Horatio Bottomley and the Rise of John Bull Magazine: Mobilizing a Mass Audience in Late Edwardian Britain

This paper emphasises the significance of John Bull magazine as part of the media history narrative of Britain in the period leading up to World War I. Launched by Horatio Bottomley in 1906, the magazine was able to generate a significant readership among working class men by offering an appealing mixture of topical political, social and economic content in a relatively high quality penny magazine. The magazine's success in this period is partly explained by the support received from its publisher Odhams Press. In addition, innovative features of the magazine stemmed from the high profile of Bottomley himself, the role played in providing early initiatives in consumer protection, its facilitation of small-scale betting, and the creation of the John Bull League, an affiliated organisation which readers were able to subscribe for membership and which was effectively utilised to garner support for a new form of Business Government.