August Julius Clemens Herbert Reuter, 2nd Baron de Reuter (10 March 1852 – 18 April 1915) was a British business man in London who spent most of his adult life working for his father's news agency,

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was est ...

, of which he was general manager for 37 years, from 1878 until his death. He killed himself on 18 April 1915, three days after his wife's death, and with Reuters in financial difficulties.

Life

Reuter was born in London in 1852, the eldest son of

Paul Reuter Paul Julius Reuter (born Israel Beer Josaphat; 21 July 1816 – 25 February 1899), later ennobled as Freiherr von Reuter (Baron von Reuter), was a German-born British entrepreneur who was a pioneer of telegraphy and news reporting.Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

, taking the Christian names Paul Julius in a baptism ceremony at St George's German Lutheran Church,

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

. His marriage to Ida Maria Magnus also took place there, on 23 November.Paul Julius Reuter
at encyclopedia.com The young Herbert Reuter was educated at Harrow and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...

. Unlike his father, he was thoroughly English.

Donald Read Donald Read (31 July 1930 – 1 October 2018) was a British historian. He was emeritus Professor of Modern English History at the University of Kent and in 1988 was appointed to write the authorised history of Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news ...

, ''The Power of News: the history of Reuters, 1849-1989'' (1992), p. 70 Sir Roderick Jones, ''A Life in Reuters'' (1951), p. 17 Reuter had two younger brothers, George and Alfred, and a sister, Clementine Maria. She married, in 1875, the Swedish Count Otto Stenbock, Councillor of the Swedish Legation in London, subsequently the Swedish Minister in Lisbon and then in Constantinople. Reuter spent most of his life in the service of the Reuters news agency, which his father had established. After his father's retirement in 1878, he became the agency's general manager, at the age of 26. The name of Reuters was well known, and Paul Reuter had been a prominent public figure, but although Herbert was managing director for longer, he never became well known. Buscot Park 02

Marrying Edith Campbell, a daughter of Robert Campbell, of

Buscot Park Buscot Park is a country house at Buscot near the town of Faringdon in Oxfordshire within the historic boundaries of Berkshire. It is a Grade II* listed building. It was built in an austere neoclassical style between 1780 and 1783 for Edwar ...

, Berkshire, in 1876,"Suicide of Baron Reuter"
in ''The Argus'' (Melbourne, Australia), 20 April 1915, p. 8: "He had been greatly distressed with grief at the sudden death of his wife. Her body was awaiting interment." Reuter had a daughter, Olga Edith, born on 14 January 1877, and a son, Hubert Julius de Reuter, born on 6 September 1878, who joined the family firm. In 1901, his daughter married John William Edward James Douglas of Tilquihillie, by

Banchory Banchory (, sco, Banchry, gd, Beannchar) is a burgh or town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is about west of Aberdeen, near where the Feugh River meets the River Dee. Prehistory and archaeology In 2009, a farmer discovered a short cist bu ...

, and they had a son, John Sholto, born in 1904, and two daughters, Madeleine Clemence Ogilvie and Phoebe Mary. Tilquhillie Castle - geograph

For some years, Reuters had operated a banking department, which was profitable, and in 1913 Reuter launched Reuters Bank as a subsidiary of the News Agency. However, it proved an expensive mistake and within two years had swallowed up the whole of the reserves of the main company. On 18 April 1915, at

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earliest archaeological evidence for huma ...

, Reuter shot himself dead with a revolver, a few days after the death of his wife. Two days later, on 20 April, their son Hubert enlisted as a private in the

Royal Fusiliers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many wars ...

. He was killed in action on 13 November 1916. In October 1915, Roderick Jones was appointed as general manager of Reuters, and in 1916 he and the company chairman, Mark Napier, bought the company.

Jones, Sir (George) Roderick (1877–1962), news agency director
in

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 ...

(Oxford University Press, 2004) online, accessed 15 April 2020 In 1920, after her first husband's death, Reuter's sister Clementine married Sir Herbert Chermside, a former

Governor of Queensland The governor of Queensland is the representative in the state of Queensland of the monarch of Australia. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governor performs constitutional and ceremonial func ...

. She lived until 1941, when she left an estate valued at £49,664."Deaths Wills and Bequests" in ''The Times'', Issue 49065, 24 October 1941, p. 7; col. C: "Deaths... Chermside, dame Clementina Marie, of Pepper Arden, Northallerton, widow of Count Otto Stenbock and of Lieutenant general Sir Herbert Charles Chermside, GCMG CB... £49,664"

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reuter, Herbert 1852 births 1915 deaths Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford English people of German-Jewish descent English Lutherans People educated at Harrow School Reuters people Suicides by firearm in England 19th-century Lutherans