The Shields Gazette was first established in South Shields as a weekly publication on 24 February 1849 as the North & South Shields Gazette and Northumberland and Durham Advertiser. It was founded by Glasgow merchant James Stevenson who moved to Tyneside in 1844 to become a partner in the Jarrow Chemical Works. One of the aims of the Gazette was to help promote the shipping trade to and from North & South Shields and much of its content consisted of shipping news and movements for Tyne and Wear.

Stevenson’s son, James Cochran Stevenson took over the business in 1854. Two days after the repeal of the Stamp Duty in 1855, he introduced a daily evening Gazette costing a halfpenny making it the first provincial evening newspaper in the country. The weekly Gazette was eventually discontinued. Stevenson jnr went on to be elected as Liberal MP for South Shields in the 1868 election and held the seat until 1895. He was also Mayor of South Shields and campaigned strongly for a Tyne Port Commission and other civic improvements.

The Stevenson family maintained its links with the Gazette through the Northern Press Company Ltd until 1986.