Howell Arthur Gwynne
In The Sketch, 10 January 1900
In The Sketch, 10 January 1900
Born(1865-09-03)3 September 1865
Kilvey, Wales, United Kingdom
Died26 June 1950(1950-06-26) (aged 84)
Little Easton, England, United Kingdom
OccupationNewspaper editor, author

Howell Arthur Keir Gwynne, CH (3 September 1865 – 26 June 1950) was a Welsh author, newspaper editor of the London Morning Post from 1911 to 1937.[1]

Early life

He was the son of Richard Gwynne, a schoolmaster and his wife Charlotte Lloyd, born at Kilvey; Llewellyn Henry Gwynne was his brother.[2] He attended Swansea Grammar School.[3]

Journalistic career

Gwynne (leftmost) with Kipling (rightmost) in South Africa

Gwynne began his career as a foreign correspondent in the Balkans, and then became the Reuters news correspondent in Romania.[4] Early in his career, Gwynne was part of the group of journalists and writers including also Rudyard Kipling, Perceval Landon, Julian Ralph and F.W. Buxton who helped start a newspaper, The Friend, for Lord Roberts for the British troops in Bloemfontein, the newly captured capital of the Orange Free State during the Boer War.[5] Kipling and Gwynne remained friends for the rest of Kipling's life.[5] Gwynne married Edith Douglas, daughter of Thomas Ash Lane, in 1907.[1] In 1911, Gwynne became editor of The Morning Post. The owner of the paper was Lilias, Countess Bathurst (1871–1965), a.k.a. Lady Bathurst, wife of Seymour Henry Bathurst, 7th Earl Bathurst (1864–1943). The Bathursts sold the paper in 1924. Gwynne held conservative, imperialist and anti-Zionist political views, and used his editorship of the Morning Post to promote these positions.[6][7] Gwynne was a strong supporter of the British war effort in the First World War, supporting conscription and championing Lord Kitchener as the military leader that Gwynne believed was best qualified to help Britain win the war.[4] Gwynne also befriended Edward Carson, whose support for Irish Unionism Gwynne shared.[8] After the Russian Revolution, Gwynne became an outspoken opponent of Communism.[4]

Later, "[l]ike many another elderly Conservatives in the nineteen-twenties [Kipling] reacted at the news of events in Ireland, Egypt, India, by moving further to the right in politics". Gwynne's Post "continued to fight its rearguard action, and [Kipling] continued to urge Gwynne to take stronger stands". Kipling "was for years closely associated with the editorial policy of the Post and on terms of friendship with Lady Bathurst ..., [and] spent many week-ends at Cirencester".[9] Gwynne's relationship with Kipling remained close throughout the latter's life — he was a pallbearer at Kipling's burial in Poet's Corner at Westminster Abbey in 1936.[10]

Gwynne died at his home in Little Easton, Essex on 26 June 1950.[2][11]

Gwynne and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

In 1920, Gwynne caused controversy when he wrote an introduction to a book titled The Cause of World Unrest. Gwynne's introduction argued that there was a Jewish conspiracy to promote Communism.[4] Gwynne cited the book The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (later exposed as a forgery) in his introduction. While Gwynne did not take a stance on whether The Protocols were authentic or not, he did claim that "the Jewish Bolsheviks" in Russia were "carrying out almost to the letter" the program outlined in The Protocols.[6] Gwynne's articles linking Jews and Communism resulted in him receiving a letter of complaint from the Jewish journalist Leopold Greenberg, who accused Gwynne of promoting Antisemitism.[6]

Works

References

  1. 1 2 Mee, Arthur, ed. (1921). Who's Who in Wales (1st ed.). Cardiff: Western Mail Limited. p. 170. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via Google Books.
  2. 1 2 "Gwynne (family), of Kilvey, Swansea". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. 2001. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  3. ↑ Wilson, Keith. "Gwynne, Howell Arthur". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33622. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. 1 2 3 4 Holmes, Colin. "Gwynne, H. A." In Levy, Richard S. (ed.) Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution. ABC-CLIO, 2005 ISBN 1851094393 (p.286)
  5. 1 2 Carrington, C. E. (1955). The Life of Rudyard Kipling. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co. p. 236. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  6. 1 2 3 Kadish, Sharman (1992). Bolsheviks and British Jews: The Anglo-Jewish Community, Britain and the Russian Revolution. Frank Cass. pp. 33–34, 124. ISBN 0714633712. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  7. ↑ Kaul, Chandrika, Reporting the Raj: The British Press and India, C. 1880-1922 Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2003. (pp. 68-69) ISBN 9780719061769
  8. ↑ Stewart, A. T. Q., Edward Carson. Dublin, Gill and MacMillan, 1981. ISBN 9780717109814 (p. 109)
  9. ↑ Carrington, C. E. (1955). The Life of Rudyard Kipling. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co. p. 379. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  10. ↑ Carrington, C. E. (1955). The Life of Rudyard Kipling. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co. p. 393. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  11. ↑ "Obituary: Mr. H. A. Gwynne". The Guardian. 27 June 1950. p. 4. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
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