Thomas William Chenery (1826 – 11 February 1884) was an English scholar and editor of the newspaper ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

''. His diplomatic background and choice of capable reporters helped to revive the paper's reputation for international news.

Biography

Chenery was born in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estima ...

to John Chenery, a

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

merchant. He was educated at Eton and

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...

. Immediately after taking an

ordinary degree The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variat ...

in 1854, he was recruited by Mowbray Morris to work for ''

'', and was sent to

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

. On arrival in March 1854, he soon proved himself an excellent diplomatic correspondent, covering the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

, mainly from Istanbul, but occasionally from the front, where he relieved

William Howard Russell Sir William Howard Russell, (28 March 182011 February 1907) was an Irish reporter with ''The Times'', and is considered to have been one of the first modern war correspondents. He spent 22 months covering the Crimean War, including the Sieg ...

. It was while he was in Istanbul that Chenery met Percy Smythe, who sparked his interest in

philological Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as t ...

studies, a field in which he would later gain prominence. After the war, Chenery returned to London, as a leader writer for ''The Times'' for many years, while continuing his

Oriental studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern stu ...

. Among the languages he spoke were Arabic], Hebrew, modern Greek, and Turkish. He was one of the panelists involved in preparing the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

portion of the

Revised Version The Revised Version (RV) or English Revised Version (ERV) of the Bible is a late 19th-century British revision of the King James Version. It was the first and remains the only officially authorised and recognised revision of the King James Versio ...

of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

. Chenery's translation of the first 26 chapters of the Arabic classic '' The Assemblies of Al-Hariri''''The Assemblies of Al-Ḥarîri. Translated from the Arabic with Notes Historical and Grammatical'', trans. by Thomas Chenery and F. Steingass, Oriental Translation Fund, New Series, 3, 2 vols (London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1867–98)

(vol. 2). led to an appointment as

Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic The Lord Almoner's Professorships of Arabic were two professorships, one at the University of Oxford and one at the University of Cambridge. They were both founded before 1724, but records of the holders of the chairs only date from that year. T ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, where he also served as secretary of the

Royal Asiatic Society The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS), was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the en ...

. In 1877 John Walker selected Chenery as

John Thadeus Delane John Thadeus Delane (11 October 1817 – 22 November 1879), editor of ''The Times'' (London), was born in London. He was the second son of W.F.A. Delane, a barrister, of an old Irish family, who about 1832 was appointed by ''Times'' publis ...

's successor as editor of ''The Times''. He was then an experienced publicist, particularly well versed in Oriental affairs, and an indefatigable worker with a rapid and comprehensive judgement, although he lacked Delane's sociability and intuition for public opinion. Nonetheless, he introduced a number of innovations, bringing in more writers with scholarly backgrounds to employ their respective expertise. His background as a diplomatic correspondent and his choice of capable reporters for foreign postings revived the paper's reputation for international news coverage. Despite his position as editor, Chenery was unable to prevent the increasingly partisan slant of the paper imposed by Walter, a member of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. This shift was furthered in 1880 by the appointment of

George Earle Buckle George Earle Buckle (10 June 185413 March 1935) was an English editor and biographer. Early life Buckle was the son of George Buckle, canon of Wells Cathedral, and Mary Hamlyn Earle, the sister of the philologist John Earle. He attended Honito ...

, Walter's hand-picked candidate, as assistant editor. Buckle assumed more duties in 1883 as ill health reduced Chenery's ability to play an active role as editor, though he continued in the post until his death on 11 February 1884. He is buried in

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Establ ...

Notes

References

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chenery, Thomas 1826 births 1884 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge British newspaper editors The Times people Barbadian journalists Male journalists Christian Hebraists Burials at Brompton Cemetery Lord Almoner's Professors of Arabic (University of Oxford) 19th-century British people British people of the Crimean War 19th-century British journalists British male journalists