Mr. Robert Mackay To the deep regret of all his
colleagues, Mr. Robert Mackay, " the Printer of The Spectator," died last Saturday, four days before his 65th birthday, after a lifetime spent in the service of the paper, which he entered as a messenger at the age of 14. His position, that of liaison- officer between the editorial and advertising departments of the paper on the one side and the firm responsible for the actual printing on the other, was unusual if not unique, but it enabled him for decades to make rough places smooth for both writers and printers. His knowledge of the history of the journal under a succession of editors—Hutton and Townsend, St. Loe Strachey, Sir Evelyn Wrench, Wilson Harris—was encyclopaedic, and no one was more jealous for the preservation of its highest traditions. The Spectator was Mr. Mackay's life, and he is quite literally irreplaceable. No one on its staff commanded greater respect and regard, or more deservedly.
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