Edward "Ned" Hulton was a British newspaper proprietor in VictorianManchester. Born the son of a weaver, he was an entrepreneur who established a vast newspaper empire and was the progenitor of a publishing dynasty.
Early life and publishing business
Hulton was born in Manchester in 1838, the son of a weaver. While working as a compositor for The Manchester Guardian, he earned extra income publishing the Sporting Bell, a popular local horse racingtip sheet, under a pseudonym named after Kettledrum, the 1861 Epsom Derby winner. The Sporting Bell ultimately grew into the Sporting Chronicle newspaper Hulton founded in 1871 with financial backing from Edward Overall Bleackley, a local cotton merchant. Sales were boosted by the decision of several local newspapers including The Manchester Guardian to restrict racing coverage to appease the growing anti-gambling sentiment in society. The Sporting Chronicle, a broadsheet which specialised in horse racing and published starting price odds, became the first major national daily sporting newspaper. Its main competitor was the Sporting Life established in 1859. Writing as "Kettledrum", Hulton was also the Sporting Chronicle's tipster, and a tipping column was written by others under the same pseudonym until the newspaper closed in 1983. Hulton's publishing business started off in a basement in Spear Street in Manchester city centre. In 1873 premises were established for the expanding business at Withy Grove, the current site of The Printworksentertainment complex. In 1875 Hulton also founded the weeklyAthletic News, which covered weekend sports fixtures other than horse racing and supported professional football, and in 1885 he founded the Sunday Chronicle. The newspapers founded by Hulton survived in some form long after his death. In 1931 the Athletic News merged with the Monday edition of the Sporting Chronicle, which ceased publication in 1983. In 1955 the Sunday Chronicle merged with the Empire News, which merged five years later with the News of the Worldtabloid, which ceased publication in 2011. Hulton's second son Edward expanded his father's newspaper interests, founding the Manchester Evening Chronicle in 1897, the Daily Dispatch in 1900 and the Daily Sketch tabloid in 1909. Edward sold his publishing business based in London and Manchester, which included a large group of newspapers, for £6 million when he retired in 1923. The newspapers sold included: Sporting Chronicle, Athletic News, Sunday Chronicle, Empire News, Evening Standard, Daily Sketch, Sunday Herald, Daily Dispatch and Manchester Evening Chronicle.
