The Social Gazette (1893-1917) began life as a penny weekly, The Darkest England Gazette, in July 1893 which included reportage and fiction. In 1894 the title changed to the Social Gazette which, at ½d for each 4-page issue, had a weekly circulation of 42,000 by October 1894.

Its purpose was to report on The Salvation Army's social work, which had been centralised into the 'Darkest England Scheme' in 1891, in a way that appealed to a broad audience. It carried articles on the various social work institutions run by The Salvation Army in the UK and social work across the world, along with articles looking at societal conditions, such as slum conditions and international famines.