Bruce Lyttelton Richmond
Encyclopedia
Sir Bruce Lyttelton Richmond (12 January 1871 – 1 October 1964) was a British editor and journalist who was the editor of the weekly literary review the Times Literary Supplement (TLS) for 35 years from a few months after its founding in 1902, to his retirement in 1937. His period of editorship is the longest to date, and during his time well over 1600 issues were produced with numerous reviews contributed by many literary figures. Richmond's obituary in The Times in 1964 described him as "The Architect of the Times Literary Supplement", while the authors of the introduction to the TLS Centenary Archive stated in 2001 that Richmond had "created and sustained one of the most durable of modern British institutions".
, London on 12 January 1871. His maternal grandfather was Henry Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare
. He was educated at Winchester College
and New College, Oxford
. While at Oxford, he represented the university in two first-class cricket
matches. He graduated from Oxford in 1894, and then studied law, being called to the bar in London (Inner Temple
) in 1897.
, became an assistant editor at The Times
newspaper. In 1902, in addition to his existing editorial duties, Buckle appointed Richmond as editor of the Times Literary Supplement (TLS), a weekly literary review which at that time was a supplement to the parent newspaper. Richmond took over the editorship of the TLS from James Thursfield
at a time when the TLS was only a few months old and when the publications were still owned by Arthur Fraser Walter
. In 1908, ownership changed to Lord Northcliffe
, who eventually forced Buckle's resignation in 1911. The new editor was George Geoffrey Dawson, and further change followed three years later in 1914 when the TLS became a separate publication. Richmond remained at the helm of the TLS and steered it through both these changes and later challenges.
Despite being published separately after 1914, close associations with The Times were retained, with Richmond and the TLS operating from the offices of The Times in Printing House Square
, in Queen Victoria Street
, London. Dawson, a close friend of Richmond, was editor of The Times through most of the remaining years of Richmond's editorship of the TLS, with the exception of the years 1919 to 1922, when the editor was Henry Wickham Steed. Also in this period, ownership of The Times changed in 1922 from Northcliffe to the Astor family
.
The TLS Centenary Archive introduction (written in 2001) quotes one of Richmond's successors, John Gross, in describing Richmond's contribution to the success of the TLS as he guided it through its founding and early years:
Among those who reviewed for the TLS during Richmond's tenure as editor was William Francis Casey
, later editor of The Times, and World War I poet Richard Aldington
. Other contributors included Virginia Woolf
, T. S. Eliot
, Henry James
and the poet laureate Robert Bridges
. T. S. Eliot, referring to his founding of The Criterion
in 1922, credited Richmond as his "chief editorial influence". During the period Richmond was editor, well over 100,000 books were reviewed by over 1000 reviewers. Those who worked with Richmond included David Leslie Murray, who joined the TLS in 1920 and succeeded Richmond as editor in 1938 following Richmond's retirement "on the last day of 1937".
During his period as TLS editor, Richmond lived in South Kensington
, London, and later leased a second home near Robertsbridge
, Sussex.
degrees and a knighthood.
The speech for the 1930 conferral of Richmond's honorary degree from Oxford was given by A. B. Poynton
.
of Liverpool merchants and ship owners. They had no children, though Elena Richmond carried on her father's work in the field of nursing and midwifery, including honorary positions with the nursing charity, the Queen's Institute of District Nursing. Richmond and his wife moved in 1936 to Netherhampton, Wiltshire, to a house previously owned by the poet Sir Henry Newbolt
, where they spent their retirement. Richmond was made a vice-president of the Royal Literary Fund
in 1939. In 1940, during and in response to the Second World War, he published an anthology of verse and prose called The Pattern of Freedom. In 1946, Richmond was photographed by Walter Stoneman for the National Portrait Gallery.
Richmond wrote or contributed to two entries published in 1949 for the Dictionary of National Biography
: George Earle Buckle (1854–1935), editor of The Times from 1884 to 1911; and the British music critic and scholar John Fuller-Maitland (1856–1936). Richmond also served for many years on the Council and executive committee of the Royal College of Music
. In 1961, a tribute was written in the TLS by T. S. Eliot
to mark Richmond's 90th birthday. In his later years, Richmond's mobility was restricted by arthritis
, though he still used two walking sticks to attend performances of Shakespeare's plays at Stratford-upon-Avon. Richmond and his wife eventually moved to Islip
, Oxfordshire, where he died on 1 October 1964 at the age of 93. He was survived by his wife who died six days later.
