Recent reports of changes in the ownership of our boisterous younger brother, the Catholic Herald, have prompted several people to ask us, “Who owns The Tablet?”

Since it was founded in 1840 by Frederick Lucas, described a little unkindly by a fellow Catholic journalist with whom he had fallen out as “incompetent, dishonest, treacherous, mendacious and blasphemous”, The Tablet has passed through several different hands, including those of three cardinal archbishops of Westminster, till in 1936 Cardinal Hinsley disposed of it to a group of lay Catholics including Tom Burns and Christopher Hollis. Since 1976 it has been wholly owned by The Tablet Trust, a registered charity. Current trustees include Lord Camoys, Julie Etchingham, Paul Vallely, Mike Craven and Edward Stourton.