Who was William Cobbett?
Prose writer and political journalist.
Date and Place of Birth:
9th March 1763, Farnham, Surrey, England.
Family Background:
Son of a farmer and Innkeeper.
Education:
Taught himself to read and write at an early
age and studied French, Geometry and Logic whilst in the army.
Chronology/Biography of WIlliam Cobbett:
1785: Served as
a Sergeant-Major in the army in New Brunswick where he studied rhetoric,
logic geometry and French.
1791: Bought his
way out of the army.
1792: Sailed to
the United States were he taught English to French refugees in Philadelphia.
He also opened a bookshop.
1797: Started the
"Porcupine' s Gazette" magazine in which he attacked Tom
Paine and Joseph
Priestley and the native democrats.
1800: Returned to
England and was welcomed by the Tories who were fighting the revolutionary
spirit then abroad in Europe.
1802: Began his
weekly "Cobbett's Political Register".
1804: The "Register"
at first Tory began to take on radical opinion.
1806: Began the
"Record of Parliamentary Debate" which was to be taken
over by Luke Hansard.
1809: Published
"State Trials".
1810-1812: Spent
two years in Newgate Prison because of his outspokenness against
flogging in the army.
1817: Financial
problems and further fear of imprisonment drove him back to the
United States, where he became a farmer on Long Island.
1819: He returned
to England and started a seed farm at Kensington, London.
1830: His famous
"Rural Rides" were reprinted from the "Register".
1831: He defended
himself against a charge of sedition.
1832: After the
First Reform Bill he became MP for Oldham.
Written Works:
(Pseudonym: "Peter Porcupine")
- 1801:
"Porcupines Works".
- 1802: Started
the weekly "Political Register".
- 1817: "English
Grammar".
- 1821:
"Twelve Sermons".
- 1822:
"Cottage Economy".
- 1824: "History
of the Reformation"
- 1825:
"The Woodlands"
- 1830:
"Rural Rides". "Advice to Young Men and Incidentally
to Young Women".
Marriage:
1792 to Jane Elizabeth.
Places of Interest:
LANCASHIRE:
Oldham
LONDON:
The British Library
SURREY
Farnham
Date and Place of Death:
18th June 1835, London, England.
Age at Death:
71.
Site of Grave:
St. Andrew’s Church, Farnham, Surrey, England.
(NOTE: St Andrew's Church have their own website.
Click on "Visitors"/"Planning a Visit" for directions
and a photograph of the newly restored grave).
Further Information:
William Cobbett Society
c/o Molly Townsend
Johnsons Farm
Petershiels
Hants
GU37 2BY
