ABSTRACT
William Thom:~s Stead (1849-I9I2), founder and editor of the Review of Rer1iews, rose to prominence while editing the Pt1ll M11ll GtTzctte (1883-9). Always an iconoclast and crusader, he campaigned, often successfully, against social and political evils which he felt were ignored by government and the press. In I 890, Harold Frederic said that Stead, who had just started the Review of Reviews, 'between the years 1884 and I888 came nearer to governing Great Britain than any other one man in the kingdom' (quoted in Frederic Whyte, The Life of W. T. Stead, I, II4).
