OBITUARY

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 840, 11 June 1910, Page 6

OBITUARY

■ 4 •— SIR CEORGE fJEWNES. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright London, Juno 9. Obituary: Sir Geo. Newnes, owner of newspapers and periodicals, and formerly a Libera] Jl.P.j aged 59. JOURNALIST AND POLITICIAN. Sir George Newnes, Bart., was one of a few other Englishmen who came into prominence with the evolution of the newspaper and periodical, for which growth , they themselves in a large measure were responsible. Sir George Newnes, unlike some of his contemporaries, however, mixed politics with his journalistic enterprises, though in this respect he was not particularly prominent. He was born in 1551, and' received an elementary education. At the age of sixteen he entered npon a commercial career, which proved successful. In time he founded, and became chairman of, the George Newnes Company, Limited, which controlled 'the "Westminster Gazette," the "Strand • Magazine," "Titbits," and other publications. He was made a J.P. for Devonshire, and in 1885 was elected H.P. for Cambridgeshire (Newmarket). This seat he held till 1895, when he was rejected. In the same year he was created a-barorfet. Sir George Newnes was 'elected M.P. for Swansea Town in 1900, ancl sat for that seat till last election, when he retired. A Unionist critic remarks of him:

"The son of a Derbyshire clergyman, and educated at the City of London School, Sir George Newnes is a very interesting and instructive specimen of the .■self-made man. > Prom the small , beginnings of 'Tit-Bits/ which inaugurated a new kind of periodical that (.-aught on dnd proved extraordinarily successful, he soon was in a position to launch out into larger enterprises, and the success of George Newnes (Ltd.), of Southampton Street, is due to his personal inspiration and direction. As owner of the 'Westminster Gazette' he and his . company have rendered invaluable service to the Radical party, for that journal has been worth its weight in Gould to Sir H. Campbell-Bannennan and his following." Sir Geo. Newness heir is his son Frank H. Newnes, M.A., LL.B., bom in 1876, who was elected as a Liberal for Bassetlaw division of Notts, in 1906, but lost his seat to a Liberal last January.