Wikipedia

Edward Hulton (senior)

For his son, the newspaper proprietor and racehorse owner born in 1869, see Edward Hulton. For his grandson, the magazine publisher born in 1906, see Edward George Warris Hulton.

Edward Hulton (1838–1904) was a British newspaper proprietor in Victorian Manchester. Born the son of a weaver, he was an entrepreneur who established a vast newspaper empire and was the progenitor of a publishing dynasty.[2][3][4]

Edward Hulton
Hulton c. 1901[1]
Born1838 (1838)
Manchester, England
Died1904 (aged 65–66)
Bucklow, Cheshire, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationNewspaper proprietor
SpouseMary Mosley
RelativesSir Edward Hulton, 1st Baronet (son)
Margaret, Lady Strickland (daughter)
Sir Edward George Warris Hulton (grandson)
Sir Jocelyn Stevens (great-grandson)
Poppy Delevingne (great-great-great-granddaughter)
Cara Delevingne (great-great-great-granddaughter)

Early life and publishing business

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[He] never pretended to be other than a plain man who had struck lucky. Originally a bill-setter for the Manchester Guardian, he had built up a fine business out of the profits of a sporting tissue which had gone well in sport-mad Manchester.

Bernard Falk, He Laughed in Fleet Street[5]

 
The Printworks entertainment complex in Manchester at the revamped Withy Grove site of Hulton's business premises

Hulton was born in Manchester on 16 July 1838,[1] the son of a weaver.[2][6][7]

While working as a compositor for The Manchester Guardian (now known as The Guardian), he earned extra income publishing the Sporting Bell, a popular local horse racing tip sheet,[2] under a pseudonym named after Kettledrum, the 1861 Epsom Derby winner.[8]

The Bell was similar to any number of midday racing tissues that proliferated in the big industrial towns of the midlands and the north. Printed on one side of a single sheet, it carried the latest news from the courses, the selections of the leading morning papers, and up-to-date betting odds from the principal clubs.

— James Lambie, The Story of Your Life: A History of the Sporting Life Newspaper (1859–1998)

The Sporting Bell ultimately grew into the Sporting Chronicle newspaper Hulton founded in 1871 with financial backing from Edward Overall Bleackley (1831–1898), a local cotton merchant.[2][8][9][10] Sales were boosted by the decision of several local newspapers including The Manchester Guardian to restrict racing coverage to appease the growing anti-gambling sentiment in society.[8][11] The Sporting Chronicle, a broadsheet which specialised in horse racing and published starting price odds, became the first major national daily sporting newspaper.[2][8][9][11] Its main competitor was the Sporting Life established in 1859.[8][9]

The contents of both publications were based upon betting and racing information for all course, track and field events associated with gambling, but they also propagated the art of the tipsters, those who claimed to know the winners of future races.

— Mark Clapson, A Bit of a Flutter: Popular Gambling and English Society, c. 1823–1961

Writing as "Kettledrum", Hulton was also the Sporting Chronicle's tipster,[8][9] and a tipping column was written by others under the same pseudonym until the newspaper closed in 1983.[12] Hulton's publishing business started off in a basement in Spear Street in Manchester city centre.[2][8] In 1873 premises were established for the expanding business at Withy Grove,[3][8][13] the current site of The Printworks entertainment complex.[14][15]

In 1875 Hulton also founded the weekly Athletic News, which covered weekend sports fixtures other than horse racing and supported professional football,[16] and in 1885 he founded the Sunday Chronicle.[2][17] The newspapers founded by Hulton survived in some form long after his death. In 1931 the Athletic News merged with the Monday edition of the Sporting Chronicle,[16] which ceased publication in 1983.[12] In 1955 the Sunday Chronicle merged with the Empire News, which merged five years later with the News of the World tabloid, which ceased publication in 2011.[18][19][20]

