The Morning Post was a conservative dailynewspaper published inLondon from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired byThe Daily Telegraph.
The paper was founded byJohn Bell. According to historianRobert Darnton,The Morning Postscandal sheet consisted of paragraph-long news snippets, much of it false.[1] Its original editor, the Reverend SirHenry Bate Dudley, earned himself nicknames such as "Reverend Bruiser" or "The Fighting Parson",[2] and was soon replaced by an even more vitriolic editor,Reverend William Jackson, also known as "Dr. Viper".[1]
Originally aWhig paper, it was purchased byDaniel Stuart in 1795, who made it into a moderateTory organ.[3] A number of well-known writers contributed, includingSamuel Taylor Coleridge,Charles Lamb,James Mackintosh,Robert Southey,Mary Robinson, andWilliam Wordsworth.[3] In the seven years of Stuart's proprietorship, the paper's circulation rose from 350 to over 4,000.[3]
From 1803 until his death in 1833, the owner and editor of thePost was Nicholas Byrne;[4] his sonWilliam Pitt Byrne later held these roles.[5]
Later the paper was acquired by aLancashire papermaker named Crompton. In 1848 he hiredPeter Borthwick, aScot who had been aConservativeMP for Evesham (1835–1847), as editor. When Peter died in 1852, his sonAlgernon took over. During the 1850s, thePost was very closely associated with thePalmerston ministry.[3]
With the aid ofAndrew Montagu, Borthwick purchased thePost in 1876.[3] His sonOliver (1873–1905) was business manager and editor, but died young, and upon the father's death in 1908 control went to his daughterLilias Borthwick (1871–1965), wife ofSeymour Henry Bathurst, 7th Earl Bathurst (1864–1943). In 1881, the paper appointed the first womanwar correspondent when it sentLady Florence Dixie toSouth Africa to cover theFirst Boer War.
The paper was noted for its attentions to the activities of the powerful and wealthy, its interest in foreign affairs, and in literary and artistic events. It began regular printing of notices ofplays,concerts, andoperas in the early 20th century, and is said to have been the first daily paper in London to do this.[3]Arthur Hervey (1855–1922) was the paper's music critic between 1892 and 1908.
Beginning in 1900, the Australian politicianAlfred Deakin wrote anonymous commentaries onAustralian politics for the paper, continuing even when he had becomePrime Minister.[6]
Maurice Baring was aforeign correspondent for the paper, reporting fromManchuria,Russia andConstantinople between 1904 and 1909. He was war correspondent with Russian forces during theRusso-Japanese War (1904–1905).[7] Also,Harold Williams started to write from Russia.
Howell Arthur Gwynne took over as editor in 1911.
Upon GeneralReginald Dyer's return toIndia in1920, after his role in theJallianwala Bagh massacre inAmritsar,[8] theMorning Post collected and presented£26,317 to him, along with a golden sword and the title "Defender of the Empire" and "the man who saved India". The editor of theMorning Post had received waves of letters containing contributions.[9] TheMorning Post received criticism during the sittings of the Hunter commission investigating the massacre as not being impartial.[10]
The paper gained notoriety in 1920, after it ran a series of 17 or 18 articles based onThe Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a text previously published inRussian bySergei Nilus as the final chapter (Chapter XII), of his bookVelikoye v malom i antikhrist kak blizkaya politicheskaya vozmozhnost'. Zapiski pravoslavnogo veruyushchego ("The Great within the Small and Antichrist, an Imminent Political Possibility. Notes of an Orthodox Believer"). It is widely held that Victor E. Marsden, the paper'sRussian desk correspondent, used the copy of this rare book in theBritish Museum to translate the last chapter for the paper. Some have questioned that because theanonymous 1923pamphlet crediting Marsden as the translator in itspreface appeared three years after Marsden's death on 28 October 1920.[citation needed]
The articles were subsequently collected and formed the basis of the bookThe Cause of World Unrest, to which half the paper's staff contributed, as well asGeorge Shanks andNesta Webster. However, credit for the compilation was ascribed principally to the paper's editor, H.A. Gwynne. The book further denouncedinternational Jewry, and cultural and social dissolution in theChristian nations.
The Bathursts sold the paper to aconsortium headed by theDuke of Northumberland in 1924. AfterAdolf Hitler'srise to power in 1933, it was one of the few newspapers in Europe to immediately recognize thatNazi Germany would try to "seek a solution to difficulties at home with adventures abroad."[11] In 1937, theMorning Post was sold to theDaily Telegraph, which was owned byWilliam Berry. ThePostdid not remain a separate title, and it was absorbed into theTelegraph.[12]
