William Cobbett grew up in the countryside and worked as a farm labourer until he was twenty. He then joined the army, where he remained until 1791, when he was forced to flee to America after exposing military corruption. Whilst in America he began his career as a journalist, publishing twelve volumes of attacks on American democracy. He quickly became known as “Peter Porcupine”.
Cobbett then returned to England in 1800 and began publishing a weekly newspaper “The Political Register” in 1802. This was originally conservative, but as the years went on Cobbett moved towards a more radical stance, eventually leading him to call for parliamentary reform. This resulted in him being sentenced to serve two years in jail. After his release he began to campaign against the Newspaper Tax which had caused him to begin publishing his Political Register as a pamphlet, which had a circulation of 40,000.
He was strongly opposed to parliament’s method of making decisions about the rural areas without consideration or understanding of the people who live there. Cobbett also believed that rapid industrialisation was threatening to destroy traditional ways of life. This was his inspiration for his publication “Rural Rides”. Where he took an empirical approach and travelled around the country and documented what he saw and then compared it to the statements made by the Parliamentary Agricultural Committee. Rural Rides was also filled with reminiscence and nostalgia as he compared places to his own experiences.
Charles Dickens shared similar views to Cobbett on the dangers of industrialisation. However Dickens was focused more on the plight of those who lived in the urban areas, arguing that the poor were also entitled to an education and standard of living, as opposed to Cobbett who was more concerned about the rural. Dickens, who worked as a parliamentary reporter, was also seen as more approachable to the middle class.
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