The Westminster Review
 Frontispiece of volume 1 (Jan-Apr 1824) | |
| Frequency | Quarterly |
|---|---|
| Founder | Jeremy Bentham |
| Founded | 1823 |
| First issue | January 1824 |
| Final issue | 1914 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Based in | London |
| Language | English |
The Westminster Review was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal until 1828.
History
Early years
In 1823, the paper was founded (and funded) by
The review quickly reached a circulation of three thousand,[6] but, despite that, was not able to break even; and when by 1828 the original funding was exhausted it was sold to another proprietor and no longer functioned in the Radical interest.[7]
In 1834 Sir William Molesworth funded a new Radical review, to be edited (informally) by J S Mill, and called the ‘’London Review’’.[8] Shortly after, Molesworth bought the Westminster Review’’ and merged the two; and from April 1836 to March 1840 the journal resulting from the merger was published under the title London and Westminster Review. After March 1840 and for the following decade publication continued under the title Westminster Review,[9][10] but with William Edward Hickson in place of Mill as editor.[11] Though financial difficulties continued, Mill concluded of the period that “it is highly creditable to him [Hickson] that he was able to maintain, in some tolerable degree, the character of the Review as an organ of radicalism and progress”.[12]
Later developments
In 1851 the journal was acquired by
Mary Ann Evans (
After 1853 John Tyndall joined Huxley in running the science section of the Westminster Review and formed a group of evolutionists who helped pave the way for Charles Darwin's 1859 publication of On the Origin of Species and gave evolutionary ideas backing in the ensuing debate. The term "Darwinism" was first put in print by Huxley in his review of The Origin, in the April 1860 issue of the Westminster Review, which hailed the book as "a veritable Whitworth gun in the armoury of liberalism", promoting scientific naturalism over theology and praising the usefulness of Darwin's ideas while expressing professional reservations about Darwin's gradualism and doubting if it could be proved that natural selection could form new species.[13][14] In 1886 the Review published an essay by Eleanor Marx, "The Woman Question: From A Socialist Point of View".
After a change of ownership in 1887, when it converted to a monthly, it ceased to function on the same progressive and intellectual level.[1] John Chapman died in Paris on the 25th November 1894, as the result of being run over by a cab,[15] and his wife Hannah took over the editorship of the Review.[16]
Westminster and Foreign Quarterly Review
The Foreign Quarterly Review was an independent London-based quarterly that published from July 1827 to July 1846 (volume 37). In October 1846 the Foreign Quarterly Review merged with the Westminster Review. Until January 1847 the journal resulting from the merger was simultaneously published under two different titles: the Foreign Quarterly and Westminster Review and the Westminster and Foreign Quarterly Review; after January 1847, the journal was published under the title the Westminster and Foreign Quarterly Review.[17] The last issue under the title Westminster and Foreign Quarterly Review was published in October 1851 (volume 56, no. 2); after that issue the journal was published under the title Westminster Review and continued thus until it ceased publication in 1914.
Notable contributors
- John Bowring
- Emilia Dilke
- George Eliot
- George Grote
- Thomas Huxley
- Anna Kingsford
- Harriet Martineau
- James Mill
- Harriet McIlquham
- John Stuart Mill
- John Neal[5]
- Thomas Love Peacock
- Herman George Scheffauer
- Mary Shelley
- Herbert Spencer
- John Tyndall
- Caroline Cornwallis
- Julia Wedgwood
- Elizabeth Clarke Wolstenholme Elmywriting as Ignota
References
- ^ a b I Ousby ed., The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English (CUP 1995), p. 1008.
- ^ J S Mill, Autobiography (Penguin 1989), p. 84.
- ^ "Cornell Library Windows on the Past". Digital.library.cornell.edu. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ^ J S Mill, Autobiography (Penguin 1989), p. 86.
- ^ OCLC 1056818562.
- ^ E Halévy, The Liberal Awakening (London 1961), p. 189.
- ^ J S Mill, Autobiography (Penguin 1989), p. 109.
- ^ J S Mill, Autobiography (Penguin 1989), p. 154–155.
- ^ "The London and Westminster review [electronic resource] | National Library of Australia". catalogue.nla.gov.au. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ "The Westminster review | National Library of Australia". Catalogue.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ^ J S Mill, Autobiography (Penguin 1989), p. 167–168.
- ^ J S Mill, Autobiography (Penguin 1989), p. 168.
- ^ "The Huxley File § 4 Darwin's Bulldog". Mathematics and Computer Science Department at Clark University. Retrieved 29 June 2008.
- ^ Browne 2002, pp. 105–06
- ^
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Alger, John Goldworth (1901). "Chapman, John (1822-1894)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ File:Family grave of John Chapman in Highgate Cemetery.jpg
- ^ "The Foreign quarterly review | National Library of Australia". Catalogue.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
Further reading
- Nesbitt, George L. Benthamite Reviewing. The First Twelve Years of the Westminster Review, 1824–1836. New York: Columbia University Press, 1934.
- ISBN 0-7126-6837-3.
External links
- The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, Vol. XI Ch. III §3 at Bartleby.com
- The Westminster Review at the HathiTrust Digital Library