The Henderson Newspaper Dynasty

There was a time before radio, TV, and smart phones when newspapers were the only public source of information. Not surprising then, that at the beginning of the 19th century, there were hundreds of them published around Ireland. The earliest among them was the Belfast Newsletter which was first published during the previous century.

Papers were usually published once or twice a week, usually containing four pages. They followed a similar pattern: advertisements, local news, reports on the actions of Parliament, and finally, a literary page with poetry, and a serialized fictional story. Some included birth, marriage and death notices of the most prominent Irish citizens. Most newspapers supported a political perspective, either Whig or Conservative, nationalist or loyalist. Papers cost a few pennies a copy. Those who could afford a subscription could instead subscribe to a reading room many newspapers offered. There they could read multiple newspapers from Ireland and England for the price on a single subscription. For years, they were very popular.

None of this was of much help to the majority of Irish citizens who had no spare pennies or were unable to read. But that didn't mean that they had no interest in the news or no way to access it. People like James Harshaw, who subscribed to two papers, the Newry Commercial Telegraph, which was a Conservative, loyalist newspaper, and the Banner of Ulster, which was published for a Presbyterian audience, shared each copy with his poor, but literate, workers and neighbors. Some of these shared newspapers found their way to the local pubs where they would be read aloud to illiterate patrons.

James Henderson and his wife Amelia were the first Hendersons to live in Newry. They weren't in the newspaper business when they came. The Newry paper was owned by Alexander Peacock. But they found Newry to their liking and settled in to raise a large family there. George Henderson, who is one of the principal writers in the Dragon books, was one of the younger sons in the family, the oldest son being James Alexander Henderson. It was this first son who started the Henderson newspaper empire. James #2 acquired control of the Newry Telegraph, by marrying Peacock's daughter Anne. He found greater opportunities in Belfast and left the Newry paper to younger brother George to manage.

A few years later, James #2, though still a very young man, was given the opportunity to go to Belfast and join Alexander Mackay in running the Belfast Newsletter. Not long after Mackay died, this James followed his father's example and married Agnes Mackay, thus gaining control of another very prominent newspaper. Ownership and management of this Belfast newspaper continued in this branch of the Henderson family for many generations. They embraced each new form of communication as it was invented, through radio and into the post World War II world of television, largely through the leadership of James and Agnes's son James Alexander #3. He became the first Lord Mayor after Belfast became officially a city. He led the building of the Belfast City Hall, and received a knighthood from Queen Victoria.

Sir James Alexander Henderson

Under George Henderson's leadership the Newry Telegraph also continued to play an important roll in Ulster society. However, when George left and moved to Dublin, the paper began to decline in readership and revenue. In 1873, the paper had hit "low water" financially. So James #2, who was still managing the Newsletter, dispatched James #3 back to Newry to rescue the paper. He continued to edit the paper until 1883 when his father died and he returned to Belfast to manage the paper there.

The Henderson family remains an important and well known media family in Belfast. Sadly, the current members of the family have no information on George Henderson or his contribution to Irish history. Hopefully, Dueling Dragons will provide him the recognition he deserves.