History of the Dunoon Observer

A History of the Dunoon Observer by Bill Jardine

In 1871 the British Empire was almost at the limit of an expansion which would span the globe, and Queen Victoria had been on the throne for 34 years.The opening of the Suez canal was celebrated by the first performance of the opera Aida, while France, humbled in defeat by the infant German state in the war of the previous year, was paying massive indemnities to the victors to end the occupation of Prussian troops. At sea, one of history’s most enduring mysteries came to pass with the discovery of the abandoned Mary Celeste drifting in the Atlantic, while Australia was linking up to the communications revolution via telegraph line from Sydney to Darwin in the north, and thence under the sea to Java.

The world was changing rapidly, and no more so than in Britain. The industrial revolution was in full swing, and in its wake society itself was being rebuilt. In the west of Scotland Glasgow,transformed by trade with the Americas in the previous century, was a mushrooming industrial centre. Travel had been revolutionised by the coming of steam which had made mass movement a practical proposition both on land and sea. Major beneficiaries of this were towns such as Dunoon and Rothesay, both of which rapidly grew in popularity and size as the century progressed.

Benefiting from the Victorian obsession with the health-giving properties of sea water and sea air.To these towns flocked hordes of Glasgwegians, wealthy merchants, artisans and common folk, to escape the squalor and hurly-burly of city life.One of these was William Inglis, a master printer in the Trongate who commuted to Glasgow daily before setting up business in Sandbank where his wife Catherine Russell had inherited a holiday home. In 1868 he opened a printing business.

William Inglis had picked his moment well; Sandbank, Hunter’s Quay and Dunoon achieved Burgh status in the year of his arrival, and the growing community was to provide the spur for his entrepreneurial spirit.Inglis was a good printer, and his connections in the city meant he was never short of work. He was also, however, a far-sighted man; the community was on the verge of massive growth, and there was great potential for a weekly newspaper.

Three years after his arrival, in March 1871, William Inglis launched the Argyllshire Standard and Advertiser for the Coast, an eight-page journal of 40 columns, on a hand-turned press from his base in Sandbank. Within its pages the reader could find all there was to know about what was happening in Cowal, plus extensive coverage of world news. William had timed his first issue to perfection; the Marquis of Lorne, son of the Duke of Argyll, had just married the Queen’s daughter, Princess Louise. In those days the profile of clan chiefs was high indeed, having been considerably romanticised in the works of Sir Walter Scott, and the marriage was a ‘local boy makes good’ story which was heaven-sent for the first issue. The five-column report gave an avid readership a chapter and verse account of what was undoubtedly the society event of the year.William Inglis’ brainchild has gone from strength to strength, and, almost unique among local newspapers, still remains in the hands of the founder’s descendants to this day. A few years after the paper’s birth, Inglis converted the presses to run water power -bringing on his head the wrath of the local Committee for the supply of Water, who were less than enamoured with his imaginative use of the product under their stewardship. The long-running battle between the fledgling editor and officialdom provided the Standard’s readership with much meaty comment, since in these days it was possible to print honest opinion without the risk of a libel suit, and William Inglis was a formidable adversary. In the end he thwarted the commissioners by replacing the water engine with an oil-powered motor, thus removing the production process from their jurisdiction.

William Inglis died in 1881, and the editorship of the paper fell to his fourth son Robert, a mere stripling of 21 The Standard remained in its Sandbank base until 1906, when Robert Inglis moved to John Street, Dunoon, where the present print works are based. The present company, E. and R. Inglis, was set up by Robert, his brother James, and their sister Eliza, James’ initial being removed following his death by drowning. The move was shrewd indeed, for directly opposite the new base was the post office and the main street, a position which ensured that news gathering could be carried out much more efficiently than previously. Robert Inglis’ hand was to stay on the helm of the Observer for an incredible 68 years -from the era of the horse and cart to the jet age. The year he became editor, Benjamin Disraeli died; the year Robert died and his son Willie took over - 1949 - the Russians tested their first atomic bomb. Willie Inglis, the paper’s third editor, had a hard act to follow, for his father was a legendary figure.

Willie however, had plenty of expertise of his own - he had, after all plenty of time to learn in the course of his 35 year apprenticeship! He was blessed with great energy and enthusiasm, and became a kenspeckle figure in his ‘Baby’ Austin, which trundled around Cowal, clocking up no less than 160,000 miles on its master’s business.He recognised that his beloved paper had a pivotal role in the community. It was his perceived role to give his public an insight int what was happening in Cowal and he was tireless in his efforts to keep his readership informed.

