The Growth of the Business

The Ruthven Printing Press - The first printing machine in Orkney

The introduction of printing to the county was an important and major step forward in fulfilling James' ambition to print and produce a newspaper for Orkney.

His printing business presumably flourished because 20 years later, in 1841, he travelled to London to buy a larger press capable of printing posters.

A few years after that he further increased his stock of types but the production of a newspaper was delayed - possibly because of the fairly fragile state of the Orkney economy.

In November 1854 an Orkney newspaper known as The Orcadian was born. It had four tabloid pages, cost 2d, and contained a range of local, national and international news. It also contained a number of adverts from local businesses announcing the arrival of new goods and stocks.

The leading article in the first issue of The Orcadian was written by James Urquhart Anderson himself, then aged 55, and the pages of type were hand composed by his son, also called James.

At the time James Urquhart Anderson stated that his main purpose was to meet the long held desire of Orkney and Shetland people for a local paper "over which they will exercise adequate control."

The original plan was that the newspaper was to be a monthly publication until the "verdict of the County was known". In other words, until James knew whether his new paper had a readership adequate to maintain it.

The early years of The Orcadian were very rocky and the newspaper nearly folded on a number of occassions. It was only after about 30 years that the business became financially stable.

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