The Sussex Advertiser was the first newspaper to be published in Sussex and was founded in Lewes in 1746 as the Sussex Weekly Advertiser, or Lewes Journal by Chichester born William Lee. It comprised 4 pages of mainly foreign and domestic news brought by post from London and advertisements mostly for books or patent medicines.

Lee was a supporter of republicanism and a member of the Headstrong Club, a political discussion group which Thomas Paine also frequented and his views were reflected in the Advertiser.

Lee was succeeded by his sons William and Arthur and the Lee family continued its association with the Advertiser into the 19th century. It supported a repeal of Corn Laws and the introduction of Free Trade. It also advocated a favourable extension of franchise and a voluntary principle on religion with no affiliation to any single creed.

In 1842, fire swept through the offices of the Sussex Advertiser. Despite the fact that Baxter, owner of the rival Tory Sussex Express, allowed Frederick Lee to print the Sussex Advertiser on his presses in order that publication could continue, the Lee family never recovered financially. Ownership of the Advertiser passed to George Bacon who at one point owned and controlled a chain of 13 papers from Sussex to Surrey.

The Advertiser became biweekly in 1858 and a “People’s Edition” was published on Saturdays from 1864 until the Advertiser ceased publication in 1904.