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KM History
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Bringing you the news for 300 years
Charles Dickens published A Tale of Two Cities. Queen Victoria had been on the throne for 22 years. And the Maidstone Telegraph, forerunner of the Kent Messenger, was born.
It was 1859. A loaf of bread was 10 pence (4p). A bottle of gin was 3 shillings (15p). And Maidstone's new paper cost one penny.
The launch of the paper signified the beginning of the Kent Messenger Group, the county's premier media group. Today, almost 150 years later, the company continues to publish weekly newspapers, supplements and magazines but also runs websites, radio stations and other media-related businesses.
In fact, because the KM became so deeply rooted in Kent, parts of the county were dubbed "KM Country" - most appropriate for a county that in 1421 was the birthplace of William Caxton, the father of printing!
One of the Group's titles can trace it's history back well beyond Queen Victoria - almost 300 years to 1717. That was when the Kentish Post, which became the Kentish Gazette, first rolled off the press in Canterbury.
The Gazette series of newspapers was taken over by the KM in 1980, one of numerous mergers and acquisitions which date back to 1890. But throughout the years of expansion, huge competition and massive technological change the KM has remained in the ownership of one family.
The Boorman Family
Barham Pratt Boorman, great-grandfather of the present chairman, was the youngest member of a family who ran a general store in Tenterden. He was interested in newspapers and in 1884 had launched the Kent Examiner and Ashford Chronicle.
By then the Maidstone Telegraph had become the Kent Messenger and Maidstone Telegraph and had editions in Dartford and Sevenoaks as well as Maidstone. The papers were printed on a steam driven press in Station Road, Maidstone.
But in 1890 the owners were flung into jail after a series of costly libel actions. They appealed to Mr Boorman for help. He raised funds to get them out of jail and then bought the Kent Messenger from the cash-strapped brothers.
Over the next 40 years, "BP" spearheaded radical technological change and company expansion. Linotype machines were installed and revolutionised compositing by automatically setting type that had been done by hand. New editions were published and offices opened. Mr Boorman died in 1928 after 40 years at the helm.
His son Henry Roy Pratt Boorman, grandfather of the present chairman, took over.
The Guvnor
The Guvnor |
Roy Boorman, universally known as the Guvnor, established the Kent Messenger as the pre-eminent newspaper in the county.
He took over several titles including the Maidstone Gazette and Journal (1936), the Chatham Observer (1937), the Tonbridge Free Press (1958) and the Edenbridge Chronicle (1968).
Circulation rose steadily, thanks in part to Mr Boorman's view that, at a time when few people owned television sets, pictures sold newspapers.
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He was a good publicist for the KM, driving all over the county looking for suitable sites for advertising hoardings. One slogan read: "Kent Messenger for Maids and Mistresses" - a risqué slogan for its time!
In the 1930s, the KM published a magazine called "Kent Tells The World", featuring county industry and organisations. Mr Boorman sent it to British embassies all over the world.
The KM operated from premises in Week Street, Maidstone, where the company flourished for more than half a century.
The building, which incorporated oast houses, was later demolished after a serious fire. The site is now called Brenchley House.
Edwin
Boorman |
Edwin Boorman
Roy's son Edwin joined his father in the business in 1959. He was about to emigrate to Canada to set up his own printing business when the KM Group was caught up in a national printing dispute. As a strike loomed, Edwin offered his help to continue publication during the crisis, which his father accepted. After that Edwin stayed with the family business and steered the company through decades of growth as managing director and, subsequently, chairman.
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Geraldine
Allinson |
Geraldine Allinson
In January 2006 Edwin Boorman retired as chairman after 19 years and became president of the company. The chair was taken by his daughter, Geraldine Allinson, the great-granddaughter of the founder.
Geraldine, who worked for some of the UK's major regional newspaper groups before joining the KM Group in 1993 as development manager, said: "I would hope that if my great-grandfather could look at everything the company has achieved since his sudden death in 1928 he would congratulate his son and grandson for leading the company through thick and thin and into a future he could not have dreamed of."
