Horatio William Bottomley was an English financier, journalist, editor, newspaper proprietor, swindler, and Member of Parliament. He is best known for his editorship of the popular magazine John Bull, and for his nationalistic oratory during the First World War. His career came to a sudden end when, in 1922, he was convicted of fraud and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.
Bottomley addressing a WWI recruiting rally in Trafalgar Square, London, September 1915
Charles Bradlaugh, whose facial resemblance to Bottomley helped foster the rumour that he was the latter's biological father
Sir Henry Hawkins, the judge before whom Bottomley appeared, and was acquitted, on fraud charges in 1893
Bottomley's country home, "The Dicker", photographed in 2010. It forms part of St Bede's School.
John Bull is the name of a succession of different periodicals published in the United Kingdom during the period 1820–1964. In its original form, a Sunday newspaper published from 1820 to 1892, John Bull was a champion of traditionalist conservatism. From 1906 to 1920, under Member of Parliament Horatio Bottomley, John Bull became a platform for his trenchant populist views. A 1946 relaunch by Odhams Press transformed John Bull magazine into something similar in style to the American magazine The Saturday Evening Post.
John Bull advertises Bottomley's "Victory Bonds" scheme, 12 July 1919
