Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 47.djvu/376

 and Critical, in Maritime International Law,’ Edinburgh, 1844, 8vo.

His son, John Reddie, who died first judge of the Calcutta court of small causes on 28 Nov. 1851, was author of ‘Historical Notices of the Roman Law and of the Recent Progress of its Study in Germany,’ London, 1826, 8vo, and of ‘A Letter to the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain on the expediency of the Proposal to form a new Civil Code for England,’ London, 1828, 8vo.

Both father and son are to be distinguished from James Reddie, author of ‘Vis Inertiæ Victa’ (1862) and other pseudo-scientific tracts.



REDDING, CYRUS (1785–1870), journalist, born at Penryn on 2 Feb. 1785, was son of Robert Redding (1755–1807), a baptist minister, first at Falmouth and then at Truro, where he died on 26 March 1807. Cyrus was educated mainly at home by his father, and, developing literary aspirations, had some juvenile verses printed at his own expense. His earliest recollections included one of John Wesley preaching from a stack of Norway timber upon Falmouth quay. One of his youthful companions was [q. v.] the missionary. For a time he seems to have attended the classes at Truro grammar school. He settled in London about 1806, took rooms in Gough Square, dined frequently at the ‘Cheshire Cheese,’ and settled down to a life of continuous industry as a journalist. For a time he served on the staff of the ‘Pilot,’ founded in 1807 to ventilate East Indian questions, but in 1808 returned to the west of England, and edited the weekly ‘Plymouth Chronicle.’ In June 1810 he started and edited the ‘West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser.’ In 1814 he went to Paris, where from 1815 to 1818 from 18 Rue Vivienne he edited ‘Galignani's Messenger;’ in the former year he wrote the Paris correspondence for the ‘Examiner.’ During 1818–19 he travelled in France, and acquired information which proved of service in his ‘History of Wines.’ From 1821 to 1830 Redding was working editor of the ‘New Monthly Magazine,’ started, under the nominal editorship of Thomas Campbell, to rival the ‘Monthly’ of Sir [q. v.] Redding, who also contributed numerous articles, was indefatigable in the management of the magazine, Campbell being a mere figure-head, and for ten years, says Patmore, ‘the public got a better magazine for the money than they had ever obtained before.’ From 1831 to 1833 he edited, again in conjunction with Campbell, the ‘Metropolitan, a monthly journal of literature, science, and art,’ and, on its failure to realise expectations, he recruited the ranks of provincial editors, directing in succession the ‘Bath Guardian’ (1834–5) and the ‘Staffordshire Examiner’ (1836–40). In 1841 he started in succession two abortive ventures, ‘The English Journal’ and ‘The London Journal.’ From this date he devoted himself more exclusively to bookmaking, his versatility and industry being alike remarkable. His best book was his ‘History and Description of Modern Wines,’ based upon careful personal observation and gleanings from many sources. By advocating the reduction of the duties on French wines it did much to educate public opinion on this subject, and to prepare the way for the rectification of the tariff in 1860. Redding's work owed something to the ‘Treatise’ of [q. v.], York, 1787, and it is now largely superseded by J. L. W. Thudichum's ‘Treatise on Wines,’ 1894. Christopher North emphatically praised Redding's ‘Gabrielle,’ while several generations of boys have read with unqualified approval his ‘Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea.’

In politics Redding was a staunch and consistent upholder of the Fox tradition. His services to the whig party were numerous and confidential, but his sole reward was a civil list pension of 75l., which he accepted in 1863. During his long life he came into contact with many notabilities. Besides Campbell, he was intimate with Beckford and John Wilson, and he gives glimpses in his rambling autobiographical volumes of O'Connell, Madame de Stael, Canning, J. W. M. Turner, Talma, Dr. Parr, Horace Smith, Schlegel, and Dr. Wolcot. Redding outlived his generation, and died, half forgotten, at Hill Road, St. John's Wood, on 28 May 1870. He was buried at Willesden on 3 June. He married, at Kenwyn, on 8 May 1812, a Miss Moyle of Chacewater, who survived him with two daughters, one married and settled in San Francisco (West Briton, 14 May 1812). Redding's library was sold by Puttick & Simpson on 4 July 1870 (Cat. London, 1870, 8vo).

Redding's chief works were: 1. ‘Gabrielle, a Tale of the Swiss Mountains [and miscellaneous pieces],’ London, 1829, 12mo; dedicated to Campbell; some of the verses had already appeared in the ‘New Monthly’ and ‘Blackwood.’ 2. ‘A History of Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea, from the most authentic sources,’ London, 1833, 2 vols. 12mo; 2nd