Sir Walter Newman Flower (8 July 1879 – 12 March 1964) was an English publisher and author. He transformed the fortunes of the publishing house

Cassell & Co Cassell & Co is a British book publishing house, founded in 1848 by John Cassell (1817–1865), which became in the 1890s an international publishing group company. In 1995, Cassell & Co acquired Pinter Publishers. In December 1998, Cassell & ...

, and later became its proprietor. As an author, he published studies of the composers

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

and (as co-author)

Arthur Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera, operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinaf ...

. He also edited the million-word journals of

Arnold Bennett Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist. He wrote prolifically: between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaboratio ...

for publication.

Life and career

Flower was born at

Fontmell Magna Fontmell Magna is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England. It is situated in the Blackmore Vale, close to the chalk hills of Cranborne Chase, on the A350 road south of Shaftesbury and north of Blandford Forum. In the 2011 census ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

, England. He was the eldest son of John Walter Flower."Flower, Sir (Walter) Newman"
''Who Was Who, 1920–2007'', A & C Black, London; online edn, Oxford University Press, December 2007, accessed 22 Nov 2008 After schooling at the

Whitgift School ("He who perseveres, conquers") , established = , closed = , type = Independent school , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head Master , head = Christopher Ramsey , c ...

he entered the publishing trade in London at the age of 17.''

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 ...

'', 13 March 1964, p. 19

Publishing

Flower trained under

Lord Northcliffe Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (15 July 1865 – 14 August 1922), was a British newspaper and publishing magnate. As owner of the ''Daily Mail'' and the ''Daily Mirror'', he was an early developer of popular journal ...

at the Harmsworth Press, after which he joined

in 1906. Cassell was at that time in the doldrums, but Flower built up a stable of magazine titles that grew to dominate the British magazine market for many years. In 1912 he was given charge of the book publishing branch of the company, where he brought in such authors as

G. K. Chesterton Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Of his writing style, ''Time'' observed: "Wh ...

and

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

hood for services to literature, he retired, but returned during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

to look after the literary affairs of the company while his successor, his son Desmond, was on active service. Flower commissioned

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

's ''

A History of the English-Speaking Peoples ''A History of the English-Speaking Peoples'' is a four-volume history of Britain and its former colonies and possessions throughout the world, written by Winston Churchill, covering the period from Caesar's invasions of Britain (55 BC) to the en ...

'', which was eventually completed and published during the 1950s. During the war years, Churchill promised Flower that Cassell would be offered anything he later wrote about the war. ''

'' described the result, Churchill's ''

The Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

'', as "perhaps the greatest coup of twentieth century publishing."

Writing

Flower was also an author. His life of

was published in 1923 and reissued in a revised edition in 1959. The book was well received, but later writers on Handel have disputed Flower's portrait of Handel as "sexless and safe". In 1927, Flower collaborated with

Herbert Sullivan Herbert Thomas Sullivan (13 May 1868 – 26 November 1928), known as "Bertie", was the nephew, heir and biographer of the British composer Arthur Sullivan. He grew up as his uncle's ward and worked briefly as an engineer. After his uncle's dea ...

in a biography of the latter's uncle, ''Sir

, his Life and Letters''. This too was well received at the time but also suffered later from critical disapproval for sanitising its subject by suppressing evidence of Sullivan's gambling and sexual liaisons. In 1928 Flower published a study of

, and in 1945 and 1950 he published two volumes of memoirs. His largest literary project was to prepare the journals of

for publication – more than a million words in manuscript to be edited.

Rupert Hart-Davis Sir Rupert Charles Hart-Davis (28 August 1907 – 8 December 1999) was an English publisher and editor. He founded the publishing company Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd. As a biographer, he is remembered for his ''Hugh Walpole'' (1952), as an editor, f ...

later commented on "the prudish timidity of their editor, old Newman Flower. According to

Hugh Walpole Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (13 March 18841 June 1941) was an English novelist. He was the son of an Anglican clergyman, intended for a career in the church but drawn instead to writing. Among th ...

, N. F. was so appalled by much of what he found in the journals that he published only brief extracts, and those the safest."Hart-Davis, Letter of 27 October 1957

Personal life

Flower was twice married, first in 1903 to Evelyne Readwin of

Wells, Norfolk Wells-next-the-Sea is a port town on the north coast of Norfolk, England. The civil parish has an area of and in 2001 had a population of 2,451,Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). Census population and household ...

, with whom he had one son, and second in 1943 to Bridget Downes of Coore,

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...

, Ireland. He died at his home, Tarrant Keynston House, near

Blandford Blandford Forum ( ), commonly Blandford, is a market town in Dorset, England, sited by the River Stour about northwest of Poole. It was the administrative headquarters of North Dorset District until April 2019, when this was abolished and i ...

, Dorset, aged 84.

Notes

References

*Flower, Newman: ''Through My Garden Gate'', Cassell, London, 1945 *Flower, Newman: ''Just as it Happened'', Cassell, London, 1950 *Hart-Davis, Rupert (ed): '' The Lyttelton/Hart-Davis Letters'' Vol 2 John Murray, London, 1979 {{DEFAULTSORT:Flower, Newman 1879 births 1964 deaths British book publishers (people) People associated with Gilbert and Sullivan Knights Bachelor People from Dorset People educated at Whitgift School