PERRY, JAMES, an eminent newspaper editor, was born in Aberdeen in 1756, and was educated at Marischal College in his native town. His settlement in life was attended with considerable difficulty. He had scarcely begun to study law when the pecuniary misfortunes of his father threw him loose upon the world. His application for a
clerkship in Edinburgh was unsuccessful. He indeed obtained a situation in the counting-house of a Manchester merchant; but he left it at the end of two years to repair to London as a literary adventurer. Thither his ill-luck likewise followed him. It was not until many days had passed that an accident made known his literary abilities, and procured for him the situation of a stipendiary writer both to the General Advertiser and to the London Evening Post. Perry now entered upon a successful career in newspaper literature. In 1782 his skill in the profession had become so great that he was able to start and conduct a periodical called The European Magazine. Appointed editor of The Gazetteer in the following year, he conferred a great service upon the journalism of the country by introducing the custom of employing in the reporting of any public speech a series of reporters instead of one. His success at length attained its height when he became editor and joint-proprietor of the Morning Chronicle. He continued in that position till his death on the 6th December 1821. Perry was the author of several ephemeral pamphlets and poems.