Algernon Methuen

Algernon Methuen, circa 1910

Sir Algernon Methuen Marshall Methuen, 1st Baronet (23 February 1856 – 20 September 1924), born Algernon Stedman, was an English publisher and teacher of Classics and French. He is best known for founding the publisher Methuen & Co. (later Methuen Publishing Ltd.).

Background and education

Methuen was born in London, the third son of J. B. Stedman FRCS. He was educated at Berkhamsted School and then Wadham College, Oxford, from which he graduated with a M.A.

Career

After graduating from Oxford Methuen entered teaching and rose to be head of High Croft Preparatory School at Milford, Surrey from 1890 to 1895.^[1] While teaching he began as a sideline, writing a number of school text books under the non-de-plume A.W.S Methuen of which his series of French, Greek and Latin readers were best known. Among his works were books on gardening and current affairs. In June 1889, as a sideline to teaching, Methuen began to publish and market his own textbooks under the label Methuen & Co. (later Methuen Publishing Ltd.). Two months later he formally adopted Methuen as his surname.^[1] His first success at publishing came in 1892 with the publication of Rudyard Kipling's Barrack-Room Ballads. He later published works by Hilaire Belloc, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Oscar Wilde.

Methuen was an outspoken critic of the Boer War. He stood for Parliament as the Liberal party candidate for the seat of Guildford in the General Election of January 1910. The seat was a safe Conservative seat and he was unsuccessful.^[1] In 1916, he was created a baronet, of Gaywood, King's Lynn, in the County of Norfolk,^[2] and later published his own memoir.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

Personal life

Methuen married a daughter of Edwin Bedford in 1884. He died in September 1924, aged 68, when the baronetcy became extinct.

References

Further reading

• Duffy, M (1989). A Thousand Capricious Chances – A History the Methuen List. London: Methuen. pp. xx pages. ISBN. 
• Stevenson, Iain (2010). Book Makers – British Publishing in the Twentieth Century (hardback). London: The British Library. pp. 314 pages. ISBN 978-0-7123-0961-5.