Cyril Arthur Pearson (24 February 1866–9 December 1921) was a British newspaper magnate and publisher, most noted for founding the Daily Express. February 24 is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1866 is a common year starting on Monday. ... December 9 is the 343rd day (344th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a mogul or a tycoon, is a person who controls a large portion of a particular industry and whose wealth derives primarily from said control. ... The Daily Express is a conservative, middle-market British newspaper, currently tabloid, and it is owned by Express Newspapers, which is currently owned by Richard Desmond. ...

Early life

Pearson was born in the village of Wookey, Somerset and educated at the prestigious Winchester College in Hampshire. His first job was as a journalist working for the London-based publisher George Newnes. Within his first year he had impressed Newnes enough for him to make him his principal assistant. Somerset is a county in the south-west of England. ... Winchester College is a public school in the city of Winchester in Hampshire, in the south of England. ... Hampshire (abbr. ... A journalist is a person who practices journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues and people. ...

Career

In 1890, after six years of working for Newnes, Pearson left to form his own publishing business and within three weeks had created the periodical journal Pearson's Weekly, whose first issue sold a quarter of a million copies. 1890 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about the magazine as a published medium. ...

A philanthropist, in 1892 he established the charitable Fresh Air Fund, still in operation and now known as Pearson's Holiday Fund, to enable disadvantaged children to partake in outdoor activities. A philanthropist is someone who devotes his time, money, or effort towards helping others. ... 1892 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1898, he purchased the Morning Herald, and in 1900 merged it into his new creation, the halfpenny Daily Express. The Express was a departure from the papers of its time and created an immediate impact by carrying news instead of only advertisements on its front page. He was also successful in establishing papers in provincial locations such as the Birmingham Daily Gazette. He came into direct competition with the Daily Mail and in the resulting commercial fight almost took control of the The Times, being nominated as its manager, but the deal fell through. 1898 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1900 (MCM) is a common year starting on Monday. ... Half penny may mean: British coin Half Penny Irish halfpenny coin ... Generally speaking, advertising is the paid promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas by an identified sponsor. ... The city from above Centenary Square. ... The Daily Mail is a British newspaper, first published in 1896. ... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom. ...

In 1900 Pearson despatched the explorer Hesketh Prichard to Patagonia to investigate dramatic reports of a giant hairy mammal inhabiting the forests, and conjectured to be a giant ground sloth, long since extinct. Prichard's reports from 5,000 miles away gripped readers of The Express, despite him finding no trace of the creature. 1900 (MCM) is a common year starting on Monday. ... Patagonia is that portion of South America which, to the east of the Andes, lies south of the Neuquén and Río Colorado rivers, and, to the west of the Andes, south of (42°S). ... Families Rathymotheriidae Scelidotheriidae Mylodontidae Orophodontidae Megalonychidae Megatheriidae Ground sloths are extinct edentate (Order Xenarthra) mammals that are believed to be relatives of tree sloths and three-toed sloths. ...

During this same period, Pearson was also active as a writer, and wrote a number of tourist guides to locations in Britain and Europe. Under the pseudonym of "Professor P R S Foli", he wrote Handwriting as an Index to Character in 1902, as well as works on fortune-telling and dream interpretation. A pseudonym (Greek: false name) is a fictitious name used by an individual as an alternative to their legal name (whereas an allonym is the name of another actual person assumed by one person, usually historical, in authorship of a work of art; e. ... 1902 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... For prophecy in the context of revealed religions see Prophet. ... Dream interpretation is the art of determining the meaning (or alleged meaning) of the symbolic content of a dream. ...

Pearson was a strong supporter of Joseph Chamberlain's tariff-reform movement, and organised the Tariff Reform League in 1903, becoming its first chairman. The Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain (1836-07-08–1914-07-03) was a British politician. ... 1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1904 he purchased the struggling The Standard and its sister paper the Evening Standard for £700,000 from the Johnstone family. He merged the Evening Standard with his St James Gazette and changed the Conservative stance of both papers into a pro-Liberal one, but was unsuccessful in arresting the slide in sales and in 1910 sold them to the MP Sir Davison Dalziel and to Sir Alexander Henderson. 1904 is a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Headlines of the Evening Standard on the day of London bombing on July 7, 2005, in Waterloo station The Evening Standard is a newspaper published in London. ... The Conservative Party is the largest political party on the right-of-centre in the United Kingdom. ... The Liberal Party was one of the two major British political parties from the early 19th century until the 1920s, and a third party of varying strength and importance up to 1988, when it merged with the Social Democratic Party to form a new party which would become known as... 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... MP or mp can mean any of the following: Member of Parliament Military Police Modus ponens Madhya Pradesh - a state in India Mathematical Physics Microprocessor Machine Pistol Molecular Pathology Multi-port Multi-platform Mission Possible - a Christian based childrens ministry Mission Praise - a Christian hymn book Montgomery-Pfeifer - A...

Loss of eyesight and later life

Beginning to lose his sight due to glaucoma despite a 1908 operation, Pearson was progressively forced from 1910 onwards to relinquish his newspaper interests, selling the ailing Express in 1915 for £17,000 to the Canadian–British tycoon Sir Max Aitken, later known as Lord Beaverbrook. 1908 (MCMVIII) is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Sir William Maxwell Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (May 25, 1879 - June 9, 1964) was a Canadian–British business tycoon and politician. ...

Later completely blind, Pearson was made president of the National Institution for the Blind in 1913, raising its incoming from £8,000 to £360,000 in only eight years. In 1915, he founded St Dunstan's Home for soldiers blinded by gas attack or trauma during the First World War. Its function, radical for the times, was to provide vocational training for invalided servicemen rather than charity, and thus to enable them to carry out independent and productive lives. See also Blindness (novel) Blindness can be defined physiologically as the condition of lacking visual perception. ... The Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) is a United Kingdom charity, which was set up to lobby for and help people who are blind or partially sighted. ... 1913 (MCMXIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Chemical warfare is warfare (and associated military operations) using the toxic properties of chemical substances to kill, injure or incapacitate the enemy. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ...

Pearson was a close friend of the pioneer of the Scouting movement Baden-Powell, supportative to him in setting up the movement and publishing its magazine The Scout. When Pearson's scheme for publishing in Braille was faltering due to lack of funds, on 2 May 1914 Baden-Powell publicly requested that "all Scouts perform a "good turn" for The Scout magazine publisher Mr C Arthur Pearson, in order to raise money for his scheme of publishing literature in Braille for the blind." Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB (February 22, 1857 _ January 8, 1941) was a soldier, writer and founder of the world scouting movement. ... Originally developed by soldiers, the Braille system is a method that the blind use to read and write. ... May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... 1914 (MCMXIV) is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

In 1919, Pearson wrote the book Victory over Blindness. 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

Death

Pearson died in 1921 resulting from a fall in his bath. In 1922 his biography The life of Sir Arthur Pearson was written by Sidney Dark.

External links

• St Dunstan's institute for blind servicemen
• Pearson's Holiday Fund