Kentish Post
The Kentish Post: or the Canterbury News-Letter, Canterbury's first newspaper, published between 1717 and 1768, is the predecessor of the present-day Kentish Gazette. The original imprint of the Post was Canterbury: Printed by Thomas Reeve, in Castle street, for the Proprietors, but the name of the printer/proprietor very soon changed to James Abree, who had set up as a printer in Canterbury in 1717, presumably with the intention of producing a newspaper. Originally appearing on Wednesdays, by 1721 the Kentish Post had become a bi-weekly, appearing every Wednesday and Saturday. In 1764 the now elderly Abree took on an assistant, George Kirkby, the son of a Canterbury vicar, who was completing an apprenticeship with a London printer. In 1768 Abree announced that he was retiring in favour of his young colleague Kirkby. However, in May of the same year another young recent printing apprentice from Canterbury, James Simmons, started to publish a rival twice-weekly paper called the Kentish Gazette. A trade war between the two newspapers ensued. After four weeks, Kirkby gave in and the two papers merged, to appear under joint management as the Kentish Gazette, or Canterbury Chronicle. The firm of Simmons and Kirkby prospered, remaining in existence