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A REPUTATION FOR EXCELLENCE
A History of the Aberdeen and Northern Counties Printing
Industry
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Shetland
The first newspaper to appear in Shetland was The Shetland Journal
but it ceased publication at the end of its first year. It was printed
in London for its founder, Arthur Anderson, who attempted to extend
his readership in The Orkney and Shetland Journal but it appeared
for only a few months.
A further effort to establish a newspaper was made by Charles Jamieson
in 1862 at 68 Commercial Street. It was given the title The Shetland
Advertiser and consisted of four pages. The early demise of the
Advertiser was said to be due to difficulties of communication throughout
the islands.
The type and plant lay idle until 1870, by which time the islands
were linked by telegraph. With the new facilities available, Jamieson
decided to try again with a paper called Telenews and was encouraged
by the response from advertisers. Sadly, on the very date the first
number was due for publication, the telegraph cable broke and it
was impossible to obtain the news to fill the paper.
The launching of The Shetland Times was largely due to the influence
of Charles Duncan, the procurator fiscal, who recruited Donald Stephen
from The John O’Groat Journal. Using two hand presses, Stephen
produced a four-page newspaper on 17 June 1872 under the title The
Zetland Times, but this was changed to The Shetland Times soon afterwards.
The aim was to publish the weekly newspaper on Saturdays, but at
times this was delayed until Mondays depending on the arrival of
mail from the south with advertisements and the latest news. Within
a year the hand press was replaced by a cylinder machine but at
this early stage the Times encountered competition from two rival
newspapers. In the event neither The Peerie Times nor The Lerwick
Times survived for long.
When Stephen’s health was failing in 1875 he left Shetland
and the business was taken over by Christopher Sandison who moved
to new premises near the Market Cross. The ground floor was occupied
by a bookseller and stationers with the composing room and printing
department upstairs. When Sandison died in 1883 his brother, Andrew,
who had become a partner the previous year, took control of the
firm.
Within a year, however, Basil Johnson, the foreman printer, and
Peter Greig, the only reporter, had taken over and moved to another
location near the then Bank of Scotland building. It was there that
the first power-driven press was installed. The partnership had
plans for expansion and a new building was erected in Mounthooly
Street for which additional plant was acquired. This allowed the
paper to be increased in size from four to eight pages and soon
afterwards the first Linotype machine was installed and hand-setting
of the paper ceased.
At this point in the history of The Shetland Times it seems appropriate
to examine events related to The Shetland News. In 1884 Thomas Manson
and his brother, James, were employed at the Times office. Both
were printers but the latter had the distinc-tion of being the first
shorthand writer in Shetland. That year Thomas left the Times and
set up on his own as a jobbing printer. A year later his small business
and plant were purchased by the newly formed Shetland Newspaper
Company. Thomas was engaged as works manager, James was appointed
reporter, and the editor was J.B. Laurence. The plants of The Orkney
and Shetland Journal which had ceased publication and the defunct
Shetland Advertiser were also purchased.
In 1886 the Shetland Newspaper Company went into liquidation and
the Manson brothers acquired the business. James became the editor
of the News and continued in that role until his death in 1907.
Thomas then added the editorship to his responsibilities as general
manager and was assisted by his nephew Robert Inster as reporter.
Although The Shetland News ceased publication on 27 Septem-ber 1963,
the company T. & J. Manson continued as general jobbing printers
for several years.
To return to the Times history, Basil Johnston edited the paper
from 1894 until the First World War, with Peter Greig as the sole
reporter. In April 1915 the newspaper suffered a serious blow when
the premises in Mounthooly Street were burned down. The difficulties
in obtaining replacement machinery during war-time cannot be exaggerated
but, with the assistance of a Glasgow engineer, second-hand plant
was found. The old infant school in Prince Alfred Street was available
and the replacement equipment was installed there. Eight weeks after
the fire occurred, publication of the Times was resumed.
During the First World War the proprietors’ sons, Bertie Johnson
and Bob Greig, saw active service before returning to step into
their fathers’ shoes, the former as editor and manager and
the latter as sole reporter. Greig’s death in 1938 was a serious
blow to the paper and four years later a further loss was suffered
when Johnson died suddenly. The business was left to his sister,
Mrs H.B. Wishart, who formed a private limited company in 1942.
Several interim editors were employed until 1946 when Mrs Wishart’s
son, Basil, returned from war service. He was joined on the paper
by Hugh Crooks who had helped out at various times during army service
in Shetland. This successful partnership brought about many changes.
Until 1968 the newspaper was printed on a sheet-fed Wharfedale press.
In that year a Duplex press was installed, capable of printing sixteen
pages but still flat-bed letterpress. On 4 July 1980 the first issue
printed on a newly acquired Goss Community press was published.
At that time typesetting was generated on Compugraphic Editwriters
which had replaced the Intertype and Linotype hot metal equipment.
The paper now averages forty pages, is made up on screen, and complete
pages output on film. A wide range of software is used on Apple
Mac equipment, and halftones are scanned on an Agfa scanner. For
commercial colour work, an ICC 350 vertical drum scanner is employed,
with output to an Agfa Accuset imagesetter. Latest advances include
the development of an Internet site.
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Volume 3 published 1996
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