Page 9 - L&T William Heming
P. 9
William Heming Redditch Heritage
William Heming
Synopsis
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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