John Leng

[close] Sir John Leng (1828 – 1906) was a newspaper proprietor and Liberal Party politician in Scotland.

Becoming assistant teacher at a private school, he sent letters to the Hull Advertiser which attracted the notice of Edward Francis Collins, then editor, and led to his appointment in 1847, at nineteen, as sub-editor and reporter. This post, which embraced dramatic and musical criticism, he held for four years.

In July 1851, Leng was appointed editor of the Dundee Advertiser. The paper was founded in 1801, but had fallen into a backward state. Leng soon raised the Advertiser to high rank, both in local and imperial affairs. His wide practical knowledge of newspaper work enabled him to reorganise both the literary staff and machinery. The old premises were quickly found too small; and in 1859 he built the first portion of new premises in Bank Street, which, before his death, attained gigantic proportions. As early as 1852 Leng was made a partner by the proprietors of the Advertiser, and the imprint thenceforth bore the name of John Leng & Co.

In 1858 he established the People's Journal, a weekly newspaper which soon reached the largest circulation of any similar paper in Scotland. A literary weekly paper, the People's Friend, was founded by him in 1869; and he lived to see it reach a circulation which rivalled that of London periodicals of its kind. The Evening Telegraph, a halfpenny daily newspaper, was started in 1877, and had a successful career, being amalgamated in 1900 with the Evening Post, another local paper.

In September 1889, on the death of Joseph Firth one of two Member of Parliament for Dundee, Leng was returned without opposition in the liberal interest. He was re-elected by large majorities in 1892, 1896, and 1900. retiring from the House of Commons at the dissolution in 1905.

Despite his journalistic and parliamentary activity he found time for extensive travel. He visited the United States and Canada in 1876, and frequently toured in France, Germany, and the Netherlands.