S. K. Ratcliffe, British journalist and lecturer, was well known to American audiences throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Beginning in 1914 he lectured in the United States and Canada for twenty-eight successive seasons; speaking, often extemporaneously, to university and college audiences, business groups, and literary forums. As a student of social change and political movements, he interpreted England and Europe to America, and discussed America before British audiences.
Born in England in 1868 to poor parents, Samuel Kerkham Ratcliffe left school at fourteen and at eighteen was working in a London warehouse. However, his constant reading, excellent memory, and keen insight led him into journalism. In his late twenties he became a regular contributor to The Echo, a London evening paper, and eventually its editor.
In 1902 he went to India where he was editor of The Statesman in Calcutta during the opening years of the Indian Nationalist Movement. He returned to England in 1907 to write and lecture authoritatively on conditions in India, working at first for the Daily News and then for the Manchester Guardian. Between 1910 and 1917 he also edited the Sociological Review. For more than forty years he was on the panel of lecturers for the South Place Ethical Society in London, and when in New York was a frequent visitor at the offices of the New Republic. In America he was often asked to appear on radio panel discussions, and served as special correspondent for the London Observer and The Spectator. When in England he was a frequent speaker for the British Broadcasting Corporation.
S. K. Ratcliffe died at the age of ninety, having been active until his sight failed him in 1954. In 1902, in Bombay, India, he had married Katie M. Jeeves, a graduate of London University. They had one son and two daughters.
