Death of Beaverbrook

The new editor after Herbert Gunn left was Percy Elland. Aged 41, he came from the North-East, where his family owned a chain of stores. His first job in journalism was as a reporter in Doncaster before joining the Manchester Evening News, and from there he progressed to the Daily Express, Manchester, where he rose from sub-editor to northern editor.1 Called by Beaverbrook to Shoe Lane to take editorial charge, one of Elland’s first priorities was to consider the Standard’s coverage of the forthcoming general election. Elland was fortunate in having the newly-promoted Charles Wintour as political editor and William Alison as the paper’s political correspondent, a position he had held with distinction for almost thirty years.