# Mary Howarth

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For Mary Howarth Arden, see [Mary Arden (judge)](/source/Mary_Arden_(judge)).

**Mary Macfarlane Howarth** (bapt. 10 March 1858[1] – after 1934) was a British journalist and [newspaper editor](/source/Newspaper_editor).

She was the editor of the women's section for the *[Daily Mail](/source/Daily_Mail)* in the late 1890s.[2] In November 1903, she was appointed as the first editor of the *[Daily Mirror](/source/Daily_Mirror)*,[3] then part of the same group.

Although sometimes described as the first female editor on [Fleet Street](/source/Fleet_Street), she was preceded by [Delariviere Manley](/source/Delariviere_Manley) and [Rachel Beer](/source/Rachel_Beer).[4] Almost all the staff at the *Mirror* were women, proprietor [Alfred Harmsworth](/source/Alfred_Harmsworth%2C_1st_Viscount_Northcliffe) saw it as a paper "for gentlewomen by gentlewomen".[2]

The first issue sold a relatively healthy 276,000 copies, but was soon down to 25,000.[5] Harmsworth lost confidence in his plan for the paper. According to him, "women can't write and don't want to read".[6] He wrote to [Hamilton Fyfe](/source/Hamilton_Fyfe) to offer him the job of editor. Fyfe replied, confirming that he would be happy to take up the post, as soon as he could resign as editor of the *[Morning Advertiser](/source/Morning_Advertiser)*.[2]

Howarth, apparently only on loan from the *Mail*, returned to her former job at the *Mail* after a week's publication.[2][5] Fyfe took up the editorial post early in 1904, sacking almost all the female staff. He relaunched the paper with a focus on printing photographs of events.[2][6]

Howarth continued to work as a journalist into the 1930s.[7]

No other woman was editor-in-chief of the *Mirror* for over a century, until [Alison Phillips](/source/Alison_Phillips) took up the post in 2018.[8]

## Personal life

Howarth was born in [Manchester](/source/Manchester), the daughter of John Rowcroft Macfarlane and Harriette Anne Embleton.[9][10]

She married civil engineer Osbert Henry Howarth in 1876 in [Southport](/source/Southport).[11][12] They were the parents of writer Osbert John Radcliffe Howarth, who married Eleanor Mary Paget, daughter of [Stephen Paget](/source/Stephen_Paget).[13] After her first husband's death, she married Rev. George Herbert Nall in June 1909 at [Westminster Abbey](/source/Westminster_Abbey).[14]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-birth_1-0)** *England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538–1975*

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-wright_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-wright_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-wright_2-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-wright_2-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-wright_2-4) Jeff Wright, "[The myth in the Mirror](https://archive.today/20121223204615/http://www.bjr.org.uk/data/2003/no3_wright)", *British Journalism Review*, Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003, pages 59-66

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Adrian Bingham, *Gender, Modernity, and the Popular Press in Inter-War Britain*, p.34

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Hadley Freeman ["Ladies of the press"](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/jun/16/sundaytelegraph.pressandpublishing), *The Guardian*, 16 June 2005

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Griffiths_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Griffiths_5-1) [Dennis Griffiths](/source/Dennis_Griffiths) (ed.) *The Encyclopedia of the British Press, 1422–1992*, London & Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p.185

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Carter_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Carter_6-1) Cynthia, Carter; Linda, Steiner (December 1, 2003). ["Critical Readings: Media And Gender"](https://books.google.com/books?id=rWT4AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA73). McGraw-Hill Education (UK) – via Google Books.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Howarth, Mary (31 August 1934). ["When Women Talk"](https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003214/19340831/094/0005). *Daily News*. London. p. 5. Retrieved 19 March 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["On newspapers in UK"](https://www.thethinkingwatermill.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/On-newspapers-in-UK-06-08-2020.pdf) (PDF). *www.thethinkingwatermill.com*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** *1901 England Census*

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** *Manchester, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754–1930 (Cathedral)*

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** ["Marriages"](https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000183/18770103/003/0001). *London Evening Standard*. 3 January 1877. p. 1. Retrieved 19 March 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** *England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837–1915*

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["Howarth-Paget"](https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002627/19090515/200/0041). *The Queen*. 15 May 1909. p. 41. Retrieved 19 March 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** ["Marriages"](https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001290/19090618/089/0005). *Bedfordshire Mercury*. 18 June 1909. p. 5. Retrieved 19 March 2024.

Media offices Preceded by New position Editor of the Daily Mirror November 1903 Succeeded by Hamilton Fyfe

v t e Editors of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday Pictorial Daily Mirror 1903: Mary Howarth 1904: Hamilton Fyfe 1907: Alexander Kenealy 1915: Ed Flynn 1916: Alexander Campbell 1931: Leigh Brownlee 1934: Cecil Thomas 1948: Silvester Bolam 1953: Jack Nener 1961: Lee Howard 1971: Tony Miles 1974: Michael Christiansen 1975: Mike Molloy 1985: Richard Stott 1990: Roy Greenslade 1991: Richard Stott 1992: David Banks 1994: Colin Myler 1995: Piers Morgan 2004: Richard Wallace 2012: Peter Willis 2018: Alison Phillips 2024: Caroline Waterston 2025 to date: Chloe Hubbard Sunday Pictorial 1915: F. R. Sanderson 1921: William McWhirter 1924: David Grant 1928: William McWhirter 1929: David Grant 1938: Hugh Cudlipp 1940: Stuart Campbell 1946: Hugh Cudlipp 1949: Philip Zec 1952: Hugh Cudlipp 1953: Colin Valdar 1959: Lee Howard 1961: Reg Payne Sunday Mirror 1963: Michael Christiansen 1972: Bob Edwards 1984: Peter Thompson 1986: Mike Molloy 1988: Eve Pollard 1991: Bridget Rowe 1992: Colin Myler 1994: Paul Connew 1995: Tessa Hilton 1996: Amanda Platell 1997: Bridget Rowe 1998: Brendon Parsons 1998: Colin Myler 2001: Tina Weaver 2012: Alison Phillips 2016: Gary Jones 2018: Peter Willis 2020: Paul Henderson 2021: Gemma Aldridge 2024: Caroline Waterston 2025 to date: Chloe Hubbard

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mary Howarth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Howarth) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Howarth?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.