Thomas Flindell
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Thomas Flindell (1767 – 11 July 1824), was an English newspaper editor and
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.


Background

Flindell was born in 1767 at Helford, in the parish of
Manaccan Manaccan (; ) is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and village on the The Lizard, Lizard peninsula in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is about five miles (8 km) south-southwest of Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth. ...
,
Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
, and was, to use his own words, "bred an
illiterate Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...
half-seaman". He was apprenticed to a printer, and in 1790, when twenty-three years old, was sent to Yorkshire to conduct the '' Doncaster Gazette'', the circulation of which he largely increased through his happy audacity in anticipating the decision of the jury in the trials of
Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Literary realism, Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry ...
and
Horne Tooke John Horne Tooke (25 June 1736 – 18 March 1812), known as John Horne until 1782 when he added the surname of his friend William Tooke to his own, was an English clergyman, politician and philologist. Associated with radical proponents of parli ...
by publishing the verdict of 'not guilty.' About 1798 he returned to
Helston Helston () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the The Lizard, Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: ...
in his native county, where he opened business as a printer, starting the 'Stannary Press,' and publishing several works by the Rev.
Richard Polwhele Richard Polwhele (6 January 1760 – 12 March 1838) was a Cornish clergyman, poet and historian of Cornwall and Devon. Biography Richard Polwhele's ancestors long held the manor of Treworgan, 4 3/4 miles south-east of Truro in Cornwall, w ...
and Dr.
Robert Hawker Robert Hawker (1753–1827) was an Anglican priest in Devon, vicar of Charles Church, Plymouth. Called "Star of the West" for his popular preaching, he was known as an evangelical and author. The Cornish poet Robert Stephen Hawker was his gra ...
, as well as an edition of
Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early ...
's ''
Essay on Man "An Essay on Man" is a poem published by Alexander Pope in 1733–1734. It was dedicated to Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (pronounced 'Bull-en-brook'), hence the opening line: "Awake, my St John...". It is an effort to rationalize or ...
''. In 1800 he removed to Falmouth, and in that year was published the first volume of his impression of the
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, which he issued in numbers. The introduction and notes to three of the books of the
Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
were contributed by the Rev. John Whitaker, and Polwhele wrote the notes on the other books; but the work was left incomplete, and copies are now very scarce. The first number of the ''Cornwall Gazette and Falmouth Packet'', a weekly paper, was started at Falmouth under his editorship on 7 March 1801, and it lasted until 16 October 1802, when it ceased through the bankruptcy of his partners.


Energy and style

Flindell establish a newspaper called the 'Royal Cornwall Gazette.' Its first number appeared on 2 July 1803, and it still survives. He parted with his interest in this paper in 1811, but he continued the printing business at Truro during the next year. His next venture was the 'Western Luminary,' a weekly newspaper of tory principles, which he set on foot at
Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...
early in 1813. It prospered for some years, until the fierceness of his political zeal led him to stigmatise Queen Caroline as 'notoriously devoted to Bacchus and Venus,' when Wetherell brought the matter before the House of Commons (24 and 25 July 1820), and moved that it was a breach of the house's privileges. This was not unreasonably resisted by Lord Castlereagh, and as it appeared in the subsequent discussion that a prosecution would be instituted the motion was withdrawn. For this indiscretion Flindell was prosecuted, and on 19 March 1821 was sentenced to an imprisonment of eight months in Exeter gaol. During his confinement he composed a volume entitled ''Prison Recreations: the philosophy of reason and revelation attempted, with a view to the restoration of the theory of the Bible on the ruins of infidelity''. The discussion of religious topics was one of his chief pleasures, and the pages of his Exeter paper contained a lengthened controversy from three divines, named Cleeve, Dennis, and Carpenter, on the Trinitarian question, which Flindell 'closed at last in a somewhat perplexed manner,' and provoked from Colton the epigram printed in
Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...
Wrangham's catalogue of his English library, p. 564, to the effect that the three parsons had proved 'not one incomprehensible but three,' and Flindell had shown 'not three incomprehensible but one.' His prison restraint impaired his health; he wrote in January 1824 that he was breaking up fast, and his illness was aggravated by his indignation at the severe treatment which he had received, while others who had used equally strong language had escaped scot-free.


Death

After a protracted illness he died at Exeter on 11 July 1824, aged 57. His wife and a numerous family survived him; he had eight children in 1806, some of whom are mentioned in Boase's 'Collectanea Cornub.,' p. 251. Several letters by Flindell are in Jonathan Edwards Ryland's 'Kitto,' pp. 124–9, 155; Polwhele's 'Traditions and Recollections,' ii. 778–81; 'Reminiscences,' i. 125–6; and 'Biographical Sketches in Cornwall,' ii. 57. 'A man of strong understanding, though by no means polished or refined,' was Polwhele's estimate of Flindell's character.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flindell, Thomas 1767 births 1824 deaths People from Cornwall English newspaper editors English male journalists