Meredith White Townsend (1831–1911) was an English journalist and editor of ''
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 '' T ...
''. With
Richard Holt Hutton, he was joint-editor of the Spectator until 1887, and he was largely instrumental in making it an established success, writing most of the political articles and the opening paragraphs every week. His two chief publications were ''The Great Governing Families of England'' (1865), written in conjunction with Langton Sanford, and ''Asia and Europe'' (1901).
Townsend was considered as one of the finest journalists of his day, and he has since been called "the greatest leader writer ever to appear in the English Press."
Early life
Townsend was born at
Bures,
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
on April 1, 1831. He was educated at
Ipswich Grammar School
, motto_translation = Work and Honour
, address = Darling Street
, city = Ipswich
, state = Queensland
, postcode = 4305
, country = Australia
, coordinates =
, type = Independent, single-sex, day & ...
. In 1848, he went out to India, and four years later became editor of the Friend of India, acting also for some years as
Times correspondent. In 1860, Townsend returned to England and purchased the weekly Spectator in partnership with Hutton.
The Spectator
Townsend and Hutton remained co-proprietors and joint editors for 25 years, taking a strong stand on some of the most controversial issues of their day. They supported the Federalists against the South in the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
, an unpopular position which, at the time, did some damage to the paper’s circulation, though gained readers in the long run when the North won.
They also launched an all-out assault on
Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a centr ...
, accusing him in a series of leaders of jettisoning ethics for politics by
ignoring the atrocities committed against Bulgarian civilians by
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
in the 1870s.
Major publications
Towsend published ''Asia and Europe'' in 1901, the studies presenting the conclusions formed by him in a long life devoted to the subject of the relations between Asia and Europe. He had previously published ''The Great Governing Families of England'' (1865) in partnership with
John Langton Sanford. The book detailed the histories of the great administrator-families of England. Townsend also contributed to a pseudo-biography of the Arab prophet Mohamed, which was written in a triumphant and imperialistic style.
Final years
In 1887, Townsend was succeeded by
John St Loe Strachey, a young aristocrat who had replaced
H.H. Asquith (the future Prime Minister) as a leader-writer of the Spectator during the previous year."
Towsend died at
Little Bookham,
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, Oct. 21 1911.
References
External links
*
Parliamentary Archives, Papers of Meredith White Townsend, 1857-1911
{{DEFAULTSORT:Townsend, Meredith
1831 births
1911 deaths
English newspaper editors
English male journalists
The Spectator editors