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

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 ...

''. 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, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

in 1826 to John Chenery, a

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

merchant. He was educated at Eton and

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and ...

. Immediately after taking an ordinary degree in 1854, he was recruited by Mowbray Morris to work for ''

'', and was sent to

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

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

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

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

William Howard Russell Sir William Howard Russell, (28 March 182710 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 Sie ...

. 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 strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

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 studie ...

. 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 (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 and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

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 Vers ...

of the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

. 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 at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, 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, was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encourag ...

. 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'' publi ...

'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. This shift was furthered in 1880 by the appointment of George Earle Buckle, 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 since 1852 the first (and only) London cemetery to be Crown Estate, Crown property, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington a ...

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 English newspaper editors The Times people Barbadian journalists English male journalists Christian Hebraists Burials at Brompton Cemetery Lord Almoner's Professors of Arabic (University of Oxford) 19th-century English people British people of the Crimean War 19th-century English journalists