William Cobbett

William Cobbett was a journalist, farmer, politician, biographer and writer (1763–1835). He was born at Farnham and died at Surrey.

Also recorded as Dick Retort; Peter Porcupine.

William Cobbett in brief

Born
1763
Died
1835
Known for
journalist, farmer, politician, biographer, writer, historian and independent publisher
Place of birth
Farnham
Contents

Identity and origins

He also worked under the names Peter Porcupine and Dick Retort. The authorities additionally record the headings Dick Retort and Peter Porcupine. His recorded language was English.

One child is recorded: Anne Cobbett.

Catalogued works

40 works under this name are catalogued by Wikidata Query Service, Open Library and Wellcome Collection. Their recorded dates run from 1801 to 2008.

Rural Rides. Cottage Economy. A treatise on the culture and management of fruit trees : in which a new method of pruning and training is fully described .. Cobbett's poor man's friend; or, A defence of the rights of those who do the work and fight the battles. A year's residence in America. The American gardener:. The American gardener;. The English gardener;. Bwth-drefniant : yn cynnwys cyfarwyddiadau mewn perthynas i ddarllaw heiddlyn (beer), gwneuthur bara, cadw buwchod, moch, gwenyn, defaid, geifr, dof-adar, a cwningod. Rural rides in Surrey, Kent, and other counties. Advice to Young Men, and (incidentally) to Young Women, dated 1833. Advice to Young Men and (incidentally) to Young Women, in the Middle and .., dated 1829. The American Gardener: Or, A Treatise on the Situation, Soil, Fencing and Laying-out of Gardens .., dated 1821. Cobbett's Collective Commentaries: Or, Remarks on the Proceedings in the Collective Wisdom of .., dated 1822. Cobbett's Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes .., dated 1812. Cobbett's Legacy to Parsons, Or, Have the Clergy of the Established Church an Equitable Right to .., dated 1835. Cobbett's Manchester Lectures, in Support of His Fourteen Reform Propositions: Which Lectures .., dated 1832. Cobbett's Tour in Scotland; and in the Four Northern Counties of England: In .., dated 1833. Cobbett's Two-penny Trash; Or, Politics for the Poor, dated 1831. Cobbett's Weekly Political Register, dated 1821. Cottage Economy: Containing Information Relative to the Brewing of Beer, Making of Bread .., dated 1826. A grammar of the English language, dated 1844. A Grammar of the English Language: In a Series of Letters : Intended for the .., dated 1819. Historia da reforma protestante em Inglaterra e Irlanda: fazendo ver, que ete acontecimento .., dated 1828. A History of the Protestant Reformation in England and Ireland: Showing how .., dated 1829. A New French and English Dictionary in Two Parts, dated 1833. Paper Against Gold, dated 1828. Paper Against Gold: Or, The History and Mystery of the Bank of England, of .., dated 1828. Porcupine's Works: Containing Various Writings and Selections, Exhibiting a Faithful Picture of .., dated 1801. Cobbett's Weekly Register, dated 1824. A Geographical Dictionary of England and Wales, dated 1832. Rural Rides: In the Counties of Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Hants, Berks, Oxford, Bucks, Wilts .., dated 1885. [William Cobbett correspondence]., dated 2008-, held by Wellcome Collection. William Cobbett dressed as a farmer marches out of step towards the sea behind a recruiting serjeant and a drummer-boy. Etching by J. Gillray, 1809., dated 29 September 1809, held by Wellcome Collection. William Cobbett dressed as a Serjeant-Major furtively copies regimental documents in a room with a bolted door assisted by Corporal Bestland. Etching by J. Gillray, 1809., dated 29 September 1809, held by Wellcome Collection. William Cobbett is joined by six drunkards who applaud his toast of "damnation to the House of Brunswick"; representing British parliamentary reform. Etching by J. Gillray, ca. 1809., dated 29 September 1809, held by Wellcome Collection. William Cobbett surrounded by flames and beset by ghosts and the devil starts back in his chair overturning his writing-table and dropping his pen. Etching by J. Gillray, 1809., dated 29 September 1809, held by Wellcome Collection. William Cobbett. Stipple engraving by F. Bartolozzi, 1801, after J. R. Smith., dated 1801, held by Wellcome Collection. Cottage economy containing information ... / [William Cobbett]., dated 1828, held by Wellcome Collection. A year's residence in the United States of America / [William Cobbett]., dated 1822, held by Wellcome Collection.

In public collections

Work associated with this heading is recorded in 1 named public collection.

Wellcome Collection: 168 recorded objects, read from the institution's own published catalogue.

Literature

6 scholarly publications naming this subject were located in the registry of record.

William Cobbett: Dimensions of Patriotism, William Cobbett, Romanticism and the Enlightenment, 2015. Cobbett and Queen Caroline, William Cobbett, the Press and Rural England. Cobbett, William (1762–1835), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2018. William Cobbett, 2026. Radicalism on the Cross Roads: William Hazlitt and William Cobbett, William Cobbett, Romanticism and the Enlightenment, 2015. The Queen Caroline Affair in Radical Periodicals, Open Cultural Studies, 2022.

Digitised editions and texts

13 digitised items associated with this heading are catalogued by Internet Archive and Project Gutenberg.