Hulton's second son Edward expanded his father's newspaper interests, founding the Manchester Evening Chronicle in 1897, the Daily Dispatch in 1900 and the Daily Sketch tabloid in 1909.[2][4][21] Edward sold his publishing business based in London and Manchester, which included a large group of newspapers, for £6 million when he retired in 1923. The newspapers sold included: Sporting Chronicle,[22] Athletic News,[23] Sunday Chronicle, Empire News, Evening Standard, Daily Sketch, Sunday Herald, Daily Dispatch and Manchester Evening Chronicle.[4][24][25][26]

Marriage and children

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Hulton married Mary Mosley in 1859.[4][27] Through his son Edward (1869–1925), Hulton is the grandfather of magazine publisher Sir Edward George Warris Hulton (1906–1988),[4] and the great-grandfather of magazine publisher and newspaper executive Sir Jocelyn Stevens (1932–2014).[28][29] Hulton's daughter Theresa married Portuguese baron Sebastião Clemente de Sousa Deiró, 1st Baron of Sousa Deiró (Ponta Delgada, 17 April 1866 – 1916) in 1894.[30][31] Hulton's fourth daughter, Dame Margaret, DBE (1867–1950), was the second wife of Baron Strickland, 4th Prime Minister of Malta, marrying him in 1926. Together with Strickland's daughter Mabel Edeline Strickland from his first marriage, the couple founded The Times of Malta.[32][33]

