John Alfred Spender
Encyclopedia
John Alfred Spender was a British
journalist
, newspaper editor, and author
. He is best known for serving as the editor of the London
newspaper the Westminster Gazette
from 1896 until 1922.
. He was educated at Bath College and Balliol College, Oxford
, where he did well in his studies but missed a first in Greats
due to illness.
Though Benjamin Jowett
, the Master of Balliol, suggested that Spender become a lawyer
, Spender sought out a career in journalism instead. In this he had the assistance of his uncle William Saunders
, who owned the Western and Eastern Morning News
as well as the Central News Ageny
. After a brief period as Saunders's secretary
, Spender was offered a position as a leader writer
for The Echo by John Passmore Edwards
, though their relationship proved difficult and Spender left after only five months in the post.
It was at this point in 1886 that Saunders offered his nephew the editorship of the struggling Hull
newspaper Eastern Morning News. Spender eagerly accepted and spent a little more than four years in the post. As the editor of a provincial daily, Spender undertook whatever jobs were necessary, serving as sales manager, leader writer, reporter, and critic. Through his efforts the paper returned to profitability, only to then be sold by Saunders in February 1891. Spender returned to London, where he worked as a freelance contributor to a number of papers and wrote his book, a tract on old-age pensions that won him the friendship of John Morley
.
In June 1892 Spender received an offer from E. T. Cook
, the editor of the Liberal
evening newspaper the Pall Mall Gazette
, to work as his assistant editor. Spender gladly accepted, only to be let go a month later when the Pall Mall Gazette was sold to William Waldorf Astor
, who changed its party allegiance to the Unionists
. Though the newly-married Spender was unemployed once more, he was quickly rehired by Cook when the editor started a new Liberal evening paper, the Westminster Gazette, in January 1893.
. Though a number of prominent individuals applied to succeed him, the owner of the Westminster Gazette, George Newnes
, decided to offer the editorship to Spender, then only thirty-three years of age. Though Spender himself was modest about his prospects, his selection was met with approval by many in the Liberal ranks, including the head of the party Lord Rosebery
.
Under Spender's direction, the Westminster Gazette never had a wide circulation, nor did it make a profit. Nonetheless it was the most influential evening newspaper in Britain, for which Spender received the credit. The veteran editor Frederick Greenwood
regarded the Westminster Gazette under Spender as "the best edited paper in London," and his leaders became essential reading for politicians on both sides of the political aisle. In them his priority was Liberal unity. He balanced ideological expression in the pages of his paper, avoiding the polemical heights attained by his counterparts in other Liberal publications. Though this occasionally earned him the ire of both Liberal factions in a debate, his loyalty to the Liberal leadership was rewarded with their confidences, which provided him with invaluable insight into the inner workings of contemporary politics.
Spender greatly valued his editorial independence, which was never an issue with the Gazettes owner, George Newnes. When Newnes sold the paper in 1908 to a consortium of Liberal businessmen and politicians led by Alfred Mond
, however, Spender found his cherished independence under pressure. Only internal disagreement within the ownership group saved Spender from dismissal. The dispute hurt staff morale, while the start of the First World War
led several important staff members to leave for service in the armed forces. A growing decline in circulation and revenue led Spender and the owners to undertake the radical move of switching from an evening to a morning publication in November 1921. The new paper, however, was no longer a vehicle for the sort of reflective journalism characteristic of Spender, and he resigned from his position in February 1922.
, and a memoir of his Life Journalism and Politics. He also served on a number of public commissions and inquiries, and after refusing public honors three previous times he accepted an appointment as a Companion of Honour
. He also remained involved in Liberal politics, though his influence was much diminished with the decline of the Liberal Party in the interwar period, while his concern about the insufficiency of British armaments led many to brand Spender as an appeaser
in the run-up to the Second World War
. Spender died in June 1942 after a long illness.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, newspaper editor, and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. He is best known for serving as the editor of the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
newspaper the Westminster Gazette
Westminster Gazette
The Westminster Gazette was an influential Liberal newspaper based in London. It was known for publishing sketches and short stories, including early works by Raymond Chandler, Anthony Hope and Saki, and travel writing by Rupert Brooke. One of its editors was caricaturist and political cartoonist...
from 1896 until 1922.
