View source for The Morning Post

{{Short description|London newspaper (1772-1937)}}
{{redirect|Morning Post|other newspapers|Morning Post (disambiguation)}}
{{italic title}}
{{use mdy dates|date=June 2019}}
[[File:The Morning Post.jpg|thumb|right|255px|{{center|The Morning Post}}]]
'''''The Morning Post''''' was a conservative daily [[newspaper]] published in [[London]] from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''.

==History==
The paper was founded by [[John Bell (publisher)|John Bell]]. According to historian [[Robert Darnton]], ''The Morning Post'' [[scandal sheet]] consisted of paragraph-long news snippets, much of it false.<ref name=darnton>{{cite web|title=The True History of Fake News |url=http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2017/02/13/the-true-history-of-fake-news/ |author=Darnton, Robert |author-link=Darnton, Robert |work=NYR Daily |publisher=[[The New York Review of Books]] |date=February 13, 2017|access-date=March 15, 2019}}</ref> Its original editor, the Reverend Sir [[Sir Henry Dudley, 1st Baronet|Henry Bate Dudley]], earned himself nicknames such as "Reverend Bruiser" or "The Fighting Parson",<ref name=bate>{{cite DNB |wstitle= Dudley, Henry Bate |volume= 16 |last= Barker |first= G.F.R.|author-link= |pages= 102-104 |year=|short=1}}</ref> and was soon replaced by an even more vitriolic editor, [[Reverend William Jackson]], also known as "Dr. Viper".<ref name=darnton />

Originally a [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]] paper, it was purchased by [[Daniel Stuart]] in 1795, who made it into a moderate [[Tories (British political party)|Tory]] organ.<ref name=camb>{{cite web|title=IV. The Growth of Journalism: The Stuarts and The Morning Post|url=http://www.bartleby.com/224/0409.html|work=The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).|publisher=[[bartleby.com]]|access-date=March 13, 2011|editor=A.W. Ward and A.R. Waller}}</ref>  A number of well-known writers contributed, including [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], [[Charles Lamb (writer)|Charles Lamb]], [[James Mackintosh]], [[Robert Southey]], [[Mary Robinson (poet)|Mary Robinson]], and [[William Wordsworth]].<ref name=camb/> In the seven years of Stuart's proprietorship, the paper's circulation rose from 350 to over 4,000.<ref name=camb/>

From 1803 until his death in 1833, the owner and editor of the ''Post'' was Nicholas Byrne;<ref name="enotes">{{cite web|url=http://www.enotes.com/nineteenth-century-criticism/charlotte-dacre|website=enotes.com|publisher=[[eNotes]]|title=Charlotte Dacre c. 1772–1825?|date=2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527060520/http://www.enotes.com/nineteenth-century-criticism/charlotte-dacre|archive-date=May 27, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> his son [[William Pitt Byrne]] later held these roles.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=The Builder|volume=21|pages=653&ndash;654|date=September 12, 1863|title=Drinking Water Fountain, Bryanston Square: erected in the memory of the late William Pitt Byrne, M.A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s21TAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA653|access-date=March 2, 2011}}</ref>

Later the paper was acquired by a [[Lancashire]] papermaker named Crompton. In 1848 he hired [[Peter Borthwick]], a [[Scotland|Scot]] who had been a [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[Evesham (UK Parliament constituency)|MP for Evesham]] (1835–1847), as editor. When Peter died in 1852, his son [[Algernon Borthwick|Algernon]] took over. During the 1850s, the ''Post'' was very closely associated with the [[Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston|Palmerston]] ministry.<ref name=camb/>

With the aid of [[Andrew Montagu]], Borthwick purchased the ''Post'' in 1876.<ref name=camb/> His son [[Oliver Borthwick|Oliver]] (1873–1905) was business manager and editor, but died young, and upon the father's death in 1908 control went to his daughter [[Lilias Margaret Frances, Countess Bathurst|Lilias Borthwick]] (1871–1965), wife of [[Seymour Henry Bathurst, 7th Earl Bathurst]] (1864–1943). In 1881, the paper appointed the first woman [[war correspondent]] when it sent [[Lady Florence Dixie]] to [[South Africa]] to cover the [[First 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 of [[Play (theatre)|plays]], [[concert]]s, and [[opera]]s in the early 20th century, and is said to have been the first daily paper in London to do this.<ref name=camb/> [[Arthur Hervey]] (1855–1922) was the paper's music critic between 1892 and 1908.

Beginning in 1900, the Australian politician [[Alfred Deakin]] wrote anonymous commentaries on [[Australian politics]] for the paper, continuing even when he had become [[Prime Minister of Australia|Prime Minister]].<ref name=adb>{{Australian Dictionary of Biography
  |last=Norris
  |first= R.
  |year=1981
  |id=A080275b
  |title= Deakin, Alfred (1856–1919)
  |access-date=June 12, 2010  }}</ref>

[[Maurice Baring]] was a [[foreign correspondent]] for the paper, reporting from [[Manchuria]], [[Russia]] and [[Constantinople]] between 1904 and 1909. He was war correspondent with Russian forces during the [[Russo-Japanese War]] (1904–1905).<ref>Mosley, Charles. (2003). ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage'' (Vol. 3), p. 3324;<br />Baring, Maurice. (1906). [https://books.google.com/books?id=JxYMAAAAMAAJ&q=With+the+Russians+in+Manchuria  ''With the Russians in Manchuria,'' p. vi.]</ref> Also, [[Harold Williams (linguist)|Harold Williams]] started to write from Russia.

