The News Letter turns 286 today - Sunday September 17 - the world's oldest English language daily newspaper

​The News Letter continues on the journey towards its 300th birthday, turning 286 this weekend.
By Ben Lowry
Published 16th Sep 2023, 07:42 GMT
Updated 17th Sep 2023, 16:37 GMT
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Today is the anniversary of the first edition of the Belfast News Letter and General Advertiser, published on September 6 1737.

The earliest News Letters are lost and the date of launch was long assumed to be September 1 1737, but my research for our 275th anniversary in 2012, based on the numbers of the early editions that do survive (from 1738) led me to conclude we most likely first hit the streets on Sep 6.

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That was the date under the old Julian calendar that was used back then, but in 1752 Britain adopted the current Gregorian calendar, under which the date is now September 17, ie tomorrow. Of English language newspapers in the world that now publish daily, the News Letter is the oldest. We are almost 50 years older than The Times (of London), which was launched in 1785.

Stock Front pages of the Belfast News Letter over the last 286 years: Top left, from October 1738 the earliest surviving edition of the paper; top right from December 1854 at the height of the Crimean War; middle left, from September 1912 at the time of the Ulster covenant; middle right from September 1939 at the start of World War Two; bottom left from November 1963 at the assassination of John F Kennedy; bottom right from last September; bottom middle from April 1998 at the time of the Belfast Agreement; and bottom right from September last year after the new king's first visit to NIStock Front pages of the Belfast News Letter over the last 286 years: Top left, from October 1738 the earliest surviving edition of the paper; top right from December 1854 at the height of the Crimean War; middle left, from September 1912 at the time of the Ulster covenant; middle right from September 1939 at the start of World War Two; bottom left from November 1963 at the assassination of John F Kennedy; bottom right from last September; bottom middle from April 1998 at the time of the Belfast Agreement; and bottom right from September last year after the new king's first visit to NI
Stock Front pages of the Belfast News Letter over the last 286 years: Top left, from October 1738 the earliest surviving edition of the paper; top right from December 1854 at the height of the Crimean War; middle left, from September 1912 at the time of the Ulster covenant; middle right from September 1939 at the start of World War Two; bottom left from November 1963 at the assassination of John F Kennedy; bottom right from last September; bottom middle from April 1998 at the time of the Belfast Agreement; and bottom right from September last year after the new king's first visit to NI

There were until recently four older dailies than us, but none publish in English. One of them, the German language Wiener Zeitung based in Vienna, recently ceased to be a daily. It is now web only. It was founded in 1703 but did not publish during World War II, so we were already in a rarer historical category of ‘continuously published’ papers (the News Letter has never been out of print). The Gazzetta di Mantova in Italy was launched 359 years ago, in 1664. And the German Hildesheimer Allgemeine Zeitung (1705) and Hanauer Anzeiger (1725) are dailies. No American paper is as old as us. The Hartford Courant in Connecticut, is 1764.

Papers only got going two centuries after Gutenberg’s 1440 printing press. The BNL begins midway in the 580 years since the invention.Our longevity means that we have reported now on 11 monarchs, the latest being King Charles III. The first was King George II. We have reported on 57 British heads of government (prime ministers), including the very first, Robert Walpole, was still in Downing Street at the time of our launch.

The late Queen Elizabeth II congratulated the News Letter on our 275th birthday in 2012. Buckingham Palace said she “sends her warm good wishes to all concerned on this most special anniversary”.

In the meantime, we thank you, our readers — for keeping us in daily print publication, alongside an ever growing digital version, as we look forward to the coming centuries!

Related topics:Elizabeth IICharles III