W T Stead (1849-1912)

W T Stead (1849-1912)

www.wtstead.info

(William Thomas Stead)

'This memorial to a journalist of wide renown was erected near the spot where he worked for more than thirty years by journalists of many lands in recognition of his brilliant gifts, fervent spirit and devotion to the services of his fellow men'.

'A dedicated Nonconformist and militant radical,...energetic, ambitious, unconventional, and a romantic. But he also possessed a credulity, obstinacy, and self‑assurance which often irritated friends and provoked intense dislike among his contemporaries during his career as [an] editor.'

'He had force and courage, but he was an extreme egotist who became obsessed with a sense of his own power. Furthermore, he possessed to an unusual degree the essential ingredients of moral intolerance ‑ he was a puritan fascinated by sex.'

'In his life and actions he was undoubtedly a rigid moral Puritan and his strong self‑control kept him in the narrow path. But in his interests and emotions he was anything but a Puritan, and in the absence of that stern self‑control he would have been quite a debauched person.'