h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: William T Stead , Journalist. 1849 - 1912 - A11861228
Author: Mckay the Disorganised - Luddite - Lost in SHADOW - Is John Catt a terrorist ? - U200618

An eccentric Victorian you may never of heard of, but who helped establish the current age of consent.

I don't think much of my headers in this, but I'm feeling a little uninspired.

Perhaps I should have used the word erection in the title ?

Looks good so far.

By the way, Stead was also involved with the Esperanto movement in Britain - though he was not a particularly good speaker of the language, he published an article about Esperanto in his 'Review of Reviews' in 1902 after a visit to Germany, which persuaded people in the UK to start learning the language. About a year later the first Esperanto club was formed and the year after that (1904), the British Esperanto Association was founded with Stead as a vice-president (the association still exists today, albeit in a slightly different form - see www.esperanto-gb.org for details). As far as I can make out, because of his many interests he didn't dedicate that much time to Esperanto, but he is still considered to be a founding father of the movement here in Britain and there was an article recently published (in Esperanto) about him in the journal 'La Brita Esperantisto' (The British Esperanto). (I can put you in contact with its author if you'd like?)

I'm not suggesting that you should add a large section about Esperanto - well, he did have many other interests - but it is still interesting to know he was involved with it.

Thanks - that hadn't appeared in any of the bio's I read, but I've added something now.

I don't think Stead saw or wrote anything about Esperanto when it was first published in 1887, but the other information you've got is right - he definitely started to learn and support Esperanto from 1902 - though it would be nice if you mentioned the British Esperanto Association.

I picked up that information about his early writing from an EAB Net newsletter from 2003.

http://esperanto.org/uk/eabnetnews/netnews000016.txt

Fair enough, then.

Very interesting . I've never heard of Stead before.


A few suggestions and questions:

I'm puzzled by this: "parliaments of Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia" - Roumenia? (and is the country spelled like that?)

I'm not very knowledgeable of English punctuation - but some comma's seem odd to me.

About a third down the entry there are a lot of sentences beginning with or featuring the word "This" - some of them can maybe be changed to give a less 'stuttering' read?

How come the two women get longer sentences in prison than Stead?

Personally I would like a few more sentences about why Stead was nominated for the Nobel Peace Award.

* to find out more about Stead. *

Thanks tartaronne - Eastern Roumelia is nowadays part of Bulgaria, but was part of Macedonia, and included Thrace - I've added a footnote.

The women got the higher sentances because Stead was part of the establishment, they were from the East End of London, though the sentencing throughout reflects how lightly the crime was taken at the time. I'm thinking about doing an article on John Barnardo and the conditions of the children in the East End at this time - one police journal treats finding dead infants in the street as practically an everyday occurance.

I've had a go at the thises (Hey I've invented a new word. )

Stead was a long time campaigner for European unity, especially between Russia and England, as you'll recall, Europe at this time was constantly prey to shifting alliances, and the permanent boiling pot that was the Balkans. Whilst he was nominated, I can't find anything that details why, though there's lots on the joint winners. The founder of The Red Cross, and The founder of the French Peace Society.

Let me know if you find anything I can add.

Some interesting stuff here http://www.attackingthedevil.co.uk/peers/index.php but I bet you've already seen most of it.

Today his 'stunt' with buying a woman to prove it can be done, would be deemed good journalism. In fact journalists from a Danish union magazine did it recently in Rumania or Bulgaria (can't remember which) in their campaign against trafficking, especially of Eastern European women. The woman 'bought' was (of course) brought to and homed in a shelter for battered and misused women.

We've also had examples of journalists smuggling weapons on board planes as Britain has examples of an armed journalist or something getting close to the Queen, as far as I remember.

Good luck with the entry.

Thanks, I've taken a quote from GBS from that site, it hadn't come up on any of my searches.

Stead when he died was probably the most famous person lost on the Titanic, yet I'd never heard of him until I was thinking about a discussion in The Forum. Someone threw up the old chestnut about girls having children at 13, and I realised I didn't know when the age of consent was established, though I thought The Salvation Army had something to with it.

Then I came across this guy, thought that he deserved to be better known, and so wrote this.

You're right - I have never heard of this bloke - interesting entry

Nitpicks first (as always):
Footnotes should always come straight after the word, before any spaces or punctuation, and footnotes should always end in a fullstop.
'Single' quotation marks are preferable to "double" ones.

an apprentice in a countinghouse --> counting house
commited by the Ottoman Empire --> committed
suppresion of the Bulgarian --> suppression
succesful Russian invasion --> successful
General Gordon was despatched --> dispatched I think...
reviled and condemmed --> condemned
Crowds beseiged the office --> besieged
belief that he posessed ESP --> possessed
the advice of a clairvoyent friend --> clairvoyant
Peace Conference at Carneigie Hall --> Carnegie

A457067 - RMS Titanic

"purchase for £5.00, £3.00 down and a further £2"

They didn't use pounds and pence then, but pounds, shillings and pence, and besides there's not much point in adding the .00

Alex

Thanks Alex - I knew the cockups would be in there.

Fullstops in footnotes - couldn't believe how many I'd missed.

I thought that came AFTER a fullstop, but BEFORE any other punctuation - I'm sure I've been spanked for this before.

I've corrected all the spelling thanks - except despatched, which I think is correct for this use of the word - and my Oxford is at home so I can't check.

Link added.

Course it was £SD - what was I thinking about ?

What a fascinatin' bloke, thank you for the introduction

Hi McKay! Fascinating stuff

The footnotes should be placed directly after the word, before the punctuation in sentences.

And according to Cambridge Dictionary online it should be 'dispatched'.

Since the story about purchasing the young girl leads into the factoid about the age of consent, if the information is available it would be nice to know the age of the girl he purchased.

OK - I've corrected all the punctuation, and despatched.

The age of the girl is a bit more difficult. She is described by the procuress as being 'between 13 and 14' however the suggestion is that this was a 'convenience' age, because that was the current age of consent. Theimplication is that she was 8 or 9, but the article does not actually state an age.

Certainly according to both Barnardo and Booth children as young as this were frequently sent out to 'supplement, the family income.'

"In 1873 he married Lucy Wilson of Howden, and together they had 6 children. Despite an entry in his diary, saying that he limited intercourse with his wife to two times a week for, If thrice or four times in the week I got deaf with apparent... "

"together they had 6 children. Despite an entry in his diary, saying that he limited" This is an awkwardness. The "despite" should come before the item you are ironically comparing it to.
I also fail to see the irony, because how many times a year do it take to initiate a conception. I agree that the diary quote is fascinating, but it really has little do with the context you place it in.

Just finished going through the whole piece. No other groaners jumped out at me. Fascinating character. Useful entry.

A question do occur to me, though.
Was our little friend a fomenter of that sort of "you-are-there" journalism that leads one to wonder if they are reading spirited non-fiction or informed fiction?

Wow, that is fascinating dude.

Thanks Tonsil - That particular sentence is the victim of an edit - originally there was a bit in there about his religous convictions not preventing his infidelities - however further reading made no mention of known mistresses. Because he upset so many people with some of his articles, I thought I'd better remove the misstresses bit - which has left they awkward sentence. I'll re-work it.

Yes, he was one of the early developers of 'sensationalised' journalism and practically invented the interview style.