William Duane (May 12, 1760 – November 24, 1835) was an Irish-American journalist and newspaper publisher. He founded the Bengal Journal in Calcutta, British India in 1791 but the newspaper was shut down by John Shore, the Governor-General of India due to libel against the French royalist government in exile. Duane founded a second newspaper, The World, but he was arrested and deported for libel by publishing articles critical of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...

. Duane emigrated to the United States and began working at the

Philadelphia Aurora The ''Philadelphia Aurora'' was published six days a week in Philadelphia from 1794 to 1824. The paper was founded by Benjamin Franklin Bache, who served as editor until his death in 1798. It is sometimes referred to as the ''Aurora General Adver ...

and helped elect

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

as the 3rd president of the United States through his newspaper support. He was rewarded for his support of Jefferson with an assignment as adjutant general of the U.S. Army.

Early life

While some sources cite his place of birth as Lake Champlain, New York, he was born in

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans and is the easternmost city in North America ...

. He was born to Irish immigrants Anastasia Sarsfied and John Duane. His father died when Duane was seven and his mother brought them back to Ireland. Duane learned the printing trade as an apprentice in London. He angered his mother and lost the small family inheritance when he married a woman of the Anglican faith, Catherine Corcoran. Duane decided to move to

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

Career

He moved to

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...

in 1788, and founded the '' Bengal Journal'' in 1791. Duane began publishing articles in support of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

and an unsubstantiated report of the death of Lord Cornwallis during a campaign against

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (born Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu, 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799), also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery.Dalrymple, p. 243 He i ...

. The

Governor-General of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 1 ...

John Shore, 1st Baron Teignmouth shut down the ''Bengal Journal'' for libel against the French royalist government in exile in Calcutta. Duane founded his second newspaper, ''

The World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

'', which he used to publish articles highlighting how the

functioned in India. These articles again angered John Shore and Duane was arrested and deported for libel in 1794. He returned to London and worked for the Telegraph until he emigrated to the United States. Before he died of yellow fever on September 8, 1798, Benjamin Franklin Bache hired Duane to work on the ''

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

'' newspaper and printing business. Duane married fellow journalist Margaret Hartman Markoe Bache at the Christ Church in Philadelphia on June 28, 1800. They lived at 316 Market Street some time after their union. Duane began writing articles in support of

's campaign for President. He filed for U.S. citizenship after being threatened with deportation under the

Alien and Sedition Act The Alien and Sedition Acts were a set of four laws enacted in 1798 that applied restrictions to immigration and speech in the United States. The Naturalization Act increased the requirements to seek citizenship, the Alien Friends Act allowed t ...

. Jefferson attributed his presidential victory to this paper. Jefferson named Duane a lieutenant colonel, and by the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...

he was an adjutant general. He died in Philadelphia in 1835 and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery.''Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C''
/ref> William Duane (journalist) tombstone

William John Duane William John Duane (May 9, 1780 – September 27, 1865) was an American politician and lawyer from Pennsylvania. Duane served a brief term as United States Secretary of the Treasury in 1833. His refusal to withdraw Federal deposits from the Se ...

was his son.

Bibliography

A Hand Book for Infantry: Containing the First Principles of Military Discipline, Founded on the Rational Method Intended to Explain in a Familiar and Practical Manner, For the Use of the Military Force of the United States, The Modern Improvements in the Discipline and Movement of Armies
Philadelphia, 1814
A Visit to Columbia, in the Years 1822 & 1823
Thomas H. Palmer, Philadelphia, 1826

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duane, William 1760 births 1835 deaths 18th-century newspaper publishers (people) 19th-century newspaper publishers (people) Adjutants general of the United States Army American male journalists American expatriates in India Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Irish people in colonial India Irish journalists Newspaper founders Pre-Confederation Newfoundland and Labrador people People of the Province of New York People of the War of 1812