[[Howell Arthur Gwynne]] took over as editor in 1911.

===Controversial publications===
Upon General [[Reginald Dyer]]'s return to [[British Raj|India]] in [[1920]], after his role in the [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre]] in [[Amritsar]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Masani |first1=Zareer |title=Amritsar: beginning of the end of Empire |url=https://standpointmag.co.uk/issues/april-2019/amritsar-beginning-of-the-end-of-empire/ |website=Standpoint |access-date=2022-01-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924153130/https://standpointmag.co.uk/issues/april-2019/amritsar-beginning-of-the-end-of-empire/ |archive-date=2020-09-24 |date=2019-03-28}}</ref> the ''Morning Post'' collected and presented [[pound sterling|£]]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 the ''Morning Post'' had received waves of letters containing contributions.<ref name="NAM">{{cite web |url=https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1990-12-55-14 |title=Brigadier-General Reginald Edward Henry Dyer, 1919 (c) |publisher=National Army Museum |access-date=2020-08-09}}</ref> The ''Morning Post'' received criticism during the sittings of the Hunter commission investigating the massacre as not being impartial.<ref name="hansard">{{cite web |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1920/jul/08/army-council-and-general-dyer#column_1742 |title=ARMY COUNCIL AND GENERAL DYER |date=1920-07-08 |publisher=UK Parliament}}</ref>

The paper gained notoriety in 1920, after it ran a series of 17 or 18 articles based on ''[[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]]'', a text previously published in [[Russian language|Russian]] by [[Sergei Nilus]] as the final chapter (Chapter XII), of his book ''Velikoye 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's [[Russia]]n desk correspondent, used the copy of this rare book in the [[British Museum]] to translate the last chapter for the paper. Some have questioned that because the [[anonymity|anonymous]] 1923 [[pamphlet]] crediting Marsden as the translator in its [[preface]] appeared three years after Marsden's death on 28 October 1920.{{cn|date=January 2022}} 

The articles were subsequently collected and formed the basis of the book ''[[List of editions of Protocols of the Elders of Zion#1920.5|The Cause of World Unrest]]'', to which half the paper's staff contributed, as well as [[George Shanks]] and [[Nesta Helen Webster|Nesta Webster]]. However, credit for the compilation was ascribed principally to the paper's editor, H.A. Gwynne. The book further denounced [[international Jewry]], and cultural and social dissolution in the [[Christendom|Christian nations]].

===Final years===
The Bathursts sold the paper to a [[consortium]] headed  by the [[Alan Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland|Duke of Northumberland]] in 1924. After [[Adolf Hitler]]'s [[Adolf Hitler's rise to power|rise to power]] in 1933, it was one of the few newspapers in Europe to immediately recognize that [[Nazi Germany]] would try to "seek a solution to difficulties at home with adventures abroad."<ref>Bouverie, Tim (2019). ''Appeasement: Chamberlain, Hitler, Churchill, and the Road to War'' (1 ed.). New York: [[Tim Duggan Books]]. p. 9. {{ISBN|978-0-451-49984-4}}. {{OCLC|1042099346}}. </ref> In 1937, the ''Morning Post'' was sold to the ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'', which was owned by [[William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose|William Berry]]. The ''Post ''did not remain a separate title, and it was absorbed into the ''Telegraph''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ketupa.net/iliffe1.htm|title=Iliffe, Berry, Hulton: the Berrys|website=Ketupa.net|access-date=May 30, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419011607/http://ketupa.net/iliffe1.htm|archive-date=April 19, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Editors==
* 1848: [[Peter Borthwick]]
* 1852: [[Algernon Borthwick]]
* 1897: [[James Nicol Dunn]]
* 1905: [[Spenser Wilkinson]]
* 1905: [[Fabian Ware]]
* 1911: [[Howell Arthur Gwynne]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
* Hindle, Wilfrid. (1937). [https://books.google.com/books?id=u_MLAAAAMAAJ&q=The+Morning+Post,++1772-1937:+Portrait+of+a+Newspaper  '' 'The Morning Post,' 1772–1937: Portrait of a Newspaper.'']  London: Routledge.  {{OCLC|59113358}}; re-published in 1974, [https://books.google.com/books?id=J_c2AAAAIAAJ&q=The+Morning+Post,+1772-1937:+Portrait+of+a+Newspaper Google Books  '' 'The Morning Post,' 1772–1937: Portrait of a Newspaper.''] Westport, Connecticut: [[Greenwood Publishing Group]].  {{ISBN|0-8371-7243-8}}
* Preziosi, Giovanni. (1943). [https://books.google.com/books?id=NNAFGQAACAAJ&q=Giudaismo,+Bolscevismo,+Plutocrazia,+Massoneria  ''Giudaismo, Bolscevismo, Plutocrazia, Massoneria.''] Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. {{OCLC|13235772}}

{{Defunct UK newspapers}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morning Post, The}}
[[Category:Defunct newspapers published in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Newspapers published in London]]
[[Category:Publications established in 1772]]
[[Category:Publications disestablished in 1937]]
[[Category:1772 establishments in Great Britain]]