'Robert Barnabas Brough: a Republican Writer of the Mid-Nineteenth Century'

'Robert Barnabas Brough: a republican writer of the mid-nineteenth century' Dr Cynthia Dereli The subject of this article was not a working-class man in the sense that he did not earn his daily bread by manual labour. He attended grammar school, though not university, and made his living from his education, beginning as a clerk but quickly showing talent as an artist and writer. He made a living from these talents with difficulty throughout his short life. But there is no doubt that Robert Barnabas Brough saw himself as a working man in the field of literature, one who had to work, and work very hard for a precarious living. Among a class of 'working men in journalism',1 by all accounts Robert Brough stood out not only for his talent but also his dedication to work in spite of ill health. But his history belongs with that of the working-class for another particular reason. He was a republican by conviction, and never wavered from that commitment. These were not just views privately held, but visibly, publicly displayed in his journalism, poetry and writing for the stage. Brough died in 1860 and the high point of Republicanism in England, or perhaps its second high point and final demise might be considered to be the 1870s and the movement started by Charles Bradlaugh. Between W. J. Linton's The English Republic (1850) and Bradlaugh's launch of the Secular Society in the late 1860s, after a period in which republicanism in England has been largely assumed to have been dormant, Brough's work stands out as 'flying the flag' for republicanism, often quite literally as his plays often incorporated a scene in which red flags and caps were prominent. Newspaper reports noted the enthusiasm with which such scenes were greeted by Brough's appreciative audiences. This article will consider Brough's contribution to the cause of republicanism, through a consideration of his literary work and its reception. His work includes journalism, drama, novels and poetry. In relation to poetry the article does not set out to engage directly with the debates of recent authors on Chartist poetry about the models for conceptualising the nature of such interventions, for instance, as regards the pre-eminence of 'feeling' or political image or 'imaginary'.2 The account of Brough's life and work here aims to foreground the views of one individual, but one significantly in the public eye, with a commitment to republicanism based on a non- sectarian love of humanity. As such, the story of Brough's work can contribute to a reappraisal of republicanism in the mid-century, challenging a view of republicanism at this time as merely an unseen aberration on the fringe of Chartism.3 The early years Robert Barnabas Brough was born on 10th April 1828 in London. His parents were Barnabas Brough (b. 1796) and Frances Whiteside (b. 1804). In the 1830s the Brough family are known to have been living in Pontypool, where Barnabas was a 1 brewer and wine merchant. Yates wrote that he was the son 'of man engaged in commerce'.4 The exact date of the family's move to Wales has not been identified, though it is known that another son, Lionel, was born in Pontypool, and Jean Webster Brough suggests the family moved from London to Liverpool soon after Robert's birth, and presumably from there to Wales within the next few years.5 It has not been possible to discover any details about the family during their period in Wales. George A. Sala noted that Barnabas and Frances 'had four clever sons and two as clever daughters'.6 The sons are known from their literary and theatrical reputations in the mid-century: William (b. 28th April, 1826), John Cargill (b. 11th February, 1834) and Lionel (b. 10th March, 1836). All acquired reputations in the literary circles in London in the 1850s, and were well-known as members of the Brough family. But the relationships that seem to have been most important for Robert were those with his elder brother William, and with his sister Mary E. C. (b. 1831). Between 1843 and 1845 Barnabas Brough worked as an auctioneer and accountant in Manchester. The family's move from Wales came about as a result of Barnabas' strange encounter with Chartists during 1839. He recounted the story in A Night with the Chartists, a pamphlet he published in 1847.7 In November 1839, on the night of the insurrection at Newport, Barnabas encountered a group of Chartists as he was returning home from a business trip and was briefly kidnapped by them. Barnabas was not unsympathetic to the Chartist cause and was an old friend of their leader, John Frost. But as a result of this episode he was obliged to act as a Crown witness against his old friend at the trial. John Frost was subsequently deported to Australia. Given the Chartist sympathies in that area, Barnabas's role in the affair ruined his business and the family were obliged to move. By the early 1840s we find them resettled in Manchester.8 There is no documented evidence of the effect of this episode on Robert, though the tenacity with which he remained loyal to his political views may well have been influenced by his father's experience. As regards the children's education, Yates notes that their father 'gave them a plain English education'.9 Robert and William are known to have been educated at a private school in Newport, and Lionel at Manchester Grammar School and then at Priory School in London.10 It is also known that Robert taught himself French, German and Spanish.11 They did not, as was the case for many of the men with whom they worked later in the London literary circles, have a university education, a fact that regardless of talent, set them apart.12 Robert began his working life in Manchester as a clerk, around 1844. Sala records that he 'tried half-a-dozen avocations before he discovered his real one – Literature', including working as a merchant's clerk and as a portrait painter at Manchester and Liverpool.13 Overall such limited available information on Brough's youth sheds little light on the origin of his strongly held political views.14 Of those friends who remembered him in 2 their memoirs, few commented on his politics. Yates notably did so and threw up his hands in horror at the inexplicable strength of Brough's views.15 But then this comment comes from one of those colleagues who considered himself to be on the inside of the elite literary circles. The evidence from Brough's own writing, as we will see later, suggests that awareness of the political issues of 1848 and a strong instinct for human sympathy and care for others united to form his political convictions. Early career: from Liverpool to London By 1845 Barnabas had moved the family to London, where he found a position as accountant to the Illustrated London News, a position which he held until his death in 1854. It is not clear whether his sons William and Robert were living with the family at the time of the move to London. It seems more likely that they had remained in the north of England, as two years later newspaper reports show that they were beginning to make a name for themselves in the literary scene in Liverpool. Here we find the first evidence of the talents of Robert Brough that were to be applied to the cause of republicanism. The first number of a new journal in Liverpool, the Liverpool Lion, came out on Saturday 10th April 1847. It was run and largely written by the Brothers Brough and was modelled on the London journal, Punch, which had started in 1841, copying its sub-title from Punch: the Liverpool Lion and Lancashire Charivari. From June 1847 through to January 1848 the Liverpool Mercury carried reports of the activities of this new publication. They quoted articles from the Lion and particularly jokes and quips for the entertainment of their own readers. Inspired by what they saw as the hard- hitting approach of Punch, the brothers' targets in Liverpool were mainly local politicians. One source of information about the kind of activities they were involved in at this time is Robert's novel Marston Lynch, which was described as semi-biographical by some of his reviewers and friends.16 Here it is sufficient to note that the novel clearly does not recount specific events of their lives at that time, but does draw on their experiences of the cut and thrust of journalism in Liverpool in the late 1840s, describing a young man who is fearlessly holding the city fathers to account, heedless of the consequences for his own career. Marston Lynch also provides evidence of the financial difficulties for those starting out in journalism, which presumably Robert also experienced at first hand. Yates describes Robert's work on the Lion as showing all the qualities that were to distinguish his later work: 'the bright wit, the strange quaint fancy, the readiness to seize upon topics of the hour, and present then in the quaintest garb'. He adds that 'the exquisite pathos was not there [yet] nor the bitter savagery, though gleams of this last were not wanting.'17 The last number of the Liverpool Lion came out on February 12th 1848. On February 3 22nd the Liverpool Mercury reported that the Lion was discontinued due to the illness of Mr Robert Brough, and that when recovered he was to go to London.

Load more