Henry Lucy and the world of parliamentary journalism, 1872-1916
DeFonso, Chet Raymond
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Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/23035
Description
Title
Henry Lucy and the world of parliamentary journalism, 1872-1916
Author(s)
DeFonso, Chet Raymond
Issue Date
1990
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Arnstein, Walter L.
Department of Study
History
Discipline
History
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Biography
History, European
Journalism
Language
eng
Abstract
This dissertation investigates the changing relationship between parliament and the press in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. The focus of the study is the life and career of Henry Lucy, widely regarded as the foremost parliamentary journalist of his time.
"Modern parliamentary reporting developed in the decade which followed the passage of the Reform Act of 1867. The ""new journalism"" of the 1870s paid close attention to parliamentary personalities, and engaged in gossipy descriptions of M. P.'s appearance and manner. In his roles as the chief parliamentary reporter for the Daily News, as well as for Gentleman's Magazine and The World, Henry Lucy played an important role in the creation of this new style. He originated the form of the modern parliamentary sketch, and his model was imitated by numerous rivals. Simultaneously, he became one of the first reporters to frequent the inner lobby of the House of Commons, and he was later recognized as the first important parliamentary ""lobbyist."" The dissertation explains the context and the significance of Lucy's innovations, and relates their development to the changing political world of the late nineteenth century."
During his long career Henry Lucy contributed to numerous newspapers and magazines, but he was principally known for his connections with the Daily News (where he served as editor in 1886-87), the Observer, and Punch. He maintained close relations with many of the most important political leaders of his time, including William Ewart Gladstone, Lord Randolph Churchill, Joseph Chamberlain and Lord Rosebery. As author of nearly two dozen books, mainly personal memoirs and parliamentary histories, Lucy was read and appreciated by thousands of contemporaries, and in this form his accounts of political life have influenced generations of historians. He was one of the first working journalists to earn for himself a position in respectable London society, and he was knighted in 1909. He died a wealthy man, with an estate of nearly a quarter of a million pounds. Lucy's career demonstrates the increasing interdependence of the political and journalistic worlds at a time of increasing change in both.
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