The series of articles Letters by a Radical first appeared in the Rochdale Observer on 19 January 1867, page 4. The first article was dated London, 17th January 1867 and was not attributed to any author. The article appeared on the leader page, with other political material, and on the day of the first article, the following note appeared:

"In this morning's issue will be found the first of an interesting permanent series of weekly London letters, from an able correspondent we have just specially engaged to furnish this journal with original communications on general topics. He is an experienced writer, frequenter of the clubs and the gallery of the House of Commons, possessing sources of original information equal to any correspondent in the metropolis, and we trust his weekly parcel will supply an additional attraction to our numerous readers."

The articles continued until May 1933 and appeared weekly with very, very rare omissions. The Rochdale Observer was a weekly paper when the articles were first published. The articles contained House of Commons business, political comment, comment on political figures and the early articles, at least, had a particular interest in radical politics. They appear to have been "customized" for the local market; for example "Let any Rochdale manufacturer try and imagine..."

Research by Diana Winterbotham

Articles

1867

January 17