Sir Arthur Pearson, 1st Baronet

Sir Arthur Pearson, 1st Baronet
Sir Arthur Pearson, Bt

Sir Cyril Arthur Pearson, 1st Baronet, GBE (24 February 1866 – 9 December 1921) was a British newspaper magnate and publisher, most noted for founding the Daily Express.

Contents

Family and Early life

Pearson was born in the village of Wookey, Somerset to Arthur Cyril and Phillippa Massingberd Maxwell (Lyte) Pearson and educated at the prestigious Winchester College in Hampshire. His father was Rector of Drayton Parslow in Buckinghamshire, England per the District 16, Drayton Parslow, Buckinghamshire, England 1881 Census. His first job was as a journalist working for the London-based publisher George Newnes on Tit-Bits magazine. Within his first year he had impressed Newnes enough for him to make him his principal assistant.

In December 1887, Pearson married Isobel Sarah Bennett, the daughter of Canon Frederick Bennett, of Maddington, Wiltshire, with whom he had three daughters.[1] In 1897, Pearson married, as his second wife, Ethel Fraser, daughter of William John Fraser. Ethel was the mother of Pearson's son and heir Neville Pearson.

Career

In 1890, after six years of working for Newnes, Pearson left to form his own publishing business and within three weeks had created the periodical journal Pearson's Weekly, the first issue of which sold a quarter of a million copies.

A philanthropist, in 1892 he established the charitable Fresh Air Fund, still in operation and now known as Pearson's Holiday Fund, to enable disadvantaged children to partake in outdoor activities.

In 1898, he purchased the Morning Herald, and in 1900 merged it into his new creation, the halfpenny Daily Express. The Express was a departure from the papers of its time and created an immediate impact by carrying news instead of only advertisements on its front page. He was also successful in establishing papers in provincial locations such as the Birmingham Daily Gazette. He came into direct competition with the Daily Mail and in the resulting commercial fight almost took control of The Times, being nominated as its manager, but the deal fell through.

In 1898, Pearson founded The Royal Magazine, a monthly literary magazine which remained in publication until 1939.

In 1900 Pearson despatched the explorer and adventurer Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard to Patagonia to investigate dramatic reports of a giant hairy mammal inhabiting the forests, and conjectured to be a giant ground sloth, long since extinct.[2] Hesketh-Prichard's reports from 5,000 miles away gripped readers of The Express, despite him finding no trace of the creature.[2]

During this same period, Pearson was also active as a writer, and wrote a number of tourist guides to locations in Britain and Europe. Under the pseudonym of "Professor P R S Foli", he wrote Handwriting as an Index to Character in 1902, as well as works on fortune-telling and dream interpretation.

Pearson was a strong supporter of Joseph Chamberlain's tariff-reform movement, and organised the Tariff Reform League in 1903, becoming its first chairman.

In 1904 he purchased the struggling The Standard and its sister paper the Evening Standard for £700,000 from the Johnstone family. He merged the Evening Standard with his St James Gazette and changed the Conservative stance of both papers into a pro-Liberal one, but was unsuccessful in arresting the slide in sales and in 1910 sold them to the MP Sir Davison Dalziel and Sir Alexander Henderson.

Loss of eyesight and later life

Blinded soldiers learning mat-weaving at St Dunstan's

Beginning to lose his sight due to glaucoma despite a 1908 operation, Pearson was progressively forced from 1910 onwards to relinquish his newspaper interests; the Daily Express eventually passed, in November 1916, under the control of the Canadian–British tycoon Sir Max Aitken, later Lord Beaverbrook.

Pearson published a set of 12 dictionaries in braille in 1912, entitled Pearson's Easy Dictionary. They were printed and published by the Royal National Institute For The Blind.

Later completely blind, Pearson was made president of the National Institution for the Blind in 1914, raising its income from £8,000 to £360,000 in only eight years.[3] In 1915, he founded St Dunstan's Home for soldiers blinded by gas attack or trauma during the First World War.[4] Its goal, radical for the times, was to provide vocational training rather than charity for invalided servicemen, and thus to enable them to carry out independent and productive lives.[4] Pearson's dedication to this work led to him receiving a Baronetcy on 12 July 1916, whereupon he took the title Pearson, 1st Baronet of St Dunstan's, London.[5] He received the GBE in 1917.[6]

Pearson was a close friend of the pioneer of the Scouting movement Baden-Powell, and supportive of his efforts in setting up the movement and publishing its magazine The Scout. When Pearson's scheme for publishing in Braille was faltering due to lack of funds, on 2 May 1914 Baden-Powell publicly requested that "all Scouts perform a 'good turn' for The Scout magazine publisher Mr C Arthur Pearson, in order to raise money for his scheme of publishing literature in Braille for the blind."

In 1919, Pearson wrote the book Victory over blindness: how it was won by the men of St. Dunstan's.[7]

He founded the Greater London Fund for the Blind in 1921, funded by the establishment of its annual 'Geranium Day' appeal.

