Published by the firm of Alexander Macmillan, Macmillans Magazine was founded in November 1859 following the suggestion of a group which included the Christian Socialists Thomas Hughes, Charles Kingsley and David Masson. It competed for a similar educated middle-class audience as Blackwood's Magazine and the Cornhill Magazine, founded by the rival firm of Smith, Elder (publisher of Modern Painters I) in January 1860. Its contributors included Matthew Arnold, and Walter Pater.