The Maidstone Telegraph was founded in Kent in 1859 by Mr J. Lurcock, who ran a library in Earl Street, Maidstone. The four-page paper initially had a staff of two; printer George Russell, and a boy assistant, W.R. Brown. In 1871 it was renamed the Kent Messenger and Maidstone Telegraph. However in 1890 the then owners, the Masters brothers, facing a series of libel actions and unable to cover costs, were put in jail. They were assisted in their plight by Barham Pratt Boorman, who already owned the Kent Examiner and Ashford Chronicle. Boorman subsequently bought the Kent Messenger from the brothers. It has remained in the Boorman family ever since, and is the flagship newspaper for the KM Group.