Edward
Levy, eldest son of Joseph Moses Levy, the
proprietor of the Sunday Times,
was born in London in 1833. Levy joined
his father's company and for a while was the newspaper's drama critic.
When purchased the Daily Telegraph
in 1855, he appointed his son and Thornton
Leigh Hunt, to edit the newspaper. When it was re-launched on
17th September, 1855, Levy used the slogan, "the largest, best,
and cheapest newspaper in the world".
After a couple of months the Daily
Telegraph was outselling The
Times and by January 1856, the circulation had reached 27,000.
The early Daily Telegraph
supported the Liberal Party and progressive
causes such as the campaign against capital punishment. It also urged
reform of the House of Lords and the banning
of corporal punishment in the armed forces.
On the death of Thornton Leigh Hunt in
1873 Edwin Arnold became the new editor
of the Daily
Telegraph.
His views were less liberal than Hunt and the paper began to question
the policies of the government led by William
Gladstone. Arnold favoured the more imperialistic policies of
his Conservative opponent, Benjamin
Disraeli.
Levy, who added the additional surname of Lawson in 1875, supported
this move and as his grandson, Edward Lawson, later pointed out: "Edward
Arnold who in Eastern policy was continually and vehemently against
Gladstone. The break was gradual. During Disraeli's second administration
the Daily Telegraph became a Conservative
newspaper."
In 1903 Levy-Lawson gave up active control of the newspaper to his
son, Harry Levy-Lawson. Later that year
he was granted a title, Baron Burnham, by Alfred
Balfour. Edward Levy-Lawson died in 1916.
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