Page 20 - History In Print

Redditch Heritage Redditch History In Print

Section 2 - The Life & Times of William T. Heming

The Man

In 1827 William Thomas Heming (born 1807)
established a flourishing printing business with
an office on Prospect Hill and in September of
1859 he launched the town's first newspaper
the Redditch Indicator.
That was a year which also saw the arrival of
the Railway to a station in Clive Road and the
setting up of the Land and Building Society
later renamed the Redditch Benefit Building
Society, now the Birmingham Midshires. The
paper was published weekly every Saturday
(later every Friday) priced at one penny.
Heming had a desire to establish a newspaper
for the Needle District at a low price and to
advocate local interests and record local events
and local progress more fully than the county
newspapers can allow space for. He was also
an agent for the Lancashire Fire and Life
Insurance Company and as the town's fire
engine was housed in a coach house near the
printing works it was convenient for his
employees to constitute the fire brigade. Each
would receive half a crown for his services at
the end of each fire.
At W. T. Heming’s death in January 1879, Mr
Fred Heming became the proprietor.
Subsequently the business passed to William
Lane.
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