Cobbett, William
Cobbett, William (1763–1835). Radical journalist whose Political Register (1802–35) was the most influential radical paper of its time. Week after week Cobbett thundered against the political system (‘Old Corruption’) and championed the cause of labouring people, particularly the agricultural workers. His radicalism, blended with traditionalism, was individualistic, untheoretical, and non-revolutionary. He was, wrote Hazlitt, ‘a kind of 4th estate in the politics of the country’. Born and raised on a Surrey farm, Cobbett enlisted in 1784, served in Nova Scotia, and was promoted serjeant-major. On returning to England in 1791 he tried unsuccessfully to expose financial corruption in the regiment, and as a consequence had to flee to France and then to America. In Philadelphia (1792–9) Cobbett patriotically defended Great Britain, and when he returned to England in 1800 was welcomed as a Tory supporter. However, he soon became disenchanted with what he called ‘The System’ and from 1806 demanded parliamentary reform. Sentenced in 1810 to two years in Newgate gaol for seditious libel, Cobbett was henceforth regarded as a dangerous radical; and when habeas corpus was suspended in 1817 he deemed it prudent to flee to America. On his return home in 1819 he resumed farming and also wrote some of his finest pieces, published as Rural Rides. He was MP for Oldham in the reformed Parliament of 1833.
John F. C. Harrison
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Cobbett, William