William Cobbett — champion of the people

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It’s 250 years since the birth of William Cobbett, the man who was to become Oldham’s first Member of Parliament. Elected as a Radical, he was known as a fighter for the common man and spent time in jail and self-imposed exile. MARINA BERRY takes a look at his controversial career.


VICTORY in an election to become Oldham’s first MP capped William Cobbett’s unprecedented rise from ploughboy to politician.

Cobbett, who was elected as a Radical, was born 250 years this weekend, on March 9, 1763, in Farnham, Surrey.

He had a rudimentary education, left home at 20, and embarked on an intensive course of self-education while serving in the Army for eight years, becoming a master of English grammar.

His first election contest, a dozen years before he was chosen to represent Oldham, was a much more frenzied affair.

He had just returned from America with his two sons, after a voluntary exile to escape jail — his freedom threatened by a Government intent on suppressing dissent.

It was determined to muzzle the likes of Cobbett, who were seen as spokesmen of the “industrious classes”, particularly those of Lancashire and Yorkshire.

A fearless fighter for the cause of the working man, he survived a hounding by his opponents as he sought to win the seat of Coventry.

A gang of drink-fuelled ruffians were hired to prevent his entry to the town by encountering him a mile from its centre, refusing him passage, and threatening to fling him into the river if he went one step further.

But Cobbett’s supporters got wind of the plan, and gathered to escort him in safety.

The situation escalated later that night, when the gang attacked the house where he was staying, smashing windows, hurling threats if he dared to stay, and using knives on solitary Cobbett supporters who were unlucky enough to be out on the streets.

Sustained attacks continued for the remaining days of the campaign, and when the close of the first day’s voting found Cobbett in the lead, his voters were set upon, driven from the polling booth and the clothes ripped from their backs.

Other hooligans were brought in, and Cobbett, who was also an author and a journalist, famous for penning his regular “Rural Rides” column in his newspaper, recalled: “During the afternoon, several fresh bands of savages arrived from the country; so that by the hours of closing the poll, an immense multitude of these wretches, roaring like wolves, and foaming with rage and drink, were collected round the booth.”

Needless to say, many would-be Cobbett voters were prevented from casting their vote, and the results saw him finish last.

His opponents broke into the house where he was staying, but he was saved from his attackers at the last minute — after barricading himself and his daughter in the bedroom — when friends arrived armed with makeshift weapons such as pokers and tongs, forcing the enemy to retreat.

So it fell to the people of Oldham to put Cobbett in a Parliamentary seat, and they came firmly down in his favour when the town was first given the status of a borough, in 1832.
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