2. ‘MUSIC-MEETJNG’: Cobbett was in time for the Three Choirs’ Festival which was shared among the three cathedrals of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester.
3. ‘the great statesman, now no more’: Also ‘that game-cock statesman… a spur into his own throat’ (p. 353); in the index of Persons, see Robert Stewart Londonderry.
4. The fear… beginning of wisdom: Proverbs 9:10.
5. the poor Queen: In the index of Persons, see Caroline of Brunswick, Queen.
6. ‘Loans to the Greeks’: This refers to a large loan that was assembled by various persons, particularly Sir James Bowring, to assist the Greek revolutionaries.
7. SIDMOUTH’s Power-of-Imprisonment Bill: This formed part of a set of legislative measures – sometimes collectively called the ‘Gagging Bills’ – which were sponsored by Lord Sidmouth in 1817. They suspended habeas corpus, applied strict controls to public meetings and empowered magistrates to arrest and detain anyone who broadcast ‘seditious political opinions’. It caused Cobbett to flee to the United States in March 1817. See Cobbett’s ‘History of the Last Hundred Days of English Freedom’ in PR, 26 July 1817–18 October 1817; Spater, William Cobbett, vol. II, pp. 353–4.
8. JAMES I… ‘the English SCÆVOLA’: James I observed that Guy Fawkes struck him as ‘some new Mutius Scaevola born in England’ (James I, ‘His Majesty’s Speech in this last session of Parliament, concerning the Gunpowder-Plot (1605) in The Harleian Miscellany, 12 vols. (London, 1808–10), vol. III, p. 21). At the end of the sixth century BC, the Roman patrician Gaius Mucius Scaevola is said to have volunteered to assassinate the Etruscan king Porsenna, who was laying siege to Rome. Failing in his endeavour and called to account by a royal tribunal, Scaevola thrust his right hand into a blazing fire and held it there. According to James I, Fawkes was similarly defiant and unrepentant, regretting only that he had failed in his appointed mission. Cobbett seems to have thought that James was merciful and understanding towards Fawkes, but this was not the case, as James spoke harshly about him and even ordered his torture (‘History of the Gunpowder Plot’ (1606)). Cobbett was doubtless made aware of the allusion when he included James’s ‘History’ in Cobbett’s Complete Collection of State Trials (London, 1809).
9. a sincere Catholic must feel some little gratitude towards me… Stanley and Wood: Cobbett was a lifelong member of the Church of England but by the 1810s he grew interested in the social conditions of pre-Reformation England. He did not defend the liturgy or governance of the Roman Catholic Church, but had much good to say about the condition of the poor in England before Henry VIII. Cobbett’s History of the Protestant ‘Reformation’ enjoyed very good sales (see Pearl, Cobbett, no. 132), and has always been especially popular with Catholics.
Cobbett stood for election at Preston in 1826. He hoped that he would receive the Catholic vote (the candidates had apparently agreed that they would not ask voters to take the oath of supremacy). In the end, however, the oath was called for by the Tory candidate, and Cobbett came last in the polls. The victors were Edward Stanley and John Wood.
10. ‘LITTLE-SHILLING PROJECT’: Thomas Attwood favoured a devalued shilling to accompany the return to the gold standard.
FROM RYALL TO BURGHCLERE
1. loaves and fishes: See Matthew 24:16–20 on Christ’s multiplication of five loaves and two fishes to feed the multitudes.
2. Ireland-manuscripts: In the index of Persons, see William Henry Ireland.
3. THIMBLE and COWHIDE… a laughing: ‘Thimble’ was Francis Place and ‘Cowhide’ was William Adams. The ‘comedy’ is Cobbett’s play Big O and Sir Glory (1825). See Pearl, Cobbett, no. 141.
4. peasants… where got you that word: Cobbett did not like the word ‘peasants’ because it connoted (at least in England) a ‘degraded caste of persons’ (see Dyck, Cobbett and Popular Rural Cultures, p. 109), but he was very supportive of the occupational characteristics of a peasantry, chiefly their self-sufficiency as producers.
FROM BURGHCLERE TO LYNDHURST
1. the HOUSE OF QUIDENHAM… or whatever it is: Cobbett did not forgive the Norfolk landowners who condemned his petition of 1823. Quidenham House belonged to the Earl of Albemarle, and Kimberley House to Lord Wodehouse (see ‘From Burghclere to Petersfield’, note 5 above).
2. this HANGING: In the index of Persons, see Robert Snelgrove.
3. the Agricultural Report: See ‘From Kensington to Uphusband’, note 9 above.
