DELANE, JOHN THADEUS

born Oct. 11, 1817, London died Nov. 22, 1879, in Ascot, Berkshire, Eng. editor of The Times of London for 36 years. The second son of a distinguished barrister and author, Delane was reared in Easthampstead, Berkshire, where his family was neighbour to John Walter II, of The Times. Walter knew young Delane and marked the boy as a likely prospect for a newspaper career. After two years at King's College, London, Delane went up to Oxford, where he earned his degree in 1839. He had, in his college days, written several articles for the press, and he went to work for The Times. His father had become the paper's financial manager, but John's bent was editorial. Hardly had he started working there when the editor, Thomas Barnes, died, and John Walter made young Delane editor at the age of 23. In his long career Delane built the paper's prestige to unprecedented heights. He had been born into the ruling establishment, and he was a frequent confidant of cabinet ministers and others high in government. Under his editorship The Times increased its circulation, which reached about 70,000 in the mid-1800s. Delane was sometimes accused of subservience to the government, but he denied this vigorously. The Times under his editorship consistently influenced government policies. In his editorial policies, Delane tried to remain impartial even though he privately favoured liberal causes. In 1845 he organized a special Times express that carried mailincluding dispatches from Times correspondentsfrom Alexandria to London, reaching London two weeks before regular mail. He retired in 1877, aware that his mind was failing.