William Cobbett

William Cobbett (March 9, 1763 – June 18, 1835) was a radical 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 arguably helped inspire) the burgeoning radical movement. One particularly "seditious" rhyme attributed to Cobbett was:

External links

• Biography
• William Cobbett
• Brief history: gives additional reference to The Political Register
• History of Hansard
• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online