NationMaster - Encyclopedia: William Cobbett

William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835) was a radical politician, agriculturist and prolific journalist. He was born at Farnham, Surrey. He thought that the reform of Parliament and the abolition of the rotten boroughs would help cure the poverty of the farm labourers. Cobbett constantly attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters". He opposed the Corn Laws, a tax on imported grain. Through the many apparent inconsistencies in Cobbett's life, one strand continued to run: an ingrained opposition to authority and a suspicion of novelty. Early in his career, he was a "loyalist" supporter of King and Country; later, he joined (and successfully publicised) the radical movement which led to the Reform Bill of 1832. He is best known today for his book Rural Rides, 1830. Image File history File links William_Cobbett. ... Image File history File links William_Cobbett. ... George Edwin Cooke (born February 17, 1883 - died June 3, 1969) was an American amateur football (soccer) player who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. ... The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in St Martins Place, London, England, which opened to the public in 1856. ... is the 68th day of the year (69th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1763 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... is the 169th day of the year (170th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... | Come and take it, slogan of the Texas Revolution 1835 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The term Radical (latin radix meaning root) was used from the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement and has since been used as a label in political science for those favouring or trying to produce thoroughgoing political reforms which can include changes to the social order to... Agriculture (encompasses farming, ranching, and the tending of orchards and vineyards) is the production of food, feed, fiber, fuel and other goods by the systematic raising of plants and animals. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Farnham is a small town (pop. ... Not to be confused with Surry. ... The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative institution in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories (it alone has parliamentary sovereignty). ... The term rotten borough referred to a parliamentary borough or constituency in Great Britain and Ireland which, due to size and population, was controlled and used by a patron to exercise undue and unrepresentative influence within parliament. ... A sinecure (from Latin sine, without, and cura, care) means an office which requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. ... The Corn Laws, in force between 1815 and 1846, were import tariffs ostensibly designed to protect British farmers and landowners against competition from cheap foreign grain imports. ... The Representation of the People Act 1832, commonly known as the Reform Act 1832, was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of the United Kingdom. ... Rural Rides is the book for which the reformer William Cobbett is best known. ...

Childhood

William Cobbett was born in Farnham, Surrey, on 9th March 1763, the son of a tavern owner. He was taught to read and write by his father, and first worked as a farm labourer.

Early life (1783-1791)

On May 6, 1783, on an impulse he took the stagecoach to London and spent eight or nine months as a clerk in the employ of a Mr Holland at Gray's Inn. He enlisted in the army in 1784, and made good use of the soldier's copious spare time to educate himself, particularly in English grammar. His regiment was posted to New Brunswick and he sailed from Gravesend to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Cobbett was in Saint John, Fredericton and elsewhere in the province until September 1791. He rose through the ranks to become Sergeant Major. is the 126th day of the year (127th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1783 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Entrance to Grays Inn Grays Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in around the Royal Courts of Justice in London, England to which barristers belong and where they are called to the bar. ... Motto: Spem reduxit (Hope restored) Capital Fredericton Largest city Saint John Official languages English, French (the only constitutionally bilingual province in the country) Government - Lieutenant-Governor HermÃ©nÃ©gilde Chiasson - Premier Shawn Graham (Liberal) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament - House seats 10 - Senate seats 10 Confederation July 1, 1867 (1st... The City of Halifax was the capital of the province Nova Scotia, and the largest city in Atlantic Canada. ... Motto: Munit Haec et Altera Vincit(Latin) One defends and the other conquers Capital Halifax Largest city Halifax Regional Municipality Official languages English Government - Lieutenant-Governor Mayann E. Francis - Premier Rodney MacDonald (PC) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament - House seats 11 - Senate seats 10 Confederation July 1, 1867 (1st) Area... Saint John[3] is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick and the oldest incorporated city in Canada. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article is about a military rank and position. ...

He returned to England with his regiment, landing at Portsmouth 3 November 1791 and obtained his discharge from the army on 19 December 1791. On 5 February 1792 he married Anne Reid in Woolwich: he had met her whilst in Canada. For other places with the same name, see Portsmouth (disambiguation). ... is the 307th day of the year (308th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1791 (MDCCXCI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 11-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1791 (MDCCXCI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 11-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 36th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1792 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

France and the United States (1792-1800)

He had developed a disdain for the corrupt officer class, gathering evidence while in New Brunswick, but his charges against officers were sidetracked. He fled to France in March 1792 to avoid retribution. Intending to stay a year to learn the language he found the French Revolution in full swing and the French Revolutionary Wars begun, so Cobbett sailed for the United States in September 1792. The French Revolution (1789â€“1815) was a period of political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on... Combatants Great Britain Austria Prussia Spain[1] Russia Sardinia Ottoman Empire Portugal Dutch Republic[2] France The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states. ...

