William_Pitt_Byrne
William Pitt Byrne
British newspaper editor
[1] William Pitt Byrne (c. 1806 – 6 or 8 April 1861) was a British newspaper editor and proprietor of The Morning Post.
He graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge with a BA and M.A. He was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1835 and called to the bar in 1839 but never practised law.[2]
His father Nicholas Byrne was his predecessor as editor and proprietor of the Morning Post, about whom there is little biographical information in the historical record. Nicholas Byrne took a strongly pro-Conservative editorial stance, and his son was named after William Pitt the Younger. He was mysteriously attacked by a masked intruder around 1833 and never fully recovered, dying of his injuries about two years later.[3][4][5]
His mother was the Gothic novelist Charlotte Dacre, who had three children with Nicholas: William Pitt Byrne (born 1806), Charles (born 1807) and Mary (born 1809); however the children were not baptised until 1811 and Nicholas and Charlotte did not marry until 1 July 1815.[3][4] William Pitt Byrne was baptised on 8 Jun 1811 at St. Paul's, Covent Garden.[6]
He married the writer Julia Clara Busk on 28 April 1842.[7] Her books were sometimes attributed to "Mrs. William Pitt Byrne",[8] and for this reason some sources (particularly online book sellers) mistakenly attribute authorship of her books to her husband.
He broadened the focus of the Morning Post from being a mostly political journal by including more general topics. He ended his connection with the paper prior to his death to follow literary pursuits, contributing to leading journals.[5]
