John Wade

John Wade (1788–1875) was a British journalist and author, connected with the press throughout his career. He contributed to many periodicals, and was a leader-writer on The Spectator when that journal was under Robert Stephen Rintoul's editorship between 1828 and 1858. Life In early life Wade worked for at least a decade as a wool-sorter. Encouraged by Francis Place and others, he took up journalism in London, initially from 1818 editing the Gorgon. Writing never made him much money, and his main income in his later years was a civil-list pension of £50, granted to him on 19 June 1862 by Lord Palmerston, mainly on the representations of the publisher Effingham Wilson. Wade was a vice-president of the historical section of the Institution d'Afrique of Paris. He died at Chelsea on 29 September 1875, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery on 2 October. Works As an author Wade's major success was The Black Book, or Corruption Unmasked! Being an Account of Persons, Places, and Sinecures, 1820–3, 2 vols. Published by Effingham Wilson, and brought out when the reform excitement was commencing, it produced a considerable sensation, and fifty thousand copies were sold. With some alterations in the title, it was reproduced in 1831, 1832, and 1835.