Rural Rides

  Brodie, William Bird: newspaper publisher at Salisbury who fiercely opposed Cobbett’s reform programme. He later sat as a Whig MP.

  Brooke, George: of Worcester. He was a Radical and friend of Cobbett’s who accompanied him on some rides in the western counties.

  Brougham and Vaux, Henry Brougham (1778–1868): first Baron and Whig MP. Brougham was closely involved with the Edinburgh Review, Mechanics’ Institutes and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, where he routinely exercised his Utilitarian principles, especially in the field of education. It was on this subject that Brougham and Cobbett frequently crossed swords, despite Brougham having good things to say about Cobbett’s Cottage Economy and Cobbett having good things to say about Brougham’s ‘Beer Bill’. Brougham was later subpoenaed by Cobbett to testify at his trial for fomenting the Captain Swing revolt, but any chance of lasting courtesy was undermined when Brougham introduced the Poor Law Amendment Bill (1834) which Cobbett so despised.

  Brown, General Jacob (1775–1828): commander of the United States army from 1821. He had earlier held a command in the War of 1812 – a war which Cobbett opposed.

  Brown, John: grandfather of Jacob Brown.

  Browne, Sir Anthony (d. 1548): adviser to Henry VIII who received extensive gifts of monastic lands, including Battle Abbey. For Cobbett he epitomized the robbing of the patrimony of the poor that accompanied the Reformation.

  Browne, Elizabeth Mary (d. 1830): final heir of the Browne family: see Montague, Anthony Browne.

  Buccleuch, Elizabeth Montagu (1743–1827): daughter of the first Duke of Montagu and Dowager Duchess of Buccleuch. She brought the Beaulieu estates to her marriage with George Brudenell. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 953.

  Buckingham, Richard Temple Nugent Bridges Chandos Grenville (1776–1839): first Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, of Avington, Hampshire. He did little for a living, and as a boroughmonger lost four of his seven seats upon the passage of the Reform Bill of 1832. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 953.

  Budd, William (1758–1840): of Burghclere, Hampshire. A friend, correspondent and frequent host of Cobbett’s during the rides. Budd was an agricultural innovator who favoured Tullian drill husbandry and tree growing.

  Burdett, Charles Sedley (1771–93): brother of Sir Francis who drowned at Schaffhausen.

  Burden, Sir Francis (1770–1844): ‘Sir Glory’ or ‘Old Daddy’ in Cobbett’s nomenclature. An MP from 1796 (first Boroughbridge, then Middlesex and finally Westminster) Burdett pre-dated Cobbett as a Radical reformer. At first Cobbett worked closely with Burdett, especially in the Westminster election of 1807, which saw Burdett and Lord Cochrane elected. Cobbett and Burdett continued to enjoy good working relations through the Napoleonic Wars, but a softening of Burden’s politics, together with Cobbett’s default on a loan from Burdett, contributed to a falling out. Burdett seems to have taken the high road regarding the loan, but Cobbett showed Burdett no mercy on any count. See Cobbett’s play Big O and Sir Glory (1825); Spater, William Cobbett, vol. I, pp. 185–90, 252, 361–2.

  Burke, Edmund (1729–97): Whig MP and author of Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790). During his anti-Jacobin days in America, Cobbett praised Burke, but had moved over to Paine’s position by 1805. Cobbett grew especially vexed about the large pensions awarded to Burke’s widow and executors.

  Burnet, Gilbert (1643–1715): Bishop of Salisbury and author of the posthumous History of my Own Times (1723–34) in which he praised the Bank of England. Cobbett seems to have assumed that Burnet was a principal architect of the ‘funding system’ and national debt. See DNB.

  Burrell, Sir Charles Merrick (1774–1862): third Baronet, Whig MP for Shore-ham for forty-five years, from 1807. He was a notable agricultural improver.

  Burrough, Sir James (1750–1839): counsellor in a case against Cobbett in 1809 when a farm servant of Cobbett’s, one Jesse Burgess, decamped while under contract. Shamefully, Cobbett and two helpers tracked Burgess down and forcibly detained him. Burgess’s brother William launched and won an action against Cobbett for assault and wrongful imprisonment. The event was duly exposed in an anti-Cobbett tract entitled Cobbett’s Oppression! (1809). Burrough was later made a judge.

  Butler, Charles (1750–1832): ‘the pious and learned Dr Butler’. Butler was a leader of English Catholics who roused Cobbett’s ire by opposing the wishes of some Catholics to present him with a gift for his services as author of History of the Protestant ‘Reformation’. Butler’s reasoning was that visible support for Cobbett might alienate non-Catholics from the cause of Catholic Emancipation.

