JAMES RAMSAY
MANNERS
THE late editor of the North British Daily Mail is a native
of Kilwinning. He began life as a railway clerk, his father being station master
at Bridge Street in its pristine days. Developing an inclination towards
journalism, he became a reporter on the Stirling Journal, and presently obtained
an appointment on the Liverpool Post along with Sir Edward Russell. Later he
joined the staff of the Morning Journal in Glasgow, and when that paper
collapsed about 1862 he became editor of the Stirling Observer. In 1868 he
returned to Glasgow to serve as assistant to Dr. (now Sir Charles) Cameron in
the editorship of the Mail, and took sole charge six years later, when his chief
entered Parliament. This position he held for 30 years of a most stirring
political period, until the autumn of 1903, when on account of the state of his
health he retired to Rothesay, where he now resides with two younger daughters;
a third, the eldest, is married.
The somewhat sudden death of Mrs. Manners, 28 years ago,
intensified her husband's naturally retiring disposition. He attended no public
functions, was rarely seen away from the office or his own fireside, yet kept
himself actively in touch with all public developments. His habit of prompt
decision and resolute action brought him into ready contact with all men
directing important movements, and the small sanctum in the old Mail office had
a busy time. Monday was "Presbytery day," when it filled up with clergymen of
all denominations, and resounded with polemics. Mr. Manners, as editor, wrote
little himself, but that neatly. He engaged in the direction of the work of the
paper with an energy which left him little leisure. Strictly methodical in all
his ways, he attended with the regularity of the clock at the office, and except
on the recognised yearly holiday was never a day absent.
Back to
Index of Glasgow Men (1909)