He was first at Wilmington and then Philadelphia by the Spring of 1793. Cobbett initially prospered by teaching English to Frenchmen and translating texts from French to English. He became a controversial political writer and pamphleteer writing with a pro-British stance under the pseudonym Peter Porcupine. : Chemical Capital of the World , Corporate Capital of the World , Credit Card Capital of the World : A Place to Be Somebody United States Delaware New Castle 17. ... Nickname: Motto: Philadelphia maneto - Let brotherly love continue Location in Pennsylvania Coordinates: , Country United States Commonwealth Pennsylvania County Philadelphia Founded October 27, 1682 Incorporated October 25, 1701 Government - Mayor John F. Street (D) Area - City 369. ...

A disastrous lawsuit led to his financial ruin in 1799 and he returned to England in 1800 sailing from New York, via Halifax, to Falmouth. Falmouth (Cornish: Aberfal) is a seaport on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, UK. It is both a town and a civil parish. ...

Return to England

Cobbett was greeted warmly by the British establishment on arrival but refused all offers of reward for his propagandising in the United States.

Three years later he started his newspaper, the Political Register. At first he supported the Tories but he gradually became more radical. By 1806 he was a strong advocate of parliamentary reform.

He began publishing the Parliamentary Debates in 1802. This unofficial record of Parliamentary proceedings later became officially known as Hansard (see External link below). Hansard is the traditional name for the printed transcripts of parliamentary debates in the Westminster system of government. ...

Cobbett stood for Parliament in Honiton in 1806. He was unsuccessful as he refused to bribe the electorate by 'buying' votes; it also encouraged him in his opposition to rotten boroughs and the need for parliamentary reform. Tiverton and Honiton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... The term rotten borough referred to a parliamentary borough or constituency in Great Britain and Ireland which, due to size and population, was controlled and used by a patron to exercise undue and unrepresentative influence within parliament. ...

Prison (1810-1812)

Cobbett was found guilty of treasonous libel on June 15, 1810 after objecting in 'The Register' to the flogging at Ely of local militiamen by Hanoverians. He was sentenced to two years in Newgate Prison. While in prison he wrote the pamphlet Paper against Gold, warning of the dangers of paper money, as well as many Essays and Letters. On his release a dinner in London, for 600, was given in his honour, presided over by Sir Francis Burdett, a strong supporter of parliamentary reform like himself. In English and American law, and systems based on them, libel and slander are two forms of defamation (or defamation of character), which is the tort or delict of making a false statement of fact that injures someones reputation. ... is the 166th day of the year (167th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1810 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Statistics Population: 15,102 Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TL535799 Administration District: East Cambridgeshire Shire county: Cambridgeshire Region: East of England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Cambridgeshire Historic county: Cambridgeshire Services Police force: Ambulance service: East of England Post office and telephone Post town: ELY... Lebanese Kataeb militia A Militia is an organization of citizens to provide defense, emergency or paramilitary service, or those engaged in such activity. ... Capital Hanover Head of State King of Hanover Hanover (German: ) was a historical territory in todays Germany, at various times a principality, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, a kingdom and a province of Prussia and of Germany. ... Newgate, the old city gate and prison. ... A Â£20 Bank of England banknote. ... Sir Francis Burdett Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet (25 January 1770â€“23 January 1844) was an English reformist politician, the son of Francis Burdett by his wife Eleanor, daughter of William Jones of Ramsbury manor, Wiltshire, and grandson of Sir Robert Burdett, Bart. ...

By 1815 the tax on newspapers had reached 4d. a copy. As few people could afford to pay 6d. or 7d. for a newspaper, the tax restricted the circulation of most of these journals to people with fairly high incomes. Cobbett was only able to sell just over a thousand copies a week. The following year Cobbett began publishing the Political Register as a pamphlet. Cobbett now sold the Political Register for only 2d. and it soon had a circulation of 40,000.

Cobbett's journal was the main newspaper read by the working class. This made Cobbett a dangerous man and in 1817 he heard that the government planned to have him arrested for sedition.

United States (1817-1819)

Following the passage of the Power of Imprisonment Bill in 1817, and fearing arrest for his arguably seditious writings, he fled to the United States. On Wednesday 27 March 1817 at Liverpool he embarked on board the ship IMPORTER, D. Ogden master, bound for New York, accompanied by his two eldest sons, William and John. is the 86th day of the year (87th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1817 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Location within England Coordinates: , Sovereign state United Kingdom Constituent country England Region North West England Ceremonial county Historic county Merseyside Lancashire Admin HQ Liverpool City Centre Founded 1207 City Status 1880 Government - Type Metropolitan borough, City - Governing body Liverpool City Council Area - Borough & City 43. ...

