Stead 2

WILLIAM THOMAS STEAD (1849 - 1912)

Stead, one of the most outstanding and influential of late Victorian figures, was born in the manse at Embleton, Northumberland. He then lived from 1849 until 1861 in the end house in Church Street Howdon. The house was demolished to make way for the Howdon tunnel. Stead was apprenticed in 1863 and spent some seven years in the counting-house of a wine and spirit merchant at 27 Broad Chare in Newcastle. In 1870, he began writing articles for the newly-founded Northern Echo in Darlington which were of such quality that he was made editor in April 1871 - without any previous journalistic experience! Stead used to catch mice in the office and eat them on toast (after writing an article on this practice during the 1870 siege of Paris and getting to like the taste). In those days, the northern provincial press was taken seriously by metropolitan opinion. The great Gladstone responded to Stead's fierce polemics about the Bulgarian atrocities in 1876 by remarking: 'It is a sincere regret to me that I cannot read more of the Echo, for to read the Echo is to dispense with the necessity of reading other papers. It is admirably got up in every way.' The first session of the united parliaments of Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia passed a unanimous vote of thanks to the Echo for stirring European opinion.

In 1873, Stead married Lucy Wilson of Howdon and in 1880 began his celebrated association with the Pall Mall Gazette in London. As its dynamic editor, he became a fearless and influential supporter of cause, as he pioneered what Matthew Arnold called 'the new journalism', which involved banner headlines, stylish graphics and interviews. Stead was a volcano of energy, writing letters at the rate of ten a day. He was directly responsible for the despatch of General Gordon to Khartoum and gained great notoriety in July 1885, when he purchased a child prostitute in order to expose a vile trade in a series of articles entitled 'The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon'. This led indirectly to prison for Stead (and the raising of the age of consent from 12 to 16). Stead was opposed to cant of all kinds: 'If all persons guilty of Oscar Wilde's offence were to be clapped in gaol,' he wrote, while editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, 'there would be a surprising exodus from Eton, Harrow, Rugby and Winchester to Pentonville and Holloway.'

The book In Darkest England and the Way Out (1890) published as by William 'General' Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, was actually ghost-written by Stead. Deciding to reform Chicago after a visit there in 1893, Stead wrote If Christ Came to Chicago. Running through all his schemes was a belief in man's duty to amend society - and to extend British sway. He liked to use the phrase 'God's Englishman'. Such was his enthusiasm that he sometimes turned up on both sides of a controversy, for example over limiting arms, yet expanding the British navy. He campaigned for international peace and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901. He wrote acceptable verses on the subject of war.

Stead had been converted to spiritualism while still in Darlington, and it was against the advice of a clairvoyant that he set sail on the Titanic in 1912. Oddly enough, Stead had featured stories of liner disasters throughout his career, and one of his comments was;' This is exactly what might take place if liners are sent to sea short of boats'. He is pictured in the film A Night to Remember (1958) reading calmly. Walter Lord quotes a survivor as last seeing Stead while his fellow-passengers were scrambling for seats in the lifeboats, 'independent as ever... reading alone in the First Class smoking room... he looked as if he planned to stay there whatever happened.' He was last seen helping women and children to escape. The Daily Mirror in 1998 reprinted the entire eight pages for 18 April 1912. The front page reads:

MR W.T. STEAD, THE FRIEND OF KINGS AND THE HATER OF INJUSTICE, WHO WAS ONE OF THE MANY HUNDREDS WHO PERISHED IN THE SINKING OF THE TITANIC.

There is a plaque to Stead in Central Park, New York, and no fewer than four in England, including those at Embleton and Darlington. Stead's editorial chair is preserved in the Northern Echo offices in Darlington, opposite which is the stone from Stead's house where he used to tether his horse and dogs. The inscription reads: 'The boulder is a fitting symbol of his indomitable strength and courage'.

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
WILLIAM THOMAS STEAD (1849 - 1912) Stead, one of the most outstanding and influential of late Victorian figures, was born in the manse at Embleton, Northumberland. He then lived from 1849 until 1861 in the end house in Church Street Howdon. The house was demolished to make way for the Howdon tunnel. Stead was apprenticed in 1863 and spent some seven years in the counting-house of a wine and spirit merchant at 27 Broad Chare in Newcastle. In 1870, he began writing articles for the newly-founded Northern Echo in Darlington which were of such quality that he was made editor in April 1871 - without any previous journalistic experience! Stead used to catch mice in the office and eat them on toast (after writing an article on this practice during the 1870 siege of Paris and getting to like the taste). In those days, the northern provincial press was taken seriously by metropolitan opinion. The great Gladstone responded to Stead's fierce polemics about the Bulgarian atrocities in 1876 by remarking: 'It is a sincere regret to me that I cannot read more of the Echo, for to read the Echo is to dispense with the necessity of reading other papers. It is admirably got up in every way.' The first session of the united parliaments of Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia passed a unanimous vote of thanks to the Echo for stirring European opinion. In 1873, Stead married Lucy Wilson of Howdon and in 1880 began his celebrated association with the Pall Mall Gazette in London. As its dynamic editor, he became a fearless and influential supporter of cause, as he pioneered what Matthew Arnold called 'the new journalism', which involved banner headlines, stylish graphics and interviews. Stead was a volcano of energy, writing letters at the rate of ten a day. He was directly responsible for the despatch of General Gordon to Khartoum and gained great notoriety in July 1885, when he purchased a child prostitute in order to expose a vile trade in a series of articles entitled 'The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon'. This led indirectly to prison for Stead (and the raising of the age of consent from 12 to 16). Stead was opposed to cant of all kinds: 'If all persons guilty of Oscar Wilde's offence were to be clapped in gaol,' he wrote, while editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, 'there would be a surprising exodus from Eton, Harrow, Rugby and Winchester to Pentonville and Holloway.' The book In Darkest England and the Way Out (1890) published as by William 'General' Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, was actually ghost-written by Stead. Deciding to reform Chicago after a visit there in 1893, Stead wrote If Christ Came to Chicago. Running through all his schemes was a belief in man's duty to amend society - and to extend British sway. He liked to use the phrase 'God's Englishman'. Such was his enthusiasm that he sometimes turned up on both sides of a controversy, for example over limiting arms, yet expanding the British navy. He campaigned for international peace and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901. He wrote acceptable verses on the subject of war. Stead had been converted to spiritualism while still in Darlington, and it was against the advice of a clairvoyant that he set sail on the Titanic in 1912. Oddly enough, Stead had featured stories of liner disasters throughout his career, and one of his comments was;' This is exactly what might take place if liners are sent to sea short of boats'. He is pictured in the film A Night to Remember (1958) reading calmly. Walter Lord quotes a survivor as last seeing Stead while his fellow-passengers were scrambling for seats in the lifeboats, 'independent as ever... reading alone in the First Class smoking room... he looked as if he planned to stay there whatever happened.' He was last seen helping women and children to escape. The Daily Mirror in 1998 reprinted the entire eight pages for 18 April 1912. The front page reads: MR W.T. STEAD, THE FRIEND OF KINGS AND THE HATER OF INJUSTICE, WHO WAS ONE OF THE MANY HUNDREDS WHO PERISHED IN THE SINKING OF THE TITANIC. There is a plaque to Stead in Central Park, New York, and no fewer than four in England, including those at Embleton and Darlington. Stead's editorial chair is preserved in the Northern Echo offices in Darlington, opposite which is the stone from Stead's house where he used to tether his horse and dogs. The inscription reads: 'The boulder is a fitting symbol of his indomitable strength and courage'.
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