Donald Harvey McLachlan (25 September 1908 – 10 January 1971) was a Scottish

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 ...

and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

who was the founding editor of ''

The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Tele ...

''.

Education and career

Born in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, McLachlan was educated at the

City of London School The City of London School, also known as CLS and City, is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school for Single-sex education, boys in the City of London, England, on the banks of the River Thames next to the Millennium Bridge, ...

and

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

, where he gained first class honors in

Philosophy, Politics and Economics Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an interdisciplinary undergraduate or postgraduate academic degree, degree which combines study from three disciplines. The first institution to offer degrees in P ...

. After a period as a Laming Fellow at

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

, he began his career in journalism in 1933 with a position as a

sub-editor Copy editing (also known as copyediting and manuscript editing) is the process of revising written material (" copy") to improve quality and readability, as well as ensuring that a text is free of errors in grammar, style, and accuracy. ''The Ch ...

and foreign

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

''. As a correspondent, he specialized in European affairs and twice acted as an assistant correspondent in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, where he worked alongside

Norman Ebbutt Norman Ebbutt (1894–1968) was a British journalist. In 1925 he was sent to Berlin, where he became chief correspondent for ''The Times'' of London. He warned of Nazi warmongering but ''The Times'' censored his reports to promote appeasement. H ...

. In 1936 McLachlan became an Assistant-Master in

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

, though he continued to undertake part-time editorial work. In 1938, he took over as editor of the ''

Times Educational Supplement ''TES'', formerly known as the ''Times Educational Supplement'', is a British weekly trade magazine aimed at education professionals. It was first published in 1910 as a pull-out supplement in ''The Times'' newspaper. Such was its popularity th ...

'', a position he held for two years. During this period, he also helped to prepare ''The Timess

Air Raid Precautions Air Raid Precautions (ARP) refers to a number of organisations and guidelines in the United Kingdom dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air raids. Government consideration for air raid precautions increased in the 1920s a ...

(ARP) team, which was widely regarded as the best in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. Though initially a member of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

's Intelligence Corps during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, McLachlan was transferred to the Naval Intelligence Division early on by Admiral

John Henry Godfrey Admiral John Henry Godfrey CB (10 July 1888 – 29 August 1970) was an officer of the Royal Navy and Royal Indian Navy, specialising in navigation. Ian Fleming is said to have based James Bond's boss, " M", on Godfrey. Life and career Godfr ...

, where he was given a variety of assignments. In 1941 he became head of the Naval Propaganda sub-section NID 17Z, which focused on

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

efforts against the ''

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

''. He served in this capacity for the remainder of the conflict, and reached the rank of

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

. Among his colleagues during the war was

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...

, who would later go on to create the character of

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

After the war, McLachlan returned to ''The Times'' as a leader writer and he also assisted

Stanley Morison Stanley Arthur Morison (6 May 1889 – 11 October 1967) was a British typographer, printing executive and historian of printing. Largely self-educated, he promoted higher standards in printing and an awareness of the best printing and typefaces ...

with the ''

Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

''. McLachlan left ''The Times'' again in 1947 to take a position as Foreign Editor of ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

''. In 1954, he moved to ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', where he worked as Deputy Editor. He originated the phrase "the smack of firm government" in a leader of 3 January 1956 criticising the premiership of

Anthony Eden Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achi ...

.Lucas, Scott ''Britain and Suez: The Lion's Last Roar,'' Manchester University Press, 1996, p22 In 1961, he became editor of the new ''Sunday Telegraph'', a position he held for five years. After his retirement, McLachlan wrote two books: a history of the Naval Intelligence division Room 39 and a biography of his former ''Times'' editor, Robert M'Gowan Barrington-Ward. He died in a car accident in Scotland in 1971, just before the publication of the latter work.

Personal life

In 1934 McLachlan married Katherine "Kitty" Harman, the sister of British author Elizabeth Pakenham. Together they had four children: Andrew (b. 1935), Jeremy Hugh (b. 1937), Valerie Jean (b. 1939) and Donald Alistair. One of relatives by marriage is his niece

Harriet Harman Harriet Ruth Harman, Baroness Harman, (born 30 July 1950), is a British politician and solicitor who served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Chair of the Labour Party (UK), Chair of the Labour Pa ...

, a noted Labour Party Member of Parliament who has served in a number of offices since 1997.

Works

*''Room 39: Naval Intelligence in Action, 1939-45'', Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1968 *''In the Chair: Barrington-Ward of "The Times", 1927-1948'', Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971,

Education and career

Personal life

Works

References

Further reading