For two years Cobbett lived on a farm in Long Island where he wrote Grammar of the English Language and with the help of William Benbow, a friend in London, continued to publish the Political Register.

A plan to return to England with Thomas Paine's remains for a proper burial led to the ultimate loss of his predecessor's remains. The plan was to give Paine a heroic reburial on his native soil, but the bones were still among Cobbett's effects when he died over twenty years later. There is no confirmed story about what happened to them after that, although down the years various people have claimed to own parts of Paine's remains such as his skull and right hand. Thomas Paine (Thetford, England, 29 January 1737 â€“ 8 June 1809, New York City, USA) was a pamphleteer, revolutionary, radical, and intellectual. ...

England (1819-1835)

William Cobbett arrived back in England soon after the Peterloo Massacre. Cobbett joined with other Radicals in his attacks on the government and three times during the next couple of years was charged with libel. Print of the Peterloo Massacre published by Richard Carlile Peterloo Massacre of August 16, 1819 was the result of a cavalry charge into the crowd at a public meeting at St Peters Fields, Manchester, England. ...

In 1820 he stood for Parliament in Coventry but finished bottom of the poll. Coventry was a borough constituency which was represented in the British House of Commons. ...

In 1829 he published Advice to Young Men in which he heavily criticised the Principle of Population published by Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus. Rural Rides is the book for which the reformer William Cobbett is best known. ... The Rev. ...

Cobbett continued to publish controversial material in the Political Register and in July, 1831, was charged with seditious libel after writing a pamphlet entitled Rural War in support of the Captain Swing Riots, which applauded those who were smashing farm machinery and burning haystacks. Cobbett conducted his own defence and he was so successful that the jury failed to convict him. Leopold I 1831 (MDCCCXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Captain Swing was the name appended to some (but not many) of the threatening letters during the agricultural riots of 1830. ...

Cobbett still had a strong desire to be elected to the House of Commons. He was defeated in Preston in 1826 and Manchester in 1832 but after the passing of the 1832 Reform Act Cobbett was able to win the parliamentary seat of Oldham. In Parliament Cobbett concentrated his energies on attacking corruption in government and the 1834 Poor Law. Preston is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... The British Reform Act of 1832 (2 & 3 Will. ... Oldham was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Oldham, Lancashire, England. ... The Poor Law was the system for the provision of social security in operation in England and the United Kingdom from the 16th century until the establishment of the Welfare State in the 20th century. ...

From 1831 until his death, he farmed at Normandy, a village in Surrey. Normandy, is a village and parish in Surrey, England. ... Not to be confused with Surry. ...

In his later life, however Macaulay, a fellow MP, remarked that his faculties were impaired by age; indeed that his paranoia had developed to the point of insanity. Quotes His imagination resembled the wings of an ostrich. ...

He was a gifted journalist, though later generations have taken offence at his some of his apparently anti-Semitic and racist views. He is considered to have started as an inherently conservative journalist and later became increasingly more radical and sympathetic to social ideals. He provides an alternative view of rural England in the age of an Industrial Revolution with which he was not in sympathy. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... 1. ... The Industrial Revolution was a major shift of technological, socioeconomic, and cultural conditions that occurred in the late 18th century and early 19th century in some Western countries. ...

Standing for Parliament

In his lifetime Cobbett stood for parliament five times, four of which attempts were unsuccessful:

Location within the British Isles Honiton is a town in Devon, England. ... For other places with the same name, see Coventry (disambiguation). ... Preston, a city and local government district in Lancashire, England, is located on the River Ribble. ... This article is about the City of Manchester in England. ... For the larger local government district, see Metropolitan Borough of Oldham. ...

External links

Publications

"A Year's Residence in the United States of America" Printed by B. Bensley, Andover and published by the author, 183 Fleet Street, London, 1828 (based on his life in 1818 USA) Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Thomas Bayly Howell (6 September 1767 â€“ 13 April 1815) was an English lawyer and writer who lent his name to Howells State Trials. ... // Google offers a variety of services and tools besides its basic web search. ...

References

Categories: 1763 births | 1835 deaths | English journalists | English essayists | Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies | People from Surrey | UK MPs 1832-1835 George Douglas Howard Cole (September 25, 1889 - January 14, 1959) was an English journalist and economist, closely associated with the development of Fabianism. ... For the town of Chesterton in Cambridgeshire, see Chesterton (Cambridge). ... Richard Ingrams (born August 19, 1937) was the second editor of British satirical magazine, Private Eye, taking over from Christopher Booker in 1963. ...

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