2. Contributors
  3. Cobbett, William

William Cobbett
1763-1835

William Cobbett (author, satirist, journalist, and editor) was born 9 March 1763 in Farnham, Surrey County, England. In 1783, at the age of twenty, he moved to London to work as a lawyer’s clerk. After only a few months at that job, he enlisted in the 54th Regiment at Chatham (Kent) in 1784. Cobbett sailed from Gravesend in March 1785 for Halifax to join the body of his regiment, by which time he had been promoted corporal. He was to spend six years in the Maritimes, chiefly in New Brunswick, before returning home with his unit.  In 1785, he and his unit were called to suppress riots at the election at Mallard House in Saint John, NB. Cobbett and the 54th Regiment arrived at Fort Howe in Fredericton in spring 1787. In 1791, Cobbett discovered that his officers were hiring out the services of common soldiers to work for the Loyalists on their land; Cobbett returned to England and filed corruption charges against the military, releasing an account of his views in his first published work, A Soldier’s Friend (1792). Upon the book’s release, he and his wife fled to France to avoid arrest after his accusations against the military were ignored. With revolution looming in France, Cobbett and his wife fled again to Philadelphia, where he wrote Observations on the Emigration of Dr. Joseph Priestley (1795). The following year he released several pamphlets, including A Bone to Gnaw for the Democrats, A Kick for a Bite, and A Little Plain English Addressed to the People of the United States. Cobbett wrote a satirical autobiography in 1796 entitled The Life and Adventures of Peter Porcupine. In 1797, Cobbett established a daily newspaper called Porcupine’s Gazette, but after several name changes and a move to New York, the paper folded on 1 January 1800. Eventually, Cobbett and his wife returned to England where, in 1800, he established the Political Register, which he edited for thirty-five years until his death. Later publications in his career include Cottage Economy (1821) and The Woodlands (1825(28)), both were rooted in his New Brunswick experience. Cobbett died on 18 June 1835 in London.

Source

McNeill, Lance. “William Cobbett” New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia, Spring 2010.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Fredericton

Archival Material

  • Location
    Nuffield College Library Archives, University of Oxford
    View Archival Record
    Retrieval Number
    GB 163 COBBETT PAPERS
    Date Range of Material
    1771 - 1868
    Extent

    39 boxes

    Scope and Content Note

    Cobbett was a radical political journalist and a passionate farmer. He was also a strong advocate of parliamentary reform, which eventually led to the 1832 Reform Act after which time Cobbett was elected to Parliament, and a prolific correspondent and litigant. This is all reflected in the contents of the collection, along with his many publications, such as the 'Political Register', 'Two-Penny Trash', 'Rural Rides' and 'Grammar of the English Language'. By broad subject areas as follows: Correspondence; Political Register; Whig trial papers; Account book; various memoirs and family accounts; Faithfull papers; miscellaneous papers; The William Cobbett Society and articles.

  • Location
    The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University Library
    View Archival Record
    Date Range of Material
    1787-1788, 1792
    Extent

    15 cm textual records

    Scope and Content Note

    The soldier' friend or, considerations on the late pretended augmentation of the subsistence of the private soldiers, London, 1792. Manuscript account book "State of His Majesty's 54th Regiment of Foot." 24 August 1787-25 December 1788 [Fort Howe, New Brunswick]. Manuscript, notebook of vulgar fractions ... decimal fractions and geometry, 1789 Jan. 26, Ft. Howe.

  • Location
    University of New Brunswick Archives & Special Collections
    View Archival Record
    Retrieval Number
    MG H 122
    Date Range of Material
    Photocopied [19--] (originally created 1787-1788, 1792)
    Extent
    15 cm textual records
    Scope and Content Note

    Collection consists of photocopies of a book and two manuscripts: The soldier' friend or, considerations on the late pretended augmentation of the subsistence of the private soldiers, London, 1792. Manuscript account book "State of His Majesty's 54th Regiment of Foot." 24 August 1787-25 December 1788 [Fort Howe, New Brunswick]. Manuscript, notebook of vulgar fractions ... decimal fractions and geometry, 1789 Jan. 26, Ft. Howe.

    Permission necessary for reproduction or publication from The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University Library.
Painting of William Cobbett

William Cobbett

Credit

"William Cobbett." George Cooke, Public Commons via New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia, Spring 2010. Accessed 9 June 2023.

See the New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia entry.