Conrad First The Joseph Conrad Periodical Archive
Periodical

The Globe (London, UK)


1 March 1845

Founded in 1803 by Thomas Chapman as a trade journal for booksellers, The Globe absorbed The Traveller in 1824 to become The Globe and Traveller. By the time of its merger with The Pall Mall Gazette in 1921, it was the oldest evening newspaper in the world. Initially a supporter of the Whig faction, The Globe became staunchly Conservative in 1866. From 1868, it was printed on distinctive pink paper. A literary paper for the 'educated class' of London's clubland, its competitors included The Westminster Gazette and The Evening Standard into which it was absorbed in 1923.

In 1908, owner Sir George Armstrong sold the paper, now running at a heavy loss, to Alfred Harmsworth's younger brother Hildebrand, who resold it to a Unionist consortium headed by Max Aitken. Six years later it passed into the hands of Dudley Docker (1862-1944), an industrialist who wished to acquire a national media outlet for his own brand of reactionary Conservativism. An editorial in The Globe of 9 June 1914 declared disingenuously: 'Having no connection with or support from any party or party machine, [the new proprietors] intend to uphold ... the real interests of the country, and to be untiring in criticism of the manoeuvres of professional politicians of any party. ... It will be our policy to urge unflinchingly that the control of the business affairs of the nation be placed in the hands of businessmen'. During the war, the paper took the side of the generals against the civilian government, and engaged as its editorial consultant Leo Maxse, the far-right and anti-Semitic editor of The National Review.

Editors included George Armstrong (1874-1908), William Madge (1874-1912), and Charles Palmer (1912-1917). Its literary editor in 1914 was Harold Lewis.

Sources

Davenport-Hines, R.P.T. Dudley Docker: The Life and Times of a Trade Warrior. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Atlay, James Bereford, and Harold Begbie. 'The Globe and Traveller Centenary: A Sketch of Its History'. The Globe, January 1, 1903. Reprinted for private circulation.
Stape, J. H., and Owen Knowles. A Portrait in Letters: Correspondence to and about Conrad. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1996.