Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe
Encyclopedia
Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (1865–1922) rose from childhood poverty to become a powerful British newspaper and publishing magnate, famed for buying stolid, unprofitable newspapers and transforming them to make them lively and entertaining for the mass market.
His company Amalgamated Press
employed Arthur Mee
and John Hammerton, and the Amalgamated Press subsidiary the Educational Book Company published the Harmsworth Self-Educator, The Children's Encyclopædia
, and Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia
.
During his lifetime, he exercised vast influence over British popular opinion. Megalomania
contributed to a nervous breakdown shortly before his death.
, County Dublin
, Harmsworth was educated at the Stamford School
in Lincolnshire
, England. He was the elder brother of Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere, Cecil Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth, Sir Leicester Harmsworth, 1st Baronet
and Sir Hildebrand Harmsworth, 1st Baronet.
Beginning as a freelance journalist, he founded his first newspaper, Answers (original title: Answers to Correspondents), and was later assisted by his brother Harold, who was adept at business matters. Harmsworth had an intuitive sense for what the reading public wanted to buy, and began a series of cheap but successful periodicals, such as Comic Cuts
(tagline: "Amusing without being Vulgar") and the journal Forget-Me-Not for women. From these periodicals, he built what was then the largest periodical publishing empire in the world, Amalgamated Press.
Harmsworth was an early pioneer of tabloid journalism
. He bought several failing newspapers and made them into an enormously profitable chain, primarily by appealing to the popular taste. He began with The Evening News
in 1894, and then merged two Edinburgh papers to form the Edinburgh Daily Record.
On 4 May 1896, he began publishing the Daily Mail
in London, which was a hit, holding the world record for daily circulation until Harmsworth's death; taglines of The Daily Mail included "the busy man's daily journal" and "the penny newspaper for one halfpenny". Prime Minister Robert Cecil
, Lord Salisbury, said it was "written by office boys for office boys". Harmsworth then transformed a Sunday newspaper, the Weekly Dispatch, into the Sunday Dispatch
, then the highest circulation Sunday newspaper in Britain.
In 1899, Harmsworth was responsible for the unprecedented success of a charitable appeal for the dependents of soldiers fighting in the South African War by inviting Rudyard Kipling
and Arthur Sullivan
to write The Absent-Minded Beggar
. Harmsworth also founded The Daily Mirror
in 1903, and rescued the financially desperate Observer
and The Times in 1905 and 1908, respectively. In 1908, he also acquired The Sunday Times
.
Amalgamated Press
subsidiary the Educational Book Company published the Harmsworth Self-Educator, The Children's Encyclopædia
, and Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia
,.
, Thanet
in the County of Kent
in 1904. In 1905, Harmsworth was elevated to the peerage as Baron Northcliffe, of the Isle of Thanet
in the County of Kent, and in 1918 was raised to Viscount Northcliffe
, of St Peter's in the County of Kent, for his service as the head of the British war mission in the United States.
on 14 January 1918. She was appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
(GBE) and Dame of Grace, Order of St John (D.St.J), both in 1918. This union produced one daughter, but no male heir to carry on the baronetcy.
with such zeal that it brought down the wartime
government of Prime Minister
Herbert Henry Asquith, forcing him to form a coalition government. Lord Northcliffe's newspapers led the fight for creating a Minister of Munitions
(first held by David Lloyd George
) and helped to bring about Lloyd George's appointment as Prime Minister in 1916. Lloyd George offered Lord Northcliffe a post in his cabinet, but Northcliffe declined and was appointed Director for Propaganda.
Such was Northcliffe's influence on anti-German propaganda during the First World War, that a German war ship was sent to shell his country home in Elmwood, Kent 51.3739°N 1.4337°W in an attempt to assassinate him. His former residence still bears a shell hole out of respect for his gardener's wife, who was killed in the attack.
However, Northcliffe's editorship of the Daily Mail in the run-up to the First World War, when the paper displayed "a virulent anti-German sentiment", led The Star to declare, "Next to the Kaiser, Lord Northcliffe has done more than any living man to bring about the war."
, the first international award for motorboat
racing.
