F. W. N. Bayley

Frederick William Naylor Bayley (1808–1853) was an English miscellaneous writer. He was also known as "Alphabet" Bayley due to his many initials or Omnibus Bayley for a past post as editor of Omnibus.^[1][2]

F. W. N. Bayley
F. W. N. Bayley, when first Editor of the Illustrated London News
Born	1808 (1808)
Died	1853 (aged 44–45) Birmingham

Life

Alphabet Bayley, later in his tenure

Bayley, in 1825 accompanied his father, who was in the army, to Barbados, and remained in the West Indies for four years. About the time of his return to England in 1829, he found that he was able to write in verse with considerable facility. He conducted a publication called the Omnibus, and was the first editor of the Illustrated London News (established in 1842). Bayley was improvident, and was constantly in difficulties. He died at Birmingham of bronchitis in 1853, and was buried in the cemetery there.

Works

He also produced 'An Island (Grenada) Bagatelle,' 1829; 'Four Years' Residence in the West Indies,' 1830;^[3] verses written for 'Six Sketches of Taglioni,' 1831; 'Tales of the late Revolution,' 1831; 'Scenes and Stories by a Clergyman in Debt,' 3 vols. 1835; 'New Tale of a Tub,' 1841 and 1847; 'Blue Beard,' 1842; 'Little Red Riding Hood,' 1843; an edition of the Works of Mrs. Sigourney, 1850; a contribution to the 'Little Folks' Laughing Library,' 1851; verses in 'Gems for the Drawing-room,' 1852; verses in Paul Jerrard's Humming Bird Keepsake, 1852.

References

1. Bishop, James (14 May 1992). "The Story of the ILN". The Illustrated London News. Vol. 280, no. 7106. pp. 25–28. Retrieved 6 March 2023 – via The Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003. (Ingrams) appointed as his first editor Frederick William Naylor Bayley, a minor poet known as Alphabet or Omnibus Bayley (the first after his string of initials, the second because he had formerly edited a periodical called Omnibus, with John Timbs, author of Curiosities of London, as his assistant.
2. Roberts, E. David (June 1972). "More Early Victorian Newspaper Editors". Victorian Periodicals Newsletter. Vol. 5, no. 2. pp. 15–28. JSTOR 20084942.
3. Bayley, F. W. N. (1830). Four Years' Residence in the West Indies. London: W. Kidd.

• "Bayley, F. W. N." . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Bayley, F. W. N.". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.