The Berwickshire News was founded in Berwick-upon-Tweed by Gibson F. Steven in 1869. It began as a weekly publication costing 1d. Steven also owned the Berwick Journal which had been running since 1855 and by the end of 1869 both papers were doing very well. The News boasted a circulation of 1600 copies per week in December 1869. The decision was therefore taken to enlarge both papers to 8 pages.

The News covered the Eyemouth Disaster of Fri 14 Oct 1881 in which 189 men lost their lives. It describes in great detail the scenes as many of the fishing boats tried to get back into port only to founder on the rocks within sight of their families on the shore.

The Steven family continued to publish both papers. When Gibson Steven died in 1910, control passed to his son Alexander.