The Manchester Observer (1818–22): A radical provincial newspaper with national impact
As part of the Peterloo bicentenary, The University of Manchester Library digitised the entire run of the Manchester Observer which can now be consulted online alongside other Peterloo letters, correspondence, handbills and maps. It offers an excellent source for the study of radical politics, journalism and the history of Manchester in the early nineteenth century.
‘London has been called the strong hold of the liberty of the press; but Manchester is assuredly the centre and strong hold of the Parliamentary Reformers.’
Manchester Observer, 1 September 1821.
History of the Manchester Observer
James Wroe, John Knight and John Saxton, a group of nonconformist radicals, founded the Manchester Observer. They called for reform of the Houses of Parliament and the repeal of the Corn Laws. Their brand of radicalism was borne out of ideas underpinning the French Revolution and stimulated by long years of war and high taxation, rising bread prices, trade slumps and the all-around squalor of the industrialising cities. The historian EP Thompson described it as ‘easily the most impressive’ provincial radical periodical, with ‘a greater sense of the news of the movement than any competitor.’
The Manchester Observer remains synonymous with the Peterloo Massacre, 16 August 1819, when the authorities quashed a vast, peaceful meeting for parliamentary reform. James Wroe, the Observer’s editor, had invited Henry Hunt to Manchester to speak on that ill-fated day in August, and it is said that he coined the satirical name ‘Peterloo’. John Saxton, one of the Observer’s reporters, was on the hustings when the military rode into St Peter’s field. He was arrested and imprisoned. Saxton stood trial with Hunt at York Assizes but, unlike Hunt, he avoided a prison sentence because the jury accepted his defence that he was a reporter and not a participant.
Until it ceased production in 1822, the Manchester Observer doggedly campaigned for justice for the Peterloo victims and their families. Its influence stretched across the key cities and towns of northern England and copies were also sold in Birmingham. After only 12 months its circulation was 4,000 copies. To modern ears that might sound small but, as newspapers were expensive (thanks to a much-hated newspaper tax), copies would be bought collectively and circulated amongst friends. They were also read aloud thereby reaching a much wider audience than the circulation figures would suggest.
The language and style of the Manchester Observer was aimed at the growing numbers of literate working classes who were interested in political change. The Observer editorials focused on key radical issues and, for a period, editorials were headed ‘Important Communications to the People of England’. Each was illustrated with a striking visual motif of a flag bearing a slogan. Both the slogans and the iconography of the flags (note the red cap of liberty) were highly provocative to the Tory establishment. These editorial messages were designed to be read aloud, with helpful capital letters, italics and exclamation marks to indicate which words and sentiments should be emphasised. Before literacy became widespread there was a common practice of communal reading where the most fluent would read the news aloud to a gathered audience, whether in a pub, workshop or around a domestic fire.
The Manchester Observer was a full-price stamped and taxed newspaper that carried both local and national news. At its peak in 1819–20 it had the highest circulation of any provincial newspaper (4,000). It did not merely report but actively shaped the radical campaigns of these years, and indeed was the principal organiser of the ‘Peterloo’ meeting of 16 August 1819 and of the campaign for justice which followed.
It was the first newspaper to pioneer dual publication in Manchester and London. As the historian Robert Poole notes, the Observer’s columns provide insights into Manchester’s notoriously secretive local government and policing and into the labour and radical movements of its turbulent times. The Observer was a fierce critic of the both the national Government and Manchester’s archaic and corrupt local power structures and its scurrilous attacks earned it repeated libel prosecutions. Despite the imprisonment of four of its main editors and proprietors the Observer battled on for five years in the turbulent years surrounding Peterloo before sinking in calmer water for lack of news. The appearance of the Manchester Guardian as a rival reforming paper probably contributed to its decline.
The Manchester Guardian — The Observer’s successor?
The Manchester Guardian newspaper (since 1959 the Guardian) was founded in May 1821 in the wake of Peterloo Massacre. Its first editor, John Edward Taylor, was present at the massacre and was involved in the relief fund which organised financial support for the victims. Prior to his appointment as editor, John Edward Taylor published Notes and observations, critical and explanatory, on the papers relative to the internal state of the country, recently presented to Parliament (1820) which presented arguments against the repressive Six Acts which were hurriedly imposed after Peterloo.
The Manchester Guardian’s links with Peterloo were used to cement its reforming credentials and to attract those interested in political reform. As the faded cutting picture below indicates the Guardian regularly commemorated Peterloo, reflecting on its significance to Manchester and national politics and to its own origins.
While the Manchester Guardian was a progressive reforming newspaper, it was not radical in its views, nor scurrilous in tone. Robert Poole has suggested that the Manchester Guardian endured as the Observer’s successor more by avoiding its disasters than by following its example.
Additional resources
For a detailed and authoritative account of the Manchester Observer see Robert Poole’s, ‘The Manchester Observer: Biography of a Radical Newspaper’, BJRL, 95:1 (spring 2019), 30–122, which can be accessed here.
Anne Lister, the Halifax diarist, wrote about her impression of the Manchester Observer. You can read more about her view of this newspaper here.
To find out more about other digitised Peterloo resources held at the University of Manchester see the blog below.
You can find out more about the Manchester Guardian archive here. To find out more about using the Manchester Guardian archive in your assessments see the blog below.
Discussion points
Why do you think the Government imposed a tax on newspapers? Was it simply a revenue stream or was it a more sinister ‘tax on knowledge’ intended to prevent political discussion and to prevent the lower orders agitating for democratic rights?
Images reproduced with the permission of The John Rylands University Librarian and Director of the University of Manchester Library. All images used on this page are licenced via CC-BY-NC-SA, for further information about each image, please follow the link in the caption description.
