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Local newspapers during World War One have been regarded by some historians as the ‘heart beat’ of the local community – people got most of their information about daily events from their local paper. In Staffordshire, one of the biggest newspapers of the time was The Staffordshire Sentinel, based at Trinity Street in Hanley.

It was an entirely male-dominated news operation with no female reporters. Pigeons were used to send information over long distances (there were pigeons in the Sentinel’s loft). Information would come via telegram from places like London and reporters went out and covered local meetings verbatim. During the war The Sentinel printed a large number of letters sent back from war zones by local soldiers to their families.

The Sentinel wasn’t the only newspapers in the area at the time – they included the Leek Post and the Leek Times (since merged), The Staffordshire Advertiser (since closed), the Crewe Chronicle, the Crewe Guardian and the Nantwich Guardian.

Location: Trinity Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent ST1 1JJ
Image: Sentinel offices in Trinity Street at the start of WW1
Photograph courtesy of the Sentinel Newspaper