Edward Michael Whitty (1827–1860) was an English journalist, known for biting parliamentary reporting, and credited for popularising the concept of the "

governing class In sociology, the ruling class of a society is the social class who set and decide the political and economic agenda of society. In Marxist philosophy, the ruling class are the capitalist social class who own the means of production and by exten ...

es".

Life

The son of Michael James Whitty, was born in London, and was educated at the

Liverpool Institute The Liverpool Institute High School for Boys was an all-boys grammar school in the English port city of Liverpool. The school had its origins in 1825 but occupied different premises while the money was found to build a dedicated building on ...

and in Hanover. About 1844 he became a reporter on the provincial press, and from 1846 to 1849 he was the writer of the parliamentary summary of ''The Times''. He was also the London correspondent of the ''Liverpool Journal''. For several years Whitty served with

George Henry Lewes George Henry Lewes (; 18 April 1817 – 30 November 1878) was an English philosopher and critic of literature and theatre. He was also an amateur physiologist. American feminist Margaret Fuller called Lewes a "witty, French, flippant sort of ...

and E. F. S. Pigott on the staff of '' The Leader'', where his sarcastic style came out in parliamentary sketches. These columns built up with essays, published from 14 August 1852), to the innovative description of the debates by "The Stranger in Parliament" appearing from 13 November that year. In time, however, Whitty quarrelled with his colleagues on ''The Leader''. Whitty was appointed editor of the '' Northern Whig'' early in 1857, but was sacked in the spring of 1858. He returned for a time to London, and on the death of his wife and two children emigrated to Australia to work on the '' Melbourne Argus''. He died at Melbourne, at the house of a relative, on 21 February 1860. A few years later a monument was erected to his memory.

Works

A selection from Whitty's parliamentary sketches was published anonymously in 1854 as the ''History of the Session 1852–3: a Parliamentary Retrospect''. A volume entitled ''The Derbyites and the Coalition'' (1854?) is assigned to Whitty by Samuel Austin Allibone. A series of Whitty's ''Leader'' articles was collected in ''The Governing Classes of Great Britain: Political Portraits'' (London, 1854; with additions, 1859). The volume is said to have greatly impressed Montalembert. The phrase "the governing classes" is earlier found in

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, ...

(''Cromwell's Letters and Speeches'', 1845, ii. 150), but became identified with Whitty's volume; Robert Barnabas Brough dedicated to him in 1855 his ''Songs of the Governing Classes''. Whitty dashed off a novel ''Friends of Bohemia, or Phases of London Life'' (London, 1857, 2 vols.; New York and Philadelphia, 1864, with memoir). It contained satire and epigrams directed at former colleagues on ''The Leader''.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitty, Edward Michael 1827 births 1860 deaths English male journalists English newspaper editors 19th-century British journalists English male novelists 19th-century English novelists 19th-century English male writers