William Reed (1830-1920) was the youngest son of a Yorkshire farmer that founded the publishing company that bears his name in 1862 [1]
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Being the son of a farmer, William Reed worked as a sugar merchant in the early years of his career, which was later to be the inspiration behind his first journal, The Grocer. Marrying in to the Morgan Family, founders of the Morgan Brothers publishers, Reed was told to find a more suitable job. The brothers, primarily bankers, but with other business pursuits, entered publishing in 1859, publishing The Ironmonger and Chemist & Druggist. With the growth of the trade magazine market occurring at the time, Reed was inspired to found his own publishers. With his experience in the farming trade, Reed founded The Grocer in 1862 which is the leading market title today after 147 years.
In 1861 William Reed founded his own publishing company founding William Reed Publishing in London. With the contacts he had made working in the grocer industry and the knowledge he had gained, in 1862 launched his first journal, The Grocer, from his premises based in Bow Lane, London. The Grocer was to give readers the latest news and analysis of the trade. Just a year later the Wine Trade Review launched as a supplement to The Grocer.[2]
By 1864, Reed targeted the brewing industry with Brewers Journal, and its supplement, Hop & Malt Trades Review and in 1868 he had added Tobacco Trade Review to his company's magazine line up. Reed died in 1920, but not without seeing The Grocer become his most successful publication, with the Ministry of Food using it to make announcements.
William Reed's publishing company has stayed within the family and was continued by his son after his death in 1920. It still exists today, owned by later generations of his family, albeit as a modern business under the name William Reed Business Media based in Crawley, Sussex. As well as changing location from its London home, the company has also changed completely since it was founded, now split into four main sectors: publishing, events, directories and newsletters.