Bottomley, Horatio William (1860-1933)

English journalist and financier, founder of the Financial Times. His next venture was the highly successful weekly John Bull (1906). He is remembered chiefly for his various company promotions and the skill with which he defended actions brought against him for fraud.

He was born in Bethnal Green, London, and worked in a solicitor's office and in various businesses before turning to journalism. He was Liberal member of Parliament for Hackney from 1906 to 1912 and from 1918 to 1922, though he took an independent line. In 1922 he was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude for fraud in connection with Victory Bonds. In World War I he gained a reputation as a patriotic orator.