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Do not fill this in! ====Early years==== [[File:The Manchester Guardian, May 5 1821.jpg|thumb|''Manchester Guardian'' Prospectus, 1821]] ''The Manchester Guardian'' was founded in [[Manchester]] in 1821 by cotton merchant [[John Edward Taylor]] with backing from the [[Little Circle]], a group of [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|non-conformist]] businessmen.<ref name="G">{{cite news |title=Battle for the memory of Peterloo: Campaigners demand fitting tribute |work=The Guardian |date=13 August 2007 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/aug/13/britishidentity.artnews |access-date=26 March 2008 |location=London |last=Wainwright |first=Martin |archive-date=5 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130705035053/http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/aug/13/britishidentity.artnews |url-status=live }}</ref> They launched the paper, on 5 May 1821 (by chance the very day of [[Napoleon|Napoleon's]] death) after the police closure of the more [[Radicalism (historical)#Popular agitation|radical]] ''[[Manchester Observer]]'', a paper that had championed the cause of the [[Peterloo Massacre]] protesters.<ref>{{cite news|author=Editorial|title=The Manchester Guardian, born 5 May 1821: 190 years β work in progress|date=4 May 2011|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/may/05/manchester-guardian-work-in-progress|access-date=13 December 2016|archive-date=2 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202122132/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/may/05/manchester-guardian-work-in-progress|url-status=live}}</ref> Taylor had been hostile to the radical reformers, writing: "They have appealed not to the reason but the passions and the suffering of their abused and credulous fellow-countrymen, from whose ill-requited industry they extort for themselves the means of a plentiful and comfortable existence. They do not toil, neither do they spin, but they live better than those that do."<ref>''Manchester Gazette'', 7 August 1819, quoted in {{cite book| title= 'Guardian' : biography of a newspaper | last= Ayerst | first= David | year= 1971 | publisher=Collins | location= London | isbn= 978-0-00-211329-8 | page=20}}</ref> When the government closed down the ''Manchester Observer'', the mill-owners' champions had the upper hand.<ref>{{cite book| title= Poor men's guardians : a record of the struggles for a democratic newspaper press, 1763β1973 | url= https://archive.org/details/poormensguardian0000harr | url-access= registration | last= Harrison |first= Stanley | year= 1974 | publisher=Lawrence and Wishart | location= London | isbn= 978-0-85315-308-5 | page=[https://archive.org/details/poormensguardian0000harr/page/53 53]}}</ref> The influential journalist [[Jeremiah Garnett]] joined Taylor during the establishment of the paper, and all of the Little Circle wrote articles for the new paper.<ref name="dnbGarnett">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Garnett, Jeremiah|last=Garnett|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Garnett (writer)|volume=21|quote=''citing:'' [''Manchester Guardian'', 28 September 1870; ''Manchester Free Lance'', 1 October 1870; Prentice's Historical Sketches and Personal Recollections of Manchester; personal knowledge.]}}</ref> The prospectus announcing the new publication proclaimed that it would "zealously enforce the principles of civil and religious Liberty ... warmly advocate the cause of Reform ... endeavour to assist in the diffusion of just principles of Political Economy and ... support, without reference to the party from which they emanate, all serviceable measures".<ref>{{cite web|title=The Scott Trust: History |publisher=Guardian Media Group |url=http://www.gmgplc.co.uk/ScottTrust/History/tabid/193/Default.aspx |access-date=26 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080728175652/http://www.gmgplc.co.uk/ScottTrust/History/tabid/193/Default.aspx |archive-date=28 July 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1825, the paper merged with the ''British Volunteer'' and was known as ''The Manchester Guardian and British Volunteer'' until 1828.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://catalyst.library.jhu.edu/catalog/bib_3593893 |title=The Manchester guardian and British volunteer β JH Libraries |publisher=Catalyst.library.jhu.edu |access-date=6 March 2016 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304212731/https://catalyst.library.jhu.edu/catalog/bib_3593893 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[Working class|working-class]] ''Manchester and Salford Advertiser'' called ''The Manchester Guardian'' "the foul prostitute and dirty [[parasite]] of the worst portion of the mill-owners".<ref>21 May 1836</ref> ''The Manchester Guardian'' was generally hostile to labour's claims. Of the 1832 Ten Hours Bill, the paper doubted whether in view of the foreign competition "the passing of a law positively enacting a gradual destruction of the cotton manufacture in this kingdom would be a much less rational procedure."<ref>{{cite news|title=Editorial|work=The Manchester Guardian|date=28 January 1832}}</ref> ''The Manchester Guardian'' dismissed strikes as the work of outside agitators, stating that "if an accommodation can be effected, the occupation of the agents of the Union is gone. They live on strife ... ."<ref>{{cite news|title=Editorial|work=The Manchester Guardian|date=26 February 1873}}</ref> In March 2023, an academic review commissioned by the [[Scott Trust]] determined that John Edward Taylor and nine of his eleven backers had links to the [[Atlantic slave trade]] through their interests in Manchester's textile industry.<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 March 2023 |title=The Guardian's owner apologises for historical slave trade links |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-65113058 |access-date=31 March 2023 |archive-date=30 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330153650/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-65113058 |url-status=live }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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