Alaric Watts
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Alaric Alexander Watts (16 March 1797 – 5 April 1864) was a British
poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
and
journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
, born in London. His life was dedicated to newspaper creation and editing, and he was seen as a conservative writer. His newspaper ventures failed and led him to bankruptcy, until he received a pension from his friend,
Lord Aberdeen George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (28 January 178414 December 1860), styled Lord Haddo from 1791 to 1801, was a British statesman, diplomat and landowner, successively a Tory, Conservative and Peelite politician and specialist in fo ...
. He may now be best remembered for his
alliterative Alliteration is the repetition of syllable-initial consonant sounds between nearby words, or of syllable-initial vowels if the syllables in question do not start with a consonant. It is often used as a List of narrative techniques#Style, litera ...
poem "The Siege of Belgrade", which begins with a much-quoted
couplet In poetry, a couplet ( ) or distich ( ) is a pair of successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (closed) couplet, each of the two lines is end-stopped, implying that there ...
:
An Austrian army, awfully arrayed, Boldly by battery besieged Belgrade.


Life as a journalist

Alaric Watts was the son of John Mosley Watts and grandson of William Watts, a Leicester physician of repute. After leaving school he made his living as a teacher for a short time, and in 1818–19 was part of the staff of the ''
New Monthly Magazine ''The New Monthly Magazine'' was a British monthly magazine published from 1814 to 1884. It was founded by Henry Colburn and published by him through to 1845. History Colburn and Frederic Shoberl established ''The New Monthly Magazine and Uni ...
'' in London. At about the same time he became a contributor to the ''
Literary Gazette ''The Literary Gazette'' was a British literary magazine, established in London in 1817 with its full title being ''The Literary Gazette, and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences''. Sometimes it appeared with the caption title, "London Lit ...
''.Sack, James J. (1993) ''From Jacobite to Conservative'' "Cambridge University Press". 304 pages. . Endnote: See A. A. Watts, ''Alaric Watts'' (2 vols., London, 1884). In 1822, leaving his position at the Gazette, he was made editor of the ''
Leeds Intelligencer The ''Leeds Intelligencer'', or ''Leedes Intelligencer'', was one of the first regional newspapers in Great Britain. It was founded in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, in 1754 and first published on 2 July 1754. It was a weekly paper unt ...
'' (1822–23), in the columns of which he was one of the first to advocate measures for protecting workers in factories against accidents from machinery (see
occupational safety Occupational safety and health (OSH) or occupational health and safety (OHS) is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at work (i.e., while performing duties required by one's occupation). OSH is re ...
). In 1823 he published his first volume of verse, ''Poetical Sketches'', and in 1824 he became the editor of the ''Literary Souvenir'' (till 1838), of which he also became the proprietor two years later. During his ownership he secured the co-operation of some of the most famous men of letters of that period. In 1825 he went to
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
as
editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...
of the ''
Manchester Courier The ''Manchester Courier'' was a daily newspaper founded in Manchester, England, by Thomas Sowler; the first edition was published on 1 January 1825. Alaric Alexander Watts was the paper's first editor, but remained in the position for only a ye ...
'', a position which he resigned a year later. He bought ''
The Literary Magnet ''The Literary Magnet'' was a British magazine. Started as a weekly magazine in 1824 by Egerton Brydges and his son using the pseudonym Tobias Merton, it became a monthly magazine towards the end of 1824. The ''Magnet'' went through a number of ...
'' around December 1825, first making an unnamed "very clever young literary friend" the editor, before taking over as the anonymous editor from July 1826 to December 1827. Under his ownership, ''The Literary Magnet'' changed its emphasis from prose to poetry, and he managed to get contributions from a number of popular poets of the day, including
John Clare John Clare (13 July 1793 – 20 May 1864) was an English poet. The son of a farm labourer, he became known for his celebrations of the English countryside and his sorrows at its disruption. His work underwent major re-evaluation in the late 20t ...
,
Mary Howitt Mary Howitt (12 March 1799 – 30 January 1888) was an English poet, the author of the famous poem '' The Spider and the Fly''. She translated several tales by Hans Christian Andersen. Some of her works were written in conjunction with her husba ...
,
Thomas Hood Thomas Hood (23 May 1799 – 3 May 1845) was an English poet, author and humorist, best known for poems such as "The Bridge of Sighs (poem), The Bridge of Sighs" and "The Song of the Shirt". Hood wrote regularly for ''The London Magazine'', '' ...
,
Felicia Hemans Felicia Dorothea Hemans (25 September 1793 – 16 May 1835) was an English poet (who identified as Welsh by adoption). Regarded as the leading female poet of her day, Hemans was immensely popular during her lifetime in both England and the Unit ...
, and his brother-in-law
Jeremiah Holmes Wiffen Jeremiah Holmes Wiffen (30 December 1792 – 2 May 1836) was an English poet and writer, known as translator of Torquato Tasso. Life The eldest son of John Wiffen, an ironmonger, by his wife Elizabeth Pattison, both from Quaker backgrounds, he w ...
. In 1827 he assisted in founding the ''Standard'' as a sub-editor, while the first editor was
Stanley Lees Giffard Stanley Lees Giffard (1788 – November 1858) was founder and first editor of a London newspaper, ''The Standard''. Biography Born in Dublin, Stanley Lees Giffard was the son of John Giffard and Sarah Morton of Dromartin Castle. His brother ...
; and in 1833 he started the ''United Service Gazette'', which he edited for eight years. In 1839 he helped Lady Bulwer with a manuscript of ''Cheveley'' and during that time he offered her to stay some time at his cottage. During the same year he returned to the ''Standard'' as an editor and took a job at the ''Morning Herald'' where he worked until 1846.


Later life

Watts met and married Priscilla "Zillah" Maden Watts () in the early 1820s. The couple had a child, Alaric Alfred, in 1825. Mrs Watts also published and wrote for newspapers and magazines like ''The New Year's Gift and Juvenile Souvenir'' (1829–36) until she died in 1873. Watts was involved with a number of provincial Conservative newspapers which were not financially successful. In 1848, he was sentenced for some time in debtors' prison; in 1850 he declared bankruptcy. In 1854,
Lord Aberdeen George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (28 January 178414 December 1860), styled Lord Haddo from 1791 to 1801, was a British statesman, diplomat and landowner, successively a Tory, Conservative and Peelite politician and specialist in fo ...
came to his rescue by awarding Watts a civil service pension. In 1856 he was back to editing, publishing the first issue of ''Men of the Time''. Watts died in London on 5 April 1864 and is buried in
Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in North London, England, designed by architect Stephen Geary. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for so ...
, against the northern boundary wall (above the catacombs). His poems were collected as ''Lyrics of the Heart'' and published in 1850. In 1867 a collection of his poems was published in a volume titled ''The Laurel and the Lyre''.


Notes


References

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, Alaric Alexander 1797 births 1864 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery English male journalists English male poets 19th-century English poets 19th-century English male writers Alumni of Wye College