About

The Illustrated London News Archive

Consolidated Archives Holding Ltd (CAHL) specialises in archive ownership and management and acquired the Illustrated London News archive in July 2017. CAHL is actively looking for new archives to buy or partner with. Please contact us if you are interested at info@consolidatedarchives.co.uk

The Timeline

The ILN archive comprises The Great Eight Publications, a group of illustrated weekly newspapers, which came together in 1928 under the same umbrella. The publications in The Great Eight were, in order of founding, The Illustrated London News (1842), The Graphic (1869), The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News (1874), The Sketch (1893), The Sphere (1900), The Tatler (1901), The Bystander (1903) and Eve (1919). The union of these publications was the outcome of decades of intense competition in the market for illustrated weekly publications in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Read here about the Great Eight titles.

1. 14th May 1842 – First publication of The Illustrated London News, launched by Herbert Ingram: the world’s first illustrated weekly newspaper.

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3. 1855 – The 22nd December 1855 issue contained the first colour pictures ever printed in an English newspaper.
4. 1863 – The Illustrated London News was selling more than 300,000 copies every week, more than The Times.
5. 1893 – The ILN established The Sketch, a sister publication which covered lighter news and society events with the same focus on illustration.
6. 1901 – The magazine concentrates on reproducing superior photographs on better paper. Contributors include Joseph Conrad and G.K. Chesterton.
7. 1914 – War artists cover the First World War on Western and Eastern fronts, with a supplementary The Illustrated War News published midweek.
8. 1928 – A major business merger saw Illustrated London News move to new headquarters at Inveresk House, 1 Aldwych (also known as 364 Strand), London. Here the ILN and The Sketch were united with six of their former competitors under the parent company.

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10. 1940 – ILN’s London offices damaged by bombing, but the paper continued to cover the war.
11. 1942 – For ILN’s centenary the publication was invited to Windsor Castle for a private photoshoot of the King and Queen at home with their two daughters, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret.

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13. 1965 – The ILN’s first full-page colour photograph on the cover is of Sir Winston Churchill following his death.
14. 1971 – The weekly publication becomes monthly, with in-depth analysis of news stories and the highest quality photographs.
15. 1985 – Illustrated London News and The Great Eight acquired by Sea Containers from Thompson Publishing.
16. 2007 – The archive and content marketing company acquired Illustrated London News Limited in an MBO led by Lisa Barnard.
17. 2010 – Cengage Learning digitises and publishes the complete, fully searchable digitised archive of the ILN.
18. 2011 – ILN publishes The Illustrated Royal Weddings in celebration of the wedding of Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton.
19. 2012 – ILN publishes The Illustrated Diamond Jubilee in celebration of HM The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
20. 2014 – ProQuest digitises and publishes the complete, fully searchable digitised archive: The Graphic, The Sphere, The Sketch, The Bystander, The Tatler, The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News and Britannia and Eve.
21. 2016 – ILN publishes The Record Reign, celebrating HM The Queen becoming the longest reigning monarch, together with a facsimile edition of the ILN special edition volume celebrating Queen Victoria’s Record Reign.
22. 2017 – The ILN archive and the Great Eight acquired by Consolidated Archive Holdings Ltd. Illustrated London News Ltd appointed to manage the archive.
23. 2018 – CAHL/ILN publishes The Illustrated Royal Weddings in celebration of the wedding of Prince Harry and Miss Meghan Markle.