Harry Ainsworth (1 August 1888 – 4 August 1965) was a British newspaper editor.
Born in
Darwen
Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners".
The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the s ...
, Ainsworth worked on local newspapers before becoming the news editor of the ''
Weekly Dispatch''. He next became Assistant Editor at
Odhams Press
Odhams Press was a British publishing company, operating from 1920 to 1968. Originally a magazine publisher, Odhams later expanded into book publishing and then children's comics. The company was acquired by Fleetway Publications in 1961 and the ...
, then Editor of ''
John Bull
John Bull is a national personification of the United Kingdom in general and England in particular, especially in political cartoons and similar graphic works. He is usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged, country-dwelling, jolly and matter- ...
''. In 1925, Ainsworth became editor of ''
The People
The ''Sunday People'' is a British tabloid Sunday newspaper. It was founded as ''The People'' on 16 October 1881.
At one point owned by Odhams Press, The ''People'' was acquired along with Odhams by the Mirror Group in 1961, along with the ...
'' on its takeover by Odhams. At the time it had a circulation of 250,000 copies per issue but, within five years, he had increased this to 2,500,000, and ultimately raised it to five million.
["Mr H. Ainsworth", '']The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 7 August 1965
Ainsworth remained Editor of ''The People'' until 1957 although, for his last ten years,
Stuart Campbell was effectively in control.
[Campbell, (Renton) Stuart]
, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'' Ainsworth was also one of the founding members of the
Press Council.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ainsworth, Harry
1888 births
1965 deaths
English newspaper editors
English male journalists
People from Darwen
The Sunday People people