National Observer (UK)

The National Observer was a British newspaper published from 1888 to 1897. It began as the Scots Observer and was renamed when it moved from Edinburgh to London in 1889.[1] It was considered "conservative in its political outlook" and "liberal in its literary taste".[1]

William Ernest Henley was the editor from 1889 to 1893.[1] He was recruited by Robert Fitzroy Bell, the major backer of the Observer, and brought in young writers including Rudyard Kipling. The political line was that of Charles Whibley, assistant editor, a diehard Tory. Bell became discouraged by 1894, and sold out.[2] Henley was succeeded by James Edmund Vincent,[3] with Percival Parr as editor.[4]

Writers of fiction published in The National Observer include Thomas Hardy, George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, James Barrie, William Butler Yeats, and Rudyard Kipling.[1]

References

1. "William Ernest Henley". Encyclopædia Britannica. britannica.com. Retrieved 2020-06-16.
2. Wintersgill, Donald. "Bell, Robert Fitzroy". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/100753. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
3. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1912). "Vincent, James Edmund" . Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). 3. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
4. Warsop, Keith (2004). The Early F.A. Cup Finals and the Southern Amateurs. Tony Brown, Soccer Data. pp. 112–113. ISBN 1-899468-78-1.Parr had played in the 1880 FA Cup Final.