Thomas Catling (23 September 1838,
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...
– 25 December 1920,
Lambeth, London
Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area exp ...
) was a British journalist and editor. He is perhaps best known for his 1911 autobiography ''My Life's Pilgrimage''.
The autobiography, with two pages on ''Memories of Charles Dickens'' and one page on ''Queen Victoria's Jubilee'', contains numerous brief anecdotes concerning literary celebrities, politicians, London events, theatre, crime, and international travel.
Biography
He was the third son of a florist, Edward Catling. Thomas Catling was educated at private schools in Cambridge and at the
Working Men's College,
Oakley Square
Oakley Square is a crescent-shaped garden square in Somers Town in Central London, close to Mornington Crescent and Camden Town. It is located in the London Borough of Camden and runs roughly northeastwards from Eversholt Street meeting w ...
,
London Borough of Camden
The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and S ...
. He spent his career working for ''
Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper'', where he became an apprentice compositor in 1854. He was a compositor from 1858 to 1870, a sub-editor from 1866 to 1884, and editor-in-chief from 1884 to 1907, when he retired.
[ He was the fifth editor-in-chief.][ He introduced a regular feature "Long Lost Relatives" that published inquiries from readers. His journalist work outside of ''Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper'' consisted mainly of his editorship, from 1878 to 1890, of the literary reviews for '' Daily Chronicle''.]
At ''Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper'', Douglas Jerrold was the editor-in-chief from 1852 until his death in 1857. Catling attended the funeral along with over two thousand mourners. On 18 November 1860 in the Anglican church St Giles-without-Cripplegate he married Jane Davis. They became the parents of four sons and five daughters.[
Catling travelled in 1893 through the United States of America from its east coast to its west coast and to Canada, in 1898 to Palestine and Syria, in 1900 to Egypt up the Nile to ]Khartoum
Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...
, in 1901 to Algeria and, especially, Kabylia
Kabylia ('' Kabyle: Tamurt n Leqbayel'' or ''Iqbayliyen'', meaning "Land of Kabyles", '','' meaning "Land of the Tribes") is a cultural, natural and historical region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kabyle people. It is part of ...
, in 1903 to the Egyptian Desert and to Spain, in 1904 to Corsica, in 1905 to Egypt's capital Cairo, in 1906 to Austria, and in 1907 to Dalmatia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. In 1908 he went to Berlin as a delegate to the International Association of Journalists.[
In 1904 his eldest son, Thomas Thurgood Catling (1863–1939), became the editor-in-chief of '' Household Words'' under the ownership of the Edward Lloyd Company. The senior Thomas Catling gave continuing advice and assistance to ''Household Words''.
In 1909 the publishing house John Murray published (gratuitously) ''The Press Album'', edited by Thomas Catling, to aid the Journalists’ Orphan Fund. The book has 26 illustrations and a selection of autographs. The book's 224 pages contain a 2-page introduction by Harry Lawson, 2½ pages of concluding remarks by Catling, and brief literary contributions by 53 different authors, including ]Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Mary Elizabeth Braddon (4 October 1835 – 4 February 1915) was an English popular novelist of the Victorian era. She is best known for her 1862 sensation novel '' Lady Audley's Secret'', which has also been dramatised and filmed several time ...
, Marie Corelli
Mary Mackay (1 May 185521 April 1924), also called Minnie Mackey, and known by her pseudonym Marie Corelli (, also , ), was an English novelist.
From the appearance of her first novel '' A Romance of Two Worlds'' in 1886, she became the bestse ...
, Beatrice Harraden, Alfred Sutro, William Pett Ridge, Jerome K. Jerome, Desmond Coke (1879–1931), Mary Stuart Boyd (1860–1937), Alice Meynell
Alice Christiana Gertrude Meynell (née Thompson; 11 October 184727 November 1922) was a British writer, editor, critic, and suffragist, now remembered mainly as a poet.
Early years and family
Alice Christiana Gertrude Thompson was born in ...
, E. Temple Thurston
Ernest Charles Temple Thurston (23 September 1879 – 19 March 1933) was a British poet, playwright and author.
Biography
Thurston was born in Halesworth, Suffolk, England, the youngest of four children of brewery manager Frank Joseph Thurston a ...
, Silas K. Hocking, Clare Jerrold, Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie
Anne Isabella, Lady Ritchie ( Thackeray; 9 June 1837 – 26 February 1919), eldest daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray, was an English writer, whose several novels were appreciated in their time and made her a central figure on the late Vic ...
, Tom Gallon, Catherine Gasquoine Hartley
C. Gasquoine Hartley or Catherine Gasquoine Hartley or Mrs Walter Gallican (1866/7–1928) was a writer and art historian with a particular expertise on Spanish art. Latterly she wrote about polygamy, motherhood and sex education.
Life
Hartley w ...
, Rabbi Adler, Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, George Brown Burgin (1856–1944), William Leonard Courtney, Charles James Wills (1842–1912), Mrs. C. N. Williamson, Oliver Madox Hueffer, Charles Garvice, H. B. Marriott Watson, F. Anstey, Walter M. Gallichan, A. Winnington-Ingram, The Lord Bishop of London, Coulson Kernahan, Arthur Morrison, Walter Jerrold, Harold Ashton, and Frederick Miller. There are poems by Alfred Austin, Alfred Noyes, Arthur Conan Doyle, Rosamund Marriott Watson, Katharine Tynan, Rosa Mulholland, Sir Gilbert Parker, Shan Bullock, Eden Philpotts, Keighley Snowden, Alfred Perceval Graves, Walter Copeland, John Galsworthy
John Galsworthy (; 14 August 1867 – 31 January 1933) was an English novelist and playwright. Notable works include '' The Forsyte Saga'' (1906–1921) and its sequels, ''A Modern Comedy'' and ''End of the Chapter''. He won the Nobel Prize ...
, and Arthur St. John Adcock
Arthur St John Adcock (17 January 1864 in London – 9 June 1930 in Richmond) was an English novelist and poet, known as A. St John Adcock or St John Adcock. He is remembered for his discovery of the then-unknown poet W. H. Davies. His daughters ...
.
Catling belonged to three London clubs: Savage, Whitefriars (founded in 1868), and New Vagabonds.[ He had an important influence at the Savage Club. The members of the club issued a 1916 book entitled ''A Savage Club Souvenir'' dedicated to Thomas Catling.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Catling, Thomas
1838 births
1920 deaths
British journalists