Financial News (1884–1945)
| Format | Broadsheet |
|---|---|
| Editor | Harry Marks (founder) |
| Founded | 23 January 1884: As Financial and Mining News July 1884: name changed to Financial News 1945: Merged with Financial Times |
| Headquarters | London |
The Financial News was a daily British newspaper published in London. It was founded in 1884 by Harry Marks, who had begun on United States newspapers, and set up to expose fraudulent investments. Marks himself was key to the paper's early growth, when it had a buccaneering life fighting against corruption and competing with the Financial Times, but after Marks' death it declined. Bought by publishers Eyre & Spottiswoode in 1928 and run by Brendan Bracken, it eventually merged with its great rival in 1945.
The first four-page edition of the Financial and Mining News appeared on 23 January 1884; it adopted the shorter title that July. Founder Harry Marks imported techniques he had learned in the United States to target those offering questionable investment schemes, intending that his paper be known for campaigning.
The newspaper scored an early significant success in exposing corruption in local government. Marks himself was one of the main authors of a series of articles that began appearing on 25 October 1886 and carried on for nearly a year. The newspaper uncovered the involvement of officials and members of the Metropolitan Board of Works, which ran local government services in London, in schemes to personally enrich themselves. However the early years saw the company frequently summoned to the law courts to defend libel actions; there were three major cases between 1888 and 1890.
The paper gained a rival in 1888 when the Financial Times published by Horatio Bottomley appeared. The two papers frequently attacked each other's advertisers, and criticised the investment schemes the other promoted, until a truce was worked out after a bad-tempered dispute over "the Nitrate King" Colonel J. T. North who was developing the Nitrate Railway in South America. After then they continued to compete, but more in the nature of a friendly rivalry.
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