Death

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Hulton died in 1904 at the age of 65 in Bucklow, Cheshire,[2][4][34] and is buried in Sale Brooklands Cemetery in Sale, Greater Manchester.[35][36] The net value of his estate was £509,000.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Mr Edward Hulton. A Character Sketch". Lancashire Faces & Places. 1 (4): 52–54. April 1901.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tate, Steve (2009). "Hulton, Edward (1838–1904)". In Brake, Laurel; Demoor, Marysa (eds.). Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland. Gent: Academia Press. p. 296. ISBN 9789038213408.
  3. ^ a b Powell, Michael; Wyke, Terry; Beetham, Margaret Rachel (2009). "Manchester Press". In Brake, Laurel; Demoor, Marysa (eds.). Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland. Gent: Academia Press. p. 395. ISBN 9789038213408. In 1871 Ned Hulton began to publish the Sporting Chronicle, the first of a huge empire which he established in Manchester, which included the Sunday Chronicle, the Daily Dispatch and Athletic News. Hulton's new premises in Withy Grove in the heart of the city became the biggest printing house in Europe.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Porter, Dilwyn (2004). "Hulton, Sir Edward, baronet (1869–1925), newspaper proprietor". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34048. Retrieved 28 August 2013. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) Biography of Hulton's son Sir Edward Hulton, 1st Baronet.
  5. ^ Falk, Bernard (1937). He Laughed in Fleet Street. London: Hutchinson & Co. p. 25. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  6. ^ Rubinstein, W. D. (1981). Men of Property: The Very Wealthy in Britain Since the Industrial Revolution. London: Croom Helm. ISBN 9780856646744. Edward Hulton (1838–1904), newspaper proprietor, son of a weaver
  7. ^ "FreeBMD – Search". Retrieved 28 August 2013. Births Dec 1838 – Surname: Hulton, Given Name: Edward, District: Manchester, Volume: 20, Page: 455
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Lambie, James (2010). The Story of Your Life: A History of the Sporting Life Newspaper (1859–1998). Leicester: Matador. pp. 118–119. ISBN 9781848762916.
  9. ^ a b c d Clapson, Mark (1992). A Bit of a Flutter: Popular Gambling and English Society, c. 1823–1961. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 29. ISBN 9780719034367.
  10. ^ Papers of the Manchester Literary Club Vol. XXV. Manchester: Sherratt & Hughes. 1899. pp. 460–461. Memorial notice for Edward Overall Bleackley.
  11. ^ a b Davies, Andrew (1992). Workers' Worlds: Cultures and Communities in Manchester and Salford, 1880–1939. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. pp. 158–160. ISBN 9780719025433.
  12. ^ a b "Obituaries – Graham Rock". The Telegraph. 16 November 2001. Retrieved 29 August 2013. In 1982 he moved to the Sporting Chronicle, where under the nom de plume "Kettledrum" he wrote a daily front-page tipping column.
  13. ^ Jameson, Derek (June 2008). "Book Review: Skiddy row: Forgive Us Our Press Passes, by Ian Skidmore". British Journalism Review. 19 (2): 87–88. doi:10.1177/09564748080190021304. S2CID 145667249. Retrieved 31 August 2013. At the heart of this other Fleet Street was Withy Grove, Europe's biggest print centre, owned in turn by the Hulton, Kemsley and Thomson dynasties. In its day this Victorian mausoleum turned out no fewer than 10 national titles ... Sporting Chronicle, Sunday Chronicle, Daily Dispatch, Daily Sketch, Empire News, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Times, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror (previously Pictorial) and News of the World ... Withy Grove dated from 1873
  14. ^ Heys, Harold (4 February 2011). "End of life for the Chron". Gentlemen Ranters. Retrieved 28 August 2013. Withy Grove had a succession of owners, from founder Ned Hulton, to his son Sir Edward Hulton, briefly to the Daily Mail Trust and then to Lord Camrose and Viscount Kemsley as Allied Newspapers which became Kemsley Newspapers in 1945. Roy, later Lord, Thomson took over in 1959 and eventually Cap'n Bob took charge ... Withy Grove was eventually sold and revamped and is now The Printworks, a £150 million entertainment, restaurant and leisure complex.
  15. ^ "Our History". The Printworks. Archived from the original on 5 September 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2013. The Printworks as we know it now was originally erected as Withy Grove Printing House back in 1873.
  16. ^ a b Tate, Steve (2009). "Athletic News and Cyclists' Journal (1875–1931)". In Brake, Laurel; Demoor, Marysa (eds.). Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland. Gent: Academia Press. p. 28. ISBN 9789038213408.
  17. ^ Carter, Neil (2006). The Football Manager: A History. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. p. 44. ISBN 9780203969991.
  18. ^ British Museum (2006). "Gone and (largely) forgotten". British Journalism Review. 17 (2): 50–52. doi:10.1177/0956474806067729.
  19. ^ Kofron, John (2009). "News of the World (1843– )". In Brake, Laurel; Demoor, Marysa (eds.). Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland. Gent: Academia Press. p. 451. ISBN 9789038213408.
