George William Childs (1829–94) was an American publisher who co-owned the Philadelphia Public Ledger newspaper.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Childs served in the navy briefly. He became a clerk in a Philadelphia bookshop in 1843 and launched an independent bookshop in 1847. Two years later, Childs founded the publishing house of Childs & Peterson.
In 1864, with banker Anthony J. Drexel, Childs purchased the Philadelphia Public Ledger, at that time a little known newspaper; he entirely changed its editorial policy and made it one of the leading daily newspapers in America.
Childs was celebrated for his public spirit and philanthropy. Along with abundant private benefactions in educational and charitable fields, he established memorials to luminaries such as William Cowper, George Herbert, John Milton, Leigh Hunt, Edgar Allan Poe, and Richard A. Proctor—even a Shakespeare memorial fountain, the “American Fountain,” at Stratford-upon-Avon.
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Do not keep the alabaster box of your friendship sealed up until your friends are dead. Fill their lives with sweetness. Speak approving, cheering words while their ears can hear them, and while their hearts can be thrilled and made happier. The kind of things you mean to say when they are gone, say before they go.
—George William Childs
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