Early life
Richmond was born in KensingtonKensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
, London on 12 January 1871. His maternal grandfather was Henry Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare
Henry Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare
Henry Austin Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare GCB, PC, FRS was a British Liberal Party politician, who served in government most notably as Home Secretary and as Lord President of the Council....
. He was educated at Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
and New College, Oxford
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...
. While at Oxford, he represented the university in two first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
matches. He graduated from Oxford in 1894, and then studied law, being called to the bar in London (Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
) in 1897.
Editorial career
In 1899, Richmond, at the request of the editor George Earle BuckleGeorge Earle Buckle
George Earle Buckle was an English editor and biographer.-Early years:Buckle was the son of George Buckle, a rector, and canon and precentor of Wells Cathedral, and Mary Hamlyn Earle, the sister of the philologist John Earle. He attended Honition grammar school and Winchester College before...
, became an assistant editor at The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper. In 1902, in addition to his existing editorial duties, Buckle appointed Richmond as editor of the Times Literary Supplement (TLS), a weekly literary review which at that time was a supplement to the parent newspaper. Richmond took over the editorship of the TLS from James Thursfield
James Thursfield
Sir James Richard Thursfield was a British naval historian and journalist. As well as being an authority on naval matters, he was also the first editor of the Times Literary Supplement....
at a time when the TLS was only a few months old and when the publications were still owned by Arthur Fraser Walter
Arthur Fraser Walter
Arthur Fraser Walter an English newspaper proprietor and the second son of John Walter .Walter born on 12 September 1846. He studied at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford. He entered Lincoln's Inn in 1870 to study law, and was called to the bar as a barrister in 1874, but never practised...
. In 1908, ownership changed to Lord Northcliffe
Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe
Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe rose from childhood poverty to become a powerful British newspaper and publishing magnate, famed for buying stolid, unprofitable newspapers and transforming them to make them lively and entertaining for the mass market.His company...
, who eventually forced Buckle's resignation in 1911. The new editor was George Geoffrey Dawson, and further change followed three years later in 1914 when the TLS became a separate publication. Richmond remained at the helm of the TLS and steered it through both these changes and later challenges.
Despite being published separately after 1914, close associations with The Times were retained, with Richmond and the TLS operating from the offices of The Times in Printing House Square
Printing House Square
Printing House Square is a London court, so called from the former office of the King's Printer which occupied the site. For many years, the office of The Times stood on the site, until it relocated to Gray's Inn Road and later to Wapping....
, in Queen Victoria Street
Queen Victoria Street, London
Queen Victoria Street, named after the British monarch from 1837 to 1901 is a long street in the City of London which runs east by north from its junction with New Bridge Street in Castle Baynard Ward, along a section that divides those of Queenhithe and Bread Street , then lastly through the...
, London. Dawson, a close friend of Richmond, was editor of The Times through most of the remaining years of Richmond's editorship of the TLS, with the exception of the years 1919 to 1922, when the editor was Henry Wickham Steed. Also in this period, ownership of The Times changed in 1922 from Northcliffe to the Astor family
Astor family
The Astor family is a Anglo-American business family of German descent notable for their prominence in business, society, and politics.-Founding family members:...
.
The TLS Centenary Archive introduction (written in 2001) quotes one of Richmond's successors, John Gross, in describing Richmond's contribution to the success of the TLS as he guided it through its founding and early years:
Among those who reviewed for the TLS during Richmond's tenure as editor was William Francis Casey
William Francis Casey
William Francis Casey was a journalist and editor of The TimesHe was born in Cape Town, the son of Patrick Joseph Casey, theatre proprietor, of Glenageary, and was educated at Castleknock College and Trinity College, Dublin....
, later editor of The Times, and World War I poet Richard Aldington
Richard Aldington
Richard Aldington , born Edward Godfree Aldington, was an English writer and poet.Aldington was best known for his World War I poetry, the 1929 novel, Death of a Hero, and the controversy arising from his 1955 Lawrence of Arabia: A Biographical Inquiry...
. Other contributors included Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
, T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
, Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
and the poet laureate Robert Bridges
Robert Bridges
Robert Seymour Bridges, OM, was a British poet, and poet laureate from 1913 to 1930.-Personal and professional life:...
