author
James R. (James Richard) Thursfield
1840–1923
A sharp-eyed journalist and naval historian, he helped shape how Britain thought and wrote about sea power. He is also remembered as the first editor of the Times Literary Supplement.
1 Audiobook
Naval Warfare
by James R. (James Richard) Thursfield
About the author
Born in Kidderminster in 1840, he was educated at Merchant Taylors’ School and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he took a first-class degree in Literae Humaniores. He later held a fellowship at Jesus College, Oxford, before leaving academic life after his marriage and moving into journalism.
At The Times, he became a leading writer on naval affairs and built a strong reputation as an authority on naval strategy and policy. He also took charge of the paper’s "Books of the week," the feature that developed into the Times Literary Supplement in 1902, making him its first editor.
Alongside journalism, he wrote books including The Navy and the Nation, Nelson and Other Naval Studies, Naval Warfare, and a biography of Robert Peel. He was knighted in 1920 and died in 1923. No suitable verified portrait image was found from the sources checked, so no profile image is included.