A Grammar of the English Language in a Series of Letters: Intended for the Use of Schools and of ... (1819) — Internet Archive. A Grammar of the English Language: In a Series of Letters : Intended for the ... (1819) — Internet Archive. The American Gardener: Or, A Treatise on the Situation, Soil, Fencing and Laying-out of Gardens ... (1821) — Internet Archive. The English Gardener: Or, A Treatise on the Situation, Soil, Enclosing and Laying-out, of ... (1845) — Internet Archive. Considerazioni e documenti sorgenti dalle lettere di Guglielmo Cobbett intorno alle vere cagioni onde si mantiene il protestantismo in Inghilterra tradotte dall'inglese dal Cavalier Stefano Dufrene (1853) — Internet Archive. The woodlands: or, A treatise on the preparing of ground for planting; on the planting [&c.] of ... (1825) — Internet Archive. Porcupine's Works: Containing Various Writings and Selections, Exhibiting a Faithful Picture of ... (1801) — Internet Archive. Rural Rdes (1948) — Internet Archive. rural rides (1957) — Internet Archive. A history of the Protestant reformation in England and Ireland, (1897) — Internet Archive. The Life Of Thomas Paine, Vol. 1. (of 2) — Internet Archive. Advice to Young Men: And (Incidentally) to Young Women in the Middle and Higher Ranks of Life. In a Series of Letters, Addressed to a Youth, a Bachelor, a Lover, a Husband, a Father, a Citizen, or a Subject. — Project Gutenberg. Cottage Economy, to Which is Added The Poor Man's Friend — Project Gutenberg.

Scholarly footprint

Bibliographic registers publish measured figures for this heading: 25 language editions of the general reference literature carrying an article (Wikimedia (language editions)). A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.

Evidence base

This article draws on 6 independent source lineages. Copies and mirrors of the same underlying record were collapsed into a single witness, so 6 means 6 genuinely separate publishers of record. 11 further registers were consulted and returned nothing for this heading.

In detail

William Cobbett studied at Parktown Boys' High School. the recorded working language is English.

Places of work recorded in the authority are London. Positions recorded include member of the 12th Parliament of the United Kingdom and member of the 11th Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Works named in the authority record are Rural Rides.

Work by William Cobbett is recorded in the collections of Australian National Maritime Museum.

Chronology

  1. 1763William Cobbett born at Farnham.
  2. 1801Porcupine's Works: Containing Various Writings and Selections, Exhibiting a Faithful Picture of ... digitised by Internet Archive.
  3. 1809Cobbett's complete collection of state trials and proceedings for high treason and other crimes and misdemeanors from the earliest period to the present time ... from the ninth year of the reign of King Henry, the Second, A.D. 1163, to ... [George IV, A.D. 1820] digitised by Internet Archive.
  4. 1819A Grammar of the English Language in a Series of Letters: Intended for the Use of Schools and of ... digitised by Internet Archive.
  5. 1819A Grammar of the English Language: In a Series of Letters : Intended for the ... digitised by Internet Archive.
  6. 1821The American Gardener: Or, A Treatise on the Situation, Soil, Fencing and Laying-out of Gardens ... digitised by Internet Archive.
  7. 1825The woodlands: or, A treatise on the preparing of ground for planting; on the planting [&c.] of ... digitised by Internet Archive.
  8. 1835William Cobbett died at Surrey.
  9. 1845The English Gardener: Or, A Treatise on the Situation, Soil, Enclosing and Laying-out, of ... digitised by Internet Archive.
  10. 1853Considerazioni e documenti sorgenti dalle lettere di Guglielmo Cobbett intorno alle vere cagioni onde si mantiene il protestantismo in Inghilterra tradotte dall'inglese dal Cavalier Stefano Dufrene digitised by Internet Archive.

Sources

Each source is named with the standing the house places on it, so the evidence can be weighed rather than taken on trust.

  1. 1.

    Cobbett and Queen Caroline, William Cobbett, the Press and Rural England

    scholarly publication · Scholarly

    Consult the source
  2. 2.

    Cobbett, William (1762–1835), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2018

    scholarly publication · Scholarly

    Consult the source
  3. 3.

    Open Library author record for William Cobbett (Internet Archive), 23 catalogued works.

    Institutional database · Scholarly · Internet Archive

    Consult the source
  4. 4.

    Radicalism on the Cross Roads: William Hazlitt and William Cobbett, William Cobbett, Romanticism and the Enlightenment, 2015

    scholarly publication · Scholarly

    Consult the source
  5. 5.

    William Cobbett, 2026

    scholarly publication · Scholarly

    Consult the source
  6. 6.

    William Cobbett: Dimensions of Patriotism, William Cobbett, Romanticism and the Enlightenment, 2015

    scholarly publication · Scholarly

    Consult the source
  7. 7.

    Directory of Open Access Journals lists 1 article naming William Cobbett.

    open access index · Unverified

    Consult the source
  8. 8.

    Getty Union List of Artist Names 500446051, Skinner, William Cobbett.

    authority file · Unverified · The Getty Research Institute

    Consult the source
  9. 9.

    Internet Archive, 178 digitised items catalogued under William Cobbett as creator.

    digital repository · Unverified

    Consult the source
  10. 10.

    Project Gutenberg holds 3 full texts attributed to William Cobbett.

    digital repository · Unverified

    Consult the source
  11. 11.

    Wellcome Collection catalogue records 168 works naming William Cobbett.

    museum collection · Unverified · Wellcome Collection

    Consult the source
  12. 12.

    Wikidata, structured authority record Q2141938: William Cobbett

    reference work · Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation

    Consult the source
  13. 13.

    “William Cobbett”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading

    reference work · Reputable secondary · Wikipedia

    Consult the source

Elsewhere in Books

For owners

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