4. Sir Bobby of the Borough: In the index of Persons, see Sir Robert Wilson. ‘Wetherspoon’ should actually read ‘Weatherstone’.
5. ‘POOR MAN’s FRIEND’: Cobbett’s Poor Man’s Friend, or, Useful Knowledge and Advice for the Working Classes; in a Series of Letters, addressed to the Working Classes of Preston (1826). Cobbett liked the book, calling it ‘a really learned work’ (see PR, 26 January 1828). Its argument is that the laws of nature command that everyone is entitled to the necessities of life, that this was provided by the monasteries before the Reformation and then by the Elizabethan Poor Law, and that if the Poor Law is curtailed, then the poor have a right to be maintained out of the property of the rich – much of which property was taken from the endowments for the poor at the time of the Reformation.
6. CAPTAIN OF ETON: In the index of Persons, see George Canning.
FROM LYNDHURST TO BEAULIEU ABBEY
1. GEORGE: In index of Persons, see Palmers.
2. hogs and pigs: Cobbett was a strong promoter of pig-keeping by labourers. See Dyck, Cobbett and Rural Popular Culture, pp. 116–17.
FROM WESTON TO KENSINGTON
1. a County Friendly Society. Cobbett was ambivalent towards welfare institutions or agencies which were endorsed or patronized by the rich. Friendly Societies, Mechanics’ Institutes, allotment schemes and the like, seemed to imply, in his view, that self-help was the primary cure for the labourers’ poverty.
2. ‘the BOTLEY PARSON’: In the index of Persons, see the Rev. Richard Baker.
3. the ‘HAMPHSIRE PETITION’: Adopted at a county meeting at Portsdown Hill in 1817. It was, as Cobbett says, a prelude to the Norfolk petition (see ‘From Burghclere to Petersfield’, note 5 above). The petition carried thirty thousand signatures.
4. enclose that Chase: Cobbett knew this area well from his farming days at Botley, when he was a landholder at Bishop’s Waltham. In 1816 he called a special vestry meeting to request that the poor be allowed to enclose small parcels of land from the Chase for their personal use. His proposal was defeated by local farmers. See Dyck, Cobbett and Rural Popular Culture, pp. 110–11.
5. Spitalfield weavers… be its slaves: Cobbett was not impressed by the appeal put out in 1826 by the Committee for the Relief of the Distressed Weavers of Spitalfields, which made its pitch on the basis of the loyalty of the weavers. In the following year, however, the weavers of Spitalfields submitted a petition calling for a radical reform of Parliament.
6. Preston Petition: Cobbett contested the results of the Preston election, but one of his guarantors failed to provide the bond required by the House of Commons. See Spater, William Cobbett, vol. II, p. 463.
INDEXES
Persons
The principal sources for this index are Cobbett’s own writings, the Dictionary of National Biography (hereafter DNB), the studies and bibliographies by Pearl, Spater and Dyck (see Further Reading, pp. xxix–xxxiv), as well as the biographical index in the centenary edition of Rural Rides by G. D. H. Cole and Margaret Cole (3 vols., London: Peter Davies, 1930) (hereafter cited as Cole, RR).
Abbott, Charles (1762–1832): first Baron Tenterden, served as Lord Chief Justice (1818–32). He presided over Cobbett’s trial of 1831 for fomenting the Captain Swing disturbances.
Abergavenny, Henry Neville (1755–1843): second Earl and sixteenth Baron. He continued to draw an income of over £1,500 a year after the abolition of his office as a patent inspector. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 939.
Acres, Mr renter of Sir Francis Burdett’s house but little more is kno
wn of him.
Adams, William: currier by trade, hence the nickname of ‘Cowhide’. He was a friend and supporter of Place and Sir Francis Burdett. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 939.
Addington, Henry (1787–1823): ‘Sidmouth’s son and heir’ was appointed at age sixteen to the sinecure of Clerk of the Pells, which came with an income of £3,000. He later went insane.
Aldhelm, Saint (d. 729): Abbot of Malmesbury and Bishop of Sherborne.
Alfred (849–901): King of the West Saxons. Cobbett was a great admirer of Alfred’s legendary regimen of eight hours of work, eight of rest and eight of sleep.
Arbuthnot, Charles (1767–1850): friend and confidant of the Duke of Wellington. He was briefly Ambassador of Constantinople and later became Commissioner of Woods and Forests. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 940.
Arkall, Mr: friend and political supporter of Cobbett’s in Gloucestershire.
Ashdown: see Ashtown, Lord Frederick Trench.
Ashtown, Lord Frederick Trench (1755–1840): of Southampton and Galway. He promoted Protestant missions in Ireland, especially among Catholic peasants. His real surname was Trench, not French. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 941.
