Paul Reuter facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Paul Reuter
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Israel Beer Josaphat
21 July 1816 Kassel, Electorate of Hesse
|
| Died | 25 February 1899 |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur and reporter |
| Known for | Reuters news agency |
| Spouse(s) |
Ida Maria Magnus
(m. 1845) |
Paul Julius Reuter (born Israel Beer Josaphat; 21 July 1816 – 25 February 1899) was a German-born British businessman. He was a very important person in the world of news and was one of the first to use telegraphy to send news quickly. He founded the famous Reuters news agency, which is still a big name in news today.
Contents
Early Life and New Beginnings
Reuter was born as Israel Beer Josaphat in Kassel, which is now part of Germany. His father was a rabbi.
When he was older, Reuter moved to London in 1845. He changed his name to Paul Julius Reuter and became a Christian. Soon after, he married Ida Maria Elizabeth Clementine Magnus from Berlin.
Starting in the News Business
Reuter first worked as a bank clerk. Later, he became a partner in a book-publishing company in Berlin. This company printed some strong political writings during the 1848 Revolution.
After this, he moved to Paris and worked for another news agency called Agence Havas. This agency later became Agence France-Presse.
Pioneering News Delivery
As new ways to send messages quickly were developed, Reuter started his own news agency in Aachen, Germany. He used homing pigeons to carry messages between Brussels and Aachen. This helped connect news from Berlin and Paris.
Pigeons were much faster than the mail trains at the time. This gave Reuter a quick way to get financial news from the Paris stock exchange. Later, new technology called the telegraph replaced the pigeons.
Expanding Across the Sea
A telegraph line was being built to connect Britain and Europe. So, Reuter moved to London and opened an office near the London Stock Exchange.
In 1863, he set up his own telegraph line to Crookhaven, a town on the southwest coast of Ireland. Ships coming from America would throw special containers with news into the sea as they got close to Crookhaven. Reuters staff would pick up these containers and telegraph the news straight to London. This meant the news arrived much faster than waiting for the ships to reach port.
A Baron and a Legacy
In 1857, Reuter became a British citizen. Later, in 1871, he was given the noble title of Freiherr (Baron) by the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In 1891, Queen Victoria allowed him to use this title in Britain, so he became known as Baron von Reuter.
Family Life
Paul Julius Reuter married Ida Maria Magnus in 1845. They had three sons: Herbert, George, and Alfred. One of his daughters, Clementine Maria, married Count Otto Stenbock. After Otto died, she married Sir Herbert Chermside, who was a governor of Queensland.
The last member of the Reuter family, Marguerite, Baroness de Reuter, who was Paul Julius Reuter's granddaughter-in-law, passed away in 2009.
Death and Remembrance
Paul Julius Reuter died in 1899 in Nice, France. He was buried in West Norwood Cemetery in south London.
His life story was even made into a movie called A Dispatch from Reuters in 1941, where he was played by actor Edward G. Robinson.
To honor him, the Reuters News Agency created a special award in Germany called the Paul Julius Reuter Innovation Award. This award celebrates new ideas, just like Reuter himself was a pioneer.
See also
In Spanish: Paul Reuter para niños
