Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Reach, Angus Bethune

by George Stronach

REACH, ANGUS BETHUNE (1821–1856), journalist, son of Roderick Reach, solicitor, of Inverness, was born at Inverness on 23 Jan. 1821, and was educated at the Inverness Royal Academy. While a student at Edinburgh University he contributed literary articles to the ‘Inverness Courier,’ of which his father had once been proprietor. In 1842 the family removed to London, where Dr. Charles Mackay [q. v.], sub-editor of the ‘Morning Chronicle,’ obtained for young Reach employment on his paper as reporter at the central criminal court and afterwards in the House of Commons gallery. To its columns in 1848 he contributed most of a series of articles on ‘Labour and the Poor,’ which have been described as ‘an unparalleled exploit in journalism’ (Fox Bourne, English Newspapers, ii. 154). He also wrote many articles for newspapers and magazines, including ‘Bentley's Miscellany,’ ‘Chambers's Journal,’ the ‘Era,’ the ‘Atlas,’ the ‘Britannia,’ ‘Gavarni in London,’ the ‘Puppet Show,’ and the ‘Sunday Times,’ while he supplied to the ‘Illustrated London News’ a weekly summary of witty gossip entitled ‘Town Talk and Table Talk.’ In 1848–9 he published, in monthly parts, a romance called ‘Clement Lorimer, or the Book with the Iron Clasps,’ with twelve etchings by Cruikshank, which give the work a high value among collectors, and in 1850 a two-volume novel, ‘Leonard Lindsay, or the Story of a Buccaneer.’ In 1849 he joined the staff of ‘Punch.’ In 1850 he visited France in connection with an inquiry by the ‘Morning Chronicle’ into the state of labour and the poor in England and Europe. As special commissioner he wrote letters to that paper on the vineyards of France, republished in book form as ‘Claret and Olives’ (1852), and also reported on the manufacturing and coal districts of the north of England. For many years he was musical and art critic, as well as principal reviewer, for the ‘Morning Chronicle.’ He was also London correspondent of the ‘Glasgow Citizen,’ and from the date of his father's death in 1853 he acted as London correspondent of the ‘Inverness Courier.’ Reach was author of ‘The Comic Bradshaw, or Bubbles from the Boiler’ (1848), and many amusing miscellanies and dramatic farces, and, with Albert Smith, he conducted ‘The Man in the Moon,’ a serial which had a large sale (5 vols. 1847–9). In 1854 his health failed, and a grant of 100l. was obtained for him from the Royal Bounty Fund. The Fielding Club played a burlesque for his benefit, in which Yates and Albert Smith appeared, stalls selling for 10l. He died on 25 Nov. 1856, and was buried in Norwood cemetery. For a year before his intimate friend, Shirley Brooks, undertook Reach's work for him on the ‘Morning Chronicle,’ Reach drawing his usual salary. Sala wrote of Reach: ‘He was one of the most laborious and prolific writers I have ever met with. It was no uncommon thing for him to work sixteen hours a day.’

Besides the works noticed, Reach wrote:

1. ‘The Natural History of Bores,’ London, 1847, 32mo.
2. ‘The Natural History of Humbugs,’ London, 1847, 12mo.
3. ‘The Natural History of Tuft-Hunters and Toadies,’ London, 1848, 12mo.
4. ‘The Natural History of the “Hawk” Tribe,’ London, 1848, 12mo.
5. ‘A Romance of a Mince Pie, an Incident in the Life of John Chirrup of Forty Winks,’ London, 1848, 32mo.
6. (With Shirley Brooks) ‘A Story with a Vengeance; or, How many Joints go to a Tale?’ London, 1852, 8vo.
7. ‘Men of the Hour,’ London, 1856, 12mo.
8. (With J. Hannay and Albert Smith) ‘Christmas Cheer,’ London, 1856, 12mo.
9. (With Albert Smith and others) ‘Sketches of London Life and Character,’ London, 1858, 12mo.

The name Reach is pronounced Re-ach (dissyllable).

[Allibone's Dictionary; Athenæum, 29 Nov. 1856; Inverness Courier, 4 Dec. 1856; Dr. C. Mackay's Forty Years' Recollections, i. 143–57; Spielmann's History of Punch, 1895; Sala's Life and Adventures.]

G. S-h.