Edward Tyas Cook

E. T. Cook
Edward Tyas Cook, 1899 Vanity Fair
Born	Edward Tyas Cook (1857-05-12)12 May 1857 Brighton, England
Died	30 September 1919(1919-09-30) (aged 62) South Stoke, Oxfordshire, England
Education	New College, Oxford
Occupation	Journalist, editor, and author
Spouse(s)	Emily Constance Baird (1884-1903)
Children	None

Sir Edward Tyas Cook (12 May 1857 – 30 September 1919) was an English journalist, biographer, and man of letters.

Born in Brighton, Cook was the youngest son of Silas Kemball Cook, secretary of the Royal Naval Hospital, Greenwich, and his wife, Emily, née Archer. He was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, where he was President of the Union and graduated with a double first. His friends assumed he would pursue a career in politics, but Cook's goal was to enter journalism. Moving to London, he worked as secretary for the London Society for Extension of University Teaching and made occasional contributions to several journals. During this time he joined Inner Temple but never sat for his bar finals.

In August 1888, Cook was recruited by his friend Alfred Milner for a part-time position with the Liberal newspaper the Pall Mall Gazette, then under the editorship of John Morley. Cook was interviewed by Morley who, during the interview

asked me if I was an Oxford man. I said "Yes"; and then he asked me whether I was a very confirmed one — whether, for instance, I was a Fellow of a College. When I said "No", he said, "Then there is still some hope for you".

Cook subsequently succeeded Milner as assistant editor to Morley's successor, W. T. Stead. Upon Stead's resignation in 1889 Cook was selected as his replacement. Cook soon proved himself a more than capable editor, with a writing style more analytical than Stead's impassioned approach. As editor Cook carried forward many of the positions Stead advocated, such as Liberal Imperialism and a strong navy, but he brought in a younger group of writers as contributors.

Cook's tenure as editor of the Pall Mall Gazette was cut short when he was obliged to resign along with the rest of the political staff after the paper was sold to W. W. Astor, who changed its politics to support Tory positions. Seeking to fill the gap created by the Pall Mall Gazette's departure from the Liberal fold, Cook started a new evening paper in January 1893, the Westminster Gazette. Launched with the help of Liberal publisher George Newnes and employing the core of the old political staff from the Pall Mall Gazette, the paper quickly established itself in the front rank of Liberal publications, earning the respect and admiration of the Liberal prime minister Lord Rosebery. Yet Cook insisted on preserving his independence as editor, and was not above supporting Unionist politicians when he felt them deserving of it.