Cecil Edward Chesterton (12 November 1879 – 6 December 1918) was an English journalist and political commentator, known particularly for his role as editor of '' The New Witness'' from 1912 to 1916, and in relation to its coverage of the

Marconi scandal The Marconi scandal was a British political scandal that broke in mid-1912. Allegations were made that highly placed members of the Liberal government under the Prime Minister H. H. Asquith had profited by improper use of information about the go ...

Life

He was the younger brother of G. K. Chesterton and second cousin of

A. K. Chesterton Arthur Kenneth Chesterton (1 May 1899 – 16 August 1973) was a British far-right journalist and political activist. From 1933 to 1938, he was a member of the British Union of Fascists (BUF). Disillusioned with Oswald Mosley, he left th ...

, and a close associate of

Hilaire Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. H ...

. While the ideas of

distributism Distributism is an economic theory asserting that the world's productive assets should be widely owned rather than concentrated. Developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, distributism was based upon Catholic social teaching pri ...

came from all three, and Arthur Penty, he was the most ideological and combative by temperament. His death, according to his widow, removed the theorist of the movement. He was born in Kensington, London, and educated at St Paul's School, then worked for a small publisher for a time. He then qualified as surveyor and estate agent, with a view to entering his father's business, which is still flourishing today. In 1901 he joined the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. T ...

, with which he was closely involved for about six years. From 1907 he wrote for A. R. Orage's ''

The New Age ''The New Age'' was a British weekly magazine (1894–1938), inspired by Fabian socialism, and credited as a major influence on literature and the arts during its heyday from 1907 to 1922, when it was edited by Alfred Richard Orage. It publishe ...

''. In 1908 he published an anonymous biography of his better-known brother, ''G. K. Chesterton, a Criticism'', but his authorship was quickly discovered. Chesterton had been one of the 'Anti-Puritan League' of the 1890s, with

Stewart Headlam Stewart Duckworth Headlam (1847–1924) was an English Anglican priest who was involved in frequent controversy in the final decades of the nineteenth century. Headlam was a pioneer and publicist of Christian socialism, on which he wrote a pamphl ...

(who stood bail for Oscar Wilde), Edgar Jepson and his brother; and then a member of Henry Holland's Christian Social Union. While Chesterton was writing from a socialist point of view for Orage, he was also moving to an Anglo-Catholic religious stance. In 1911 he started editorial work for Belloc, with whom he wrote in ''The Party System'', a criticism of

party politics A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

. In 1912 he formally became a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

. That same year he bought Belloc's failing weekly ''

Eye-Witness In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...

'';

Charles Granville Charles Granville was an English book publisher, publishing in the 1900s and early 1910s as Stephen Swift or Stephen Swift Ltd. He published two literary magazines, the ''Oxford and Cambridge Review'' and the ''Eye Witness'', which carried works ...

who published it had been made bankrupt. He renamed it ''The New Witness'', editing it for four years before enlisting in the army, and turning it into a

scandal sheet Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism (usually dramatized and sometimes unverifiable or even blatantly false), which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format: a small-sized newspaper also known as ...

. His persistent attacks on prominent political figures involved in the

(such as Lloyd George), and his public defence of his position in terms of a 'Jewish problem', have left him with a reputation as an anti-Semite. He was successfully brought to court by Godfrey Isaacs, one of those attacked, although the damages awarded were nominal. A government investigation revealed that high government officials had engaged in insider trading in the stock of Marconi's American subsidiary, but the quantity of stocks they were known to have purchased was relatively small. On 7 January 1914 Chesterton acted for the defence in the mock-trial of John Jasper for the murder of

Edwin Drood ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'' is the final novel by Charles Dickens, originally published in 1870. Though the novel is named after the character Edwin Drood, it focuses more on Drood's uncle, John Jasper, a precentor, choirmaster and opiu ...

in Covent Garden. G.K. Chesterton was Judge and Cecil's future wife played Princess Puffer.

