Explore the Kidderminster Shuttle history From its start in 1870 to its evolution as a multimedia news source.
Edward Parry, a Unitarian minister and headmaster, founded the Shuttle and later became mayor of Kidderminster in the late 1890s. Parry learned printing at age eleven while working in Birmingham, which likely inspired him to enter journalism.
The name “Shuttle” comes from a carpet loom part, honoring Kidderminster’s carpet industry, which made the town famous. The Shuttle brought steam-powered printing to Kidderminster; their first office was in an old flour mill, making preparing to print very complex then.
The Shuttle gained popularity over time, and a small printing plant was installed. The Shuttle influenced town statues, honoring Richard Baxter, Sir Rowland Hill, and Richard Eve; Parry wrote their inscriptions, showcasing his prose skills.
In 1903, American journalists helped the Shuttle by writing local histories of English towns, and the Shuttle printed an industrial study of Kidderminster, which boosted the paper’s reputation greatly. World War One changed the paper’s printing, and machine setting became necessary because of the war.
The Shuttle connected soldiers to their homes by printing stories and pictures of local fighters from 1914 to 1918. The paper sent copies weekly to battlefields, and articles prompted people to send food parcels. Relatives, friends, and charities supported soldiers.
Parry’s sons, Clive and Arthur, took over in the 1920s, and the Shuttle then moved to Corporation Street. By 1930, the County Express of Stourbridge bought the paper, forming Kidderminster Shuttle Ltd. in 1931.
Big changes happened to the paper’s layout as they stopped using flatbed machines, and the paper was printed by rotary press in Stourbridge. Its size and readership grew. World War Two created harsh conditions from 1939 to 1945, with a shortage of paper and ink, impacting all newspapers at the time.
Staff numbers dropped as people joined the war effort, but the Shuttle kept publishing during the war and quickly recovered afterward. In 1952, the Shuttle printed news and pictures on the front page, a change from only printing trade and auction ads, making them the first local newspaper to do that.
Newsquest Media Group later bought the Shuttle; the company now produces it in Stourbridge with printing in Weymouth. The paper’s name changed to The Shuttle, which included the Stourport News and Kidderminster Times. The Shuttle still prints thousands of copies, read for local news, sports, announcements and ads.