Pall Mall Gazette
| Type | Daily (afternoons) |
|---|---|
| Owner | G. Smith (1865–80) H. Thompson (1880–92) W. Astor (1892–1915) H. Dalziel (1916–23) |
| Founded | 7 February 1865 |
| Language | English |
| Ceased publication | 1923 |
| Headquarters | London |
The Pall Mall Gazette was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865 by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood. In 1921 The Globe merged into the Pall Mall Gazette, which itself was absorbed into the Evening Standard in 1923.
Contents |
[edit] History
The Pall Mall Gazette took the name of a fictional newspaper conceived by William Makepeace Thackeray. Pall Mall is a street in London where many gentlemen's clubs are located, hence Thackeray's description of his imaginary newspaper in his novel The History of Pendennis (1848–1850):
"We address ourselves to the higher circles of society: we care not to disown it—the Pall Mall Gazette is written by gentlemen for gentlemen; its conductors speak to the classes in which they live and were born. The field-preacher has his journal, the radical free-thinker has his journal: why should the Gentlemen of England be unrepresented in the Press?
Under the ownership of George Smith from 1865 to 1880, with Frederick Greenwood as editor, the Pall Mall Gazette was a Conservative newspaper. Greenwood resigned in 1880 when the paper's new owner wished the paper to support the policies of the Liberal Party.
William Thomas Stead's editorship from 1883 to 1889 saw the paper cover such subjects as child prostitution; their campaign helped get the government to increase the age of consent from 12 to 16 in 1885.
Henry Cust, editor from 1892 to 1896, returned the paper to its Conservative beginnings.
Several well-known writers contributed to the Pall Mall Gazette over the years. George Bernard Shaw gained his first job in journalism writing for the paper. Other contributors have included Anthony Trollope, Frederick Engels, Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Spencer Walpole, Arthur Patchett Martin,[1] and Jamaican-born writer E. S. Dallas.
[edit] References in popular culture
The Pall Mall Gazette is referred to in Dr Watson's Sherlock Holmes stories (in The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle), as one of the newspapers Holmes sent an advertisement to.
The Pall Mall Gazette is referred to in HG Wells' The Time Machine. When the Time Traveler returns to London he sees that day's copy of the Pall Mall Gazette and knows he is back to his original starting point in time.
[edit] Ownership
- George Smith (1865–1880)
- Henry Yates Thompson (1880–1892)
- William Waldorf Astor (1892–1917)
- Henry Dalziel (1917–1923)[2]
[edit] Editorship
| Editor's name | Years |
|---|---|
| Frederick Greenwood | 1865–1880 |
| John Morley | 1880–1883 |
| William Thomas Stead | 1883–1889 |
| Edward Tyas Cook | 1890–1892 |
| Henry Cust | 1892–1896 |
| Douglas Straight[3] | 1896–1909 |
| Frederick Higginbottom | 1909–1912 |
| James Louis Garvin | 1912–1915 |
| D. M. Sutherland | 1915–1923 |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Martin, Arthur Patchett (1851–1902) at the Australian Dictionary of Biography
- ^ "Dalziel Buys the Pall Mall Gazette", New York Times, 5 January 1917
- ^ Douglas Straight at Probert encyclopaedia
[edit] Further reading
- John Scott (1950), The Story of the Pall Mall Gazette, of its first editor Frederick Greenwood and of its Founder George Murray Smith
- Raymond Schultz (1972), Crusader in Babylon: WT Stead and the Pall Mall Gazette
