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The Lady (magazine)

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The Lady
Final issue of The Lady, 4 April 2025
EditorHelen Budworth (acting)
FrequencyMonthly
PublisherBen Budworth
FounderThomas Gibson Bowles
Founded1885
First issue19 February 1885
Final issueApril 2025
CompanyThe Lady Magazine Ltd
CountryUnited Kingdom
Based inBorehamwood
LanguageEnglish
Websitelady.co.uk
ISSN0023-7167
First issue of The Lady, 19 February 1885

The Lady was a long-established British women's magazine with a history of 140 years of publishing. It published its first issue on 19 February 1885, and its last in April 2025, at which time it was the longest-running women's magazine in Britain. Based in London, it included classified advertisements for domestic service and child care and had extensive listings of holiday properties.

History

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The magazine was founded by Thomas Gibson Bowles (1842 – 1922), the maternal grandfather of the aristocratic and eccentric Mitford sisters. Bowles also founded the English magazine Vanity Fair.[1] The first issue, dated 19 February 1885, bore the subtitle "A Journal for Gentlewomen" and had advertisements for "fashionable bonnets", linen and silk fabrics, "iced savoy moulds" and sheet music for dances and for songs "for ladies voices".[2]

Bowles gave the Mitford girls' father (David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale) his first job: general manager of the magazine. Early contributors included Nancy Mitford and Lewis Carroll, who compiled a puzzle for the title.[3] Rita Shell served as its editor from 1895 until her retirement in 1925.[4]

The Lady appealed to a wealthy readership, which was rumoured to include members of the royal family. Covers featured female stars including Judi Dench, Helen Mirren and Barbra Streisand, and also Diana, Princess of Wales. Its advertisements for domestic positions meant that those seeking such work also bought it.[5]

In November 2008, Bowles' great-grandson, Ben Budworth, bought The Lady from his uncle Tom Bowles and his mother, Julia Budworth,[5] and set about modernising its style.[1] He appointed Rachel Johnson as the magazine's ninth editor in September 2009.[2][6][7] She took over from Arline Usden who became an editor at large.[8] A Channel 4 programme, The Lady and the Revamp, screened in March 2010, followed the new editor in her quest to raise awareness of the magazine and increase circulation.[9] Johnson's axing of The Lady Laughs, a cartoon series by Patricia Drennan that ran from 2000 to 2009,[10] led to complaints by readers. Johnson responded with old issues of the magazine to show how bland it had been.[11]

39-40 Bedford Street, former headquarters of The Lady

Matt Warren was appointed the tenth editor in January 2012.[12] In November 2013, he was named Editor of the Year (Women's Brand Weekly or Fortnightly) by the British Society of Magazine Editors. In 2014, he was Highly Commended in the Editor of the Year category at the PPA Independent Publisher Awards.[citation needed]

Sam Taylor became the magazine's eleventh editor in August 2015.[13] Under her editorship, the magazine was shortlisted for multiple awards,[14] including PPA Cover of the Year (2016), PPA Cover of the Year 2017 [15] and BSME Cover of the Year 2018.[16] Taylor was shortlisted for Editor of The Year, Women's Brand 2016 at the BSME awards.[17]

The Lady occupied premises at 39-40 Bedford Street, in the Covent Garden area of central London, until 2019, when Budworth sold the building and the magazine relocated to a business park in Borehamwood in Hertfordshire.[2][18] The move was opposed by Sam Taylor and prompted her resignation.[19] In 2022 Budworth appointed his wife, Helen Budworth, as editor.[5][18]

The Lady lost money during the Covid pandemic, and circulation fell below 18,000. In February 2024 HMRC issued a winding-up petition for unpaid taxes and national insurance contributions.[5][18] In late March 2025, creditors were informed that the board had agreed to begin liquidation.[5] The final issue is dated April 2025.[2][5] It contains a recipe for gugelhupf by Tom Parker Bowles and a short story about a grandmother celebrating her 90th birthday.[2]

In April 2025 the company announced that it would cease publication of The Lady, although it will continue to maintain its website, including the "jobs board and recruitment agency."[20]

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The Lady appears as Milady’s Boudoir in P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves novels, and is mentioned more than once in the television series Downton Abbey in the context of advertising for staff.[18] In Good Omens, a character advertises in The Lady for a nanny. In March 2010, on the long-running television series, Coronation Street, Rita Sullivan found advertised in The Lady the services of Lewis Archer, a male escort, who would later seduce another character and steal her life savings. Former Rovers Return landlady Annie Walker was also a regular aficionado of The Lady, which she described as "a calm civilised voice in the midst of vulgar tumult".[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ a b Jamieson, Alastair (2 April 2009). "The Lady, the dusty women's weekly from Victorian times, given a makeover". The Telegraph. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e Sitwell, William (5 April 2025). "As The Lady dies we must fight more than ever to cling on to our Britishness". The Telegraph. Retrieved 6 April 2025.
  3. ^ "Can you crack Lewis Carroll's Syzygies". The Lady. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  4. ^ "Personal". British and Colonial Printer and Stationer: And Newspaper Press. 96 (9). London: W. J. Stonhill: 133. 26 February 1925. Retrieved 6 September 2024. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Farber, Alex; Dowell, Ben (2 April 2025). "The Lady facing closure after 140 years of class and classifieds". The Times.
  6. ^ Brook, Stephen (20 July 2009). "Rachel Johnson appointed as editor of the Lady". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
  7. ^ White, Lesley (24 January 2010). "Business: The Lady and the Rachel Johnson revamp". The Times. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
  8. ^ Luft, Oliver (27 May 2009). "Editor Arline Usden leaves the Lady". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  9. ^ Barton, Laura (18 March 2010). "The Lady and the Revamp: can Boris Johnson's sister save the day?". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  10. ^ "Patricia Drennan obituary". The Times. 16 March 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  11. ^ Johnson, Rachel (2010). A Diary of The Lady: My First Year As Editor. Penguin. p. 103. ISBN 9780718192327.
  12. ^ Turvill, William (16 March 2015). "The man who edits The Lady describes taking 130-year-old from 'pantomime dame' to 'serious enterprise'". Press Gazette. Archived from the original on 20 March 2015.
  13. ^ "The Lady names editor". Diary directory. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  14. ^ "PPA Cover of the Year Shortlist 2016". www.inpublishing.co.uk. 24 October 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  15. ^ "PPA Cover of the Year Shortlist 2017". www.inpublishing.co.uk. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  16. ^ "BSME Cover Shortlist". www.inpublishing.co.uk. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  17. ^ "BSME Awards Shortlist 2016". BSME. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  18. ^ a b c d Warrington, James (25 February 2024). "Britain's longest-running women's magazine hit by winding-up petition". The Telegraph. Retrieved 6 April 2025.
  19. ^ Mayhew, Freddy (30 September 2019). "The Lady editor quits as magazine leaves historic London home". Press Gazette.
  20. ^ Sillito, David (15 April 2025). "The Lady: The decline and fall of the bible of female gentility". BBC News. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
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