Robert Donald
Sir Robert DonaldGBE(29 August 1860 – 17 February 1933) was a Britishnewspaper editorand author.
Working as aclerk,Donald submitted free articles to a local journal, then gained employment at theEdinburgh Evening News.He also worked onThe Courantand theNorthampton Echobefore becoming a freelancer. In 1888, he joinedThe Star,a new London evening newspaper. He specialised in investigations into local government in London, then briefly ran a journal,London,funded by theProgressive Party.With more success, he launched and edited theMunicipal Journaland theMunicipal Year Book[1]
In 1895, Robert Lloyd (son ofEdward Lloyd) appointed Donald as news editor of theDaily Chronicle.He left in 1899 to become publicity manager for Gordon Hotels, but returned to theChronicleas editor in 1904, also becoming editor ofLloyd's Weekly Newspaperin 1906. He subsequently became managing director of United Newspapers and President of theInstitute of Journalists.[1]
Donald long had a friendly relationship with the Prime Minister,David Lloyd George,and in 1917, Lloyd George commissioned him to produce a report on government propaganda efforts, which Donald prepared in just four weeks. He was then appointed toJohn Buchan's four-person Advisory Committee on the Department of Information, and in December he prepared a further report, calling for greater centralisation of the propaganda effort and a larger role for the Advisory Committee.[2]Donald often questioned Lloyd George's decisions and, in 1918, the two fell out while Donald was a British official observer at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. A consortium centred on Lloyd George bought theChronicleandLloyd's,leading Donald to resign,[1]complaining that Lloyd George was trying to "corner public opinion"[3]
Donald boughtThe Globein 1919, but sold it in 1921. The following year, he became editor ofThe PeopleandThe Referee,serving for two years. From 1915 to 1926, Donald chaired theEmpire Press Union.
Following the1922 General Election,Donald was appointed by theConservativegovernment to chair the Empire Wireless Committee, to urgently 'consider and advise upon the policy to be adopted as regards anImperial wireless service', a long delayed project promoted heavily by the Empire Press Union.[4][5]
Having been present as an observer at the deliberations for theTreaty of Versailles,Donald was shocked by the leeway given to the Polish delegation - "an embarrassing problem to the Allies of The Great War" - and by the ultimate dismemberment of Germany with its imposed new eastern borders. He travelled to eastern Europe several times in the 1920s culminating in two books largely sympathetic to the German complaints:A Danger Spot in Europe- and Its Government by the League of Nations (1925), andThe Polish Corridor and the Consequences(1929)[6]In addition he was sympathetic to Hungary, and after much research there interviewing all the major politicians, and "several years study", he produced a further book:The Tragedy of Trianon- Hungary's Appeal to Humanity, with an Introduction by Viscount Rothermere. Both described central Europe as a "powder magazine".[7]
In 1931, he joinedNational Labourand edited its party newspaper: initially theNews-Letter,and laterEveryman.
References[edit]
- ^abc"Donald, Sir Robert",Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^Philip M. Taylor,British propaganda in the 20th century,pp. 19–21
- ^Donald; Sir; Robert (1860–1933); Journalist,www.parliament.uk
- ^Empire WirelessPapers Past, Evening Post (New Zealand), published 1924-02-25, accessed 2010-10-03
- ^Radio CommunicationPapers Past, Evening Post (New Zealand), published 1922-12-08, accessed 2010-10-03
- ^Donald, G.B.E., LL.D., Sir Robert,The Polish Corridor and the Consequences,Thornton Butterworth, London, 1929.
- ^Donald, G.B.E., LL.B., Sir Robert,The Tragedy of Trianon,Thornton Butterworth, London, 1928.
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