24 Facts About Francis Hirst

Francis Wrigley Hirst was a British journalist, writer and editor of The Economist magazine.

Francis Hirst was a Liberal in party terms and a classical liberal in ideology.

Francis Hirst attended Clifton College and became editor of the Cliftonian.

Francis Hirst went to Wadham College, Oxford, from 1892 to 1896, where he was Librarian and then President of the Oxford Union Society.

Francis Hirst gained a First in Classical Moderations in 1894 and a First in Greats in 1896.

Francis Hirst further said that whilst he did not find himself in "substantial disagreement" with the essays he declined the offer because "exception might not unreasonably be taken to my going out of my way to herald a militant demonstration, avowedly directed against a section of the party of which I am one of the responsible leaders".

Francis Hirst was "baffled" by this and then asked William Ewart Gladstone.

Francis Hirst opposed the Boer War and was a co-founder of the League Against Aggression and Militarism.

In 1904 Morley asked Francis Hirst to write a biography of Adam Smith for his "English Men of Letters" series.

Francis Hirst was born on 16 February 1880 in Japan.

Francis Hirst died 27 December 1965 in Chichester, West Sussex.

Francis Hirst had a particular affection for the Cobden Club and the Dunford House Association.

Francis Hirst wrote to the new Liberal Prime Minister, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman on 29 December 1905, claiming that depression in trade and social distress could be explained by over-taxation and wasteful government expenditure on armaments.

Francis Hirst told Campbell-Bannerman that "to restore credit and to lower taxes is the first great remedy for unemployment and the first great mission of the Liberal government".

Francis Hirst wrote again to Campbell-Bannerman on 9 November 1907, claiming that his government would only regain popularity by pursuing the traditional policy of retrenchment in expenditure.

Francis Hirst was with John Burns when Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914, and they both wept at the news.

Francis Hirst was editor of the journal Common Sense from 1916 to 1921.

Francis Hirst wrote that there was little to choose between the old Prime Minister Asquith and the new, Lloyd George; they both held power at the pleasure of protectionists.

Francis Hirst agreed with Lord Lansdowne's proposal for a negotiated peace with Germany and drew up a government for this purpose.

Francis Hirst stood for Parliament as a Liberal in 1910 and 1929.

Francis Hirst campaigned against the post-war revival of protectionism under the guise of safeguarding.

Francis Hirst spent several years in the late 1930s writing an enormous biography of the liberal statesman Percy Molteno but, though it was completed in May 1939, the outbreak of World War II prevented its publication.

Francis Hirst noted that Samuel Smiles' "book on the virtues of thrift has been lost and obliterated in an age of borrowing and bankruptcy".

Francis Hirst was a Cobdenite isolationist who disliked the balance of power theory and feared the League of Nations gave Britain obligations which might lead her into war.