View source for The London Gazette

{{Short description|Official public record of the UK government}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox newspaper
| name               = The London Gazette
| logo               = [[File:London Gazette logo.svg|frameless|class=skin-invert]]
| logo_size          = 260px
| image              = London-gazette.png
| caption            = A ''London Gazette'' reprint of its front page from 3–10 September 1666, reporting on the [[Great Fire of London]]
| type               = [[Daily newspaper]]
| format             = [[Broadsheet]]
| founded            = {{start date and age|1665|11|7|df=yes|p=yes}}
| ceased_publication =
| price              = 
| owners             = 
| publisher          = 
| editor             = 
| chief_editor       = 
| associate_editor   = 
| staff_writers      = 
| language           = [[English language|English]]
| political_position = 
| circulation        = 
| headquarters       = [[United Kingdom]]
| oclc               = 
| ISSN               = 
| website            = {{URL|thegazette.co.uk}} 
}}

'''''The London Gazette''''', known generally as '''''The Gazette''''',<ref name=history>{{cite web | title=A history of The Gazette | publisher=The Gazette | url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/history | access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref> is one of the official [[Newspaper of record|journals of record]] or [[government gazette]]s of the [[Government of the United Kingdom]], and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are required to be published.

Other official newspapers of the UK government are ''[[The Edinburgh Gazette]]'' and ''[[The Belfast Gazette]]'', which, apart from reproducing certain materials of nationwide interest published in ''The London Gazette'', also contain publications specific to [[Scotland]] and [[Northern Ireland]], respectively. In turn, ''The London Gazette'' carries not only notices of UK-wide interest, but also those relating specifically to entities or people in England and Wales. However, certain notices that are only of specific interest to Scotland or Northern Ireland are also required to be published in ''The London Gazette''.

The ''London'', ''Edinburgh'' and ''Belfast Gazettes'' are published by [[The Stationery Office]] (TSO) on behalf of [[His Majesty's Stationery Office]]. They are subject to [[Crown copyright]].

''The London Gazette'' claims to be the oldest surviving [[List of newspapers in the United Kingdom|English newspaper]] and the oldest continuously published newspaper in the UK, having been first published on 7 November 1665 as '''''The Oxford Gazette'''''.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=6231 |page=1 |date = 4 January 1723 }}; {{London Gazette |issue=6257 |page=1 |date=4 April 1724 }}</ref><ref name="first">{{London Gazette |issue=1 |date = 7 November 1665 |page=1 |city = o }}</ref> The claim to being oldest is also made by the ''[[Stamford Mercury]]'' (1712) and ''[[Berrow's Worcester Journal]]'' (1690).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stamfordmercury.co.uk/newspaper.aspx |title=The Rutland & Stamford Mercury |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420071904/http://www.stamfordmercury.co.uk/newspaper.aspx |archive-date=2008-04-20 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/bj/intro/ |title=Berrow's Worcester Journal – History of the newspaper |publisher=Newsquest |work=Worcester News |access-date=2013-10-25 |archive-date=7 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107063635/https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/bj/intro/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Current publication ==
''The London Gazette'' is published each weekday, except for [[bank holiday]]s. Notices for the following, among others, are published:

* Granting of [[royal assent]] to bills of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]], the [[Scottish Parliament]], the [[Senedd]] and the [[Northern Ireland Assembly]]
* The issuance of [[writ]]s of election when a [[Vacancy (economics)|vacancy]] occurs in the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]]
* Appointments to certain public offices
* [[Officer (armed forces)#Commissioned officers|Commission]]s in the Armed Forces and subsequent promotion of officers
* Corporate and personal [[insolvency]]
* Granting of awards of [[British honours system|honours]] and military medals
* [[Deed of change of name|Changes of names]] or of [[heraldry|coats of arms]]
* Royal [[proclamation]]s and other declarations

[[His Majesty's Stationery Office]] has digitised all issues of ''The Gazette'', and these are available online.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/all-notices|title=Search Result|website=thegazette.co.uk|access-date=26 June 2015|archive-date=6 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206002223/https://www.thegazette.co.uk/all-notices|url-status=live}}</ref>

The official Gazettes are published by [[The Stationery Office]]. The content is available in a number of [[machine-readable data|machine-readable]] formats, including [[XML]] (delivery by email/[[FTP]]) and XML/[[RDFa]] via [[Atom feed]].<ref name="reuse">{{cite news |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/data |title=Data Re-use |newspaper=The London Gazette |access-date=10 December 2015 |archive-date=27 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200527044847/https://www.thegazette.co.uk/data |url-status=live }}</ref>

== History ==
[[File:London Gazette(1705).jpg|thumb|250px|''The London Gazette'', dated 14–17 May 1705 detailing the return of [[John Leake]] from [[Gibraltar]] after the [[Battle of Cabrita Point]]]]

