William Woodfall
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William Woodfall (7 February 1746 - 1803) was an English printer and publisher in the 18th century.
William's father, Henry Woodfall, printed and published the Public Advertiser. William served an apprenticeship with him after attending school at Twickenham and St. Paul's School, London.
Following his father's retirement, Woodfall shared the running of the Public Advertiser with his brother Henry Sampson Woodfall. In 1769 Woodfall he founded the Morning Chronicle which pioneered reporting Parliamentary debates. Because of the ban on note-taking in the House of Commons, he had memorised what was said, writing it down afterwards.
On several occasions Woodfall's reporting was controversial. Edmund Burke sued him for libel and in 1779 Woodfall was found guilty of printing and publishing a leaflet supporting the acquittal of Admiral Augustus Keppell. He was sentenced to twelve months in Newgate Prison.
In 1789 he passed control of The Morning Chronicle to James Perry and relinquished control of The Public Advertiser in 1793.
[edit] External links
- Spartacus article on William Woodfall
- Hannah Barker, ‘Woodfall, William (bap. 1745, d. 1803)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 19 Dec 2007
