William Luson Thomas

"The Graphics"
Thomas as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, December 1894

William Luson Thomas (London 4 December 1830 – 1900) was an English wood-engraver and the founder of various British newspapers.

Biography

He worked as an engraver in Paris and also as an assistant to the well-known engraver William James Linton.

Thomas was a friend of Charles Dickens and believed in social reform. At one time he worked for the Illustrated London News, and became convinced that pictures could have a powerful influence on public opinion, especially on political issues.

In December 1869 he founded a new weekly illustrated newspaper, called The Graphic, and recruited a number of brilliant artists to help illustrate it. In 1889, Thomas and his company H. R. Baines and Co. began publishing the first daily illustrated newspaper, called The Daily Graphic. He hoped that illustrated news would inspire people to campaign against various evils in Victorian society, including poverty and crime. His newspapers achieved a significant readership throughout the British Empire and in the United States.

When Thomas died in 1900, his company H.R. Baines and Co. was run by his son, Carmichael Thomas. The Graphic ceased to be published in 1932.

His seventh son George Holt Thomas was a director and general manager of The Graphic and independently founded The Bystander and Empire Illustrated magazines. He also became a pioneer industrialist in the aviation industry but died in 1929.

References

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