GEORGE WILLIAM CHILDS
Name: George W. Childs
Born: 12 May 1829
Died: 1894
George William Childs (1829-1894), American publisher, was born in Baltimore,
Maryland, on the 12 May 1829. He was educated in the public schools, and
after a brief term of service in the navy, he became in 1843 a clerk in a book-shop,
and two years later organized the publishing house of Childs & Peterson.
In 1864, with Anthony J. Drexel, he purchased the Philadelphia Public Ledger, at
that time a little known newspaper; he completely changed its policy and methods,
and made it one of the most influential journals in the country. Close friends
with Anthony Drexel for more than 40 years, Childs served as the second
President of the Board of Trustees of Drexel University, succeeding the founder.
Childs died at Philadelphia on the 3rd of February 1894.
Childs was widely known for his public spirit and philanthropy. In addition to
numerous private benefactions in educational and charitable fields, he erected
memorial windows to William Cowper and George Herbert in Westminster Abbey (1877),
and to Milton in St. Margaret's, Westminster (1888), a monument to Leigh Hunt at
Kensal Green, a Shakespeare memorial fountain at Stratford-on-Avon (1887), and
monuments to Edgar Allan Poe and to Richard A. Proctor. He gave Woodland
Cemetery to the Typographical Society of Philadelphia for a printer's burial
ground, and with Anthony J. Drexel founded in 1892 a home for Union printers at
Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Name: George W. Childs
Born: 12 May 1829
Died: 1894
George William Childs (1829-1894), American publisher, was born in Baltimore,
Maryland, on the 12 May 1829. He was educated in the public schools, and
after a brief term of service in the navy, he became in 1843 a clerk in a book-shop,
and two years later organized the publishing house of Childs & Peterson.
In 1864, with Anthony J. Drexel, he purchased the Philadelphia Public Ledger, at
that time a little known newspaper; he completely changed its policy and methods,
and made it one of the most influential journals in the country. Close friends
with Anthony Drexel for more than 40 years, Childs served as the second
President of the Board of Trustees of Drexel University, succeeding the founder.
Childs died at Philadelphia on the 3rd of February 1894.
Childs was widely known for his public spirit and philanthropy. In addition to
numerous private benefactions in educational and charitable fields, he erected
memorial windows to William Cowper and George Herbert in Westminster Abbey (1877),
and to Milton in St. Margaret's, Westminster (1888), a monument to Leigh Hunt at
Kensal Green, a Shakespeare memorial fountain at Stratford-on-Avon (1887), and
monuments to Edgar Allan Poe and to Richard A. Proctor. He gave Woodland
Cemetery to the Typographical Society of Philadelphia for a printer's burial
ground, and with Anthony J. Drexel founded in 1892 a home for Union printers at
Colorado Springs, Colorado.