. T. S. Eliot, referring to his founding of The Criterion
The Criterion (magazine)
The Criterion was a British literary magazine published from October 1922 to January 1939. The Criterion was, for most of its run, a quarterly journal, although for a period in 1927-28 it was published monthly. It was created by the poet, dramatist, and literary critic T. S...
in 1922, credited Richmond as his "chief editorial influence". During the period Richmond was editor, well over 100,000 books were reviewed by over 1000 reviewers. Those who worked with Richmond included David Leslie Murray, who joined the TLS in 1920 and succeeded Richmond as editor in 1938 following Richmond's retirement "on the last day of 1937".
During his period as TLS editor, Richmond lived in South Kensington
South Kensington
South Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. It is a built-up area located 2.4 miles west south-west of Charing Cross....
, London, and later leased a second home near Robertsbridge
Robertsbridge
Robertsbridge is a village in East Sussex, England within the civil parish of Salehurst and Robertsbridge. It is approximately 10 miles north of Hastings and 13 miles south-east of Tunbridge Wells...
, Sussex.
Honours
Richmond's honours included two honorary Doctor of LettersDoctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...
degrees and a knighthood.
- 1922 - honorary D.Litt., University of LeedsUniversity of LeedsThe University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
- 1930 - honorary D.Litt., University of OxfordUniversity of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
- 1935 - appointed Knight BachelorKnight BachelorThe rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
The speech for the 1930 conferral of Richmond's honorary degree from Oxford was given by A. B. Poynton
Arthur Blackburne Poynton
Arthur Blackburne Poynton was a classical scholar. He was a Fellow and later Master of University College, Oxford.Arthur Poynton studied at Balliol College, Oxford from 1885. He was Fellow and Tutor at University College, Oxford from 1894, and Bursar from 1900 to 1935. At University College, he...
.
Later years
In 1913, Richmond had married Elena Elizabeth Rathbone (1878–1964), of the Rathbone familyRathbone family
The Rathbone family of Liverpool, England, were a family of non-conformist merchants and shipowners, whose sense of high social consciousness led to a fine tradition of philanthropy and public service....
of Liverpool merchants and ship owners. They had no children, though Elena Richmond carried on her father's work in the field of nursing and midwifery, including honorary positions with the nursing charity, the Queen's Institute of District Nursing. Richmond and his wife moved in 1936 to Netherhampton, Wiltshire, to a house previously owned by the poet Sir Henry Newbolt
Henry Newbolt
Sir Henry John Newbolt, CH was an English poet. He is best remembered for Vitaï Lampada, a lyrical piece used for propaganda purposes during the First World War.-Background:...
, where they spent their retirement. Richmond was made a vice-president of the Royal Literary Fund
Royal Literary Fund
The Royal Literary Fund is a benevolent fund set up to help published British writers in financial difficulties. It was founded by Reverend David Williams in 1790 and has received bequests and donations, including royal patronage, ever since...
in 1939. In 1940, during and in response to the Second World War, he published an anthology of verse and prose called The Pattern of Freedom. In 1946, Richmond was photographed by Walter Stoneman for the National Portrait Gallery.
Richmond wrote or contributed to two entries published in 1949 for the Dictionary of National Biography
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
: George Earle Buckle (1854–1935), editor of The Times from 1884 to 1911; and the British music critic and scholar John Fuller-Maitland (1856–1936). Richmond also served for many years on the Council and executive committee of the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
. In 1961, a tribute was written in the TLS by T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
to mark Richmond's 90th birthday. In his later years, Richmond's mobility was restricted by arthritis
Arthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
, though he still used two walking sticks to attend performances of Shakespeare's plays at Stratford-upon-Avon. Richmond and his wife eventually moved to Islip
Islip, Oxfordshire
Islip is a village and civil parish on the River Ray, just above its confluence with the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England. It is about east of Kidlington and about north of Oxford. This village in Oxfordshire is not related to Islip, New York...
, Oxfordshire, where he died on 1 October 1964 at the age of 93. He was survived by his wife who died six days later.
External links
- Introduction to the TLS Centenary Archive, including sections on Richmond's tenure
- Archive entry for one of Richmond's letters (to Dugald Sutherland MacCollDugald Sutherland MacCollDugald Sutherland MacColl was a Scottish watercolour painter, art critic, lecturer and writer. He was keeper of the Tate gallery for five years.- Life :...
in 1923)