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Growth
In the 1970s, Messenger House, now the group's headquarters at Larkfield, was built on the site of a wartime searchlight battery.
The Kentish Express, founded in 1855 and based in Ashford, was bought by KMG in 1971.
 In 1980, KMG bought Kent County Newspapers, bringing the Herne Bay Gazette, the East Kent Mercury and the long-established Kentish Gazette into the KM family. The Kentish Gazette was first published as the Kentish Post, the county's first newspaper.
The titles merged in 1768. In 1987, the Sheerness Times Guardian, Faversham News and Sittingbourne News (now the Sittingbourne Extra) were added to the group.
Free Papers
The Group owned a few free newspapers from 1970, but throughout the 1980s, the Extra series, which it started in Thanet, expanded to cover the whole county.
The Dartford and Swanley Informer joined the Group in 1995. This was renamed in 2004 to become the Dartford and Swanley Extra.
Also in 2004 Bexley and Bromley Extras were launched.
Free papers now account for more than 700,000 copies a week.
New Titles
In 1998, the Gravesend Messenger was founded.
At the start of the new Millennium, the company launched the Dartford Messenger and the Swanley Messenger. The Medway Messenger (Monday) was launched in 2003. In 2004, the company expanded further into metropolitan Kent with the launch of the Bexley Extra and the Bromley Extra.
Some 1,200,000 KM Group papers and supplements are printed every week. The company has won a number of awards for achieving the highest circulation gains of any title in England.
New Press
Between 1988 and 1990, the company invested £10m in a new press hall and Rockwell Visa printing press. Although in use from 1990, the press was officially commissioned in 1992 by Margaret Thatcher, within weeks of her ceasing to be Prime Minister.
Sadly, Roy Boorman, the Guvnor, died just before the opening ceremony, aged 91.
Since its inauguration the press has continued to be developed. In 1999 two Goss 4 x high towers were added. These gave up to 64 pages of additional colour. We also added tandem feeders in our mailroom to increase our inserting capacity to 4 items per publication.
In 1999 two Goss 4 x high towers were added. These gave up to 64 pages of additional colour. We also added tandem feeders in our mailroom to increase our inserting capacity to 4 items per publication.
In 2001 a further two 4 x high towers and a third folder from KBA were added.
In 2003 a further two 4 x high colour towers were added making Six in all. Most KM publications are now able to print with colour on almost every page. In the summer of 2003 a line trimming facility from Ferag was added.
And in Feb 2005 the KM became the first regional publisher to install a polybagging line, enabling it to protect its newspapers and supplements in a plastic wrap.
Specialist Papers
 KM Group also publishes specialist publications such as What's On, a popular guide to events every week, Kent Jobs, KM Freeads, and Kent Business. It prints titles for other publishers, including Metro, the free London daily. It organises numerous projects with schools and other county-based organisations.
Edwin Boorman, the president, plays a full part in county life. He is involved in numerous charities, including the Maidstone River Walk project. He is a Deputy Lieutenant of Kent and a former High Sheriff.
New Media and Radio
The KM Group has always been about information. Nowadays, that does not just mean newspapers. It includes the Internet and Radio.
Kent Messenger's technology development department is responsible for the Kent Messenger website, Kent Online, and underlying systems.
KM Radio has expanded to operate six "purely local" stations for Ashford, the Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay area, West Kent, Medway, Thanet, and the Shepway and White Cliffs Country.
The Future
With KM Group turnover of about £50m and a portfolio of interests spanning radio and the worldwide web, the KM has shown itself to be the premier media group in Kent and Medway.
But it never forgets its roots. It remains committed to the county, its people and their prosperity.
Through a network of 17 local offices and about 760 staff, the company aims to bring results through a top quality and comprehensive service to the people and businesses of the county. Just as it has for almost 300 years.
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