Frederick Greenwood
| Frederick Greenwood | |
|---|---|
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"He created The Pall Mall Gazette"
Greenwood as caricatures by Ape (Carlo Pellegrini) in Vanity Fair, June 1880 |
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| Born | April 1830 |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Sydenham, London, England |
| Occupation | Journalist, editor |
Frederick Greenwood (April 1830 – 14 December 1909), was an English journalist, editor, and man of letters.
Contents
Early years
He was one of three brothers — the others being James and Charles — who all gained reputation as journalists. Frederick started life in a printing house, but at an early age began to write in periodicals. In 1853 he contributed a sketch of Napoleon III to a volume called The Napoleon Dynasty (2nd ed., 1855). He also wrote several novels: The Loves of an Apothecary (1854), The Path of Roses (1859) and (with his brother James) Under a Cloud (1860).
To the second number of the Cornhill Magazine he contributed "An Essay without End," and this led to an introduction to Thackeray. In 1862, when Thackeray resigned the editorship of the Cornhill, Greenwood became joint editor with George Henry Lewes. In 1864 he was appointed sole editor, a post which he held until 1868. While at the Cornhill he wrote an article in which he suggested, to some extent, how Thackeray might have intended to conclude his unfinished work Denis Duval, and in its pages appeared Margaret Denzil's History, Greenwood's most ambitious work of fiction, published in volume form in 1864.
Frederick Greenwood completed Elizabeth Gaskell's unfinished novel Wives and Daughters after she died suddenly in 1865.[1]
Editorship of the Pall Mall Gazette
At that time Greenwood had conceived the idea of an evening newspaper, which, while containing all the news proper to an evening journal, should, for the most part, be made up of original articles upon the many things which engage the thoughts, or employ the energies, or amuse the leisure of mankind. Public affairs, literature and art, and all the influences which strengthen or dissipate society were to be discussed by men whose independence and authority were equally unquestionable. Canning's Anti-Jacobin and the Saturday Review of 1864 were the joint models Greenwood had before him.
The idea was taken up by George Smith, and the Pall Mall Gazette (so named after Thackeray's imaginary paper in Pendennis) was launched in February 1865, with Greenwood as editor. Within a few years he had come to exercise a great influence on public affairs. His views somewhat rapidly ripened from what was described as philosophic Liberalism into Conservatism. "No minister in Great Britain," Gladstone declared, "ever had a more able, a more zealous, a more effective supporter for his policy than Lord Beaconsfield had in Greenwood."
It was on the suggestion of Greenwood that Beaconsfield purchased in 1875 the Suez Canal shares of the Khedive Ismail; the British government being ignorant, until informed by Greenwood, that the shares were for sale and likely to be bought by France.[2] It was characteristic of Greenwood that he declined to publish the news of the purchase of the shares in the Pall Mall before the official announcement was made.
Later years
Early in 1880 the Pall Mall changed owners, and the new proprietor, Henry Yates Thompson, shifted editorial policy to supporting the Liberal Party. Greenwood at once resigned his editorship, but in May a new paper, the St James's Gazette, was started for him by Henry Hucks Gibbs (afterwards Lord Aldenham), and Greenwood proceeded to carry on in it the tradition which he had established in the Pall Mall.[3] At the St James's Greenwood remained for over eight years, continuing to exercise a marked influence upon political affairs, notably as a pungent critic of the Gladstone administration (1880–1885) and an independent supporter of Lord Salisbury. His connection with the paper ceased in August 1888, owing to disagreements with the new proprietor, Edward Steinkopff, who had bought the St James's at Greenwood's own suggestion.
In January 1891 Greenwood brought out a weekly review which he named the Anti-Jacobin. It failed, however, to gain public support, the last number appearing in January 1892. In 1893 he published The Lover's Lexicon and in 1894 Imagination in Dreams and their Study. He continued to express his views on political and social questions in contributions to newspapers and magazines, writing frequently in the Westminster Gazette, the Pall Mall, Blackwood, the Cornhill, etc. Towards the end of his life his political views reverted in some respects to the Liberalism of his early days.
In the words of George Meredith Greenwood was not only a great journalist, he had a statesman's head.[4] The national interests were always urgent at his heart. He was remarkable for securing for his papers the services of the ablest writers of the day, and for the gift of recognizing merit in new writers, such, for instance, as Richard Jefferies and J. M. Barrie. His instinct for capacity in others was as sure as was his journalistic judgment. In 1905, on the occasion of his 75th birthday, a dinner was given in his honour by leading statesmen, journalists, and men of letters (with John Morley—who had succeeded him as editor of the Pall Mall—in the chair). In May 1907 he contributed to Blackwood an article on "The New Journalism," in which he drew a sharp contrast between the old and the new conditions under which the work of a newspaper writer is conducted. He belonged to the Garrick Club.[5] He died at Sydenham on 14 December 1909.
Notes
- ↑ Tomaiuolo, Saverio (2012). Victorian Unfinished Novels: The Imperfect Page. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- ↑ Allen, H. Merian (1917). "How England Got the Suez," The Sewanee Review, Vol. XXV, No. 2, pp. 139–143.
- ↑ Dekkers, Odin (2009). "Greenwood, Frederick (1830-1909)." In: Dictionary of Nineteenth-century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland. Gent and London: Academia Press; British Library, p. 259.
- ↑ Collins, J.P. (1912). "Conversations with George Meredith," The North American Review, Vol. CXCVI, No. 685, p. 833.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
References
- Diamond, B.I. (1988). "A Precursor of New Journalism: Frederick Greenwood of the Pall Mall Gazette". In: Papers for the Millions. Westport, CT: Greenwood, pp. 25–45.
- Hyndman, Henry Mayers (1911). The Record of an Adventurous Life. New York: The Macmillan Company.
- Scott, J.W. Robertson (1950). The Story of the Pall Mall Gazette; of Its First Editor, Frederick Greenwood; and Its Founder, George Murray Smith. London and New York: Oxford University Press.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. This work in turn cites:
- Honouring Frederick Greenwood, being a report of the speeches at the dinner on April 8, 1905 (London, privately printed, 1905)
- "Birth and Infancy of the Pall Mall Gazette," an article contributed by Greenwood to the Pall Mall of April 14, 1897
- "The Blowing of the Trumpet" in the introduction to the St James's (May 31, 1880)
- Athenaeum (Dec. 25, 1909)
- The Times (Dec. 17, 1909)
External links
- An Essay without End
Works written by or about Frederick Greenwood at Wikisource
| Media offices | ||
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| Preceded by
(founding editor)
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Editor of The Pall Mall Gazette 1865 - 1880 |
Succeeded by John Morley |