Life
Spender was the eldest of four sons born to John Kent Spender, a doctor, and his wife, the novelist Lillian SpenderLillian Spender
Lillian Spender was an English novelist.-Works:*Brothers-in-Law *Her Own Fault *Parted Lives *Jocelyn's Mistake *Mark Eylmer's Revenge *Both in the Wrong...
. He was educated at Bath College and Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....
, where he did well in his studies but missed a first in Greats
Literae Humaniores
Literae Humaniores is the name given to an undergraduate course focused on Classics at Oxford and some other universities.The Latin name means literally "more humane letters", but is perhaps better rendered as "Advanced Studies", since humaniores has the sense of "more refined" or "more learned",...
due to illness.
Though Benjamin Jowett
Benjamin Jowett
Benjamin Jowett was renowned as an influential tutor and administrative reformer in the University of Oxford, a theologian and translator of Plato. He was Master of Balliol College, Oxford.-Early career:...
, the Master of Balliol, suggested that Spender become a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, Spender sought out a career in journalism instead. In this he had the assistance of his uncle William Saunders
William Saunders (politician)
William Saunders was a British newspaper publisher and Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1885 and 1895....
, who owned the Western and Eastern Morning News
Eastern Morning News
The Eastern Morning News was a newspaper based in Hull. Founded by William Saunders in 1864, it ceased publication in November 1929....
as well as the Central News Ageny
Central News Agency (London)
The Central News Agency was a news distribution service founded as Central Press in 1863 by William Saunders and his brother-in-law, Edward Spender...
. After a brief period as Saunders's secretary
Secretary
A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...
, Spender was offered a position as a leader writer
Leader writer
A Leader Writer is a senior journalist in a British newspaper who is charged with writing the paper's editorial either in the absence of the editor or in cases where the editor chooses not to write editorials because their editorial skills may rest more in management of the company than in writing...
for The Echo by John Passmore Edwards
John Passmore Edwards
John Passmore Edwards was a British journalist, newspaper owner and philanthropist. The son of a carpenter, he was born in Blackwater, a small village between Redruth and Truro in Cornwall, United Kingdom.-Biography:...
, though their relationship proved difficult and Spender left after only five months in the post.
It was at this point in 1886 that Saunders offered his nephew the editorship of the struggling Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
newspaper Eastern Morning News. Spender eagerly accepted and spent a little more than four years in the post. As the editor of a provincial daily, Spender undertook whatever jobs were necessary, serving as sales manager, leader writer, reporter, and critic. Through his efforts the paper returned to profitability, only to then be sold by Saunders in February 1891. Spender returned to London, where he worked as a freelance contributor to a number of papers and wrote his book, a tract on old-age pensions that won him the friendship of John Morley
John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn
John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn OM, PC was a British Liberal statesman, writer and newspaper editor. Initially a journalist, he was elected a Member of Parliament in 1883...
.
In June 1892 Spender received an offer from E. T. Cook
Edward Tyas Cook
Sir Edward Tyas Cook was an English journalist, biographer, and man of letters.-Biography:Born in Brighton, Cook was the youngest son of Silas Kemball Cook, secretary of the Royal Naval Hospital, Greenwich, and his wife, Emily, née Archer...
, the editor of the Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
evening newspaper the Pall Mall Gazette
Pall Mall Gazette
The Pall Mall Gazette was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865 by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood...
, to work as his assistant editor. Spender gladly accepted, only to be let go a month later when the Pall Mall Gazette was sold to William Waldorf Astor
William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor
William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor was a very wealthy American who became a British nobleman. He was a member of the prominent Astor family.-Life in United States:...
, who changed its party allegiance to the Unionists
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
. Though the newly-married Spender was unemployed once more, he was quickly rehired by Cook when the editor started a new Liberal evening paper, the Westminster Gazette, in January 1893.
Editorship of the Westminster Gazette
Cook served as editor until 1896, when he resigned his position to take over as editor of the Liberal Daily NewsDaily News (UK)
The Daily News was a national daily newspaper in the United Kingdom.The News was founded in 1846 by Charles Dickens, who also served as the newspaper's first editor. It was conceived as a radical rival to the right-wing Morning Chronicle. The paper was not at first a commercial success...
