Jeremiah Garnett (1793–1870) was an English journalist, active in the politics of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and the founding of ''The Manchester Guardian'' alongside his nephew Anthony Garnett.

Life

Jeremiah, younger brother of Richard Garnett (1789–1850) and elder brother of Thomas Garnett the manufacturer, was born at

Otley Otley is a market town and civil parish at a bridging point on the River Wharfe, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the population was 13,668 at the 20 ...

in Yorkshire, 2 October 1793. After being apprenticed to a printer at Barnsley, he entered the office of ''Wheeler's Manchester Chronicle'' about 1814, and with a brief interruption continued there until 1821, when he joined John Edward Taylor in establishing the ''

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the G ...

.'' Garnett was printer, business manager, and sole reporter during the first years of the journal. He took his notes using an improvised form of

shorthand Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''s ...

, then prepared type for printing without a written copy. As the paper gained ground Garnett's share in the editorial side increased, and in January 1844 he became sole editor on the death of his partner Taylor, a position which he held until his retirement in 1861. During these 40 years he was a force in the public life of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

and Lancashire generally: ''The Guardian'' was widely read, by

Tories A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

and Anti-Corn Law Leaguers who had little sympathy with its moderate liberal politics. He was active as a police commissioner, and in obtaining a charter of incorporation for the city. His correspondence and advice were politically influential, but his public appearances were infrequent. The most important was on the occasion of the expulsion of Thomas Milner Gibson and

John Bright John Bright (16 November 1811 – 27 March 1889) was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, one of the greatest orators of his generation and a promoter of free trade policies. A Quaker, Bright is most famous for battling the Corn La ...

from the representation of Manchester in 1857, which was almost entirely due to his initiative. His nephew was Richard Garnett (1835–1906), the author of his entry in the ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' (1900), who says,

"As a man he was upright and benevolent, but singularly averse to display; as a writer for the press his principal characteristics were strong common-sense and extreme clearness of style."

After his retirement he lived in Scotland and at

Sale, Cheshire Sale is a town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, in the historic county of Cheshire on the south bank of the River Mersey, south of Stretford, northeast of Altrincham, and southwest of Manchester. In 2011, it had a population of 134 ...

, where he died on 27 September 1870.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Garnett, Jeremiah 1793 births 1870 deaths People educated at Prince Henry's Grammar School, Otley English male journalists English male non-fiction writers