Background
The son of John Doudney (died 1834), he was born on 8 March 1811 at his father"s house, 386 Mile End Terrace, Portsea.
The son of John Doudney (died 1834), he was born on 8 March 1811 at his father"s house, 386 Mile End Terrace, Portsea.
Aged 13, Doudney was apprenticed to a printer in Southampton, and he then joined the staff of the Hampshire Advertiser.
In 1832 he moved to London, and was engaged by Messrs. Jowett & Mills, printers, of Bolt Court, Fleet Street, until 1835, when he set up a printing business of his own, first at Holloway, and then in Long Lane, City of London on a site later taken by the Metropolitan Railway station. In 1840 Doudney purchased and became editor of the The Gospel Magazine, and in 1846 he retired from printing.
In November 1846 Doudney went to Ireland to distribute funds raised by readers of the Gospel Magazine for the relief of the Great Famine.
Finding a need, Doudney established industrial, infant, and agricultural schools at Bunmahon (Bonmahon), where technical instruction was supplied. Doudney left Ireland in 1859 to become perpetual curate of Saint Luke"s, Bedminster, Bristol, where he established similar industrial schools.
He continued to edit the Gospel Magazine. Doudney also took part in charitable institutions, particularly the Printers" Corporation.
He retired from Saint Luke"s in 1890, and in that year was presented with £1000 in recognition of his fifty years" editorship of the Gospel Magazine.
He moved to Southville, Granada Road, Southsea, where he died on 21 April 1893. He was buried in Southsea cemetery on the 20th.
