Herbert De Reuter

August Julius Clemens Herbert Reuter, 2nd Baron de Reuter (10 March 1852 – 18 April 1915) was a British business man in London who spent most of his adult life working for his father's news agency, Reuters, of which he was general manager for 37 years, from 1878 until his death.

He killed himself on 18 April 1915, three days after his wife's death, and with Reuters in financial difficulties.

Life

Reuter was born in London in 1852, the eldest son of Paul Reuter, taking the Christian names Paul Julius in a baptism ceremony at St George's German Lutheran Church, Whitechapel. His marriage to Ida Maria Magnus also took place there, on 23 November.Paul Julius Reuter
at encyclopedia.com

The young Herbert Reuter was educated at Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford. Unlike his father, he was thoroughly English. Donald Read, ''The Power of News: the history of Reuters, 1849-1989'' (1992), p. 70 Sir Roderick Jones, ''A Life in Reuters'' (1951), p. 17

Reuter had two younger brothers, George and Alfred, and a sister, Clementine Maria. She married, in 1875, the Swedish Count Otto Stenbock, Councillor of the Swedish Legation in London, subsequently the Swedish Minister in Lisbon and then in Constantinople.

Reuter spent most of his life in the service of the Reuters news agency, which his father had established. After his father's retirement in 1878, he became the agency's general manager, at the age of 26. The name of Reuters was well known, and Paul Reuter had been a prominent public figure, but although Herbert was managing director for longer, he never became well known.

Marrying Edith Campbell, a daughter of Robert Campbell, of Buscot Park, Berkshire, in 1876,"Suicide of Baron Reuter"
in ''The Argus'' (Melbourne, Australia), 20 April 1915, p. 8: "He had been greatly distressed with grief at the sudden death of his wife. Her body was awaiting interment." Reuter had a daughter, Olga Edith, born on 14 January 1877, and a son, Hubert Julius de Reuter, born on 6 September 1878, who joined the family firm. In 1901, his daughter married John William Edward James Douglas of Tilquihillie, by Banchory, and they had a son, John Sholto, born in 1904, and two daughters, Madeleine Clemence Ogilvie and Phoebe Mary.

For some years, Reuters had operated a banking department, which was profitable, and in 1913 Reuter launched Reuters Bank as a subsidiary of the News Agency. However, it proved an expensive mistake and within two years had swallowed up the whole of the reserves of the main company.

On 18 April 1915, at Reigate, Reuter shot himself dead with a revolver, a few days after the death of his wife. Two days later, on 20 April, their son Hubert enlisted as a private in the Royal Fusiliers. He was killed in action on 13 November 1916.

In October 1915, Roderick Jones was appointed as general manager of Reuters, and in 1916 he and the company chairman, Mark Napier, bought the company. Donald Read
Jones, Sir (George) Roderick (1877–1962), news agency director
in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004) online, accessed 15 April 2020

In 1920, after her first husband's death, Reuter's sister Clementine married Sir Herbert Chermside, a former Governor of Queensland. She lived until 1941, when she left an estate valued at £49,664."Deaths Wills and Bequests" in ''The Times'', Issue 49065, 24 October 1941, p. 7; col. C: "Deaths... Chermside, dame Clementina Marie, of Pepper Arden, Northallerton, widow of Count Otto Stenbock and of Lieutenant general Sir Herbert Charles Chermside, GCMG CB... £49,664"

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Reuter, Herbert
1852 births
1915 deaths
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
English people of German-Jewish descent
English Lutherans
People educated at Harrow School
Reuters people
Suicides by firearm in England
19th-century Lutherans