Editing Henry Labouchère (section)

==Theatre producer, journalist and writer==
In 1867, Labouchère and his partners engaged the architect [[Charles J. Phipps|C. J. Phipps]] and the artists [[Albert Joseph Moore|Albert Moore]] and Telbin to remodel the large St. Martins Hall to create [[Queen's Theatre, Long Acre]].<ref>Sherson, p. 201</ref> A new company of players was formed, including [[Charles Wyndham (actor)|Charles Wyndham]], [[Henry Irving]], [[John Lawrence Toole|J. L. Toole]], [[Ellen Terry]], and [[Henrietta Hodson]].  By 1868, Hodson and Labouchère were living together out of wedlock,<ref>[http://www.labouchere.co.uk/linkpages/labbyanddora.htm ''Labby and Dora''], Labouchere.co.uk, accessed 1 April 2008</ref> as they could not marry until her first husband died in 1887.<ref name=NYTLondonFacts>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1883/01/17/106245396.pdf ''London Facts and Gossip''], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 17 January 1883, accessed 1 April 2008</ref> Labouchère bought out his partners and used the theatre to promote Hodson's talents;<ref>[http://www.gabrielleray.150m.com/ArchiveTextH/HenriettaHodson.html Feature on Hodson in Footlights Notes] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707060227/http://www.gabrielleray.150m.com/ArchiveTextH/HenriettaHodson.html |date=7 July 2011 }}</ref> the theatre made a loss, Hodson retired, and the theatre closed in 1879. The couple finally married in 1887.<ref name=Tmuseum>[http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.asp?ContentID=77 "Henry Du Pre Labouchere"], The Twickenham Museum, accessed 3 March 2014</ref> They had one child together, Mary Dorothea (Dora) Labouchère (1884–1944).<ref name=odnb/>

[[Image:His Excellency - Labouchere.png|thumb|right|270px|Third verse of "When a gentleman supposes" from ''[[His Excellency (opera)|His Excellency]]'' by [[W. S. Gilbert]].]]
During the break in his Parliamentary career, Labouchère gained renown as a journalist, editor, and publisher, sending witty dispatches from Paris during the [[Siege of Paris (1870–71)|Siege of Paris]] in 1870–1871, noting the eating of [[Castor and Pollux (elephants)|zoo elephants]], donkeys, cats and rats when food supplies ran low.<ref>Thorold, pp. 125–140</ref> This series of articles helped restore the circulation of the ''[[Daily News (UK)|Daily News]]'', in which he had bought a stake in 1868. His unflinching style gained a large audience for first his reporting, and later his personal weekly journal, [[Truth (British periodical)|''Truth'']] (started in 1876), which was often sued for libel.<ref>''The Times'', 31 December 1957, p. 6</ref> With his inherited wealth, he could afford to defend such suits.<ref name=odnb/> Labouchère's claims to being impartial were ridiculed by his critics, including [[W. S. Gilbert]] (who had been an object of Labouchère's theatrical criticism) in Gilbert's [[comic opera]] ''[[His Excellency (opera)|His Excellency]]'' (''see illustration at right''). In 1877, Gilbert had engaged in a public feud with Labouchère's lover Henrietta Hodson.<ref>Vorder Bruegge, Andrew ([[Winthrop University]]). [http://faculty.winthrop.edu/vorderbruegg/winthropweb/vitaindex/gilbert.html "W. S. Gilbert: Antiquarian Authenticity and Artistic Autocracy"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510212618/http://faculty.winthrop.edu/vorderbruegg/winthropweb/vitaindex/gilbert.html |date=10 May 2011 }} .  Paper presented at the Victorian Interdisciplinary Studies Association of the Western United States annual conference in October 2002, accessed 26 March 2008</ref>

Labouchère was a vehement opponent of feminism; he campaigned in ''Truth'' against the suffrage movement, ridiculing and belittling women who sought the right to vote.<ref name=vpr>Hirshfield, Claire. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/20082684 "Labouchere, ''Truth'' and the Uses of Antisemitism"], ''Victorian Periodicals Review'', Vol. 26, No. 3 (Fall, 1993), pp. 134–142</ref> He was also a virulent anti-semite, opposed to Jewish participation in British life, using ''Truth'' to campaign against "Hebrew barons" and their supposedly excessive influence, "Jewish exclusivity" and "Jewish cowardice".<ref name=vpr/> One of the victims of his attacks was [[Edward Levy-Lawson, 1st Baron Burnham|Edward Levy-Lawson]], proprietor of ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''.<ref name=vpr/> In 1879 there was a much-reported court case following a fracas on the doorstep of the [[Beefsteak Club]] between Labouchère and Levy-Lawson. The committee of the club expelled Labouchère, who successfully sought a court ruling that they had no right to do so.<ref name=times1879>"High Court of Justice, Nov. 28, Chancery Division", ''The Times'', 29 November 1879, p. 4</ref>