Mary Howarth (1858 – ) was a British journalist and newspaper editor. Howarth was born in Manchester. She was the editor of the women's section for the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' in the late 1890s. In November 1903, she was appointed as the first editor of the '' Daily Mirror'', then part of the same group. Although sometimes described as the first female editor on

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...

, she was preceded by

Delariviere Manley Delarivier "Delia" Manley (1663 or c. 1670 – 24 July 1724) was an English author, playwright, and political pamphleteer. Manley is sometimes referred to, with Aphra Behn and Eliza Haywood, as one of "the fair triumvirate of wit", which is a la ...

and Rachel Beer.Hadley Freema
"Ladies of the press"
''The Guardian'', 16 June 2005 Almost all the staff at the ''Mirror'' were women, proprietor Alfred Harmsworth saw it as a paper "for gentlewomen by gentlewomen".Jeff Wright,
The myth in the Mirror
, ''British Journalism Review'', Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003, pages 59-66 The first issue sold a relatively healthy 276,000 copies, but was soon down to 25,000. Dennis Griffiths (ed.) ''The Encyclopedia of the British Press, 1422–1992'', London & Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p.185 Harmsworth lost confidence in his plan for the paper. According to him, "women can't write and don't want to read".Preview.
/ref> He wrote to Hamilton Fyfe to offer him the job of editor. Fyfe replied, confirming that he would be happy to take up the post, as soon as he could resign as editor of the '' Morning Advertiser''. Howarth, apparently only on loan from the ''Mail'', returned to her former job at the ''Mail'' after a week's publication. Fyfe took up the editorial post early in 1904, sacking almost all the female staff. He relaunched the paper with a focus on printing photographs of events.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howarth, Mary Journalists from Manchester Date of birth missing Year of death missing British newspaper editors Daily Mirror people 1858 births Date of death missing