Elizabeth Mallet facts for kids

Elizabeth Mallet was an English printer and bookseller. She is famous for creating Britain's first daily newspaper, called The Daily Courant. She worked in this business from about 1672 to 1706.

Who Was Elizabeth Mallet?

Elizabeth Mallet lived a long time ago, from the late 1600s to the early 1700s. She was a very important person in the history of newspapers. She worked as a printer and also sold books.

Starting Her Business

In 1672, Elizabeth married David Mallet. Together, they had a printing business. They were well-known for printing speeches given by prisoners before they were executed. These were called "last dying speeches." They ran their business from Blackhorse Alley in Fleet Street, London.

David Mallet passed away in 1683. After his death, Elizabeth continued to run the family business. She had two printing presses. She also helped their son, David, learn the printing and bookselling trade. However, her son was not successful in this business.

Within ten years, Elizabeth Mallet was fully in charge again. She started publishing regular news publications. One of these was The New State of Europe, which began in 1701. She also printed exciting stories and pamphlets.

Creating Britain's First Daily Newspaper

Front page of The Daily Courant

On March 11, 1702, Elizabeth Mallet launched The Daily Courant. This was a very special newspaper because it was the first daily newspaper in Britain. It was a single sheet of paper. It mainly shared news from other countries.

Elizabeth chose not to print news from London. This was because publishing local news could cause trouble with the government. She wanted to avoid any problems. She wrote under a male name. She promised her readers that she would only share facts. She believed that readers were smart enough to form their own opinions. She wrote: "Nor will [the Author] take it upon himself to give any Comments or Conjectures of his own, but will relate only Matter of Fact; supposing other People to have Sense enough to make Reflections for themselves."

Her Impact on News

Some people say that Elizabeth Mallet was the first editor of a daily newspaper in Britain. Even though the job title "editor" didn't exist yet, she did that work. Her newspaper helped change how people thought about time. It made people feel that life was moving faster. Historians believe that getting news every day made people think differently about the future.

See also

• List of women printers and publishers before 1800