Astley, Sir John Dugdale (1778–1842), first Baronet: Whig MP for Wiltshire and onetime friend of Cobbett’s.
Attwood, Matthias (1779–1851): London banker and anti-reform MP; brother of Thomas Attwood.
Attwood, Thomas (1783–1856): banker, currency reformer, MP and President of the Birmingham Political Union. Cobbett and Attwood had a marathon debate about currency questions in August 1832; they held a mutual if grudging respect. See Spater, William Cobbett, vol. II, pp. 501–4.
B——, Charles: see Burrell, Sir Charles Merrick.
Bailey, Hinton: landowner and agricultural improver of Stoke Charity in Hampshire.
Bailey, Judge: see Bayley, Sir John.
‘Baines, Parson’: see Baynes, the Rev. John.
Baker, the Rev. Richard (1754–1854): ‘the Botley parson’. He was parson at Botley where Cobbett farmed from 1805 to 1817. They had numerous quarrels over politics (Baker being opposed to reform), religion (Baker accepted and then backed out of Cobbett’s invitation to write an answer to Paine’s Age of Reason) and business matters (Baker once sold Cobbett a load of straw that turned up rotten). There are many references to Baker in the Cobbett family correspondence, most of them uncomplimentary.
Baker, Robert (d. 1822): gamekeeper of Thomas Assheton-Smith. He was killed by poacher James Turner. See also Snelgrove, Robert.
Bankes, George (1788–1856), Henry (1757–1834), William (d. 1755): a Dorset-shire family. George was a Pittite MP; Henry an MP and trustee of the British Museum; and William a Tory MP for Truro and later Cambridge University. See Cole, RR, vol. III, pp. 942–3.
Bankhead, Charles (1766–1850): Brighton physician whose clients included George IV and Lord Castlereagh. He was deemed by Lord Brougham and others to have underestimated die degree of Castlereagh’s illness.
Barham, Lord Charles Noel (1781–1866): second Baron, of Barham Court and Teston, in Kent. He was a Whig MP for Rutland (1808–14).
Barings, Alexander, Lord Ashburton (1774–1848); Sir Francis the elder (1740–1810); Sir Francis Thornhill, first Baron Northbrook (1796–1866); Sir Thomas (1772–1848); Thomas (1799–1873); William Bingham (1799–1864): family of mercantile bankers which rose to prominence under Francis the elder. His son Sir Thomas headed the firm for a time, and virtually owned the borough of High Wycombe; he in turn had four sons: John and Thomas the younger, both bankers; Sir Francis Thornhill (later first Baron Northbrook), a Whig MP for Portsmouth; and Charles Thomas, Bishop of Durham. Alexander, the second son of Francis the elder, became head of the firm in 1810. He was a Tory MP for Taunton (1806–26), and later ‘bought’ two other boroughs. He opposed the Reform Bill of 1832, but other Barings learned to live with the measure (of the five who sat in the reformed parliament, three were Tories and two were Whigs).
Cobbett showed little animosity towards the Barings during his rides, and even had words of praise for Sir Thomas as a landowner in Hampshire. He also alludes to the philanthropy of Lady Baring, doubtless meaning Mary Sealy (d. 1846), wife of Sir Thomas. But this would change during the Captain Swing revolts when as magistrate Sir Thomas was active in persecuting the rioters of northern Hampshire, including the brothers Robert and Joseph Mason, both followers of Cobbett. William Bingham Baring (eldest son of Alexander Baring and therefore second Baron Ashburton) also had encounters with Swing rioters, and was assaulted by a labourer, who was hanged as a result. Bingham Baring later committed an assault of his own against a small Hampshire farmer, for which Cobbett chastised him as a coward. See Cole, RR, vol. III, pp. 943–4; DNB; Dyck, Cobbett and Rural Popular Culture, pp. 175–82; and Dyck’s entry on Joseph Mason in new edition of DNB.
Barretto, Joseph: a compiler of dictionaries and an associate of Lord Torrington.
Basham, Lord: see Barham, Lord Charles Noel.
Bathurst, Henry (1762–1834), third Earl; ally of Pitt’s and strong opponent of reform. He served as secretary of war in Liverpool’s government.
Bayley, Sir John (1763–1841): one of the judges who tried Cobbett in 1810 and sentenced him to two years in Newgate. He also wrote theological works.
Baynes, the Rev. John (1754–1831): ‘Parson Baines’, rector of Exton in Hampshire. He earned notoriety in 1817 for spitting on the head of the reformer Lord Cochrane at a public meeting; a fracas ensued, with Cobbett at the centre. See Cobbett’s A Year’s Residence, para. 444.
