George Newnes
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Sir George Newnes, 1st Baronet (13 March 1851 – 9 June 1910) was a publisher and editor in England.
He was born in Matlock Bath, Derbyshire.[1] [2] His father, Thomas Mold Newnes, was a Congregational church minister at the Glenorchy Chapel, Matlock.[1] [3] He was educated at Silcoates School and then at Shireland Hall, Warwickshire, and the City of London School.[1] [3] In 1867 he entered commerce in the "fancy goods" trade, working in London and Manchester.[1] [3] In 1875 he married Priscilla Hillyard.[3]
He began his career in publishing in 1881 when he founded Tit-Bits. The magazine was initially published in Manchester, containing extracts from books and other publications. The addition of competitions increased the readership of the periodical, and in 1884 Newnes moved publication to London.[1] He began to work with W T Stead, with whom he founded the Review of Reviews in 1890.[1]
His arguably best known publication was The Strand Magazine, begun in 1891, in which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was first able to publish his Sherlock Holmes mystery series. He also founded other magazine titles, including The Westminster Gazette (1873), The Wide World Magazine (1888), and Country Life (1897). In 1891 his publishing business was formed into a company that bore his name, George Newnes Ltd. The company was reconstructed in 1897 with a capital of 1,000,000 pounds, amd began the publication of books.[1]
Politically, Newnes was Liberal, and he refounded the Westminster Gazette to support the party when the Pall Mall Gazette became a Unionist paper.[1] In 1885 he was elected as member of parliament for the newly-created constituency of Eastern Cambridgeshire or Newmarket. He held the seat for ten years, before his defeat by the Conservative millionaire horse-breeder, Harry McCalmont in 1895.[1] In 1895 he was created a baronet "of Wildcroft, in the parish of Putney, in the county of London; of Hollerday Hill, in the parish of Lynton, and Hesketh House, in the borough of Torquay, both in the county of Devon."[4] He re-entered the Commons in 1900 as MP for Swansea, and held the seat until he retired before the January 1910 general election.[1]
Newnes built a large home in Lynton, North Devon.[1] He played a major part in the development of the twin towns of Lynton and Lynmouth. He built an innovative cliff railway to join the two towns, and also provided the town hall and other amenities.[1] Largely as a result of Sir George's efforts, the 19-mile Lynton and Barnstaple Railway opened in 1898 ostensibly to bring visitors from the mainline railways at Barnstaple. At the time, Newnes was seen as being a great benefactor to the area by bringing the railway, but in truth, he may have been less altruistic. By building the line to a narrow gauge of only 1' 11 1/2", by terminating the line some distance from both towns (and incidentally, also hidden from his own home, Hollerday House, at Hollerday Hill) and by linking the twin towns to Barnstaple, rather than Minehead, from where more people wanted to travel, it is believed that he may have been keen to preserve what was known as "The little Switzerland of England" for the wealthier classes.[citation needed]
Sir George Newnes died at his Lynton home in June 1910, having suffered ill health from diabetes for some time.[1] He was suceeded in the baronetcy by his son, Frank Newnes, who had served as MP for Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire from 1906 - 1910.[1]
George Newnes Ltd continued publishing long after his death, with magazines such as Practical Mechanics. In 1963, the company was folded into IPC Media (now a branch of Time Warner). Today Newnes books continue to be published by Elsevier.[citation needed]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- Jackson, Kate. George Newnes and the New Journalism in Britain, 1880-19l0. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001. ISBN 978-0-7546-0317-7
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for Newmarket 1885 – 1895 |
Succeeded by Harry McCalmont |
| Preceded by Sir John Dillwyn Llewellyn |
Member of Parliament for Swansea 1900 – Jan. 1910 |
Succeeded by Sir Alfred Mond |
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baronet (of Wildcroft) 1895 – 1910 |
Succeeded by Frank Hillyard Newnes |
