Northern Constitution

Northern Constitution
TypeWeekly newspaper
Owner(s)Alpha Media Group Ltd.
Founded1875
Headquarters23 Main Street,
Limavady
BT49 0EP
United Kingdom
Websitenorthernconstitution.co.uk

The Northern Constitution is a weekly newspaper in Coleraine, Northern Ireland.[1] It was founded in 1875 under the title Coleraine Constitution and Northern Counties Advertiser, and was renamed to its current title in 1908.[2]

It is notable for featuring a weekly column entitled Songs of the People, from 17 November 1923 until 9 December 1939, which had been sponsored by the paper's assistant editor at the time, Bob Bacon, who became its editor from 1927 until 1952.[3]: 6, 10  Bacon had seen the value of publishing a regular series on folk songs after witnessing the enthusiastic efforts of Sam Henry, who became the newspaper's Song Editor from the column's inception until 28 July 1928 and again—after a long illness—from 22 October 1932 until the end of the series, on 9 December 1939.[4]: xxx  During his tenure, Henry published just under 690 songs of high quality.[4]: xxviii 

  1. ^ "About". northernconstitution.co.uk. Northern Constitution. 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  2. ^ "Coleraine Constitution and Northern Counties Advertiser". www.nli.ie. National Library of Ireland. 2000. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  3. ^ Moulden, John, ed. (1979). Songs of the People: Selections from the Sam Henry collection, Part 1. Belfast: Blackstaff Press. ISBN 0-85640-132-3.
  4. ^ a b Huntington, Gale; Herrmann, Lani; Moulden, John, eds. (1990). Sam Henry's Songs of the People. Athens, GA and London: The University of Georgia Press. ISBN 0-8203-1258-4.