''The London Gazette'' was first published as ''The Oxford Gazette'' on 7 November 1665. [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] and the Royal Court had moved to [[Oxford]] to escape the [[Great Plague of London]], and [[courtier]]s were unwilling to touch London newspapers for fear of contagion. The ''Gazette'' was "Published by Authority" by [[Henry Muddiman]], and its first publication is noted by [[Samuel Pepys]] in his [[diary]]. The King returned to London as the plague dissipated, and the ''Gazette'' moved too, with the first issue of ''The London Gazette'' (labelled No. 24) being published on 5 February 1666.<ref name="firstLG">{{London Gazette |issue = 24 |date = 5 February 1666 |page = 1 }}</ref> The ''Gazette'' was not a newspaper in the modern sense: it was sent by post to subscribers, not printed for sale to the general public.<ref name=Indep>{{cite news |work=The Independent |location=London | title=Yet another end of an era: 'The London Gazette', the UK's most venerable publication, goes online | first=Andy |last=McSmith |date= 30 December 2013 |access-date=5 November 2021 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/yet-another-end-era-london-gazette-uk-s-most-venerable-publication-goes-online-9030774.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/yet-another-end-era-london-gazette-uk-s-most-venerable-publication-goes-online-9030774.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[His Majesty's Stationery Office]] took over the publication of the ''Gazette'' in 1889. Publication of the ''Gazette'' was transferred to the private sector in 2006, under government supervision, when HMSO was sold and renamed [[The Stationery Office]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Harrington |first1=Ben |title=Stationery Office sale may net £100m |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2937553/Stationery-Office-sale-may-net-100m.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2937553/Stationery-Office-sale-may-net-100m.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=2018-12-03 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=25 April 2006}}{{cbignore}}</ref> All content is available under the [[Open Government Licence v3.0]], except where otherwise stated.<ref name=history/>

Digitisation, and online hosting, of the archive of London Gazette back-issues commenced at the start of the 21st Century, and Gazettes-Online went live on 28 January 2003.<ref name="LG_archive_digitised">{{cite newspaper The Times  |title=London Gazette puts 350 years of history online |author=Patrick Kidd |date=28 January 2003 |page=33 |issue=67671 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/england/london-travel/london-gazette-puts-350-years-of-history-online-jd9n2pt2hbz |subscription=none |quote=GENEALOGY and historical research have become easier with the official launch this month of the first phase of Gazettes-Online, a major project to make the entire archive of the London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes accessible on the internet.}}</ref> From 2014 onwards, it was only available online.<ref name=Indep/>

===Dates before 1 January 1752===
{{main|Old Style and New Style dates}}
<!-- this is not strictly correct. -->
Until the [[Calendar (New Style) Act 1750]] came into effect on 1 January 1752{{nbsp}}{{resize|([[Old Style and New Style dates|N.S.]])}}, the ''Gazette'' was published with a date based on the [[Julian calendar]] with the start of year as 25 March. (Modern secondary sources may adjust the start of the calendar year during this period to 1 January, while retaining the original day and month. Using this adjustment, an issue with a printed date of 24 March 1723{{nbsp}}{{resize|([[Old Style and New Style dates|O.S.]])}} will be reported as being published in 1724{{snd}} the same [[Tropical year|solar year]] as an issue published two days later, on 26 March 1724.)

=="Gazetted"==
In time of war, dispatches from the various conflicts are published in ''The London Gazette''. Soldiers who are [[mentioned in despatches]] will also be named in the Gazette. When members of the armed forces are promoted, and these promotions are published here, the person is said to have been "gazetted".

Being "gazetted" (or "in the gazette") also meant having official notice of one's bankruptcy published,<ref>{{cite hansard |title=Bankruptcy Act |date=26 June 1843 |jurisdiction=United Kingdom |column=365 |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/1843-06-26/debates/bed0b837-6149-44f9-ba8e-ec8415a7f9c1/BankruptcyAct |house=Lords }} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211105114254/https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/1843-06-26/debates/bed0b837-6149-44f9-ba8e-ec8415a7f9c1/BankruptcyAct |date=5 November 2021 }}</ref> as in the classic ten-line poem comparing the stolid tenant farmer of 1722 to the lavishly spending faux-genteel farmers of 1822:<ref>By [[William Hone]] (1827); published by Hunt and Clarke.</ref>

{{poemquote|Man to the plough
Wife to the cow
Girl to the [[Spinning (textiles)|yarn]]
Boy to the barn
And your rent will be netted.

Man [[fox hunting|tally-ho]]
Miss piano
Wife silk and satin
Boy [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] and [[Latin language|Latin]]
And you'll all be '''''Gazetted'''''.}}

Notices of engagement and marriage were also formerly published in the ''Gazette''.

==Colonial gazettes==
{{Main list|List of British colonial gazettes}}

Gazettes, modelled on ''The London Gazette'', were issued for most British colonial possessions.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} Many of these continued after independence, and to the present day.

==See also==
{{Portal bar|London|Journalism}}
* [[History of British newspapers]]
* ''[[Iris Oifigiúil]]''
* ''[[The Dublin Gazette]]'' – in Ireland
* ''[[Official Journal of the European Union]]''
* [[List of government gazettes]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|The London Gazette}}
* [https://www.thegazette.co.uk ''London'', ''Edinburgh'' and ''Belfast Gazettes'' official site]
* {{Librivox author |id=16611}}

{{Newspapers in London}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:London Gazette, The}}
[[Category:1665 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Daily newspapers published in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Government gazettes]]
[[Category:London newspapers]]
[[Category:National newspapers published in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Publications established in 1665]]
[[Category:The National Archives (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:Westminster system]]