Episode 23. Robert Blatchford

SYNOPSIS

Credited with converting Frances Evelyn ‘Daisy’ Greville, Countess of Warwick to socialism in 1895, while editor of the left-wing Clarion magazine, Robert Blatchford was one of the towering figures of the popular journalism which flourished - as a result of the 1870 Education Act - from the 1880s until the First World War. The Clarion prospered under his editorship, achieving a healthy circulation of between 30,000 and 40,000. The Clarion movement of leisure clubs - from Scouts to Cycling, Choir, Camera and Field Clubs - showed that socialism could be fun.

But it was only after a series of articles from the weekly had been republished in book form under the title Merrie England that Blatchford’s name was made. Selling two million copies, Merrie England was a sensation. Probably no book had a greater impact on ordinary readers in forming their political allegiance or directing their thoughts towards a more just society. Never one to avoid controversy, Blatchford was an early advocate of atheism and then a trenchant support of British involvement in the First World War, both costing him support from his readers. Like many in the war’s aftermath, Blatchford became an advocate of spiritualism, though this was prompted by the death of his much-loved wife in the 1920s.  

GUEST

Dr Martin Wright is Senior Lecturer in History in the School of History, Archaeology and Religion at the University of Cardiff. Born in Daventry, Northamptonshire, England, Martin has taught in Welsh universities since the 1990s and is a fluent Welsh speaker. His research and teaching specialisms cover socialism, political culture and national identity with particular regard to the Welsh context, 1880-1914. He is currently collaborating on a project ‘Icons, Images and Artifacts: A Material and Visual History of Labour in the Long-Nineteenth Century’. Martin has published on Robert Blatchford, whose influence on Welsh as well as on English Socialism remains a long-standing interest..

Martin’s interview with Simon Machin was recorded online on 2 March 2023.