J. A. Spender

John Alfred Spender (23 December 1862 – 21 June 1942) also known as J. A. Spender, was a British journalist, newspaper editor, and author. He was the editor of the London newspaper The Westminster Gazette from 1896 to 1922.

Spender was the eldest of four sons born to John Kent Spender, a doctor, and his wife, the novelist Lillian Spender. He was educated at Bath College and Balliol College, Oxford, where he did well in his studies but missed a first in Greats due to illness.

Though Benjamin Jowett, the Master of Balliol, suggested that Spender become a lawyer, Spender sought out a career in journalism instead. In this he had the assistance of his uncle William Saunders, who owned the Western Morning News and Eastern Morning News as well as the Central News Ageny. After a brief period as Saunders's secretary, Spender was offered a position as a leader writer for The Echo by John Passmore Edwards, though their relationship proved difficult and Spender left after only five months in the post. It was at this point in 1886 that Saunders offered his nephew the editorship of the struggling Hull newspaper Eastern Morning News. Spender eagerly accepted and spent a little more than four years in the post. As the editor of a provincial daily, Spender undertook whatever jobs were necessary, serving as sales manager, leader writer, reporter, and critic. Through his efforts the paper returned to profitability, only to then be sold by Saunders in February 1891. Spender returned to London, where he worked as a freelance contributor to a number of papers and wrote his book, a tract on old-age pensions that won him the friendship of John Morley.

In June 1892 Spender received an offer from E. T. Cook, the editor of the Liberal evening newspaper the Pall Mall Gazette, to work as his assistant editor. Spender gladly accepted, only to be let go a month later when the Pall Mall Gazette was sold to William Waldorf Astor, who changed its party allegiance to the Unionists. Though the newly married Spender was unemployed once more, he was quickly rehired by Cook when the editor started a new Liberal evening paper, The Westminster Gazette, in January 1893.

Editorship of The Westminster Gazette

Cook served as editor until 1896, when he resigned his position to take over as editor of the Liberal The Daily News. Though a number of prominent individuals applied to succeed him, the owner of The Westminster Gazette, George Newnes, decided to offer the editorship to Spender, then only thirty-three years of age. Though Spender himself was modest about his prospects, his selection was met with approval by many in the Liberal ranks, including the head of the party Lord Rosebery.

Under Spender's direction, The Westminster Gazette never had a wide circulation, nor did it make a profit. Nonetheless it was the most influential evening newspaper in Britain, for which Spender received the credit. The veteran editor Frederick Greenwood regarded The Westminster Gazette under Spender as "the best edited paper in London," and his leaders became essential reading for politicians on both sides of the political aisle. In them his priority was Liberal unity. He balanced ideological expression in the pages of his paper, avoiding the polemical heights attained by his counterparts in other Liberal publications. Though this occasionally earned him the ire of both Liberal factions in a debate, his loyalty to the Liberal leadership was rewarded with their confidences, which provided him with invaluable insight into the inner workings of contemporary politics.

Spender greatly valued his editorial independence, which was never an issue with the owner of The Gazette, George Newnes. When Newnes sold the paper in 1908 to a consortium of Liberal businessmen and politicians led by Alfred Mond, however, Spender found his cherished independence under pressure. Only internal disagreement within the ownership group saved Spender from dismissal. The dispute hurt staff morale, while the start of the First World War led several important staff members to leave for service in the armed forces. A growing decline in circulation and revenue led Spender and the owners to undertake the radical move of switching from an evening to a morning publication in November 1921. The new paper, however, was no longer a vehicle for the sort of reflective journalism characteristic of Spender, and he resigned from his position in February 1922.

Subsequent career

Spender's departure from The Westminster Gazette also meant his departure from journalism, as he how pursued a new career as an author. Over the next two decades, he wrote a number of books on nonfiction subjects, including histories, travelogues, biographies, and memoirs. His most prominent works were two biographies of Liberal party leaders, the former prime ministers Henry Campbell Bannerman and H. H. Asquith, and a memoir of his Life Journalism and Politics. He also served on a number of public commissions and inquiries, and after refusing public honours three previous times he accepted an appointment as a Companion of Honour. He also remained involved in Liberal politics, though his influence was much diminished with the decline of the Liberal Party in the interwar period, while his concern about the insufficiency of British armaments led many to brand Spender as an appeaser in the run-up to the Second World War. Spender died in June 1942 after a long illness.

• The State and Pensions in Old Age (1892)
• The Life of The Right Hon. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (2 vols.) (1924)
• The Public Life (2 vols.) (1925)
• Life, Journalism and Politics (2 vols.) (1927)
• (with Cyril Asquith) Life of Herbert Henry Asquith, Lord Oxford and Asquith (2 vols.) (1932)
• The Changing East (Pocket Edition 1935)
• New lamps and ancient lights (1940)
• Last Essays (1944)
• Men and things (1968)