, and in the years preceding the First World War became an enthusiast for the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost
.
. The scheme promised land in Western Australia
to British settlers prepared to emigrate and develop the land. A town founded specifically to support the new settlements was named Northcliffe
, in recognition of the role that Lord Northcliffe played in bringing about the scheme.
His company Amalgamated Press
Fleetway
Fleetway, also known as Fleetway Publications and Fleetway Editions, was a UK publishing company which mainly produced comic magazines. For a time owned by IPC Media, they are now a division of Egmont Publishing....
employed Arthur Mee
Arthur Mee
Arthur Henry Mee was a British writer, journalist and educator. He is best known for The Harmsworth Self-Educator, The Children's Encyclopaedia, The Children's Newspaper, and The King's England...
and John Hammerton, and the Amalgamated Press subsidiary the Educational Book Company published the Harmsworth Self-Educator, The Children's Encyclopædia
The Children's Encyclopedia
The Children's Encyclopædia was an encyclopædia originated by Arthur Mee, and published by the Educational Book Company, a subsidiary of Amalgamated Press of London. It was published from 1908 to 1964. Walter M. Jackson's company Grolier acquired the rights to publish it in the U.S...
, and Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia
Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia
Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia is an encyclopedia edited by John Hammerton and published in London, England by The Education Book Co. Ltd in 1921/2....
.
During his lifetime, he exercised vast influence over British popular opinion. Megalomania
Megalomania
Megalomania is a psycho-pathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of power, relevance, or omnipotence. 'Megalomania is characterized by an inflated sense of self-esteem and overestimation by persons of their powers and beliefs'...
contributed to a nervous breakdown shortly before his death.
Early life and financial success
Although born in ChapelizodChapelizod
Chapelizod is a picturesque Irish village preserved within the city of Dublin, Ireland. It lies in the verdant wooded valley of the River Liffey, on the way to the slopes of the Strawberry Beds, below the Phoenix Park. The village is associated with Iseult of Ireland and the location of Iseault's...
, County Dublin
County Dublin
County Dublin is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Dublin Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the city of Dublin which is the capital of Ireland. County Dublin was one of the first of the parts of Ireland to be shired by King John of England following the...
, Harmsworth was educated at the Stamford School
Stamford School
Stamford School is an English independent school situated in the market town of Stamford, Lincolnshire, England. It has been a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference since 1920.-History:...
in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, England. He was the elder brother of Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere, Cecil Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth, Sir Leicester Harmsworth, 1st Baronet
Sir Leicester Harmsworth, 1st Baronet
Sir Robert Leicester Harmsworth, 1st Baronet , was a British businessman and Liberal politician.-Background:...
and Sir Hildebrand Harmsworth, 1st Baronet.
Beginning as a freelance journalist, he founded his first newspaper, Answers (original title: Answers to Correspondents), and was later assisted by his brother Harold, who was adept at business matters. Harmsworth had an intuitive sense for what the reading public wanted to buy, and began a series of cheap but successful periodicals, such as Comic Cuts
Comic Cuts
Comic Cuts was a British comic book. It was created by the reporter, Alfred Harmsworth through his company Amalgamated Press . It was published from 1890 to 1953, lasting 3006 issues, and in its early days inspired other publishers to produce rival comics. It's first issue was an assortment of...
(tagline: "Amusing without being Vulgar") and the journal Forget-Me-Not for women. From these periodicals, he built what was then the largest periodical publishing empire in the world, Amalgamated Press.
Tabloid journalism
Tabloid journalism tends to emphasize topics such as sensational crime stories, astrology, gossip columns about the personal lives of celebrities and sports stars, and junk food news...
. He bought several failing newspapers and made them into an enormously profitable chain, primarily by appealing to the popular taste. He began with The Evening News
Evening News (London)
Evening News, formerly known as The Evening News, was an evening newspaper published in London from 1881 to 1980, reappearing briefly in 1987. It became highly popular under the control of the Harmsworth brothers. For a long time it maintained the largest daily sale of any evening newspaper in London...
in 1894, and then merged two Edinburgh papers to form the Edinburgh Daily Record.
