The Inverness Courier

It was founded by Mr & Mrs John Johnstone in 1817 as a weekly newspaper, The Inverness Courier, and General Advertiser for the Counties of Inverness, Ross, Moray, Nairn, Cromarty, Sutherland and Caithness(!). Its early years were dominated by Robert Carruthers, who joined the Courier as editor in 1831 and became sole proprietor in 1834; he continued to be involved in the paper’s running until his death in 1878, joined by his sons Robert and Walter in the 1850s (and setting up the company Robert Carruthers & Sons in the process).

The Courier switched to thrice-weekly publication (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) in 1880 but adopted its present-day publication pattern of Tuesday and Friday in 1885. In the same year Walter Carruthers died, and the newspaper’s running was taken over by James Barron, who had been on the staff since 1865; his family were to remain involved in the newspaper until 1988.

It absorbed a rival title, the Inverness Citizen, in 1926.

In 1988 Eveline Barron, James’s granddaughter, retired from the Courier and ownership passed to Stewart Lindsay, who computerised production and contracted out printing to Scottish Provincial Press‘s Moray & Nairn Newspapers subsidiary. Two years later SPP bought out Lindsay and have published the Courier ever since.

The editorial offices are in Inverness at SPP’s headquarters building, New Century House, in the shadow of the Kessock Bridge.

Of the two editions, the Friday edition has a larger circulation and costs slightly more.