First edition of the Manchester Guardian published

Background. John Edward Taylor, a successful cotton merchant and member of the Little Circle, founded the Manchester Guardian in 1821. The Little Circle was a group of Nonconformist Liberals who met in Manchester. Taylor had witnessed the Peterloo Massacre in 1819 but was critical of its radical leaders. The new paper was established after the closure of the Manchester Observer, which had supported the Peterloo protesters.

Publication Details. The first edition was published on 5 May 1821, coinciding with the death of Napoleon. The paper was initially a weekly publication, released on Saturdays at a cost of 7d. High stamp duties made more frequent publication uneconomic. The Manchester Guardian was backed by the Little Circle, excluding William Cowdray Jnr, and reflected Taylor's liberal-minded views.

Political Context. Taylor was hostile to the radical reformers, whose appeals he said were made not to reason but to the passions and suffering of their credulous countrymen. The Manchester Guardian was at first associated with the Little Circle and with classical liberalism as expressed by the Whigs and later the Liberal Party. The closure of the Manchester Observer by successive police prosecutions cleared the path for a newspaper closer to Taylor's liberal-minded mill-owning friends.