On 4 May 1896, he began publishing the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
in London, which was a hit, holding the world record for daily circulation until Harmsworth's death; taglines of The Daily Mail included "the busy man's daily journal" and "the penny newspaper for one halfpenny". Prime Minister Robert Cecil
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, GCVO, PC , styled Lord Robert Cecil before 1865 and Viscount Cranborne from June 1865 until April 1868, was a British Conservative statesman and thrice Prime Minister, serving for a total of over 13 years...
, Lord Salisbury, said it was "written by office boys for office boys". Harmsworth then transformed a Sunday newspaper, the Weekly Dispatch, into the Sunday Dispatch
Sunday Dispatch
The Sunday Dispatch was a British newspaper, published between 27 September 1801 and 1961. Until 1928, it was called the Weekly Dispatch.-History:...
, then the highest circulation Sunday newspaper in Britain.
In 1899, Harmsworth was responsible for the unprecedented success of a charitable appeal for the dependents of soldiers fighting in the South African War by inviting Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
and Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
to write The Absent-Minded Beggar
The Absent-Minded Beggar
"The Absent-Minded Beggar" is an 1899 poem by Rudyard Kipling, set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan and often accompanied by an illustration by Richard Caton Woodville. The song was written as part of an appeal by the Daily Mail to raise money for soldiers fighting in the South African War and...
. Harmsworth also founded The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror is a British national daily tabloid newspaper which was founded in 1903. Twice in its history, from 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was changed to read simply The Mirror, which is how the paper is often referred to in popular parlance. It had an...
in 1903, and rescued the financially desperate Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
and The Times in 1905 and 1908, respectively. In 1908, he also acquired The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
.
Amalgamated Press
Fleetway
Fleetway, also known as Fleetway Publications and Fleetway Editions, was a UK publishing company which mainly produced comic magazines. For a time owned by IPC Media, they are now a division of Egmont Publishing....
subsidiary the Educational Book Company published the Harmsworth Self-Educator, The Children's Encyclopædia
The Children's Encyclopedia
The Children's Encyclopædia was an encyclopædia originated by Arthur Mee, and published by the Educational Book Company, a subsidiary of Amalgamated Press of London. It was published from 1908 to 1964. Walter M. Jackson's company Grolier acquired the rights to publish it in the U.S...
, and Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia
Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia
Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia is an encyclopedia edited by John Hammerton and published in London, England by The Education Book Co. Ltd in 1921/2....
,.
Ennobled
Harmsworth was created a baronet, of Elmwood, in the parish of St Peter'sSt Peters, Thanet
St Peters is an area of Broadstairs, a town on the Isle of Thanet in Kent. Historically a village, it was outgrown by the long dominant settlement of the two, Broadstairs after 1841. Originally the borough or manor of the church of St...
, Thanet
Thanet
Thanet is a local government district of Kent, England which was formed under the Local Government Act 1972, and came into being on 1 April 1974...
in the County of Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
in 1904. In 1905, Harmsworth was elevated to the peerage as Baron Northcliffe, of the Isle of Thanet
Isle of Thanet
The Isle of Thanet lies at the most easterly point of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the nearly -wide River Wantsum, it is no longer an island ....
in the County of Kent, and in 1918 was raised to Viscount Northcliffe
Viscount Northcliffe
Viscount Northcliffe, of St Peter in the County of Kent, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, It was created in 1918 for the press baron Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Baron Northcliffe. He had already been created a Baronet in 1904 and Baron Northcliffe, of the Isle of Thanet in the County of...
, of St Peter's in the County of Kent, for his service as the head of the British war mission in the United States.
Marriage
Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st and last Viscount Northcliffe (born 16 July 1865, Chapelizod, County Dublin, Ireland – died 14 August 1922) married Mary Elizabeth Milner on 11 April 1888, at which time her married name became Harmsworth, and she was styled as Baroness Northcliffe, effective 27 December 1905. She was later elevated to Viscountess NorthcliffeMary Harmsworth, Viscountess Northcliffe
Mary Harmsworth, Viscountess Northcliffe, Lady Hudson, GBE, DStJ, ARRC was born as Mary Elizabeth Milner, the daughter of Robert Milner, of Kidlington, Oxfordshire, England.-Marriages:...
on 14 January 1918. She was appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(GBE) and Dame of Grace, Order of St John (D.St.J), both in 1918. This union produced one daughter, but no male heir to carry on the baronetcy.
