Gibraltar Chronicle

The newspaper Gibraltar Chronicle is published in Gibraltar since 1801 and has been published since 1821 as daily newspaper. It is Gibraltar's oldest daily newspaper and the world's second oldest continuously published newspaper in English language.

History

The emergence of the Gibraltar Chronicle is closely related to the garrison. Initially favor lists were posted on a bulletin board of the Garrison Library. On May 4, 1801 bulletin with the headline " continuation of the INTELLIGENCE FROM EGYPT received by His Majesty's ship Flora in three weeks from Alexandria " was printed. The report had four sides, three of them in English and French. On the fourth side there was an article about Nelson's victory at the Battle of Copenhagen and a list of officers who had fallen since landing in Egypt. The second edition was published on 8 May 1801. The first editor was a Frenchman named Charles Bouisson, who settled in 1794 in Gibraltar.

The latest edition of the Gibraltar Chronicle, which was numbered with Roman numerals, was on 22 September 1804, the number CLX (160). The publication was then adjusted for five months because of the yellow fever epidemic until March 23, 1805, the number 161 appeared and was subsequently published a weekly edition in Arabic numerals.

The first 160 numbers contained verbatim extracts from The London Gazette and (in the original or in translation ) from official Spanish, French and Russian pronouncements and further court decisions, parliamentary debates and proclamations, military and naval despatches, local regulations, exchange rates and reports from foreign newspapers. They contained only a few letters, advertisements or details of social events except those who were connected with the royal court and the activities of the members of the garrison. Therefore, had these days the Gibraltar Chronicle little or no local content. The newspaper was sold at a price of 1 ½ real, and the audience consisted mostly of officials.

The Gibraltar Chronicle retained its military character in until well into the twentieth century. It is currently being edited by an independent local Trust.

Report on the Battle of Trafalgar

The Gibraltar Chronicle published the report on the victory at Trafalgar on October 21, 1805 two weeks before the London papers: Already on 22 October 1805, the British fleet had taken a fishing boat which brought the news to Gibraltar that there on 23 October 1805 was published in the Gibraltar Chronicle, in English and French. The publication was a letter from Admiral Collingwood to the Governor of Gibraltar Henry Edward Fox again, in which the battle was described. It was only on October 26, 1805, five days after the battle, Admiral Collingwood was able to pass the message of victory to Lieutenant Lapenotiere, the commander of a small schooner, who was on his way to England. Prime Minister William Pitt and King George III. received the message, therefore, only in the morning hours of November 6, 1805, which delayed the publication in The Times on November 7, 1805.

Archives

Only two complete or nearly complete holdings of the Gibraltar Chronicle are archived, and both are located in Gibraltar. The garrison library maintains a complete series from 1801 onwards, including the issue with the "exclusive report " of the victory at Trafalgar. An almost complete collection, in which only the first few years needed are not in the Gibraltar Archives.