Henry Southern (1799–1853) was an English journalist and diplomat, best known as the founder of the '' Retrospective Review''.

Early life

Born in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, he was the son of Richard Southern. He entered

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, on 31 December 1814, graduated B.A. in 1819 and proceeded M.A. in 1822. He became a member of the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

, but was not called to the bar.

Journalist

Interested in early English literature, Southern in 1820 founded the ''Retrospective Review'', which he edited on his own till 1826, by which time 14 volumes had been published. Between 1826 and 1828 two more were issued by him with

Nicholas Harris Nicolas Sir (Nicholas) Harris Nicolas (10 March 1799 – 3 August 1848) was an English antiquary. Life The fourth son of Commander John Harris Nicolas R.N. (1758–1844) and Margaret née Blake, he was born at Dartmouth. He was the brother of Rear Ad ...

. The ''Review'' provided criticisms on "scarce old books", mainly of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Two more volumes of another series of the title were published in 1853–4. When

Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham (; 15 February 1748 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._4_February_1747.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 4 February 1747">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.htm ...

founded the ''

Westminster Review The ''Westminster Review'' was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal unt ...

'' in 1824, Southern was for a time co-editor with

John Bowring Sir John Bowring , or Phraya Siamanukulkij Siammitrmahayot, , , group=note (17 October 1792 – 23 November 1872) was a British political economist, traveller, writer, literary translator, polyglot and the fourth Governor of Hong Kong. He was a ...

; and in 1825 he became proprietor and editor of the second series of the later ''

London Magazine ''The London Magazine'' is the title of six different publications that have appeared in succession since 1732. All six have focused on the arts, literature and miscellaneous topics. 1732–1785 ''The London Magazine, or, Gentleman's Monthly I ...

''. He was also a contributor to ''The Atlas'' at its beginning, and to ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' and '' The Examiner''.

Diplomat

In 1833 Southern accompanied the English ambassador, George William Frederick Villiers to Spain as his private secretary. He was then placed on the diplomatic staff, and, after remaining some years at

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, was appointed secretary to the legation at Lisbon. In 1848 Southern became minister to the Argentine Confederation, and in 1851 was promoted to the court of Brazil, and received the insignia of a

Companion of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as on ...

. He died at

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

on 28 January 1853.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Southern, Henry 1799 births 1853 deaths English male journalists British diplomats People from York English male non-fiction writers Journalists from Yorkshire