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Photojournalism is at the heart of The London Free Press, with our photographers produced great images daily and earning several National Newspaper Award nominations. It wasn’t always so. In fact, LFP first published in 1849, long before cameras were invented, and it’s believed the first photo to be published with a news story was of jockey Otto Wonderley in our July 31, 1901 edition.
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Otto Wonderley, the clever London jockey, is making a great name for himself.
He is one of the smartest of the younger jockeys now on the Canadian or American turf, and his services are in great demand. He has signed a contract with John Carr, the well-known New York horseman, to ride for his stable at a round sum.
Wonderley’s first contract was with Mr. Adam Beck of this city. His first winning mount was at Hamilton, where he sprang into fame. Since then, Wonderley has had phenomenal success. In six recent mounts he finished in front four times, and second and third once.
The young jockey was 19 years old in December last, and was born in Woodstock. He is a son of Mr. Ed Wonderley, of this city, and spent his life here. He was for several years with the Canada News Co., under manager Richards, of this city.
Roughly 125 years later, there may be some doubt about when the first photograph of any kind appeared in The London Free Press. While the Wonderley photo is believed to be the first to run alongside an associated news story, a supplement published on Sat. Oct. 28, 1899 featured three images of soldiers “off to the front” for “the Transvaal” – a region in South Africa where the British battled the Boers from 1899 to 1902. There were also headshots of city council members in an 1893 supplement. (Of note: Historian Jennifer Grainger says the newspaper didn’t hire its first staff photographer until the 1930s, until then using submitted photos.)
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