The Radical Journalists of the Midlands in the Early 1790s

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite much recent work on the British newspaper press there is still much ground to be explored about the political activities of regional journalists in their local areas – as opposed to their metropolitan counterparts. This article examines the five radical newspapers published in three midlands towns in the early 1790s. While examining the journalists’ stance on the key national issues of the day the article also places their newspapers in the context of their towns’ internal political rivalries. The newspapers all faced opposition: loyalist associations sought to entrap their conductors, the government supplied rival newspapers with political material to counter them, the Post Office disrupted their delivery, and local advertisers boycotted their columns. Most importantly, nearly all the journalists faced prosecution, and two of them went to prison. Finally, the article summarizes the collapse of the midlands radical press and its revival after 1808.