James Johnstone

Background

He was born in London, the son of a Bankruptcy Court messenger, who he succeeded in 1842.

Career

In 1861 he became head of Johnstone, Cooper, Wintle, & Company, managers in chancery, bankrupts" accountants, and public auditors. In 1857 he bought the newspaper interests of Charles Baldwin, proprietor of the ‘Morning Herald’ and the ‘Standard’ for £16,500. The daily circulation of the ‘Standard’ had fallen to 700 and the business was in financial difficulty.

On the same date he also started a high-priced ‘Evening Herald’ and continued to print the ‘Morning Herald’ as a fourpenny paper.

On 4 February 1858 the price of the "Standard" was reduced to a penny and an evening issue of the paper revived on 11 June 1860. The ‘Evening Herald’ was terminated on 27 May 1865 and the ‘Morning Herald’ on 31 December 1869.

The ‘Evening Standard’ was reformatted 1 January 1870 under the editorship of Charles Williams and in that year reached a circulation figure of 100,000 copies per day. By 1869 Johnstone had repaid all his debts and was sole proprietor of the business.

He died at Hooley House, Coulsdon, Surrey in 1878 and was buried in Coulsdon.

One son, James Johnstone, junior, edited the ‘Standard’ from 1872 to 1877.

Connections

Partner:

John Maxwell