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

was foreman of the jury. In 1916 he married journalist Ada Elizabeth Jones, later known as a writer, after a long courtship.Mark Knight, 'Chesterton, Ada Elizabeth (1869–1962)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 201
accessed 28 Feb 2017
/ref> He joined the

Highland Light Infantry The Highland Light Infantry (HLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881. It took part in the First and Second World Wars, until it was amalgamated with the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1959 to form the Royal Highland Fus ...

as a private soldier. His brother Gilbert took over the paper, with Ada as Secretary and Business Manager. Eventually in 1925 Gilbert, with great reluctance, allowed it to be renamed '' G. K.'s Weekly'' because his name was very well-known and likely to attract interest. He was three times wounded fighting in France, and died there in a hospital of nephritis on 6 December 1918. His wife Ada had rushed to his bedside and she arrived just before he died. She was his only relative at his funeral, when he was buried at the Terlincthun British Cemetery,

Wimille Wimille is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Wimille is a farming and light industrial town situated some north of Boulogne, at the junction of the D233 and the D237 roads, on the ba ...

. Although sick, he had refused to leave his post until the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

. On 13 December, G. K. Chesterton would report his death in the ''New Witness'', noting that "He lived long enough to march to the victory which was for him a supreme vision of liberty and the light."

Works

''Gladstonian Ghosts.''
London: S.C. Brown Langham & Co., 1905.
''G.K. Chesterton: a Criticism.''
London: Alston Rivers, 1908. * ''The People's Drink.'' London: The New Age Press, 1909. * ''Party and People: A Criticism of the Recent Elections and Their Consequences.'' London: Alston Rivers, Limited, 1910.
''The Party System,''
with Hilaire Belloc. London: Stephen Swift, 1911.
''Nell Gwyn.''
London: T.N. Foulis, 1912 (1st Pub. 1911).
''The Prussian hath said in his Heart.''
London: Chapman and Hall, 1914.
''Debate between George Sylvester Viereck and Cecil Chesterton''
New York: The Fatherland Corporation, 1915.
''The Perils of Peace.''
London: T.W. Laurie, Ltd., 1916.
''A History of the United States.''
London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1919.

Articles

"Democracy and the Great State."
In: ''Socialism and the Great State.'' New York and London: Harper & Brother Publishers, 1912.
"The Barbarians."
In: Alfred Bingham (ed.), ''Handbook of the European War.'' New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1914.
"The Art of Controversy: Macaulay, Huxley and Newman,"
''The Catholic World,'' Vol. CV, April/September 1917.

Other

* Hubert Bland, ''Essays,'' with an Introduction by Cecil Chesterton. London: Max Goschen, Ltd., 1914.

References

* Chesterton, Ada Elizabeth (1941). ''The Chestertons.'' London:

Chapman & Hall Chapman & Hall is an Imprint (trade name), imprint owned by CRC Press, originally founded as a United Kingdom, British publishing house in London in the first half of the 19th century by Edward Chapman (publisher), Edward Chapman and William Hall ...

. * Pearce, Joseph (1996). ''Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G. K. Chesterton''. London: Hodder & Stoughton. * Sewell, Brocard (1975). ''Cecil Chesterton.'' Faversham: Saint Albert's Press. * Squire, John C. (1920). "Cecil Chesterton." In: ''Books in General,'' Third series. London: Hodder & Stoughton, pp. 119–121.

Notes

External links

* * *
Works by Cecil Chesterton
at

Hathi Trust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locally ...

American Cecil Chesterton Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chesterton, Cecil Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism English male journalists English Roman Catholics People educated at St Paul's School, London People from Kensington Roman Catholic writers British Army personnel of World War I Highland Light Infantry soldiers 1879 births 1918 deaths Deaths from nephritis Anglo-Catholic socialists English Christian socialists Members of the Fabian Society Distributism