James Bronterre O'Brien (February 1804[1] – 23 December 1864) was an IrishChartist leader, reformer and journalist.
James O'Brien was born nearGranard,County Longford,Ireland in 1804 or 1805. His father, Daniel O'Brien, appears to have operated a failing alcohol and tobacco business before he pursued business ventures in the West Indies where he died from an illness.[2]
He went to a local church school, where one of his teachers recognised his intellectual abilities and arranged for him to be educated at the progressiveLovell Edgeworth School. In 1822 he proceeded toTrinity College, Dublin, where he won several academic prizes including the Science Gold Medal. After studying law atKing's Inns, O'Brien moved to England in 1829 with the intention of becoming a lawyer in London.
In London he joined theRadical 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'sPoor 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 ofThe 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 Babeuf's work in the Poor Man's Guardian. He also includedFilippo Buonarroti'saccount of Babeuf and theConspiracy of Equals. O'Brien became fascinated with the history ofradicalism and began work on books on Robespierre, 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 byFeargus O'Connor andGeorge Julian Harney through theLondon Democratic Association. 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 the 'moral force chartists', and the violence being threatened by O'Connor's 'physical force' group.
AfterBronterre's National Reformer ceased publication, O'Brien worked for O'Connor'sNorthern 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 newspaperThe Operative.
O'Brien continued to be active in the Chartist movement and in 1840 he was arrested and charged with making a seditious speech inManchester. He was convicted ofsedition and sentenced to eighteen months inLancaster 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 theWhig 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 againstLord Palmerston inTiverton.
O'Brien finally broke with O'Connor when along withHenry Vincent andRobert Gammage he joined theComplete Suffrage Union. O'Brien continued to publish newspapers. He joined with his old friend Henry Hetherington to revive thePoor 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 asReynold's 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.
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 23 December 1864, and is buried inAbney Park Cemetery.
