The Herts Guardian was first published on Saturday 7 February 1852 as a 4-page weekly, costing 4d halfpenny. Its full title gives a clue to its expected circulation: the Herts Guardian, Agricultural Journal, and General Advertiser for Hertfordshire, Essex, Beds, Bucks, Cambridgeshire and Middlesex.

A Conservative paper, it was intended to represent the interests of “those whose Capital has been invested in Agriculture” not because they belonged to any one class, but because anything adversely affecting agriculture in turn affected all walks of life. It adhered to the tenets of the Established Church.

The Guardian was owned by William Pollard for over 30 years and his sons William Edward and George both became reporters for the paper. By 1900 the Mardon Brothers were proprietors of the Herts Guardian which became more neutral in its political orientation. They already owned and published the Herts & Essex Observer in Bishop’s Stortford.

The Herts Guardian ceased publication in 1902.