The ''British Critic: A New Review'' was a quarterly publication, established in 1793 as a
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
and
high-church review journal riding the tide of British reaction against the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
. The headquarters was in London. The journal ended publication in 1843.
High-church review
The Society for the Reformation of Principles, founded in 1792 by
William Jones of Nayland and
William Stevens, established the ''British Critic'' in 1793.
Robert Nares
Robert Nares (9 June 1753, York – 23 March 1829) was an English clergyman, philologist and author.
Life
He was born at York in 1753, the son of James Nares (1715–1783), organist of York Minster and educated at Westminster School and Ch ...
and
William Beloe
William Beloe (1756 – April 11, 1817) was an English divine and miscellaneous writer.
Biography
Beloe was born at Norwich the son of a tradesman, and received a liberal education. After a day school in Norwich he was schooled under the Rev. Ma ...
, editor and assistant editor respectively, were joint proprietors with the booksellers and publishers
Francis and Charles Rivington. It was started as a monthly, but in 1825 its frequency was shifted to quarterly. Nares and Beloe edited the review for about 20 years. Around 1811 the magazine was bought by
Joshua Watson and
Henry Handley Norris, associated with the
high-church pressure group known as the
Hackney Phalanx.
After 1825 the review "became more narrowly theological in scope".
Tractarian takeover
The owners were, however, in some difficulty in controlling the editorial line under both Campbell and Boone; and turned eventually to
Oxford Movement figures. This move was brought on by the financial losses the ''Critic'' was making by 1836.
John Henry Newman
John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...
offered a stable of Oxford writers who would write reviews gratuitously, at a moment when the publisher was considering closing the publication.
By the end of 1837 Newman was objecting to Boone's decisions and line (the use of
Joseph Sortain
Joseph Sortain (1809–1860) was a British Nonconformist (Protestantism), nonconformist minister, an evangelical Independent, philosophy tutor at Cheshunt College, and biographer of Francis Bacon. A reputed preacher of his time, he was called "the ...
as reviewer and the sympathy shown to
Renn Dickson Hampden). Boone resigned by November, and
Samuel Roffey Maitland took over; but he was immediately discomfited in early 1838 by a review by
Edward Pusey
Edward Bouverie Pusey (; 22 August 180016 September 1882) was an English Anglican cleric, for more than fifty years Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford. He was one of the leading figures in the Oxford Movement.
Early years
...
relating to the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners
The Ecclesiastical Commissioners were, in England and Wales, a body corporate, whose full title was Ecclesiastical and Church Estates Commissioners for England. The commissioners were authorized to determine the distribution of revenues of the Chu ...
which placed him in a difficult personal position, and resigned. Until 1843 the ''Critic'' was then effectively dominated by the
Tractarian
The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...
movement, and edited successively by Newman and
Thomas Mozley
Thomas Mozley (1806June 17, 1893), was an English clergyman and writer associated with the Oxford Movement.
Early life
Mozley was born at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, the son of a bookseller and publisher. His brother, James Bowling Mozley, wou ...
.
Under Mozley's editorship the ''Critic'' was strongly partisan, attacking
Godfrey Faussett, and allowing
Frederick Oakeley and
W. G. Ward a free hand. It was closed down in October 1843.
In 1844 a replacement publication, the ''
English Review'', was set up, by a group including
John Kaye, with Rivingtons as published; it appeared to 1853.
List of editors
*1811
Thomas Fanshaw Middleton. In the same year (beginning of the second series)
William Van Mildert and
Thomas Rennell also served as editors, according to various sources; with Rennell continuing until Lyall took over.
[Esther Rhoads Houghton, ''A 'New' Editor of the "British Critic"'', Victorian Periodicals Review Vol. 12, No. 3 (Fall, 1979), pp. 102–105.]
*1816–17
William Rowe Lyall
*c.1823–1833 Archibald Montgomery Campbell
*1827–1833
Edward Smedley, very much engaged in the periodical, but according to Houghton never actually editor in title.
*1834–1837
James Shergold Boone
*1837–8
Samuel Roffey Maitland
*1838–July 1841
John Henry Newman
John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...
*1841–1843
Thomas Mozley
Thomas Mozley (1806June 17, 1893), was an English clergyman and writer associated with the Oxford Movement.
Early life
Mozley was born at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, the son of a bookseller and publisher. His brother, James Bowling Mozley, wou ...
References
*S. A. Skinner (2004), ''Tractarians and the 'Condition of England': The Social and Political Thought of the Oxford Movement'', Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Notes
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1793 establishments in Great Britain
1826 disestablishments in the British Empire
Anglican newspapers and magazines
Conservative magazines published in the United Kingdom
Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom
Quarterly magazines published in the United Kingdom
Religious magazines published in the United Kingdom
Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom
Magazines published in London
Magazines established in 1793
Magazines disestablished in 1826