About The British Banner

The British Banner is operated by Football News UK Ltd. It is a new publication covering Britain, world affairs, politics, money, sport and Life & Culture.

What we publish

Our launch articles are source-linked explainers: accessible guides to public decisions, institutions and everyday subjects. We distinguish explainers, news, analysis and opinion, and link to the documents and data that support factual claims.

A historic design reference, a new publication

Our nameplate and engraved visual style are inspired by The British Banner, London, 1848. This is design inspiration only. We do not claim to be its successor, to have been established in 1848 or to share its publishing history.

Accuracy and accountability

Our Editorial standards and Corrections and complaints pages set out how factual claims should be checked and how readers can raise concerns. Significant corrections carry a visible, dated note explaining what changed.

History behind the name

The name and visual style of our publication take inspiration from The British Banner, a London weekly first published on 7 January 1848. Its watchwords were “Literature, Humanity and Religion”. The British Newspaper Archive describes a paper intended to offer guidance to the prospective young British voter, placing public affairs alongside a strong religious outlook.

John Campbell, a Congregational minister and editor, was a central figure in its early history. Historical scholarship credits him with starting the weekly in 1848. A new series began on 4 January 1856, printed and published by Daniel Pratt, and described itself as a “complete Weekly Paper for the use of Christian families”. These details belong to the historical newspaper, not to the publication you are reading today.

Surviving pages can be explored through the British Newspaper Archive, which works in partnership with the British Library. Its two British Banner collections cover issues from 1848 to 1856 and from 1856 to 1858. A prospectus dated 1847 is also catalogued by Recovered Histories. We acknowledge the work of the archives and researchers who preserve these records and make them available to new readers.

Front page of The British Banner, London, Wednesday 18 July 1849, with its blackletter nameplate and the motto Literature, Liberty, Humanity, Religion — The British Banner, London, Wednesday 18 July 1849, front page. This is the historical newspaper, not our publication. Reproduced with thanks to the British Newspaper Archive.

Our British Banner was established in 2026. We are a new, independent publication, not a continuation or successor of the nineteenth-century newspaper. No official affiliation with that newspaper, the British Newspaper Archive or the British Library is claimed.

Operator

The British Banner is operated by Football News UK Ltd, company number 12060029, registered in England and Wales. Registered office: 167-169 Great Portland Street, 5th Floor, London, England, W1W 5PF.