Constituency : Newmarket 1885-95, Swansea 1900-1910
George took the new seat of Newmarket.
George was the son of a Congregationalist minister. He was educated at City of Lonon School. He became a merchant in luxury goods then, in 1881, switched to publishing. He founded the miscellaneous magazine Tit-Bits from the proceeds of a vegetarian restaurant in Manchester. Competitions increased its circulation and George moved production to London in 1884. Both Albert Harmsworth and Arthur Pearson , founders of the Daily Mail and Daily Express respectively, started out working on the periodical. In 1873 he founded the Westminster Gazette.
George remained active in publishing after becoming an MP . In 1891 he founded The Strand which published the first Sherlock Holmes stories. In 1897 he launched Country Life.
George was an enthusiastic supporter of Home Rule. In 1893 he revived the Westminster Gazette because the Pall Mall Gazette had gone over to the Unionists.
George was defeated by the Conservatives in 1895. He was created a baronet of Putney and paid for its new library in 1899. He came back into Parliament the following year for Swansea.
In the early 1900s George invested in the early film projector the Mutoscope, one of a number of poor investments which drained his fortune.
George stood down at the January 1910 election by which time he was suffering from diabetes exacerbated by heavy drinking..
George spent a lot of time in Devon. He built the cliff railway between Lynton and Lynmouth.
George initiated the Newnes Trophy for transatlantic chess matches between Britain and the USA.
He died in June 1910 aged 59. His son Frank was MP for Bassetlaw. Though long since absorbed into Time Warner books are still published under the Newnes imprint.
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