biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1763–1835)
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| biography:
| Journalist and social reformer, born in Farnham, Surrey, SE England, UK. The son of a farmer, he moved on impulse to London (1783), spent a year reading widely, and joined the army, serving in New Brunswick (1785–91). In 1792 he married and went to the USA, where he wrote fierce pieces against democratic government under the name ‘Peter Porcupine’. Returning to England in 1800, he was welcomed by the Tories, and started his famous Weekly Political Register (1802), which continued until his death, changing in 1804 from its original Toryism to an uncompromising Radicalism. Deeply concerned at the condition of the working classes, especially the rural workers in the rapidly industrialized English population, he campaigned for reform. In 1810 he was imprisoned for two years for criticizing the flogging of militiamen by German mercenaries, and in 1817 he went again to the USA, fearing a second imprisonment. Returning in 1819 he travelled widely in Britain, and finally became an MP (1832). His works include a History of the Protestant Reformation (1824–7) and Rural Rides (1830), a classic portrayal of the situation of the rural workers of the time. |
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