeovil
Mercury, was
set up in direct
competition with
the Sherborne
Mercury, founded
in 1734 by Mr H
Bettinson, and
printed and
published in
Sherborne,
Dorset. In 1746
Bettinson and
Goadby
amalgamated the
Western Flying
Post or Yeovil
Mercury with the
Sherborne
Mercury and on
Monday, 30
January 1749
produced the
first issue of
'The Western
Flying Post; or
Sherborne and
Yeovil Mercury'
(see photograph
below).
At this time
Goadby left
Yeovil and moved
to Sherborne.
In its edition of 26 June 1867 the Taunton Courier & Western Advertiser recorded the history of ownership of the newspaper "From Messrs Brittan it passed into the hands of Mr John Noake Highmore. He sold it to Mr May, of Taunton. Mr May disposed of it to Mr Manfield, of Dorchester, who in turn disposed of it to the Church and County Newspaper Company."
GALLERY
Courtesy of Mrs
M J Rogers
The Western Flying Post or Yeovil Mercury in Under Bow, in the Borough on the corner of Grope Lane, photographed in 1861 by photographer and artist Frederick Treble. At this time, Under Bow was the premises of baker and confectioner Charles Pyne, whose name appears above the door in this photograph.
From my
collection
An original pastel and pencil sketch on paper (255mm x 190mm) of Charles Pyne's bakery and confectionary establishment 'Under Bow', showing part of the Wine Street elevation at the left. The sketch is by artist Walter Francis Tiffin (1819-1890) of Salisbury, Wiltshire - although at the time of this sketch he was in Sherborne. An attached label reads "Sherborne, W Tiffin, 1865" and a second label, in pencil, reads 'By W F Tiffin'.
From my
collection
The top half of the 'Western Flying Post, Sherborne and Yeovil Mercury' dated Saturday 2 September 1826.
An article from the Taunton Courier & Western Advertiser's edition of 26 June 1867 outlining the ownership of the Sherborne Mercury.
The former offices of the 'Western Flying Post and Yeovil Times' between 1861 and 1867. It was later Yeovil's second Post Office (from 1876 to 1902).
