James Allen (1806 – 21 March 1886), nicknamed "Dismal Jemmy", was an English-born writer, journalist and newspaper owner in Australia and New Zealand.

Biography

Allen was born in Birmingham and educated at

Horton College thumbnail, 1937 sketch of the school Horton College was a 19th-century independent Wesleyan methodist boys' boarding school, at Mona Vale near , Tasmania, Australia. Founded by Captain Samuel Horton in 1855, the College closed in 1894; and duri ...

. He was for some time a reporter on the London ''

Morning Post ''The Morning Post'' was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by ''The Daily Telegraph''. History The paper was founded by John Bell. According to historian Robert Darnton, ''The Morning Po ...

'', and was an associate of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

. He emigrated to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, South Australia, arriving in Adelaide in 1839, and shortly became editor of ''

The Southern Australian ''The South Australian'' was a newspaper published in Adelaide, the capital of colonial South Australia from 2 June 1838 to 19 August 1851. Between 1838 and 1844, it was published as The ''Southern Australian.'' History ''The Southern Australia ...

''. In December 1841 he published the first ''South Australian News-letter'', a compendium of statistics on the new colony, for new immigrants to send "home" to Britain. In 1842 he purchased for £600 the ''

South Australian Register ''The Register'', originally the ''South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register'', and later ''South Australian Register,'' was South Australia's first newspaper. It was first published in London in June 1836, moved to Adelaide in 1837, and f ...

'' from George Stevenson, who was withdrawing from journalism and sold it to John Stephens and in 1845 returned to England. In 1848 he was back in Adelaide and, with John Brown and William Barlow Gilbert, founded ''

The Adelaide Times The ''Adelaide Times'' was an early newspaper founded by James Allen and printed in Adelaide, the capital of the then colony of South Australia. It was published between 2 October 1848 and 8 May 1858, and evolved through a series of names and pub ...

'', modelled on ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' of London, and was its editor until it folded, the last issue appearing on 8 May 1858. A notable reporter and sub-editor was

W. M. Akhurst William Mower Akhurst (29 December 1822 – 6/7 June 1878) was an actor, journalist and playwright in Australia. Akhurst was born in Hammersmith, London or Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, London, a son of William Akhurst (1793–1866) and Harriet ...

. He then went to Melbourne, where he edited the ''

Melbourne Herald ''The Herald'' was a morning and, later, evening broadsheet newspaper published in Melbourne, Australia, from 3 January 1840 to 5 October 1990, which is when it merged with its sister morning newspaper ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' to form the ''H ...

'' and started the ''Mail'', the first penny evening paper issued in that city. In 1865 Allen moved to Hobart, Tasmania, and edited the ''

Hobart Mercury ''The'' ''Mercury'' is a daily newspaper, published in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, by Davies Brothers Pty Ltd (DBL), a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of News Corp. The weekend issues of the paper are called ''Mercury on ...

'', afterwards starting the ''Evening Mail''. He then went to New Zealand, and conducted the ''Auckland Evening News'' until 1870, when he returned to Victoria and purchased ''

The Camperdown Chronicle ''The Camperdown Chronicle'' is the local newspaper of the Australia, Australian town of Camperdown, Victoria. The ''Chronicle'' was first printed on 1 October 1874 by proprietor and editor, James Allen (newspaperman), James Allen. Published three ...

'', of which he remained owner till 1880. Allen published a "History of Australia" in 1882, before dying in Melbourne in 1886, reckoned to be Australia's oldest journalist.

References

"The Early Printers of Melbourne" in The Australasian Typographical Journal, May, 1898. 1806 births 1886 deaths 19th-century Australian journalists 19th-century Australian male writers 19th-century male writers New Zealand journalists The Mercury (Hobart) people Australian male journalists {{Australia-writer-stub