The Kingston Whig-Standard

The Kingston Whig-Standard is a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It is published four days a week, on Tuesday and Thursday to Saturday. It publishes a mix of community, national and international news and is currently owned by Postmedia.

The Saturday edition of The Whig features a life and entertainment section, which includes a travel section, restaurant reviews, a section for kids and colour comics.

The British Whig was founded in 1834 by Edward John Barker (1799–1884) on Kingston's Bagot Street between Brock and Princess...^[2] Barker was born in Islington, a suburb of London, on New Year's Eve, 1799, emigrating to South Carolina as a child before coming to Canada in December 1832. Barker served a short naval career, appointed as surgeon's mate on the sloop Racehorse in 1819. The next decade of his life was said to be spent as a doctor in the London district of East Smithfield, though his work may have been closer to that of an apothecary. In 1821, during his time in London, Barker married Elizabeth Phillips.

While practising medicinal arts in Kingston, he took up an offer to edit the Spectator, and after a year decided to publish his own semi-weekly Liberal-Reform paper. His medical training would also have effect on his editorials, as he encouraged sanitation to combat cholera. His political views were not extremely popular, but those opinions were turned around by Barker's efforts of advocacy of agricultural and mercantile interests. During the Rebellions of 1837–1838, Barker's press and house were attacked and damaged. Over the next few years, the Whig and Barker's editorials would begin to support a more Conservative view. From 1841 through 1844, during the time of Kingston as Canada's capital, Barker's Atheneum Press Job printing company would be busy thanks to validation from the Conservatives. Trouble would never be far for Barker as Queen's University surgeon Dr. John Stewart would start a local paper, the Argus, with the intention of "dissecting" Barker and the Whig in 1846. That same year Barker would launch an ambitious project, Barker's Canadian Monthly Magazine, a rich literary magazine but financial failure.

Despite setbacks from the Monthly and the Argus, business went well for Barker, the Whig switching to daily publication in 1849, followed by a weekly edition in 1862. The poet Charles Sangster, who had been editor for the Amherstburg Courier, returned to work at the paper in 1849, previously having been a 12-year part-timer there. In the same year, the paper began issuing the Daily British Whig, in addition to the variously semi-weekly/weekly/triweekly edition. By 1871, Barker was planning to retire, having had his grandson assisting in the managing of the paper for some years. After stepping back from the paper, Barker would be appointed Registrar of Kingston, and died 27 April 1884 of gout at his home in Barriefield.

Joseph Grey Elliott war 1922 Chefredakteur der Zeitung „ The Whig“ und gleichzeitig Präsident der Redaktion in der Barrie Street 94. Elliott wurde in Port Hope geboren und arbeitete mit 14 Jahren als Druckerlehrling für die „ Review“ in Peterborough . Er war für seine Ansichten zur Bildung bekannt. Elliott starb im November 1949 im Alter von 93 Jahren. Zwischen Penses Tod und der Übernahme durch die Familie Davies wurde „The Whig“ von der British Whig Publishing Company Limited herausgegeben . Zu dieser Gruppe gehörten Elliott, Harry E. Pense, Dr. Bruce Hopkins (verheiratet mit einer Pense) und zwei weitere Herren; Williamson war Chefredakteur.

William Rupert Davies erwarb die Zeitung im April 1925 aus dem Nachlass von Pense. Davies wurde in Wales geboren , wanderte in den 1880er Jahren nach Kanada aus und besaß vor seiner Ankunft in Kingston den „Renfrew Mercury“ . Von 1939 bis 1941 war W. R. Davies Präsident der Canadian Press und der Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association. Vor seiner Übernahme hatte der „Whig“ in diesem Jahr zwischen fünf- und zehntausend Dollar Verlust gemacht. Da Davies wusste, dass die Stadt nicht zwei Zeitungen tragen konnte, holte er Harry B. Muir, den Manager des „London Advertiser“ , mit ins Boot, um den „Kingston Standard“ zu kaufen . Der „Standard“ war 1907 von William R. Givens gegründet worden, als er die „News and Times“ erwarb, die 1903 aus der Fusion der „Kingston News“ und der „Evening Times“ hervorgegangen war . Die beiden Männer fusionierten die Zeitungen am 1. Dezember 1926 zum „Whig-Standard“ . Der Name „Kingston“ wurde 1973 gestrichen, Anfang der 1990er-Jahre jedoch wieder aufgenommen. Die Press Publishing Company, ein Unternehmen unter der Kontrolle von Davies, Muir und Givens, kaufte in den 1940er-Jahren auch den „ Peterborough Examiner“ , kurz nachdem Davies nach Muirs Tod dessen Anteile am „ Whig“ erworben hatte . Givens ging 1931 in den Ruhestand, starb 1950, und ein Jahr später verließ Rupert Kanada. Sein Sohn Arthur übernahm die Leitung der Zeitung. Der ältere Davies hatte die Zeitung 1946 an seine Söhne Arthur Llewellyn, Robertson und Fred R. verkauft, wobei Arthur L. bis 1969 als Verleger tätig war. Arthur arbeitete seit 1926 für die Zeitung und war die letzten 18 Jahre als Verleger und Geschäftsführer tätig.

Arnold Edinborough war von 1954 bis 1958 Herausgeber des Whig-Standard . Er hatte Rupert Davies' Sohn Robertson kennengelernt, als dieser Herausgeber des Examiner war , der Rupert Davies gehörte. Robertson hatte 1942 mit der Redaktion des Examiner begonnen und dort seine Figur Samuel Marchbanks entwickelt.

Neil Reynolds, born 1940, left the Toronto Star in 1974 to join the Whig as an editor. He soon became editor in chief, staying with the paper until 1992, when Harvey Schachter took over. The paper excelled during the 1980s under Michael Davies (son of Arthur Llewellyn) and Reynolds, winning eight National Newspaper Awards, four National Magazine Awards, three Nathan Cohen Awards for dramatic criticism and two Michener Awards for public service journalism. Prior to the Whig, Reynolds had been with the Sarnia Observer, London Free Press, and after leaving Kingston spent time at the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal and the Saint John Times-Globe. Others who contributed to the award-winning stories include Steve Lutkis, on staff from 1989 as an editorial writer, Douglas Fethering, Literature editor from 1988 to 1992, David Pulver, a writer and editor in Entertainment and editorials from 1977, and Sylvia Barrett Wright, the medical and science reporter from 1974 to 1981.

Despite the recognition through this time, the late 1980s were difficult for the paper financially, leading Michael Davies to sell the paper. Thus ended the largest, longest independently owned paper in Canada in October 1990. The paper continues today as the oldest continuously publishing daily in Canada under the Postmedia Network of newspapers. (The first Canadian daily is the now defunct Montreal Daily Advertiser.^[3]) The Whig-Standard had a 20–25,000 circulation under the editorship of Steve Serviss and publisher Ron Laurin. It is currently overseen by Kingston native, Editor-In-Chief, Jan Murphy (2025 - present.)

• Jack Chiang
• William Rupert Davies
• Bill Fitsell (1923–2020), Canadian sports journalist and historian^[4]

• List of newspapers in Canada

• Der Kingston Whig-Standard
• Suchen und stöbern Sie in historischen Ausgaben der Zeitschrift „British Whig“ über die digitale Sammlungsseite „Digital Kingston“ der Kingston Frontenac Public Library.