  20. ^ Robinson, James (7 July 2011). "News of the World to close as Rupert Murdoch acts to limit fallout". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
  21. ^ "Person Profile: Sir Edward Hulton". The National Horseracing Museum. Retrieved 29 August 2013. Born the second son of a printer, who aptly produced the Sporting Chronicle, he had originally intended to be a Roman Catholic priest, but when his elder brother was accidentally killed he joined his father in the publishing business, which he later inherited.
  22. ^ Huggins, Mike; Williams, Jack (2005). Sport and the English, 1918–1939: Between the Wars. Taylor & Francis. p. 25. ISBN 9780203398029. In the north the Sporting Chronicle (founded 1871) was the leading racing daily. In 1924 it was acquired from its founder Sir Edward Hulton by the press barons Northcliffe and Beaverbrook.
  23. ^ Tate, Stephen (2007). The professionalisation of sports journalism, c. 1850 to 1939, with particular reference to the career of James Catton (PDF) (PhD). University of Central Lancashire. p. 321. The Athletic News had only recently changed hands, twice, in fact, in the space of a matter of months as a makeweight in a complex deal in the autumn of 1923 involving Lord Beaverbrook, Lord Rothermere, and the Berry brothers. The severing of the Hulton family ties, extending in Catton's case to more than 30 years, heralded a period of change and can only have served to further weaken any resolve on his part to extend his career in Manchester.
  24. ^ British and Colonial Printer and Stationer: And Newspaper Press, Volumes 96–97. W. J. Stonhill. 1925. pp. 92, 464. Sir Edward Hulton, who died on Saturday at his residence near Leatherhead, at the age of 56, was till about 18 months ago the owner of a large group of newspapers, being the founder of the business of Edward Hulton and Co..
  25. ^ Gleanings and Memoranda, Volume 58. National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations. 1923. p. 589. Newspaper Changes: The Daily Mail announced, Oct. 13, that the Daily Mail Trust, Ltd., had acquired the business of Messrs. Edward Hulton and Co., Ltd., of London and Manchester, for £6 million. The papers taken over include: Evening Standard, Daily Sketch, Sunday Herald, Daily Dispatch, Evening Chronicle, Sunday Chronicle and Empire News.
  26. ^ Viscount Camrose (1947). British Newspapers And Their Controllers. London: Cassel And Company Limited.
  27. ^ "FreeBMD – Search". Retrieved 28 August 2013. Marriages Jun 1859 – Surname: Hulton/Mosley, Given Name: Edward/Mary, District: Manchester, Volume: 8d, Page: 662
  28. ^ Bennett, Will (27 October 1992). "Dictatorial approach by Stevens that rarely leaves feathers unruffled". The Independent. Retrieved 28 August 2013. For much of his life, those jobs were in journalism. His mother was a member of the Hulton Press dynasty from which he inherited an enthusiasm for the printed word and a pounds 1m fortune.
  29. ^ Haden-Guest, Anthony (12 February 2006). "The queen is dead". The Observer. Retrieved 27 August 2013. Jocelyn Stevens, who had inherited a small fortune, was the nephew of Edward Hulton, publisher of Picture Post. Stevens bought Queen as a 25th birthday present for himself, on 15 February 1957.
  30. ^ Laidlair, John. "Manchester's Portuguese Connections". The Luso Pages. Archived from the original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  31. ^ "FreeBMD – Search". Retrieved 28 May 2014. Marriages Dec 1894 – Surname: Deiro/Hulton, First name(s): Sebastian Clementino/Teresa, District: Kensington, Volume: 1a, Page: 327
  32. ^ Carnwath, Joan (2004). "Strickland, Gerald Paul Joseph Cajetan Carmel Antony Martin, Baron Strickland (1861–1940), prime minister of Malta". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36350. Retrieved 28 August 2013. In 1926 Strickland married for the second time; his wife was Margaret (1867–1949), fourth daughter of Edward Hulton (1838–1904), of Ashton-on-Mersey, Cheshire, the owner of vast newspaper interests. Her brother was Sir Edward Hulton. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  33. ^ "Big Estate". Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW). 11 October 1950. Retrieved 1 September 2013. Margaret Lady Strickland, formerly of Malta, widow of Lord Gerald Strickland, Governor of Tasmania from 1904 to 1909, left estate in England valued at £2,066,264. She was a sister of the late Sir Edward Hulton, British newspaper proprietor.
  34. ^ "FreeBMD – Search". Retrieved 28 August 2013. Deaths Mar 1904 – Surname: Hulton, Given Name: Edward, Age: 65, District: Bucklow, Volume: 8a, Page: 146
  35. ^ Barton, Roger (Autumn 2012). "More tafology in Victorian Manchester: Sale Cemetery Brought to life with Michael Riley and Mark Watson. 9 June 2012" (PDF). The Victorian Society in Manchester. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2013. Other notable people buried at Sale include ... Edward Hulton, the newspaper magnate
  36. ^ Laidlar, John. "Sale, Cheshire, England including Ashton on Mersey Part One – Location, History, Famous Residents & Further Reading". The Sale and Altrincham Pages. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 30 August 2013. Edward [Hulton], the Elder, is buried in Sale's Brooklands Cemetery.
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