- James Bronterre O'Brien
James Bronterre O'Brien (1805 – 1864) was an Irish born
Chartist leader,reformer andjournalist .Irish Birth & Formative Years
James O'Brien, was born near
Granard ,County Longford ,Ireland in 1805. O'Brien went to a local church school but one of his teachers recognised his intellectual abilities and arranged for him to be educated at the progressive Lovell Edgeworth School. In 1822 he proceeded toTrinity College, Dublin , where he won several academic prizes including the Science Gold Medal. After studyinglaw atKing's Inns , O'Brien moved toEngland in 1829 with the intention of becoming alawyer inLondon .Political Awakening & Activism
In London he joined the
Radical Reform Association where he metHenry Hunt ,William Cobbett ,Henry Hetherington and other leaders of the struggle foruniversal suffrage . In 1836 he joined theLondon Working Men's Association .O'Brien began contributing articles to Henry Hetherington's
Poor Man's Guardian . He signed these articles with the pseudonym 'Bronterre' and James O'Brien eventually adopted it as his middle name. He worked very closely with Hetherington and when he was imprisoned for publishing an unstamped newspaper, O'Brien took over the editorship of the Poor Man's Guardian. O'Brien and Hetherington also collaborated on other unstamped newspapers such asThe Destructive and theLondon Dispatch . In 1837 O'Brien began publishingBronterre's National Reformer . In an attempt to avoid paying stamp duty, the journal included essays rather than 'news items'. During this period, Henry Hetherington and O'Brien led the struggle against the stamp duty and were consistent in their arguments that working people needed cheap newspapers that contained political information.O'Brien was influenced by the socialist writer,
Gracchus Babeuf , who had been executed during theFrench Revolution . In 1836 O'Brien began publishing translations of Babuef's work in the Poor Man's Guardian. He also includedPhilip Buonarotti 's account of Babeuf and theConspiracy of Equals . O'Brien became fascinated with the history ofradicalism and began work on books on theFrench Revolution and theEnglish Commonwealth . However, the authorities raided his house in 1838 and seized his manuscripts and the projects were never completed.In 1838 O'Brien added his support for a more militant approach to winning the vote that was being advocated by
Feargus O'Connor andGeorge Julian Harney . However, O'Brien, unlike O'Connor, refused to support the use of violence to achieving universal suffrage. O'Brien argued that the Chartists should adopt a policy that was midway between the petitioning supported byWilliam Lovett and theMoral Force Chartists , and the violence being threatened by O'Connor'sPhysical Force group.After Bronterre's National Reformer ceased publication, O'Brien worked for O'Connor's Northern Star. His articles played an important role in increasing the circulation of what had become the most important of the radical newspapers. As well as writing for the Northern Star, James O'Brien also found time to publish his own newspaper "The Operative".
Turning Point
O'Brien continued to be active in the Chartist movement and in 1840 he was arrested and charged with making a seditious speech in
Manchester . He was convicted ofsedition and sentenced to eighteen months in Lancaster Prison. When O'Brien was released from prison he found it difficult to continue working with Feargus O'Connor. The two men disagreed over the issue of Physical Force. Another source of dispute concerned parliamentary elections. O'Brien favoured the idea of putting up Chartist candidates whereas O'Connor preferred the tactic of putting pressure on the Whig government by threatening to vote for Tory candidates. O'Brien was involved in standing Chartist candidates against Government Ministers in key seats, particularly in standing against Lord Palmerston in Tiverton.O'Brien finally broke with O'Connor when along with
Henry Vincent andRobert Gammage he joined theComplete Suffrage Union . O'Brien continued to publish newspapers. He joined with his old friend Henry Hetherington to revive the Poor Man's Guardian in 1843 and this was followed by theNational Reformer in 1844. These newspapers were not a financial success and by May, 1847, both papers had ceased publication.After the failure of these two newspapers O'Brien concentrated on writing for other publications such as
The Reynolds Weekly and theGlasgow Sentinel . He also gave public lectures and in 1851 he opened theEclectic Institute in Denmark Street,Soho ,London , where adult education classes were offered in English, French, science and mathematics.Decline & Demise
By the 1850s O'Brien's poverty began to damage his health. He suffered from bronchitis and his Chartist friends attempted to raise money in recognition of the great sacrifices that he had made in the struggle to win universal suffrage and the freedom of the press. However, the damage to his health was so bad that he spent his last years bed-ridden. James Bronterre O'Brien died on 23rd December, 1864 and is buried in
Abney Park Cemetery .External links
* [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/CHobrien.htm Bronterre O'Brien] at [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ Spartacus Schoolnet]
* [http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/adw03/peel/people/obrien.htm Bronterre O'Brien] at [http://www.historyhome.co.uk/ The Peel Web]
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