He found that there was little demand for a daily newspaper, but that "what was wanted was a weekly paper which, whilst giving a certain amount of news, should contain a considerable proportion of light amusing reading.

"[1] Accordingly, Henderson founded his own journal, The North British Weekly Budget, in January 1861.

[3] Its success led Henderson to move from Manchester to Red Lion Court in Fleet Street in London in 1862, and by the end of the following year the Weekly Budget had a claimed circulation of 150,000.

[3] As well as news and commentary "from the moderate Liberal point of view", large parts of the paper were devoted to serial novels, and to answering readers' questions.

In 1910, his sons sold the rights to the Weekly Budget to the American publisher Randolph Hearst.