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 CHAPTER XII.

��JUBILEE OF 'THE CITY PRESS.' (July 18th, 1907.)

THE Jubilee of The City Press adds another to the list of recent Press Jubilee celebrations. Founded on the 18th of July, 1857, by William Hill Collingridge a man desirous of working for the common good it has from the first been imbued with his own lofty aims, and has always advocated measures having for their object the benefit of the people of London. Collingridge edited the paper from its first number, and for forty-five years it was virtually his life-work. Full of magnetic force, he inspired all who worked for him, and for them he had ever kind words of encouragement. Readers of these Notes may remember that he was born in the house at Olney which for many years had been the home of Cowper. This he had afterwards the pleasure of buying at an auction sale, and he describes the event as being " one of the happiest moments of his life." He presented the house, as is stated in the account of the Cowper Centenary (ante, p. 57), to the town of Olney.

On Mr. Collingridge's death, on Friday, the 31st of March, 1905, at the age of seventy-eight, his friend Mr. Fielding Falconer gave in Meyer's Observer (published at Enfield) some interesting details (which had been related to him by Mr. Collingridge) about the founding of the Collingridge firm. For the father of Colling- ridge the sea had a strong fascination ; but on the day that Waterloo was being fought he gave up the life of a sailor, returned to his home, and decided " that for the future he would do the best he could for himself on land." After turning his hand to drapery and one or two other trades, the happy thought at length occurred to him that he would be a printer. The only obstacle to this was that he knew nothing about printing. A few years previously a printer named Stoner had issued ' The Printer's Grammar.' To this young Collingridge applied himself, and, " finding that he was master of the printing business," established himself as a printer at Olney. His son William Hill, having a liking for the work, was taken by him, at the age of seventeen, to London, where he

��The City

Prett founded

by William

Hill Collingridge.

��His birth at Olney.

��Purchases The City Prext of Mr. Doudney.

�� �