About the Chronicle

THE Lingard family sold the Chronicle in 1889 and the following year a registered company was formed to buy it. Joseph Hewitt, grandfather of the current owners, became company secretary. He was a solicitor's clerk with Newman and Bond who was later to qualify as a solicitor specialising in colliery law. He became managing director of the Barnsley Chronicle Ltd in 1891, he raised the Barnsley Pals batallion of World War One and became its colonel.

Created a baronet in 1921, he died two years later and the company was administered by a family trust with his widow as chairman. Their son, the second Sir Joseph Hewitt, was appointed chairman and managing director in 1947.

Following his death in 1973, his elder son, Sir Nicholas Hewitt, became chairman and managing director and his younger brother Timothy, who died in early 2004, was appointed company secretary and deputy managing director. Charles and Michael Hewitt, the sons of Sir Nicholas, have subsequently joined the company.