Papers of William Cobbett, 1763-1835

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'.

William Cobbett was born in Farnham on March 9th 1763 and died in Normandy, Surrey on June 18th 1835. He married Ann Reid in February 1792. Cobbett was a radical political journalist and also an passionate farmer. He was a strong advocator of parliamentary reform, which eventually led to the 1832 Reform Act after which time Cobbett was elected to Parliament. (Source: Oxford DNB)

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.

By prior appointment only. Application in writing (letter or email) to the Assistant Librarian (Archives). See Nuffield College Archives location page for more details.

The handlist for the Cobbett collection can be found [online] Link: https://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/the-college/library/special-collection-and-archives/archive/

The papers of William Cobbett listed here were received from several sources at different times. A large proportion of the papers originated from G.D.H. Cole's personal library, which was purchased in the 1950s whilst Colonel W.O. Cobbett and Messrs. Faithfull of Winchester (Cobbett's solicitors) also deposited papers in the collection.