Henry Muddiman (5 February 1629, St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, London, Eng. died 7 March 1692, Coldhern, near Earl's Court, London) was an English journalist and publisher active after the

restoration of the monarchy Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration *Restoration ecology ...

, in 1660. Muddiman was born in the

Strand, London Strand (or the Strand) is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster, Central London. It runs just over from Trafalgar Square eastwards to Temple Bar, where the road becomes Fleet Street in the City of London, and is part of the A4 ...

. He was educated in St Clement's Temple and at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

, after which he worked as a

school teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

. He began producing two regular newsbooks – ''Parliamentary Intelligencer'' and ''Mercurius Publicus'' – in late 1659 on the proceedings of the newly reconvened Rump Parliament. This seems to have been at the suggestion of George Monck, who also received good publicity. On 16 April 1660 this role was secured when all other such journals were banned particularly those of Marchamont Needham the chief Cromwellian publisher. Muddiman received a monopoly of print along with arch- royalist John Birkenhead as a supervising

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

. Muddiman lost the right to publish the journals three years later when it was handed to Roger L'Estrange. He would transform the subtle

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

of the newsbooks into heavy-handed political polemics leading to the rights being returned to Muddiman in 1665. By that time, Muddiman had established a good business distributing hand-written details of

parliamentary proceeding ''Hansard'' is the traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official printe ...

s which he was not allowed to print. Once the rights were returned he began publishing '' The London Gazette'' which remains the oldest surviving English newspaper. With a short hiatus over the

Exclusion crisis The Exclusion Crisis ran from 1679 until 1681 in the reign of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. Three Exclusion bills sought to exclude the King's brother and heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, from the thrones of England, Sc ...

, when there were attempts to suppress all publications, he retained exclusive rights until the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...

of 1688. At the change of regime he was considered too close to the previous incumbents and retired, dying in 1692.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muddiman, Henry 1629 births 1692 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge English male journalists English newspaper founders English male non-fiction writers 17th-century English businesspeople 17th-century journalists