  Butler, Samuel: Cobbett is alluding to Charles Butler (see above).

  Butterworth, Joseph (1770–1826): MP for Coventry and then Dover. Cobbett chastised him for being a friend and supporter of Wilberforce’s. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 956.

  Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell (1786–1845): MP for Weymouth, and Wilberforce’s hand-picked heir in the anti-slavery campaign. He also supported penal reform.

  Caernarvon, Henry George Herbert (d. 1833): second Earl, of Highclere in Hampshire. Agricultural improver and supporter of many liberal measures, he nonetheless became concerned about the extent of Cobbett’s influence among agricultural workers, especially during the revolt of 1830–31. See Dyck, Cobbett and Popular Rural Culture, pp. 169, 171, 189.

  Camden: see Pratt.

  Camelford, Lord, Thomas Pitt (1755–1804): second Earl. A naval commander whose behaviour was often disorderly and violent (he eventually died in a duel), he sponsored Home Tooke’s candidacy at Old Sarum, and when the election was ruled out of order (see Tooke, John Home) he threatened to put up his black servant as a candidate for the same notorious borough. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 957.

  Canning, George (1770–1827): educated at Eton (hence ‘Captain of Eton’); became Foreign Secretary after the death of Castlereagh in 1822 and then briefly Prime Minister in 1827. Cobbett liked him during anti-Jacobin times, but came to despise him because of his support for commercial interests and anti-reform legislation. Many of the allusions pertain to Canning’s failure to prevent the French invasion of Spain in 1823.

  Canning, Robert (1773–1843): of Hartpury, Gloucestershire. He was a Radical and friend of Major John Cartwright, the ‘Father of Reform’. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 957.

  Carlile, Mary Ann: sister of Richard Carlile who sought to circulate his writings while he was imprisoned. In 1821 she was charged with this, and was obliged to join him in Dorchester Gaol for two years. See Cole, RR, vol. III, pp. 957–8.

  Caroline of Brunswick, Queen, wife of George IV (1768–1821): Cobbett defended her from 1806, but in 1820 – with her ‘trial’ for adultery at hand – he became her most stalwart and voluminous adviser, even writing some of her public statements and letters to the King. Cobbett was tireless in building working-class and radical support for Caroline. This was politically self-interested on his part, but he also grew genuinely sypathetic towards the beleaguered Queen as a person and a victim.

  Castlereagh, Viscount: see Londonderry, Robert Stewart.

  Chalmers, George (1742–1825): Scottish antiquary whose statistics and arguments roused Cobbett’s anger, especially those which suggested economic progress and enlarged national wealth since the Reformation.

  Chamberlayne, William (1779–1829): MP for Southampton and friend of Cobbett’s during his Botley days.

  Charles I (1600–1649): King of Great Britain and Ireland, second son of James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark.

  Charles II (1620–85): King of Great Britain and Ireland, second son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria.

  Charrington, Nicholas (1771–1827): landowner of Bures Manor in Surrey. He was active in the Vice Society. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 959.

  Chichester, Bishop of (John Buchner, d. 1824): elected to the position in 1797.

  Clarke, Mary Anne (1776–1852): mistress of the Duke of York.

  Cobbett, Mrs: Cobbett’s grandmother. He said little about her except in praise of h
er domestic ways, which included making her own candles (by dipping rushes in tallow) as well as continuing to knit even after becoming crippled and blind.

  Cobbett, Anne (1795–1877): eldest of Cobbett’s three daughters and author of the English Housekeeper (1835) and Plain Instructions for Using the Meal and Flower of Indian Com (1846). She also continued her father’s publishing business for several years after his death.

  Cobbett, James Paul (1803–81): barrister, third son of Cobbett. He wrote travel literature of his own and put out an edition of Rural Rides in 1853.

  Cobbett, Richard Baverstock Brown (1804–75): fourth and youngest son who joined his father on several rides. He became a solicitor in Manchester, where he supported Radical causes, most notably Chartism.

  Cobbett, William, Jr (1798–1878): barrister and Cobbett’s eldest son. He wrote several legal books and became a particular authority on turnpike trusts.

  Cobbold, the Rev. William Rush (1773–1841): Vicar of Selborne in Hampshire who collected some £600 a year in tithes. Farmers and labourers confronted him during the revolt of 1830–31. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 961.

