George Earle Buckle
Encyclopedia
George Earle Buckle was an English editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...

 and biographer.

Early years

Buckle was the son of George Buckle, a rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

, and canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....

 and precentor
Precentor
A precentor is a person who helps facilitate worship. The details vary depending on the religion, denomination, and era in question. The Latin derivation is "præcentor", from cantor, meaning "the one who sings before" ....

 of Wells Cathedral
Wells Cathedral
Wells Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who lives at the adjacent Bishop's Palace....

, and Mary Hamlyn Earle, the sister of the philologist John Earle. He attended Honition grammar school and Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...

 before beginning studies at New College, Oxford
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...

 in 1873. There he won the Newdigate Prize
Newdigate prize
Sir Roger Newdigate's Prize is awarded to students of the University of Oxford for Best Composition in English verse by an undergraduate who has been admitted to Oxford within the previous four years. It was founded by Sir Roger Newdigate, Bt in the 18th century...

 in 1875 and received a first class in both literae humaniores
Literae Humaniores
Literae Humaniores is the name given to an undergraduate course focused on Classics at Oxford and some other universities.The Latin name means literally "more humane letters", but is perhaps better rendered as "Advanced Studies", since humaniores has the sense of "more refined" or "more learned",...

and modern history. From 1877 until 1885, he was a Fellow of All Souls College
All Souls College, Oxford
The Warden and the College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford or All Souls College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England....

.

While reading
Reading law
Reading law is the method by which persons in common law countries, particularly the United States, entered the legal profession before the advent of law schools. This usage specifically refers to a means of entering the profession . A small number of U.S...

 in the chambers
Chambers (law)
A judge's chambers, often just called his or her chambers, is the office of a judge.Chambers may also refer to the type of courtroom where motions related to matter of procedure are heard.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :...

 of John Rigby
John Rigby (politician)
Sir John Rigby PC , was a British judge and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1885 and 1894.-Background and education:...

, Buckle began receiving offers from the world of journalism. Though he declined the assistant editorship of the Manchester Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, a few months before being called to the bar by Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...

 in 1880 he accepted John Walter's
John Walter (third)
John Walter was an English newspaper publisher and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1847 and 1885....

 offer to join the editorial staff of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

. When the editor, Thomas Chenery
Thomas Chenery
Thomas William Chenery was an English scholar and editor of the British newspaper The Times.-Biography:Chenery was born in Barbados to John Chenery, a West Indies merchant. He was educated at Eton and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge...

 died in 1884, Buckle, then only 29, was named as his successor, having already assumed most of the position's duties during Cherney's final illness.

Editor of The Times

As editor, Buckle did little to alter either the appearance or the policies of the paper. No longer "the Thunderer" of old, its employees endeavored to present the news irrespective of bias or interest. By now the staff saw themselves as a collective body serving the public interest, a sense preserved by its ongoing editorial practice of supporting whichever government was in power at the time. The paper's purchase and publication of Richard Piggott's forged letters purportedly showing a connection between Irish Parliamentary Party
Irish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...

 leader Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell was an Irish landowner, nationalist political leader, land reform agitator, and the founder and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party...

 and the Phoenix Park Murders
Phoenix Park Murders
The Phoenix Park Murders were the fatal stabbings on 6 May 1882 in the Phoenix Park in Dublin of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke. Cavendish was the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, and Burke was the Permanent Undersecretary, the most senior Irish civil servant...

 was primarily motivated by the desire for a scoop rather than because of politics, and Buckle's subsequent offer of his resignation was rejected by Walter.

In the years that followed, Buckle's control over the day-to-day operations of The Times declined due to administrative reorganization, as authority was gradually decentralized within the paper. Buckle's own duties were reduced slowly to matters of editorial control and the writing of the leading article
Editorial
An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...

. When Lord Northcliffe
Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe
Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe rose from childhood poverty to become a powerful British newspaper and publishing magnate, famed for buying stolid, unprofitable newspapers and transforming them to make them lively and entertaining for the mass market.His company...

 purchased the paper in 1908, he pressed forward with modernization measures which Buckle had long resisted. The death of the managing director, Charles Frederic Moberly Bell
Charles Frederic Moberly Bell
Charles Frederic Moberly Bell was a prominent British journalist and newspaper editor during the late 19th and early 20th centuries....

, three years later eliminated the last check on the owner, and Northcliffe forced Buckle's resignation on 31 July 1911.

Literary work

A few months after his departure from The Times, Buckle was approached by the trustees of the estate of Benjamin Disraeli about continuing work on a multi-volume biography of the former prime minister, work on which had been halted by the death of the initial author, William Flavelle Monypenny
William Flavelle Monypenny
William Flavelle Monypenny was a British journalist and editor who was the biographer of Benjamin Disraeli....

. Buckle accepted, spending the next eight years writing the final four volumes (of six) of the Life of Benjamin Disraeli. After its completion in 1920, he was asked to take on another ongoing project, the editing of Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

's letters. Accepting after some hesitation, he performed the task with discretion, ultimately editing six volumes covering Victoria's letters from 1861 until her death. Buckle's final project was organizing a multi-volume history of The Times, the first volume of which was published before he died in 1935.

Personal life

Buckle married twice. His first marriage, in 1885, was to Alicia Isobel, the third daughter of the novelist James Payn
James Payn
James Payn , was an English novelist.-Family:Payn's father, William Payn , was clerk to the Thames Commissioners and at one time treasurer to the county of Berkshire...

; their union produced two children. After Alicia's death, Buckle married his first cousin Beatrice Anne, the second daughter of John Earle, in 1905.

Further reading

  • Weintraub, Stanley. "Buckle, George Earle" in in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, H.C.G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, eds. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), vol. 8, p. 525-7.
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