Editing John Thadeus Delane

{{Short description|British newspaper editor (1817–1879)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2016}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=February 2012}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = John Thadeus Delane
| image= John Thadeus Delane by Heinrich August Georg Schiött.jpg
| imagesize   = 
| caption     = Portrait by [[August Schiøtt]], 1862
| birthname   = John Thadeus Delane
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1817|10|11|df=y}}<ref>{{cite news |title=The Times Newspaper |date=11 October 2007|url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/anniversaries-gzx0dsjdt59|access-date=11 October 2014}}</ref>
| birth_place = London, England
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1879|11|22|1817|10|11|df=y}}
| death_place = Ascot, Berkshire, England
| education   = [[King's College London]]<br/>[[Hertford College, Oxford|Magdalen Hall, Oxford]]
| occupation  = Journalist, editor
}}

'''John Thadeus Delane''' (11 October 1817 &ndash; 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'' publisher [[John Walter (second)|John Walter II]] as financial manager of ''The Times''.

While still a boy he attracted Walter's attention, and it was always intended that he should find work on the paper. He received a good general education at private schools and [[King's College London]], and also at [[Magdalen Hall, Oxford]]; after taking his degree in 1840 he at once began work on the paper, though later he read for the bar, being called in 1847.

In 1841 he succeeded [[Thomas Barnes (journalist)|Thomas Barnes]] as [[editing|editor]], a post which he occupied for thirty-six years. He from the first obtained the best introductions into society and the chief political circles, and had a position there such as no journalist had previously enjoyed, using his opportunities with a sure intuition for the way in which events would move.

His staff included some of the most brilliant men of the day, (e.g. [[Eneas Sweetland Dallas]]), who worked together with a common ideal. The result to the paper, which in those days had hardly any real competitor in English [[journalism]], was an excellence of information which gave it great power.  Delane was a man of many interests and great judgment; capable of long application and concentrated attention, with power to seize always on the main point at issue, and rapidly master the essential facts in the most complicated affair.

His general policy was to keep the paper a national organ of opinion above party, but with a tendency to sympathize with the [[Political liberalism|Liberal]] movements of the day. He admired [[Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston|Palmerston]] and respected [[George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen|Lord Aberdeen]], and was of considerable use to both; and it was Lord Aberdeen himself who, in 1845, told him of the impending repeal of the [[Corn Laws]], an incident round which many incorrect stories have gathered. The history, however, of the events during the thirteen administrations, between then and 1877, in which ''The Times'', and therefore Delane, played an important part cannot here be recapitulated. In 1877 his health gave way, and he retired from the editorship; and on 22 November 1879 he died at his country seat, [[Ascot Heath House]] in [[Berkshire]].

A biography by his nephew, [[Arthur Irwin Dasent]], was published in 1908.

==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{cite DNB|wstitle=Delane, John Thadeus}}
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Delane, John Thadeus|volume=7|page=943}}

==External links==
{{wikisource author}}
*{{UK National Archives ID}}

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{{succession box | before=[[Thomas Barnes (journalist)|Thomas Barnes]] | title=Editor of ''[[The Times]]'' | years=1841–1877 | after=[[Thomas Chenery]] }}
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{{The Times}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Delane, John Thadeus}}
[[Category:1817 births]]
[[Category:1879 deaths]]
[[Category:British male journalists]]
[[Category:British newspaper editors]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College London]]
[[Category:The Times people]]
[[Category:Alumni of Magdalen Hall, Oxford]]
[[Category:People from Ascot, Berkshire]]
[[Category:19th-century British journalists]]
[[Category:19th-century British male writers]]