Thomas_Edward_Kebbel
T. E. Kebbel
English journalist
Thomas Edward Kebbel (c. 23 November 1826 – 5 November 1917) was an English journalist.[1]
He was born in Kilby, Leicestershire, the son of Rev. Henry Kebbel, vicar of Wistow and Kilby.[2] He was educated at the Merchant Taylors' School and at Exeter College, Oxford and Lincoln College, Oxford, where he gained a second class BA in the Greats in 1849.[2] He then studied law, being called by the Inner Temple in 1862.[2]
He started his career in journalism in 1856, joining the Conservative-supporting Press newspaper.[2] He would remain a supporter of the Conservative Party for the rest of his life.[2] In 1873 he joined the Standard as a leader writer, where he also contributed articles on politics, sports and rural life.[2] From 1858 he enjoyed a close friendship with Benjamin Disraeli.[2] According to Lord Rowton, Disraeli had wanted Kebbel and Lord Barrington to write his official biography and that he had left written instructions to that effect.[3] However, after Disraeli's death in 1881, Kebbel and Rowton examined Disraeli's papers at Hughenden Manor but no such instructions were found.[3] The biography was then entrusted to William Flavelle Monypenny and completed by George Earle Buckle.[3]
Kebbel's book The Agricultural Labourer was a success and went through four editions. After his death, The Times said that Kebbel was "always a countryman at heart...He was no mean sportsman; his happiest reminiscences were those of hours spent with dog and gun".[2]
In 1873 Kebbel married Evelyn Catherine Clarke, who died in June 1912.[2]