James Edward Davidson (c. 20 December 1870 – 1 June 1930), known in journalistic circles as "J.E.D.", was an Australian journalist who rose through the ranks to become a newspaper owner, the founder ofNews Limited.

He was born at Pine Hills,Harrow, Victoria,^[1] the elder son of Janet née Aitchison (c. 1847 – 31 March 1901) and J(ames) Johnstone Davidson, who died in Africa in 1901, where sonA. A. Davidson was chairman of West African Mines.^[2] and spent much of his youth at Thackaringa Station, New South Wales (nearCockburn, South Australia).

After a period in the Civil Service, he became secretary to the Premier ofWestern Australia,Lord Forrest.

It was in Western Australia that Davidson, a skilledshorthand writer,^[3] commenced his journalistic career, as a reporter onThe West Australian. In 1897 he joined the literary staff of theArgus inMelbourne,^[4] and after nine years as a reporter he became editor of theWeekly Times. Two years later he accepted the position of general manager and editor-in-chief of theHerald and Weekly Times. After seven years in that post he turned his attention to South Australia, acquiringThe Barrier Miner at Broken Hill and theRecorder at Port Pirie, and established an Adelaide afternoon newspaper, in preparation for which, theMail was purchased.^[5] After theNews had been launched, another journal was published in Hobart, but failed, and a controlling interest was obtained in theDaily News in Perth.^[6]

Davidson left Adelaide in March 1930 on theNaldera to attend the Empire Press Conference in London, where he died suddenly of pneumonia.^[7] He was buried at thePutney Vale Cemetery alongside his son Alan.^[8]

His brotherAllan Arthur Davidson (1873–1930) was a well known mining engineer, and explorer, a graduate of Adelaide'sSchool of Mines.

While manager of the Richmond mine, Kalgoorlie, he discovered the nature and gold content of telluride, previously regarded as valueless. Over two years 1899–1901 he mapped much of Central Australia, and found the Tanami goldfields. He later prospected in Africa, Chile, andNigeria. When returning to Nigeria from London during the war he was a passenger in theFalaba which was sunk by a U-boat on 28 March 1915, and was one of the 140 survivors. Like his brother, he died suddenly in London, of a heart attack.^[9]

Another brother was Thomas Aitchison Davidson, who received his mining diploma in 1904^[10] but nothing further has been found.

He married Eugenie Louise Gilbert (or Jerome-Gilbert) on 6 October 1896.^[11] They had two sons:

• Norman Davidson was a journalist withThe News.
• Alan Douglas Davidson (15 December 1899 – 24 March 1927) studied at Wesley College, Melbourne, and Melbourne Technical School. He enlisted with theFirst AIF in January 1918^[12] and was assigned to the Australian Flying Corps,Laverton as trainee pilot and was sent overseas in May 1918. This required his parents' permission as he was not yet 19 years of age. After the war he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and served as a pilot instructor atPoint Cook, Victoria. He left the Air Corps in 1922 and joinedQantas as a pilot. He and his two passengers, A. W. N. Bell and W. R. Donaldson, were killed when the Qantas plane (Airco DH.9C G-AUED) he was attempting to land atTambo, Queenslandstalled, crashed, and was totally destroyed.^[13] This was the first crash involving casualties of a Qantas plane. A mystery surrounds the circumstances of the crash: the plane was two hours late and there were traces of mud on the boots of pilot and passengers, and evidence was later found indicating an unscheduled landingen route.^[14]

He was a prominent member of Rotary.

• 1870 births
• 1930 deaths
• Australian newspaper editors
• Australian mass media owners
• Australian newspaper founders

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