Alfred Harmsworth

Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (born July 15, 1865 – died August 14, 1922) was a British newspaper and publishing magnate, who revolutionized newspaper and magazine publishing in Britain. He was famed for buying stolid, unprofitable newspapers and transforming them to make them lively and entertaining for the mass market.

Life and work

Alfred Harmsworth was born in Chapelizod, near Dublin, Ireland, and was educated at the Stamford School in Lincolnshire, England. He left the school at the age of 16 to become a free-lance journalist. At first he worked for the boy’s magazine “Youth”, and in 1886 was hired by Edward Iliffe to edit his magazine, “Bicycling News”.

Early career

Harmsworth soon founded his first newspaper, "Answers to Correspondents", and was joined by his brother Harold, who had talent for business matters. Harmsworths promised their readers that they would publish in magazine answers on every question of general interest sent in. Eventually “Answers to Correspondents” became a great success and just within four years they were selling over a million copies a week.

Harmsworth had an intuitive sense for what the reading public wanted to buy, and began a series of cheap but successful periodicals, such as Comic Cuts (tagline:" Amusing without being Vulgar") and the journal Forget-Me-Not for women. From these periodicals, he built what was then the largest periodical publishing empire in the world, Amalgamated Press.

Harmsworth was an early pioneer of tabloid journalism. He bought several failing newspapers and made them into an enormously profitable chain, primarily by appealing to the popular taste. He began with the London “Evening News” in 1894, and then merged two Edinburgh papers to form the Edinburgh Daily Record. The Evening News was nearly bankrupt when Harmsworth bought it for 25,000 pounds. He drastically changed the paper, introducing many novelties. The titles of the articles became the eye-catching headlines and the advertisements were reduced to a single column. He also started to use illustrations within the text. By 1896 circulation of the newspaper approached 800,000, which was the world record for the newspapers.

The Daily Mail

On May 4, 1896, Harmsworth began publishing the Daily Mail in London, which was based on the style of newspapers published in the USA. The paper immediately became a hit. Its taglines included "the busy man's daily journal" and "the penny newspaper for one halfpenny". Harmsworth here also introduced several innovations. It was the first newspaper targeting general public who needed something simple to read. The papers had a sport section and a women section, covering fashion and cookery. Harmsworth also introduced banner headlines, that went across the page, and the publication of serials – stories that continued throughout several issues. The Daily Mail held the world record for daily circulation until Harmsworth's death. During the Boer War in 1899 Harmsworth encouraged people to buy his newspapers and such support the British troops. The sales went to over a million copies a day.

Through his newspapers Harmsworth promoted ideas for which he believed were important for people. He wrote about science and healthy lifestyle, and covered inventions of telephone, electric light, cars, aircrafts, and photography.

Other newspapers

Harmsworth then transformed a Sunday newspaper, the Weekly Dispatch, into the Sunday Dispatch, then the highest circulation Sunday newspaper in Britain. Harmsworth also founded the The Daily Mirror in 1903, a magazine for women. After initial flop, the magazine found its central thematic – photography. On 2nd April, 1904, the Daily Mirror published a whole page of pictures of Edward VII and his children. The newspaper instantly attracted thousands of new buyers. Harmsworth realized that British people had a strong interest in photographs of the Royal Family.

He rescued the financially desperate The Observer and The Times in 1905 and 1908, respectively. In 1908, he also acquired The Sunday Times.

Political career

In 1904, Harmsworth was given the title of Baron Northcliffe of the Isle of Thanet, and in 1905, was created "Lord Northcliffe", the youngest person to receive such an honor.

In his later career Harmsworth became more involved in politics. Before the World War I he was accused of being a war-manger, because of the series of articles in his newspapers that prophesized the war. In those articles, Harmsworth described German army and warned that Britain might loose the war if decide to enter it. He also warned about British vulnerability if attacked from the air. After numerous years writing of the possible war, with the outbreak of the World War I his prophecy seem to have fulfilled.

During the war he covered most of the issues surrounding the war. For example, his newspapers – especially The Times - reported of the “Shell Crisis” of 1915, accusing the Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener, of supplying the British troops with wrong kind of ammunition and such causing thousands of useless deaths. The attack on Minister was carried with such zeal that it brought down the whole wartime government of Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith, forcing him to form a coalition government.

Harmsworth 's newspapers led the fight for creating a Minister of Munitions (first held by David Lloyd George) and helped to bring about George's appointment as Prime Minister in 1916. George offered Harmsworth a post in his cabinet, but Harmsworth declined. Instead, he was appointed the Britain's Minister of Information in 1918. He organized the distribution of four million leaflets behind enemy lines.

Last years

After the war Harmsworth resigned from the government and continued to criticize Prime Minister George. He also advocated for the harsh penalties for Germany starting the war.

His health started to deteriorate rapidly in early 1920s. He was suffering from streptococcus, an infection of the bloodstream, which caused problems with his heart and kidneys. He died in August, 1922 in London. In his final will he left three months' salary to each of his six thousand employees.

Legacy

Alfred Harmsworth was one of the most outstanding figures of his generation. He created a strong newspaper empire, and at the time, the world's largest periodical publishing house. He transformed the Daily Mirror and The Times into the modern newspapers. His Daily Mail was one of the first British newspapers with popularized coverage, appealing to a mass readership. He managed to change role of the press from traditional information provider to that of the commercial exploiter and entertainer of mass publics. He introduced numerous innovations into the newspapers editing which are still used today in modern journalism.

Publications

• Harmsworth, Alfred. 1906. Motors & motor-driving (4th edition). Longmans
• Harmsworth, Alfred. 1910. Religion and philosophy. McKinlay, Stone & Mackenze
• Harmsworth, Alfred. 1913. The world's greatest books. McKinlay, Stone & Mackenzie
• Harmsworth, Alfred. 1917. At the war. Hodder and Stoughton
• Harmsworth, Alfred. 1922. Newspapers and their millionaires, with some further meditations about us (15th edition). Associated Newspapers
• Harmsworth, Alfred. 1924. My journey round the world: (16 July 1921-26 Feb. 1922). John Lane

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Answers.com. Alfred Charles William Harmsworth Viscount Northcliffe of Saint Peter. Retrieved on March 12, 2007, <http://www.answers.com/topic/viscount-northcliffe>
• Boyce, D. George. 2004. Harmsworth, Alfred Charles William, Viscount Northcliffe. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/33717>
• Ferris, Paul. 1971. The house of Northcliffe: The Harmsworths of Fleet Street. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0297993860
• Taylor, S. J. 1996. The Great Outsiders: Northcliffe, Rothermere and the Rise of the Daily Mail. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0297816535

External links

• Alfred Harmsworth, Lord Northcliffe – Detailed biography on Spartacus Schoolnet
• Controversy of Zion - An insider's view on how Zionists treated Lord Northcliffe
• DMG, Rothermere and Northcliffe – Detailed chronology of the work of Rothermere and Northcliffe
• Who's Who: Lord Northcliffe – Harmsworth’s biography

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Alfred_Harmsworth  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Alfred Harmsworth"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.