[4] Alsager became one of the small leading group at the Times, with John Walter who was the major shareholder, Thomas Barnes and Edward Sterling.

This was the period of the Railway Mania, and The Times had taken a position against rampant speculation; but Alsager and Delane were also said to have promoted the direct London and Exeter line, in which they had shares.

It was lent to Charles Cowden Clarke, who read it with John Keats, leading to the sonnet On First Looking into Chapman's Homer.

Alsager overhauled the Company’s administration; implementing new accounting procedures and introducing a system of standing committees with clear reporting structures for the first time.

In so doing, he transformed the Company into a modern looking financial corporation, enabling it to enter a Victorian golden age in which it became more heavily involved in charitable work.

[13] Alsager was one of the "Cockney Mozartians", with Edward Holmes, Cowden Clarke, Thomas Attwood, Henry Robertson and Vincent Novello.