Devon - Newspapers

Exeter working papers in book history; 24 - Devon newspaper bibliography, 1704-2004

Listing of Newspapers held on microfilm (archived copy) in the Devon Heritage Centre.

Newspaper readership in south west England in 1815 - with a listing of nearly 1700 subscribers to Flindell's Western Luminary in 1815.

The Cornish & Devon Post is now available in the British Newspaper Archive.

The West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser (1836 - 1887) - here is a collection of the results of a large ongoing transcription project. It is searchable, and contains quite a lot of Devon-related new items.

Detailed lists of early Devon newspaper holdings are to be found in:

Gibson, J.S.W.. Local newspapers, 1750-1920: England and Wales, Channel Islands, Isle of Man : a select location list. Federation of Family History Societies (1987) 64 p.

Maxted, Ian. Printing, the Book Trade and Newspapers c.1500-1860. In Historical Atlas of South-West England, ed. R. Kain and W. Ravenhill, pp.240-245, Exeter, University of Exeter Press, (1999).

Mildren, James. 125 Years with the "Western Morning News", Bossiney Books (1985) 120 pp. [ISBN-13: 978-0948158025]

Outhwaite, Mary. Illustrated London News 1849, Devon Family Historian, vol. 118, (2006) pp.25-29. [Extracts: Emigration, Bankruptcy, Births, Marriages, Deaths, Miscellaneous, Naval and Military Intelligence related to Devon]

Smith, L. Devon Newspapers: A finding list. County Council of Devon, County Hall, Exeter, EX2 4QD, Standing Conference on Devon History (1973).

The two most important newspapers for which indexes have been prepared are Trewman's Exeter Flying Post (Westcountry Studies Library has copies for 1768-1837, 1840-1917, with an index covering 1763-1835) and the North Devon Journal (Barnstaple Library has copies for 1827-1920, with an index covering 1850-95).

See also:

Cawsey, David. British Newspaper Archive. Devon Family Historian, vol 142, (2012) pp 10-12 (archived copy).

Christie, Peter. Sir - Letters to the Editor of the North Devon Journal 1824-1874, Edward Gaskell (2013) 322 pp. [ISBN-13: 978-1906769468]

Marjorie Snetzler (transcr.), Devon Extracts From The London Gazette (2 vols: 1665-1765, 1665-1850), Devon Family History Society (1987).

Smith, L. Heritage Album: 175 years in North Devon (1824-1999) North Devon Journal (2000?). [Index] [Chronology]

Paul Mansfield's West Country Newspapers surname index currently has about 25,000 names covering Somerset, Devon, Dorset and Cornwall, from eight nespapers, during the period 1770-1835. (Copy dated 21 Apr 2006, from the Internet Archive.)

Extensive listings of BDM notices and other items in Australian newspapers concerning inhabitants from identified Devon towns and parishes, and from unspecified Devon locations, provided by Bev Edmonds.

Brief extracts from The Western Press (1913) (auctions, deaths, Devon Show prizewinners - archived copy) by Shirley Turner.

Items from Peter Christie's 'Looking Back' columns in the North Devon Journal - Addenda: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Devon Life Online - from the Devon Life monthly magazine; provides summary descriptions and historical accounts of a large number of Devon towns and villages.

Midweek Herald and North Devon Gazette websites.