Author: Amphlett, J.
Biography:
AMPHLETT, James (1776-1860: ancestry.co.uk)
Born in Bromsgrove, Worcester, on 29 Nov. 1776, he was the second son of William and Ann Amphlett, and a younger brother of William Amphlett (q.v.). The family were Non-Conformists and his father became the Baptist minister in Wolverhampton. When he was about seventeen James Amphlett was sent to study for the Baptist ministry with Richard Comfield in Northampton. Rather than join the ministry, however, he started working in the newspaper industry in Stafford, and became the editor of the Staffordshire Advertiser. He was involved with various other newspapers but details are wanting. In 1808 he published a three-volume satiric novel, Ned Bentley; William Amphlett was one of the subscribers. From 1845 until his retirement in 1853 he edited the Shrewsbury Journal. The 1851 Census shows him living as a lodger in a home in Shrewsbury. At the time of his death he was preparing for publication his The Newspaper Press in Part of the Last Century (1860); the title page describes him as “The Father of the Press.” He died at his home, Crescent Cottage, in Shrewsbury on 19 July 1860. (ancestry.co.uk 9 May 2022; J. Amphlett, The Newspaper Press [1860]; Hereford Journal 25 July 1860) SR