. Though a number of prominent individuals applied to succeed him, the owner of the Westminster Gazette, George Newnes
George Newnes
Sir George Newnes, 1st Baronet was a publisher and editor in England.-Background and education:...
, decided to offer the editorship to Spender, then only thirty-three years of age. Though Spender himself was modest about his prospects, his selection was met with approval by many in the Liberal ranks, including the head of the party Lord Rosebery
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, KG, PC was a British Liberal statesman and Prime Minister. Between the death of his father, in 1851, and the death of his grandfather, the 4th Earl, in 1868, he was known by the courtesy title of Lord Dalmeny.Rosebery was a Liberal Imperialist who...
.
Under Spender's direction, the Westminster Gazette never had a wide circulation, nor did it make a profit. Nonetheless it was the most influential evening newspaper in Britain, for which Spender received the credit. The veteran editor Frederick Greenwood
Frederick Greenwood
Frederick Greenwood , was an English journalist, editor, and man of letters.-Early years:He was one of three brothers — the others being James and Charles — who all gained reputation as journalists. Frederick started life in a printing house, but at an early age began to write in periodicals...
regarded the Westminster Gazette under Spender as "the best edited paper in London," and his leaders became essential reading for politicians on both sides of the political aisle. In them his priority was Liberal unity. He balanced ideological expression in the pages of his paper, avoiding the polemical heights attained by his counterparts in other Liberal publications. Though this occasionally earned him the ire of both Liberal factions in a debate, his loyalty to the Liberal leadership was rewarded with their confidences, which provided him with invaluable insight into the inner workings of contemporary politics.
Spender greatly valued his editorial independence, which was never an issue with the Gazettes owner, George Newnes. When Newnes sold the paper in 1908 to a consortium of Liberal businessmen and politicians led by Alfred Mond
Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett
Alfred Moritz Mond, 1st Baron Melchett PC, FRS , known as Sir Alfred Mond, Bt, between 1910 and 1928, was a British industrialist, financier and politician...
, however, Spender found his cherished independence under pressure. Only internal disagreement within the ownership group saved Spender from dismissal. The dispute hurt staff morale, while the start of the First World War
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...
led several important staff members to leave for service in the armed forces. A growing decline in circulation and revenue led Spender and the owners to undertake the radical move of switching from an evening to a morning publication in November 1921. The new paper, however, was no longer a vehicle for the sort of reflective journalism characteristic of Spender, and he resigned from his position in February 1922.
Subsequent career
Spender's departure from the Westminster Gazette also meant his departure from journalism, as he how pursued a new career as an author. Over the next two decades, he wrote a number of books on nonfiction subjects, including histories, travelogues, biographies, and memoirs. His most prominent works were two biographies of Liberal party leaders, the former prime ministers Henry Campbell Bannerman and Herbert Henry AsquithH. H. Asquith
Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, KG, PC, KC served as the Liberal Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916...
, and a memoir of his Life Journalism and Politics. He also served on a number of public commissions and inquiries, and after refusing public honors three previous times he accepted an appointment as a Companion of Honour
Order of the Companions of Honour
The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded by King George V in June 1917, as a reward for outstanding achievements in the arts, literature, music, science, politics, industry or religion....
. He also remained involved in Liberal politics, though his influence was much diminished with the decline of the Liberal Party in the interwar period, while his concern about the insufficiency of British armaments led many to brand Spender as an appeaser
Appeasement
The term appeasement is commonly understood to refer to a diplomatic policy aimed at avoiding war by making concessions to another power. Historian Paul Kennedy defines it as "the policy of settling international quarrels by admitting and satisfying grievances through rational negotiation and...
in the run-up to the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Spender died in June 1942 after a long illness.
Works
- The State and Pensions in Old Age (1892)
- The Life of The Right Hon. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (2 vols.) (1924)
- The Public Life (2 vols.) (1925)
- Life, Journalism and Politics (2 vols.) (1927)
- (with Cyril Asquith) Life of Herbert Henry Asquith, Lord Oxford and Asquith (2 vols.) (1932)