Death

Pearson died on 9 December 1921 when he drowned in his bath after knocking himself unconscious in a fall.[8] He was buried in Hampstead Cemetery after a service to which the Cabinet, the British and Norwegian royal families, and many institutes for the blind all sent official representatives. Two of his pallbearers were blind. He was survived by his wife, son and three daughters.

In 1922 his biography, The Life of Sir Arthur Pearson, was written by Sidney Dark.

References

  1. ^ Weaver, J.R.H. (1927). The Dictionary of National Biography. p. 429. 
  2. ^ a b "PATAGONIA; Hesketh-Prichard's Stirring Tale of Exploration in the Far South". The New York Times. 20 December 1902. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9503EED71E3DEE32A25753C2A9649D946397D6CF. Retrieved 2008-11-22. 
  3. ^ Dark, Sydney (1922). The life of Sir Arthur Pearson. pp. 140. http://www.us.archive.org/GnuBook/?id=lifeofsirarthurp00darkuoft#173. 
  4. ^ a b Rose, June (1970). Changing Focus - The Development of Blind Welfare in Britain. Hutchinson. ISBN 009100490X. 
  5. ^ London Gazette: no. 29730. p. 8592. 1 September 1916.
  6. ^ Dark, Sydney (1922). The life of Sir Arthur Pearson. pp. 195. http://www.us.archive.org/GnuBook/?id=lifeofsirarthurp00darkuoft#231. 
  7. ^ "Sir Arthur Pearson describes the great victory won over blindness". New York Times. 1 June 1919. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=940CE4DF1F39E13ABC4953DFB0668382609EDE. Retrieved 2008-12-04. 
  8. ^ Dark, Sydney (1922). The life of Sir Arthur Pearson. pp. 203–204. http://www.us.archive.org/GnuBook/?id=lifeofsirarthurp00darkuoft#243. 

Further reading

  • Pearson, Arthur (1919). Victory over blindness. George H. Doran. 
  • Sidney, Dark (1922). The life of Sir Arthur Pearson. Hodder and Stoughton. 
  • My story of St Dunstan's. 1961. Lord Fraser of Lonsdale.

External links

Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New title
New creation
Baronet
(of St Dunstans)
1916 – 1921
Succeeded by
Neville Pearson

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Sir Neville Pearson, 2nd Baronet — Neville Arthur Pearson was born on 13 February 1898 in Frensham, Surrey, England. He was the son of the British newspaper magnate to Sir C. Arthur and Ethel Maud (Fraser) Pearson. His father, who was blind and a journalist, died in 1921. He… …   Wikipedia

  • Sir Neville Arthur Pearson, 2nd Baronet — Neville Arthur Pearson was born on 13 February 1898 in Frensham, Surrey, England. He was the son of the British newspaper magnate to Sir C. Arthur and Ethel Maud (Fraser) Pearson. His journalist, blind father died in 1921. He succeeded his father …   Wikipedia

  • Pearson (surname) — Pearson is a surname, and may refer to many people.A* Adam Pearson, chairman of Derby County * Albie Pearson, American baseball player * Alister Pearson, British illustrator * Allison Pearson, British journalist * April Pearson, British actress * …   Wikipedia

  • Pearson Baronets — There have been three Pearson Baronetcies. Pearson of Cowdray, Sussex:Created in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom 26 June 1894 * See Viscount CowdrayPearson of St Dunstan s, London:Created in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom 12 July 1916… …   Wikipedia

  • Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon — Infobox Officeholder honorific prefix = name = The Viscount Grey of Fallodon honorific suffix = KG, PC, DL imagesize = order1 = Foreign Secretary term start1 = 10 December 1905 term end1 = 10 December 1916 monarch1 = Edward VII George V… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire — Below is a List of Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire from the Order s creation in 1917 until the present day:1910s*1917: The Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, The Lord Cunliffe, dn|John Findlay, Robert Younger, The Viscount… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Old Wykehamists — Former pupils of Winchester College are known as Old Wykehamists, in memory of the school s founder, William of Wykeham, and as such are able to include OW in any list of post nominal letters. Their ranks include the following individuals,… …   Wikipedia

  • Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell — Baden Powell redirects here. For other meanings, see Baden Powell (disambiguation). Stephe redirects here. It is not to be confused with Steph, Stephie, Stephy, or Stephen. Robert Baden Powell, 1st Baron Baden Powell …   Wikipedia

  • The Royal Magazine — For the Indian men s magazine, see Royal (Indian magazine). The Royal Magazine was a monthly British literary magazine that was published between 1898 and 1939. Its founder and publisher was Sir Arthur Pearson, 1st Baronet. The Royal Magazine s… …   Wikipedia

  • Lord Mayor of Liverpool — Contents 1 Mayors of the Borough of Liverpool (1207–1897) 2 Mayors of the City of Liverpool (1880–1892) …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”