Michael George Mulhall


Michael George Mulhall was an Irish author, statistician, economist and newspaper editor. He co-founded the Buenos Aires Standard, which in 1862 became the first English-language newspaper to be published daily in South America. He co-authored the first English-language book published in that continent, The Handbook of the River Plate, a work that went to six editions, was widely consulted by immigrants and is now a historical sourcebook. His Dictionary of Statistics became a standard work of reference.

Life

Mulhall was born on 29 September 1836 in Dublin, Ireland, the third son of Thomas Mulhall. He was educated for the priesthood at the Irish College, Rome, but not having the vocation emigrated to Argentina to work with his brother Edward Thomas Mulhall, then a large sheep farmer in that country. In 1861 the Mulhall brothers founded the Buenos Aires Standard, which next year became a daily; it was the preferred newspaper of the Anglo-Argentine community and claimed to be the only English-language daily newspaper to be published south of the equator.
By 1864 Mulhall, "despite his relative youth, was regarded as a spokesman for the entire British community in the region".
In 1878 Mulhall married Marion McMurrough Murphy, herself an author who cooperated with him closely on his statistical work. He died in Dublin on 13 December 1900.