William Cobbett

William Cobbett (1763–1835) was an English farmer, pamphleteer, and journalist. Over the course of his life he was steadfastly suspicious of authority. He enlisted in the British army in 1784 and spent his free time educating himself. For his “treasonous” ideas, Cobbett spent two years in the infamous Newgate Prison. He later founded a newspaper called the Weekly Political Register. He is best known for his book Rural Rides (1830).