Cecil Chesterton

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Cecil Chesterton in uniform

Cecil Edward Chesterton (12 November 1879 – 6 December 1918) was an English journalist and political commentator, known particularly for his role as editor of

The New Witness from 1912 to 1916, and in relation to its coverage of the Marconi scandal
.

Life

He was the younger brother of G. K. Chesterton, a first cousin once removed of A. K. Chesterton, and a close associate of Hilaire Belloc. While the ideas of distributism[1] came from all three, and Arthur Penty, he was the most ideological and combative by temperament. His death, according to his widow, removed the theorist of the movement.

He was born in

A. R. Orage's The New Age
. In 1908 he published an anonymous biography of his better-known brother, G. K. Chesterton, a Criticism, but his authorship was quickly discovered.

Chesterton had been one of the 'Anti-Puritan League' of the 1890s, with

Roman Catholic
.

That same year he bought Belloc's failing weekly

scandal sheet. His persistent attacks on prominent political figures involved in the Marconi scandal (such as Lloyd George), and his public defence of his position in terms of a 'Jewish problem', have left him with a reputation as an anti-Semite. He was successfully brought to court by Godfrey Isaacs,[3] one of those attacked, although the damages awarded were nominal. A government investigation revealed that high government officials had engaged in insider trading
in the stock of Marconi's American subsidiary, but the quantity of stocks they were known to have purchased was relatively small.

On 7 January 1914 Chesterton acted for the defence in the mock-trial of John Jasper for the murder of Edwin Drood in Covent Garden. G.K. Chesterton was Judge and Cecil's future wife played Princess Puffer. George Bernard Shaw was foreman of the jury. [4]

In 1916 he married journalist Ada Elizabeth Jones, later known as a writer, after a long courtship.[5] He joined the Highland Light Infantry as a private soldier. His brother Gilbert took over the paper, with Ada as Secretary and Business Manager. Eventually in 1925 Gilbert, with great reluctance, allowed it to be renamed G. K.'s Weekly because his name was very well-known and likely to attract interest.

He was three times wounded fighting in France, and died there in a hospital of

Armistice
. On 13 December, G. K. Chesterton would report his death in the New Witness, noting that "He lived long enough to march to the victory which was for him a supreme vision of liberty and the light."

Works

Articles

Other

  • Hubert Bland, Essays, with an Introduction by Cecil Chesterton. London: Max Goschen, Ltd., 1914.

References

Notes

  1. ^ MJP Text Viewer[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ Chesterton, Cecil (1879–1918)[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ Donaldson, Frances (2011). "Ghastly Record: Isaacs vs. Chesterton." In: The Marconi Scandal. Bloomsbury Publishing.
  4. ^ Programme, The Trial of John Jasper for the Murder of Edwin Drood, at King's Hall, Covent Garden, January 7th 1914. (A copy in a private collection, annotated by the original owner.)
  5. ^ a b Mark Knight, 'Chesterton, Ada Elizabeth (1869–1962)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2014 accessed 28 Feb 2017
  6. ^ "Private Cecil Edward Chesterton | War Casualty Details".

External links

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Cecil Chesterton
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