The Daily Mirror

The Daily Mirror was launched in 1903 by the journalist and newspaper proprietor, Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, later Viscount Northcliffe (1865-1922), as a newspaper 'for gentlewomen', employing mainly female editorial staff. The following year, Henry Hamilton Fyfe was appointed editor to improve the newspaper's circulation and he introduced photo-journalism, publishing pictures of the Royal Family in 1904 and King Edward VII lying in state in 1910. In 1914, Alfred Harmsworth sold the Daily Mirror to his brother Harold, Lord Rothermere, who later sold his shares in the newspaper in 1931. Under the editorial directorship of Harry Guy Bartholomew, the Daily Mirror became a tabloid newspaper during the 1930s, adopting an anti-establishment tone and employing left-wing journalists such as Hugh Cudlipp. The Daily Mirror became one of Britain's most popular newspapers, selling a record-breaking seven million copies on Coronation Day in 1953.

From the guide to the The Daily Mirror collection, 1916, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)