Political influence, World War I home front
Northcliffe's ownership of The Times, the Daily Mail and other newspapers meant that his editorials wielded great influence over both "the classes and the masses". In an era before TV, radio or internet, that meant that Northcliffe dominated the British press "as it never has been before or since by one man". For example, his newspapers—especially The Times—reported the Shell Crisis of 1915Shell Crisis of 1915
The Shell Crisis of 1915 was a shortage of artillery shells on the front lines of World War I, which largely contributed to weakening public appreciation of government of the United Kingdom because it was widely perceived that the production of artillery shells for use by the British Army was...
with such zeal that it brought down the wartime
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
government of Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Herbert Henry Asquith, forcing him to form a coalition government. Lord Northcliffe's newspapers led the fight for creating a Minister of Munitions
Minister of Munitions
The Minister of Munitions was a British government position created during the First World War to oversee and co-ordinate the production and distribution of munitions for the war effort...
(first held by David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
) and helped to bring about Lloyd George's appointment as Prime Minister in 1916. Lloyd George offered Lord Northcliffe a post in his cabinet, but Northcliffe declined and was appointed Director for Propaganda.
Such was Northcliffe's influence on anti-German propaganda during the First World War, that a German war ship was sent to shell his country home in Elmwood, Kent 51.3739°N 1.4337°W in an attempt to assassinate him. His former residence still bears a shell hole out of respect for his gardener's wife, who was killed in the attack.
However, Northcliffe's editorship of the Daily Mail in the run-up to the First World War, when the paper displayed "a virulent anti-German sentiment", led The Star to declare, "Next to the Kaiser, Lord Northcliffe has done more than any living man to bring about the war."
Sport
In 1903, Harmsworth founded the Harmsworth CupHarmsworth Cup
The Harmsworth Trophy is the popular name of the historically important British International Trophy for Motorboats.The Harmsworth was the first annual international award for motorboat racing. Officially, it is a contest not between boats or individuals but between nations...
, the first international award for motorboat
Motorboat
A motorboat is a boat which is powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gearbox and the propeller in one portable unit.An inboard/outboard contains a hybrid of a...
racing.
Motoring
He was a close friend of Claude Johnson, Commercial Managing Director of Rolls-Royce LimitedRolls-Royce Limited
Rolls-Royce Limited was a renowned British car and, from 1914 on, aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on 15 March 1906 as the result of a partnership formed in 1904....
, and in the years preceding the First World War became an enthusiast for the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost
Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost
The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost refers both to a car model and to one specific car from that series.Originally named the "40/50 h.p." the chassis was originally produced at Royce's Manchester works, before moving to Derby in July 1908 and also, between 1921 and 1926, in Springfield, Massachusetts....
.
Legacy
Northcliffe lived for a time at 31 Pandora Road, West Hampstead - this site is now marked with an English Heritage blue plaque.Promotion of Group Settlement Scheme
Through his newspaper empire, Northcliffe promoted the ideas which led to the Group Settlement SchemeGroup Settlement Scheme
The Group Settlement Scheme was an assisted migration scheme which operated in Western Australia from the early 1920s. It was engineered by Premier James Mitchell and followed on from the Soldier Settlement Scheme immediately after World War I...
. The scheme promised land in Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
to British settlers prepared to emigrate and develop the land. A town founded specifically to support the new settlements was named Northcliffe
Northcliffe, Western Australia
Northcliffe is a town located in the lower South West region of Western Australia, about south of the town of Pemberton. At the 2006 census, Northcliffe had a population of 412....
, in recognition of the role that Lord Northcliffe played in bringing about the scheme.
Further reading
- D. George Boyce (2004). Harmsworth, Alfred Charles William, Viscount Northcliffe (1865–1922). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press.