Byles, William

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Byles, William

Watercolour portrait of William Byles age 81

from John Sowden's notebooks:

"Mr Byles was born at Henley on Thames in 1807 and was educated at the Henley Grammar School. He was apprenticed as a printer in the city of Oxford when he was thirteen years of age. He gained his first experience in the office of the “Norfolk News” and later worked on the “Athenaeum”. He came to Bradford to Anthony undertake the introduction and management of a newspaper for Bradford. Mr Byles being 26 years of age, came to Bradford in 1834 and on February 6th the first number of the “Bradford Observer” made its appearance. From that day Mr Byles’ long life was interwoven with the quick growth and (?) of this great city and its neighbourhood. The first offices of the newspaper were in Picadilly where it was published and printed for some years – eight small pages, price seven pennies(?).

Subsequently Mr Byles and his brother Mr HB Byles purchased a printing business in Chapel Court, where the Observer was published in 1839. Those early years were years of struggle, financially and otherwise and were not encouraging. Indeed, in the final three years the whole of the original capital – between £2000 and £3000 has been exhausted and at a shareholders’ meeting it was resolved to wind up the company in 1838. Mr Byles had faith in the enterprise and continued with the help of a few supporters to bring out the Observer, acting himself for some time as editor, printer and publisher. However in 1841 an arrangement was made with Mr John Dale, printer in Ivegate to undertake the publication.

This arrangement only lasted for about 12 months and in April 1842 Mr Byles was again induced to take charge of the undertaking, which afterwards became his sole property. From this time the observer began to make headway and the printing business associated with it was extended. In 1847 new premises were taken in Kirkgate, where the Observer was published for more than 20 years. The Observer moved with the times and in 1868 it was converted into a daily morning newspaper.

In 1871, larger premises were required and the premises in Picadilly were seated on the very site where the Observer had its birth. In 1865 Mr Byles took into partnership his eldest son Mr WP Byles and 15 years later two other sons … (to be continued).”

Year

1888

Creator

John Sowden

Image filename

sowden-127