Jerrold, Douglas William, author, dramatist, and wit, was born in London, January 3, 1803. He was the youngest son of Samuel Jerrold, actor and manager, by his second wife. His infant years were passed at Wilsby, near Cranbrook in Kent. In 1807 his father became lessee of the theatre at Sheerness. Here, with Gesner's Death of Abel and Soderick Random, Douglas Jerrold as a child of six or seven began to manifest a voracious appetite for books. About the end of 1809 he was sent to school at Sheerness; in December 1813 he joined the navy as a midshipman. On the close of the war his ship was paid off; and the first day of January 1816 saw the arrival of the Jerrold family in London, where, from Broad Court, Bow Street, Douglas Jerrold started life anew as a printer's apprentice. In 1819 he was a compositor on the Sunday Monitor, when the following incident probably decided his bent towards literature: he had been to see Der Freischütz, and, having written a criticism on it, dropped it into his employer's letter-box, and the next morning was handed his own copy to set up, with an editorial note to the anonymous correspondent requesting further contributions. Jerrold's capacity for study was enormous, and his perseverance indefatigable; night and morning he worked at Latin, French, and Italian, besides getting through a vast amount of reading. He became dramatic critic, as well as compositor, on the Monitor. In 1824 he married Miss Mary Swann. Before this date he had already made a start as a dramatist; four of his pieces had been produced, the first of which, More Frightened than Hurt (written when Jerrold was about fifteen), came out in 1821. In 1825 Jerrold was engaged, at a weekly salary, to write dramas, farces, &c., as required, for the Coburg Theatre. In 1829 he was engaged at five pounds a week to write in a similar manner for the Surrey Theatre, where in that year Black-eyed Susan was acted for the first time. From this date up to 1854, when The Heart of Gold came out at the Princess's Theatre, numerous plays were produced, each one of which was characterised by the author's unique style and brilliant and sparkling dialogue. Jerrold's contributions to periodical literature began soon after he commenced life in London, with occasional verses and sketches in the various magazines of the day; as his position became more assured he contributed to the Monthly, the New Monthly, The Ballot (which he sub-edited), Punch in London (a short-lived prototype of the Punch), the Athenerum, Blackwood's, and other periodicals. Punch was started in 1841, and Jerrold was a constant and important contributor from its second number up to the time of his death. He successively edited the Illuminated Magazine (1843-44), Douglas Jerrold's Shilling Magazine (1845-48), and Douglas Jerrold's Weekly Newspaper (1846-48). In these periodicals, along with Punch, appeared much of his best work. In politics—and his was no mean political force—Jerrold was Liberal, and in 1852 he accepted the editorship of Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper of which it has been said that he 'found it in the street, and annexed it to literature.' As a wit, for what has been well termed 'flashing insight,' Jerrold stands alone. He died at Kilburn on June 8, 1857. A collected edition of Jerrold's works, in eight volumes, was published during his lifetime; it contains his principal writings, St Giles and St James, The Man made of Money, The Story of a Feather, Cakes and Ale, Punch's Letters to his Son, Punch's Complete Letter-writer, Chronicles of Clovernook, Mrs Caudle's Curtain Lectures, &c., and fewer than half of Jerrold's dramatic works. A selection from Jerrold's political writings in Lloyd's was published in 1868 under the title of Other Times. The Life and Remains of Douglas Jerrold, by his son, W. Blanchard Jerrold, was published in 1859.
WILLIAM BLANCHARD JERROLD, eldest son of the above, born in 1826, was named after Laman Blanchard (q.v.), who was his godfather, and whose daughter he married (1849). Educated as an artist, Jerrold early abandoned art for literature, his chief work as artist being the part he took in the production of Howe's Illustrated Book of British Songs. He served his apprenticeship to literature on his father's newspaper, and for a short time was reporter on the Daily News. On his father's death Blanchard Jerrold became editor of Lloyd's, which office he continued to the time of his death, March 10, 1884. He was appointed (1852) Crystal Palace Commissioner to Sweden, and on his return published his interesting Brage-beaker with the Swedes (1854). He was founder and president of the British section of the International Literary Association. A facile and luminous writer, he published Children of Lutetia; Cent. per Cent.: a Story written on a Bill Stamp; Life of George Cruikshank; Life of Napoleon III.; Life of Doré; and London—a Pilgrimage, &c. Of his dramatic writings the best known is Cool as a Cucumber (1851), one of the most successful farces ever written.