Persisting in the Truth

Peter Finnerty (c.1774-1822) was one of the most combative and consequential journalists of the Age of Revolutions. Despite this, historians have long overlooked his key role in helping to shape radical politics in England and Ireland in this period. The book delineates Finnerty's role as a crucial link between the Irish radical movement of the late eighteenth century and its counterpart in Britain in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. It evaluates his ideas, his public life in both England and Ireland, and the legacy he left behind for those radical journalists who followed in his footsteps. Finnerty's turbulent career involved him in two notorious libel trials in 1797 and 1810. The first of which left him with little choice but to leave Ireland and essentially forced him to pursue a new career in England. During his years as a courageous and crusading journalist there, he frequently exposed corruption in high places, most notably in the Duke of York scandal of 1809. Subsequently, through his reporting on the Walcheren expedition in 1809 and the Peterloo massacre of 1819, Finnerty exposed the inhumanity of the governments then in power in Britain. Throughout his frequent clashes with Lord Castlereagh, the senior Tory politician whom he saw as his nemesis, Finnerty maintained his fervent commitment to the ideal of the freedom of the press. His willingness to accept the costs this entailed resulted in his serving two prison terms. Finnerty was also determined that the public should have free access to the information they needed to understand and give informed consent to the policies pursued by government. In this respect, he was a democratic writer whose ideas retain their relevance and power today.