LUKE HANSARD

Evening Star, Issue 20055, 21 December 1928, Page 10

LUKE HANSARD

PRINTER OF PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES AN INTERESTING CENTENARY On October 21), 1823, only a few months after he - had retired, • full .of years and honours, from the exacting post of printer of parliamentary debates, died Luke Hansard, a name very familiar in political circles even to-day, when it has actually Jong ceased to have any official connection with those arduous duties. Luke Hansard, the son of a Norwich tradesman, was apprenticed in his native town to Stephen White, master printer. Tho young apprentice was a product of that old foundation, Boston Grammar School. For some years he cheerfully went about his master’s business in several capacities of trust, until, tiring of the humdrum round and apparent lack of prospect, ho took heart of grace and trudged to Londonwith, it is said, the legendary guinea in his pocket. Arrived in tho metropolis, ho soon obtained work as journeyman compositor in the office of John Hughs, Great Turnstile, Lincoln’s fnn Fields, where he made the 'acquaintance, among others, of Samuel Johnson, who was pleased to commend the earnest young craftsman. In 1774, when only twenty-two years of ago, ho was taken into partnership by the astute Hughs, and given charge of the printing of tho parliamentary debates, a contract carried out by this office. He bent his whole energies to the task, and many tributes to his painstaking and efficient work have been left upon record. Probably that which pleased him most was Pitt’s compliment in the House to his quick and corecb production of the Secret Committee's Report on the French Revolution, the manuscript copy of which had only - left the statesman’s hands twenty-four hours earlier. After the Act of Union in 1801, so heavy was the parliamentary business that ho concentrated wholly upon that class of_ work. After his death., his sons carried on the business for many years. They were assisted by a Government'subsidy. In 1883 the publication was taken over by a limited company, the Hansard .Publishing Union. Nowadays, although reference is still mad© familiarly to Hansard, the official reporting 'stall are in Government employ. Luke Hansard is not without honour in other spheres of pripting. lie was praised by Poison as “The best English printer of Greek.” .He was also concerned in the printing of several famous works, notably Burke’s Essays on the Sublime and Beautiful and on the French Revolution, Orme’s ‘History of India,’ and the notorious work by Harris, entitled ‘ Hermes.’