William Digby (writer)
| William Digby | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
1 May 1849. Wisbech |
| Died | 29 September 1904 (aged 55) |
| Occupation | Journalist; politician |
| Nationality | British |
| Period | 1878–1901 |
| Subject | Politics, Famines,India |
| Notable works | Famine Campaigns in Southern India; Prosperous British India |
| Spouse | Ellen Amelia Little; Sarah Maria Hutchinson |
William Digby (1849–1904) was a British author, journalist and humanitarian.
William Digby was born in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire on 1 May 1849. He did his apprenticeship with the Isle of Ely and Wisbech Advertiser. He was employed at the Sussex Advertiser from 1864 to 1871. He was married twice – first to Ellen Amelia Little in 1874 (who died in 1878) and then to Sara Maria Hutchinson in 1879. William Digby moved to the Indian subcontinent in 1871 and worked as a sub-editor in The Ceylon Observer., and as the editor of The Madras Times in 1877. He also worked as the editor of the Liverpool and Southport Daily News in 1880 and that of the Plymouth Daily Western Mercury in 1879. He served as senior partner of William Hutchinson and Company in 1887.
While working in Sri Lanka, Digby was involved in a temperance campaign and another one for abolishing food taxes.
While working in India, he witnessed the Great Famine of 1876–78 and involved himself in relief works. He served as the Honorary Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Famine Relief Fund. He opposed the laissez faire famine relief policies of the Famine Commissioner, Sir Richard Temple and argued for more Government aid in mitigating the effects of famine. In 1878 he wrote an extensive book about the famine titled The Famine Campaign in Southern India.Vol I and Vol II. For his contribution to the famine relief works, he was made a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (C.I.E) in 1878. The failure of the Government of India to provide effective famine relief made William Digby an outspoken critic of the British Government's India policy.
Digby returned to England in 1879 after his first wife's death. In November 1882 he became the first secretary of the National Liberal Club, a post he held till 1887. He advocated full economic and racial equality,then representative Government and eventually Self-Government for the Indians. He published Indian Problems for English Consideration in 1881. In it, Digby argued that Indian reform was 'a Liberal duty', and defined India as 'a larger Ireland'. Digby was an admirer of Lord Ripon and published a pamphlet in February 1885 titled India for the Indians -and for England in defence of Ripon. He contested the 1885 General Election as a Liberal Party candidate from the Paddington North constituency on a platform of legislative reform in India. He lost to Conservative Party candidate Lionel Louis Cohen by a margin of 685 votes (out of a total 5345 polled).
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