Dates

• Existence: 1865-06-02 - 1946-03-03

Biography

Alfred George Gardiner was born at Rainsford Road, Chelmsford on 2 June 1865. He was the youngest of the eight children of Henry James Gardiner, a cabinet-maker, and his wife, Susannah, née Taylor. Like his brothers before him he left school at fourteen to join the 'Chelmsford Chronicle'. He was apprenticed as a shorthand writer and reporter. In 1886 he moved to the 'Bournemouth Directory', but within a year left for Blackburn, where he joined the staff of a recently launched Liberal newspaper, the 'Northern Daily Telegraph'. In February 1902 Gardiner was appointed as editor of the oldest, most widely read Liberal newspaper, the 'Daily News', a post he held until his resignation in 1919. Thereafter he continued as a successful, highly paid, regular contributor to several disparate journals on both sides of the Atlantic: 'Passing Show', 'Atlantic Monthly', 'The Nation', and 'John Bull'.
On 21 May 1888 Gardiner married his childhood sweetheart, Ada (1864/5–1948), daughter of Peter Claydon of Witham, Essex. Their happy marriage produced four daughters and two sons.
Gardiner died at his home in Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, on 3 March 1946.

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