He set his own standards for covering the myriad facets of community life, and nothing escaped him. This approach has continued down the years, the highlight being the last weekend in August, when Dunoon hosts the Cowal Highland Gathering, the world’s foremost Highland Games. The Observer prides itself on giving unrivalled coverage of the event, and its Cowal Gathering edition is sent all over the world.Much has changed in Cowal since the Observer’s first issue was cranked out . Tourism peaked in the halcyon days before the Great War, but when Willie Inglis took over, Dunoon and its environs still attracted a large and loyal summer holiday population. The ubiquitous paddle steamers and turbines carried tens of thousands of happy city dwellers across the Firth to bustling Dunoon, to the more sedate Innellan, or into the Holy Loch, where tiny piers served the villages scattered along the lochside.

All that was to change in 1961, following a meeting between the British prime minister Harold MacMillan and President Kennedy, when a deal was done to give the US Navy base facilities in Britain for its deterrent fleet of Polaris submarines.The site chosen for the base was the Holy Loch, which had already seen service as a base for the Royal Navy during World War Two. The arrival of the first submarine tender, USS Proteus, and her brood of submarines in 1961 was to transform Dunoon and its economy for the following 30 years. It was a traumatic experience for a small town, turned overnight from a holiday resort into a major naval base, and suddenly inundated with thousands of servicemen and their dependants.The transformation was not without complications, but for many years the base was a highly popular posting for US Navymen, who grew to appreciate the friendly locals and spectacular scenery in the area. The closure of the base as the price of the peace dividend in 1993 was amajor blow to the local economy, but the Americans didn’t all leave - there are still many for whom the lure of Cowal far outweighed the attractions of their native land, and who continue to live in the area.

Throughout the changing years the paper, now known as the Dunoon Observer and Argyllshire Standard, continued to bring the news to the locals and their transatlantic neighbours, and Willie Inglis continued his dogged pursuit of stories to fill the pages. In 1961 Willie bowed to the march of progress and allowed new-fangled technology into the editorial office - he installed a telephone! Willie wrote his last editorial in 1977 and was succeeded by his daughter, Marion Carmichael, who ran the office for five years before Bill Millar took over, the first journalist from outside the family to sit in the editor’s chair. Bill, who sadly died in 1994 after a long illness, was succeeded by local man David Goodwin who had begun with the paper as a junior reporter in 1989. Gerry Burke was at the helm from 1999 to Spring 2000. Bill Jardine, a man of great knowledge and wit took the helm until his retirement in 2007.Currently Colin Cameron is serving as the editor.

E and R Inglis is now owned by Marion Carmichael, great-great-grand-daughter of its founder, in partnership with her husband John and son John.
While the Observer's role remains unchanged, in the last decade there has been a radical overhaul of production methods. In 1985 the paper changed from broadsheet to tabloid, a situation which rendered obsolete the existing sheet-fed flatbed press. consequently the paper was printed in Oban for six years, but in 1991 a web-offset printing press was installed in the print works on John Street, which allowed for the printing of not only the Observer, but an expansion of operations which allowed the company to produce other publications as well.The paper had already moved into the electronic age and was using word processors and typesetting machines, but in recent years this technology has been overtaken by the desk-top publishing revolution, and the Observer has yet again updated its equipment.

The newspaper offices were destroyed in a disastrous fire on the 8th August 1996, but the move to temporary premises was achieved without missing a single edition of the paper. Building work commenced 17th November 1997 and the new premises were opened in October 1998.
The Dunoon Observer and Argyllshire Standard, known to many locals as The Standard, still serves the Cowal peninsula and much of Argyll, continuing to fulfil William Inglisí dream all those years ago. It has reported through the reigns of six monarchs and the terms of no less than 24 Prime Ministers, and is confident that it will continue to serve Cowal for generations to come.

Editors
1871 - 1881	William Inglis Senior
1881 - 1949	Robert Inglis
1949 - 1977	William Inglis
1977 - 1982	Marion Carmichael
1982 - 1994	William Millar
1995 - 1999	David Goodwin
1999 - 2000	Gerry Burke
2000 - 2003	Marion Carmichael
2003 - 2007	Bill Jardine
2007 -Present	Colin Cameron

Key Dates
1871 - 1906	Hand set and printed at Sandbank
1906 - 1923	Hand set and printed at Dunoon
1923 - 1985	Newspaper set on Linotype Hot Metal Machines
1968 - 1985	Photographs produced on plastic using a drum scanner
1985 - 1995	Photo-typesetting supersedes hot metal process. Newspaper changes form Broadsheet to Tabloid
1985 - 1991	Newspaper printed at Oban times
1991 - Present	Solna Web Printing Machine installed at John Street returning the printing process to Dunoon
1995 - Present	Photo-typesetting replaced by computer desktop publishing

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