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.

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