  Cochrane, Thomas, Lord (1775–1860): seaman and Radical politician. Cobbett worked to get him into Parliament: first at Honiton in 1806 and then at Westminster in 1807. He was convicted of financial misdemeanours, but was later exonerated and made an admiral. See Baynes, the Rev. John, above.

  Cockbain, John: of Whitehaven. He was convicted under Lord Ellenborough’s Act of 1803 for allegedly trespassing upon a field of the Earl of Lonsdale.

  Coke, Thomas William, Earl of Leicester (1752–1842): landowner and agricultural improver at Holkham, Whig MP for Norfolk. Cobbett thought that Coke’s improvements should be more grounded in the good of the labourers, and quarrelled with him when Coke objected to Cobbett’s petition at the Norfolk county meeting of 1823.

  Colquhoun, Patrick (1745–1820): economist, magistrate and statistician. Cobbett disputed his view that the wealth and population of Britain was on the rise.

  Cooke, George Alexander (d. 1834): author and illustrator of books about landscapes and antiquities.

  Courtenay, Mr: farmer of Itchen Abbas in Hampshire.

  Coventry, Thomas William: of North Cray Place in Kent.

  ‘Cowhide’: see Adams, William.

  Creevey, Thomas (1768–1838): author of the Creevey papers which contain much of interest about the politics of this period. He sat briefly as an MP and took a sinecure from the Grey ministry in 1830.

  Cromwell, Oliver (1599–1658): ‘Lord Protector’; agricultural reformers often praise Cromwell for his position on enclosure. Cobbett, however, had little good to say of him on any score.

  Cromwell, Thomas (d. 1540): Lord Privy Seal under Henry VIII. He was despised by Cobbett as a robber of the poor: see History of the Protestant Reformation.

  Cropper, James (1773–1840): Quaker factory owner and merchant in Liverpool who supported many humanitarian causes.

  Crowdy, James (1783–1854): farmer of Highworth in Wiltshire. He was radical in his politics and assisted with the promotion of ‘Cobbett’s Corn’ – a variety of maize that Cobbett imported from the United States and sought to cultivate in England.

  Cruttwell, the Rev. Richard (1776–1846): parson of Spexhall in Suffolk and prolific writer on currency questions.

  Curteis, Edward Jeremiah (1762–1835): of Hailsham in Sussex; Whig MP for Sussex and then Surrey. He earned Cobbett’s ire by supporting reform of the Poor Law.

  Dampier, the Rev. John (1768–1854): rector of several parishes in Hampshire, including Wyly and Meon Stoke.

  Davies, Colonel Thomas Henry Hastings (1778–1846): of Elmley Park, Worcestershire; Whig MP and moderate reformer. He was opinionated about finances and currency. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 966.

  Davison, the Rev. F. I.: rector of several parishes in Hampshire.

  Dawkins, Henry (1788–1864): MP for Boroughbridge. He later became Commissioner of Woods and Forests at a high income.

  De Greys: family headed by the third Lord Walsingham (d. 1831). They were well endowed with state pensions and ecclesiastical offices.

  Deller, Richard: farmer and Radical of Easton, near Winchester; also a friend of Cobbett’s, who often stayed with him during his rides. Deller had some encounters with a gamekeeper of the Duke of Buckingham concerning the game laws, and Cobbett publicized the incidents. See Wright, die Rev. Robert.

  Dick, Quintin (1777–1858): wealthy barrister who bought several seats in Parliament. The Radical John Madocks accused Castlereagh of selling the seat of West Looe to Dick as a way of procuring a vote in the House. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 968.

  Dickinson, William (1772–1837): barrister, MP for Somerset (1806–31).

  Dowding, Mr: of Salisbury, publisher of the Salisbury Journal, which despised Cobbett’s politics.

  Drummond, Henry (d. 1828) and Henry (d. 1860): the elder was a banker who purchased the Grange Park at Albury in Surrey from the Howards. The younger Drummond was a Tory MP who in 1817 moved to the Continent where he became involved in messianic religious movements. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 970; DNB.

  Dudley, the Rev. Sir Henry Bate (1745–1824): ecclesiastic and journalist. He was editor of the Morning Post (until 1780) and then the sensational Morning Herald. Cobbett reviled the Herald because of its ceaseless efforts to embarrass Radicals.

  Dudlow, John (1772–1854): attorney, of Town Mailing in Kent.

  Dundas, Charles, Baron Amesbury (1751–1832): large landowner and MP for Berkshire (1794–1832). The accusation to which Cobbett alludes was Dundas’s groundless assertion that Cobbett was an associate of the ‘Cato Street’ conspirators who plotted to assassinate the Cabinet in 1820. See Spater, William Cobbett, vol. II, p. 449.

