George Reynolds

George Reynolds

George Reynolds, the son of a captain in the navy, was born at Sandwich on 23rd July 1814. He entered the Royal Military College at Sandhurst in 1828 but he wanted to be a writer rather than a soldier and left in 1830.

His first novel, The Youthful Imposter, was published in 1835. This was followed by a book on literary criticism, Modern Literature of France (1839). Reynolds also worked as a journalist and in 1846 became editor of the London Journal. He also edited his own journal, Reynold's Miscellany, a collection of short stories and poems.

In 1848 Reynolds became active in the Chartist movement. He was one of the speakers at the Kennington Common meeting on 13th March and at the National Convention he represented Derby. At the assembly Reynolds called for the Chartists to establish their own parliament in opposition to the House of Commons. However, he was a strong opponent of Fergus O'Connor and Physical Force Chartism.

Reynolds started his own radical journal, Reynolds Political Instructor and for a short period had a circulation of 30,000 a week. When he closed the journal he replaced it with the Reynolds's Weekly Newspaper. The first edition was published on Sunday, 5th May, 1850 and he kept it going for the rest of his life.

George Reynolds died on 17th June 1879.