It was originally published by Herbert Ingram on 14 May 1842 and was the world's first weekly illustrated newspaper providing extensive visual coverage of events, news and social history; it originally using woodcut illustrations before starting to use photographs.
Herbert Ingram was born in 1811 in Boston, Lincolnshire, and from 1834 he ran a printing, newsagent and bookselling business in Nottingham in partnership with his brother-in-law, Nathaniel Cooke. As a newsagent, he was very much aware of an increase in newspaper sales when they featured pictures and sensational and shocking stories. So, he planned a weekly newspaper in which pictures would feature in every edition following the adage that a picture paints a thousand words. Herbert Ingram died in September 1860 as a result of a paddle-steamer accident on Lake Michigan. He was succeeded by his youngest son, William Ingram, then by William’s son, Bruce Ingram, in 1900, who remained as editor until his death.
FThe frst edition comprised sixteen 16 pages containing thirty-two wood engravings and covered topics including the war in Afghanistan, the Versailles rail accident, a survey of the candidates for the US presidential election, extensive crime reports, numerous theatre and book reviews, and the first list of births, marriages, and deaths. Ingram hired 200 men to carry placards through the streets of London promoting the first edition of his new newspaper which sold 26,000 copies at a cost of 6d each..
Despite the initial success, sales of subsequent editions declined but as Ingram was determined to make his publication a success, he sent all the clergyman in the country a copy of the edition which contained illustrations of the inauguration of the Archbishop of Canterbury in an endeavour to reach new subscribers.
The publication was founded to provide a vivid picture of news through images and was a pioneering publication that brought international events and social history to a broad audience. By the end of its first year, circulation was 60,000. In 1855, due to its pictorial coverage of the Crimean War and with the abolition of the Stamp Act that heavily taxed newspapers, its sales rose to around 200,000 copies per week. By 1863 The Illustrated London News was selling around 300,000 copies every week, which at the time was more than other British newspapers of the time.