  Dundas, Henry, first Viscount Melville (1742–1811): first lord of the admiralty and a political organizer of the first rank. The younger Pitt assigned him the task of ensuring the election of pro-Pitt MPs. He was impeached but later acquitted for mishandling naval monies.

  Duthie, John: of Ropley Dean, Hants; secretary of the Hampshire Agricultural Society.

  Eastnor, John Somers Cocks (1788–1852): Tory MP for Reigate and later Hereford. He was chair of the Surrey JPs and lived at the Priory in Reigate. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 972.

  Edgar (944–75): King of the English.

  Edward the Confessor (d. 1066): King of England.

  Edward I (1239–1307): King of England.

  Edward III (1312–77): King of England. Cobbett relentlessly praised all aspects of the reign of Edward III. It was his primary ‘golden age’.

  Edward VI (1537–53): King of England.

  Egremont, George O’Brien Wyndham (1751–1837): third Earl, lived at Petworth in Sussex He was a renowned agricultural improver and patron of the arts. He was a Whig and generally eager to promote the comforts of the poor.

  Eldon, John Scott, first Earl (1751–1838): Lord Chancellor and reactionary Tory who despised reformers. He held numerous sinecures, and Cobbett despised him for it. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 973; DNB.

  Elizabeth I (1533–1603): Queen of England and Ireland. Cobbett appreciated the Poor Law but despised everything else about ‘Bess’, calling her a ‘gross, libidinous, nasty, shameless old woman’ – indeed ‘the worst woman that ever existed in England’ (Dyck, Cobbett and Rural Popular Culture, p. 131).

  Ellenborough, Edward Law, Baron (1750–1818): Lord Chief Justice (1802–18) – in which capacity he tried many leading Radicals, including Cobbett in 1810. He also stiffened laws against poaching with the so-called ‘Ellenborough’s Act’ of 1803.

  Ellman, John (1753–1832) and John the younger: the elder Ellman was a sheep breeder at Glynde in Sussex, and a regular contributor to Arthur Young’s Annals of Agriculture. He was a good employer, and lamented before the Agricultural Committee of 1821 that the old custom of home-brewing had died out among the labourers, owing in part to high taxes on malt and hops. Cobbett got a great deal of mileage out of this re
mark, alluding to it no fewer than twenty times.

  The younger Ellman was also a Sussex farmer, but angered Cobbett by calling for tougher corn laws and by expressing his loyalty to the government. There was a near outbreak of fisticuffs between Cobbett and farmers at a meeting of Sussex farmers at which the younger Ellman was prominent. See Dyck, Cobbett and Rural Popular Culture, pp. 70–72.

  Erskine, Thomas, first Baron (1750–1823): Lord Chancellor in the Ministry of All the Talents. His estate in Sussex included part of Ashdown Forest.

  Etwall, Ralph: attorney in Andover.

  Evelyn, John (1620–1706): author and patron of the arts and sciences. His famous diary, first published in 1818 and 1819, is still widely read for its accounts of culture and politics in Restoration England. He was also an important authority on gardening, and in 1664 published Sylva – a treatise on forest and fruit trees. See DNB.

  Ewing, William (1763–1810): banister in Philadelphia. He was a friend of Cobbert’s during his first period of residency in the United States.

  Farquhar, John (1751–1826): from Aberdeen. He set off for India where he experimented with ways of improving gunpowder. He returned wealthy and purchased Fonthill ‘Abbey’. See Cole, RR, vol. III, p. 975.

  Fawkes, Guy (d. 1606): of Gunpowder Plot and 5 November fame. Cobbett, presumably, would have supported Fawkes’s actions if it meant sending the Scots to whence they came. See note 8 on ‘the English SCÆVOLA’, p. 465.

  Featherstone: see Fetherstone, Sir Henry.

  Fellowes, the Rev. Robert (1771–1847): a moderate Radical and chaplain to Queen Caroline for a time. He was a staunch Benthamite and became involved in the establishment of University College, London.

  Fetherstone, Sir Henry (1755–1846): second Baronet and landowner at Up Park in Sussex. He served for a time as MP for Portsmouth.

  Fleming, John Barton Willis (d. 1844): large Hampshire landowner and MP for the county (1820–31, 1835–43). His estate was attacked during the rural revolt of 1830–31.

  Flower, Richard: accompanied Morris Birkbeck on his plantation experiment in Illinois, and took over the leadership of the settlement after Birkbeck’s death.