Cobbett, William ___ 1763-1835 ___ British ___ politician, writer

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Cobbett was born in Farnham, Surrey, the son of a tavern keeper. He was educated at home, and worked as a farm labourer until 1783 when he moved to London. He worked as a clerk for a year, and then joined the army seeing service in New Brunswick, Canada. But, after making accusations of theft against some officers, he left the army. Thereafter, he studied in France, taught in the United States, where he published pro-British pamphlets under the pseudonym of Peter Porcupine, and returned to Britain in 1799-1800. He applied himself to journalism, starting out as as a Tory, but becoming more radical with time, and launched the 'Political Register' which was often critical of the government. In 1809 he attacked the use of German troops to put down a mutiny in Ely, and subsequently was tried and convicted for sedition and sentenced to two years' imprisonment in Newgate Prison. When Cobbett was released he continued his popular campaigns, and, by reducing the price of the 'Political Register', turned it into the main newspaper for the working class. In 1817, on rumours that he might be arrested again for sedition, Cobbet fled to the US. There he wrote a text on English grammar and, with the help of a friend in London, continued to publish the 'Political Register'. However, by the time he returned to England, in late 1819, he had lost all influence, and was poor, but still he remained politically active. In 1821, he began a tour of Britain on horseback, which led to a series of articles in the 'Political Register' and the book 'Rural Rides'. In 1830, he was tried and acquitted of sedition. In 1832, he was elected to Parliament for Oldham.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - Doomed to beggary

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1817-1818 1821-1832 ___ political travel social village weather farming US

WEB TEXT LINKS
many extracts - about Hampshire
etext - Rural Rides
googlebooks

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Oxford University: Nuffield College Library - possibly

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Rural Rides
Cobbett's Tour in Scotlandand in the Four Northern Counties of England
A Year's Residence in the United States of America

December 2005, August 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.