Thomas Jonathan Wooler

The publisher Thomas Jonathan Wooler (1786–29 October 1853) was active in the Radical movement of early 19th century Britain, best known for his satirical journal "The Black Dwarf".

He was born in Yorkshire and lived there for a short time before moving to London as a printer's apprentice. He worked for the radical journal "The Reasoner", then became editor of "The Statesman". His interest in legal matters led him to write and publish the pamphlet "An Appeal to the Citizens of London against the Packing of Special Juries" in 1817.

In response to the Gagging Acts passed by the British government in January 1817, Wooler started publishing "The Black Dwarf" as a new radical unstamped journal. Within three months he was arrested and charged with seditious libel. The prosecution claimed that Wooler had written articles libelling Lord Liverpool's government, but Wooler, defending himself, convinced the jury that, although he had published the article, he had not written it himself, and therefore was not guilty. He continued to publish "The Black Dwarf" and to use it to argue for parliamentary reform.

Wooler was an active supporter of Major John Cartwright and his Hampden Club movement. In 1819, he joined the campaign to elect Sir Charles Wolseley to represent Birmingham in the House of Commons. Birmingham had not been given permission to have an election, and the campaigners were arrested and charged with "forming a seditious conspiracy to elect a representative to Parliament without lawful authority". Wooler was found guilty and sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment.

After his most prominent patron, Major John Cartwright, died in 1824, Wooler gave up publishing "the Black Dwarf". For a while he edited the "British Gazette", but, after the Reform Act 1832 was passed, he gave up politics to become a lawyer. Wooler went on to write books and pamphlets on the British legal system, including "Every Man his Own Lawyer" in 1845.

External links

* [http://www.ethicalspace.org/archive/2005_V2-1_feature-1.html Expanding ethical discourse in Wooler’s Black Dwarf]
* [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRblack.htm Thomas Wooler]