Douglas Jerrold

Douglas Jerrold (1893–1964), publisher and author; Director of Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1929–59; Chairman from 1945; editor of the English Review, 1931–6 – the organ of ‘real Toryism’ – which was revived after WW2 as the New English Review Magazine. A fundamentalist Roman Catholic, convinced of the moral void of contemporary life and arguing for the restitution of a Christian social order, on occasion his ideals and inclinations ran to the right of the Conservative Party: he came to praise Mussolini’s methods and to sympathise with the British Union of Fascists. Though by no means a racist, he confused political rigour with moral righteousness. TSE grew increasingly sceptical towards Jerrold’s attitudes. Jerrold’s works include Georgian Adventure (1937), The Necessity of Freedom (1938) and Britain and Europe, 1900–1940 (1941).