A NOTABLE CENTENARY

Northern Advocate, 29 November 1928, Page 4

A NOTABLE CENTENARY

One hundred years ago—to be precise, on October 29, 1828—there died a man whose name has since become a household word in all British communities. He was Luke Hansard, whose activities as printer to the House of Commons for many years, together with those of his son, Thomas Curson Hansard, gave the English language a new word as a generic term for all official reports of parliamentary debates. Born on July 5. 1752, in St. Mary’s parish, Norwich (Norfolk). Luke Hansard served his apprenticeship with a printer of his native town. At the age of IS, as soon as he was “out of his time,’’ he set out to try his fortunes in London with only a guinea in his pocket. He became a compositor in the office of John Hughes, printer do the House of Commons. It was not long before the youthful Hansard became a partner —in 1774 —and so great was the confidence reposed' in him that the business was left almost entirely in his hands. About the end of the century the business became his solely, and with the subsequent a’dmission of his sons to the business the firm became “Luke Hansard and Sons.’’ The older Hansard printed the Journals of the House of Commons from 1784 until his death; but it was his son Thomas who in 1 SOB first began to print the “Parliamentary Debates,’’ which, it is interesting to note, were not at first independent reports, hut were taken from the newspapers, The original business was carried on by his younger brothers, James and Luke Graves Hansard. It was not for many years that the publication now known all over the world as Hansard attained its present status as an absolutely privileged record of the proceedings of Parlia-

ments. As late as 1827 the younger Hansards had to face a libel action brought by a bookseller named Stockdale, based on defamatory statements contained in an official report published by them in the course of their duty as parliamentary printers, and tlio courts decided against them. However, the misfortunes of the Hansard family had one lasting good effect. Parliament was moved to make clear by legislation that the cloak of absolute privilege must cover nil statements printed by its authority, since then such records have been unchallenged in respect of civil action for libel, and with the march of progress the freedom to chronicle the savings and doings of Parliament without fear has been widened to include oilier printed publications also.