DELANE, JOHN THADDEUS (1817-1879), editor of The Times, born in London and educated at King's college, Lon don, and Magdalen college, Oxford. He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1847. Delane was editor of The Times for 36 years (1841-77), and under his rule the paper acquired very great influence at home and abroad. It had become a power in British politics under Delane's predecessor, Barnes; and under Delane it attained a larger cosmopolitan standing. He superin tended in detail the work of the leader writers and foreign cor respondents of the paper. Among the latter in Delane's day were Thomas Chenery in Constantinople, and Blowitz in Paris. An example of the caution exercised by Delane in foreign affairs may be cited. When in 1875 Blowitz sent word that Bismarck contem plated a fresh attack on France, Delane held back the news for a fortnight until he had been able to send Chenery to Paris to sub stantiate the report. Delane had an impartial mind, and built up a tradition of independence of the Government of the day, even when it was a Conservative one.
See the biographies by Arthur Irwin Dasent (1908) and Sir Edward Cook (1915).