Richard Holt Hutton (2 June 1826 – 9 September 1897) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

and

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

Life and work

The son of Joseph Hutton, a Unitarian minister, Richard Holt Hutton was born at

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

. His family moved to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1835, and he was educated at

University College School ("Slowly but surely") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , religion = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Mark Beard , r_head_label = , r_he ...

and

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, where he began a lifelong friendship with

Walter Bagehot Walter Bagehot ( ; 3 February 1826 – 24 March 1877) was an English journalist, businessman, and essayist, who wrote extensively about government, economics, literature and race. He is known for co-founding the ''National Review'' in 1855 ...

, whose works he later edited. He took his degree in 1845, and was awarded the gold medal for philosophy. Meanwhile, he had also studied for short periods at

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, and in 1847 he entered Manchester New College with the idea of becoming a minister like his father, and studied there under

James Martineau James Martineau (; 21 April 1805 – 11 January 1900) was a British religious philosopher influential in the history of Unitarianism. For 45 years he was Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy and Political Economy in Manchester New College ( ...

. He was not, however, called on by any church, and for some time his future was unsettled. In 1851, he married his cousin, Anne Roscoe, and became joint-editor with

John Langton Sanford John Langton Sanford (1824–1877) was an English historical writer. Life Born at Upper Clapton, London, on 22 June 1824, Sanford studied at University College, London. Entering Lincoln's Inn, he read in the chambers of John Richard Quain, an ...

of the ''Inquirer'', the main Unitarian periodical. His innovations and unconventional views about stereotyped Unitarian doctrines caused alarm, and in 1853 he resigned. His health had broken down, and he visited the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

, where his wife died of

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...

. In 1855 Hutton and Bagehot became joint editors of the ''National Review'', a new monthly which lasted for ten years. During this time Hutton's theological views, influenced directly by

Frederick William Robertson Frederick William Robertson (3 February 1816 – 15 August 1853), known as Robertson of Brighton, was an English divine. Biography Born in London, the first five years of his life were passed at Leith Fort, where his father, a captain in the R ...

and

John Frederick Denison Maurice John Frederick Denison Maurice (1805–1872), known as F. D. Maurice, was an English Anglican theologian, a prolific author, and one of the founders of Christian socialism. Since the Second World War, interest in Maurice has expanded."Fre ...

, gradually came closer to those of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

, which he ultimately joined. He brought to his study of theology a spirituality of outlook and an aptitude for

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

inquiry and exposition which made his writings more attractive. In 1861 he joined

Meredith Townsend Meredith White Townsend (1831–1911) was an English journalist and editor of ''The Spectator''. 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 ...

as joint editor and part proprietor of the '' Spectator'', then a well-known liberal weekly, but it did not pay. Hutton took charge of the literary side of the paper, and gradually his own articles became one of the best-known features of serious and thoughtful English

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...

. The ''Spectator'', which gradually became a prosperous property, was an outlet for his views, particularly on literary, religious and philosophical subjects, in opposition to the agnostic and rationalistic opinions then current in intellectual circles, as popularized by

T. H. Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stor ...

. Hutton had many friends, and became one of the most respected and influential journalists of the day. In 1858 he married Eliza Roscoe, a cousin of his first wife; she died early in 1897, and Hutton's own death followed in the same year. Among his other publications may be mentioned ''Essays, Theological and Literary'' (1871; revised 1888), and ''Criticisms on Contemporary Thought and Thinkers'' (1894), and his opinions may be studied compendiously in the selections from his ''Spectator'' articles published in 1899 under the title of ''Aspects of Religious and Scientific Thought''.

Interests

He was an original member of the

Metaphysical Society The Metaphysical Society was a famous British debating society, founded in 1869 by James Knowles, who acted as Secretary. Membership was by invitation only, and was exclusively male. Many of its members were prominent clergymen, philosophers, and ...

(1869). He was an

anti-vivisectionist Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for experiment ...

, and a member of the Royal Commission (1875) on that subject, which led to the

Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 The Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 ( 39 & 40 Vict. c. 77.) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which set limits on the practice of, and instituted a licensing system for animal experimentation, amending the Cruelty to Animals Act 1 ...

. Hutton took interest in

parapsychology Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near ...

. He was the vice president of the

Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to co ...

in 1882. James, William. (1986). ''Essays in Psychical Research''. Harvard University Press. p. 390.

Collections

*1871. ''Essays, Theological and Literary.'' 2 vols. London: Macmillan. (2nd ed., 1880. 3rd ed., 1888. 4th ed., 1895–1896.) *1894. ''Criticisms on Contemporary Thought and Thinkers.'' 2 vols. London: Macmillan. *1899. ''Aspects of Religious and Scientific Thought.'' Edited by Elizabeth M. Roscoe. London: Macmillan. *1906. ''Brief Literary Criticisms.'' Edited by Elizabeth M. Roscoe. London: Macmillan. *1989. ''A Victorian Spectator.'' Edited by Robert H. Tener and Malcolm Woodfield. Bristol: Bristol Press. *1998. ''A Spectator of Theatre.'' Edited by Robert H. Tener. Calgary: University of Calgary Press.

References

Notes

External links