Beckford, William (1759–1844): author of Vathek and other books, MP and wealthy owner of Fonthill ‘Abbey’ in Wiltshire. He constructed two tall towers at the ‘Abbey’; both seem to have collapsed.
Bedford, John Russell (1786–1839): sixth Duke of Bedford and father of Lord John Russell. He supported parliamentary reform and was a noted agricultural improver.
Beech, Mr Hicks: see Hicks Beach, Michael.
Benett, John (1773–1852): Whig MP for Wiltshire from 1819, and sheriff of Bath and Wells. He earned Cobbett’s ire (as well as the label ‘gallon-loaf BENNET’) for stating to a parliamentary committee in 1814 that as a magistrate he aimed to ensure that each member of a labouring family had a weekly income of the price of a gallon loaf and threepence extra. In 1817 he informed another committee that he would move to France if more agricultural protection was not forthcoming. Benett became a target of the Captain Swing rioters. See Dyck, Cobbett and Rural Popular Culture, pp. 67, 169, 177, 185.
Biel, John: tenant farmer at Beaulieu, Hants.
Bird, Charles: of Oakingham, Berks. He quarrelled with the Duke of Buckingham over game laws.
Birkbeck, Dr George (1776–1841): physician, alumnus of Edinburgh University, patron of Mechanics’ Institutes and one of the founders of Birkbeck College in London. Contrary to Cobbett’s wishes, the London Mechanics’ Institute (which evolved into Birkbeck College) fell increasingly under the control of Birkbeck and his Utilitarian allies, which meant that Radical politics was out of bounds.
Birkbeck, Morris (d. 1825): English farmer who emigrated to Illinois, where he acquired a large tract of land and encouraged group emigration from England. Cobbett did not like the idea of English people locating to a frontier; he preferred that they settle in established areas. See Cobbett’s A Year’s Residence and Emigrants Guide. See also Flower, Richard.
Birkhead, Charles: resident at the Priory, Reigate.
Birnie, Sir Richard (1760–1832): London police magistrate, and a captain in the Westminster Volunteers who had a hand in the capture of the Cato Street conspirators. He also worked to curb protest at Queen Caroline’s funeral in 1822. He was later named chief magistrate and knighted. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 948.
Black, John (1783–1855): editor of the Morning Chronicle. He was a reformer but Cobbett disliked his Utilitarian leanings and his support for classical education (hence Cobbett’s sarcastic references to ‘Doctor’ Black). The Chronicle referred to Co
bbett’s History of the Protestant ‘Reformation’ as ‘pig’s meat’ for the poor. See Spater, William Cobbett, vol. II, pp. 543–4.
Blackstone, Sir William (1723–80): author of Commentaries on the Laws of England, which Cobbett liked to quote.
Blandy, William: of ‘Prosperous Farm’, near Ramsbury, Suffolk; the farm was once occupied by Jethro Tull. He was a friend of Cobbett’s.
Blount, Joseph: landowner of Hurstbourne Tarrant (or Uphusband, as Cobbett preferred to call it), near Andover, Hampshire. He was a close friend and frequent host of Cobbett’s during the rides. Blount was Catholic, and doubtless appreciated Cobbett’s positions in History of the Protestant ‘Reformation’. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 949.
Blucher, Gebhard Leberecht von (d. 1819): Prussian general.
Bolingbroke, Henry St John (1786–1851): fourth Viscount and fifth Viscount St John; resident of Lydiard Tregoze, Wiltshire. He was descended from the younger brother of the eighteenth-century statesman.
Bolton, Harry Paulet (1719–94): sixth Duke of Bolton. He was a sailor who later became an admiral.
Boniface, Mr: farmer of Wimmering, near Portsdown Hill, Hampshire.
Borough, Jemmy: see Burrough, Sir James.
Brie, John, K. C. (d. 1826): Irish lawyer and journalist. He was an associate of Daniel O’Connell in the Catholic Association. Cobbett opposed the compromises in the Catholic Emancipation Bill which was introduced to the Commons in 1825 by Sir Francis Burden, and he proceeded to descend into a miserable quarrel with both Brie and O’Connell. See Spater, William Cobbett, vol. II, pp. 468–9.
Brodie, Anna: daughter of John Walter (d. 1812), editor of The Times. Upon his death she became a part-owner of The Times, and henceforth Cobbett liked to use her name as shorthand for the newspaper. See Spater, William Cobbett, vol. II, pp. 542–3; Ian Dyck’s letter to The Times, 6 July 1985; and entry on Walter, John, below.
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