John Thackray Bunce

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John Thackray Bunce (11 April 1828 – 28 June 1899) was a British journalist and writer who edited Aris's Birmingham Gazette from 1860 to 1862 and the Birmingham Post from 1862 to 1898. He was born in Faringdon, Berkshire, to John Bunce, a watchmaker and silversmith, and his wife Mary (née Clapham). The family moved to Birmingham when Bunce was nine, and he attended Gem Street elementary school. At 14 he left school and began work as a printer’s apprentice with the Midland Counties Herald. He later became a reporter after anonymously writing a letter calling for Birmingham to have an art gallery.

In 1852 Bunce joined Aris’s Birmingham Gazette and became its editor in 1860. The paper tended to support the Conservatives, but Bunce grew more liberal and resigned after hearing John Bright. In 1862 he became editor of the Birmingham Daily Post, a more liberal paper, and stayed there until 1898.

Bunce wrote many books about Birmingham’s history and notable people, including St Martin’s church, the artist David Cox, and industrialist Josiah Mason, as well as books for children. He also contributed to The Fortnightly Review, Macmillan’s Magazine and National Review. In 1889 he helped found the Institute of Journalists (later the Chartered Institute of Journalists).

He was a founder member of the National Liberal Federation in 1877. He left Liberal Party roles in 1886 over Irish Home Rule disputes, but supported Joseph Chamberlain’s imperial policies in 1888. Bunce was active in education and public life: he was a governor of the King Edward VI Foundation’s Grammar School, helped develop Birmingham’s first Central Library, and supported the National Education League. He also backed the foundation of the Birmingham Municipal School of Art and spoke in favor of education and offering free and open careers for women. He was a trustee of Mason Science College (the predecessor of the University of Birmingham), a magistrate, and a patron of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery; he was a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society.

Bunce retired in 1898 and died in 1899 at his home, Longworth, 24 Priory Road, Edgbaston. He was due to receive a commemorative enamelled silver casket marking his freedom of the city on 21 March 1899, but died before it could be presented; the casket is now in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. He married Rebecca Ann Cheesewright in 1849; she died in 1891, and they are buried at Edgbaston Old Church. They had several children, including Kate Bunce and Myra Bunce, who became artists; two other daughters died in infancy, and another died young. Their home, Longworth, was designed by William Harris and Henry Martin and is now part of the Priory Hospital (Grade II listed). A collection of Bunce’s manuscripts and letters is housed in the Cadbury Research Library at the University of Birmingham.