Francis W. Hirst

Francis Wrigley Hirst (10 June 1873 - 22 February 1953) was a British journalist, writer and editor of The Economist magazine. He was a Liberal in party terms and a classical liberal in ideology. Hirst was born at Dalton Lodge, two miles east of Huddersfield. He attended Clifton College and became editor of the Cliftonian. He went to Wadham College, Oxford from 1892 to 1896, where he was Librarian and then President of the Oxford Union Society. He gained a First in Classical Moderations in 1894 and a First in Greats in 1896. At Wadham, and at the Oxford Union, he was a friend and contemporary of the future politicians John Simon and FE Smith, and of the athlete C.B. Fry. In the late 1890s Hirst decided to persuade his Oxford friends to write a volume of essays on Liberalism with him. The group wanted the preface to be written by a prominent Liberal, other than Lord Rosebery or Sir William Harcourt as these were the leaders of opposing factions. Their first preference was for John Morley but he declined on the grounds that he would be attacked for opinions expressed in the book which he did not hold. Hirst then asked H. H. Asquith who said the essays were likely intended to be "a declaration of war against that section of Liberal opinion, which has of recent years gravitated towards modes of thought and fashions of speech which are called 'Collectivist'". He further said that whilst he did not find himself in "substantial disagreement" with the essays he declined the offer because "exception might not unreasonably be taken to my going out of my way (as it would be said) to herald a militant demonstration, avowedly directed against a section (however small) of the party of which I am (for the time being) one of the responsible leaders".