The ''Manchester Times'' was a weekly newspaper published in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England, from 1828 to 1922. It was known for its free trade radicalism. From 1828 to 1847, the newspaper was edited by

Archibald Prentice Archibald Prentice (1792–1857) was a Scottish journalist, known as a radical reformer and temperance campaigner. Life The son of Archibald Prentice of Covington Mains in the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire, and Helen, daughter of John Stoddart of The ...

, a political radical and advocate of

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econ ...

. After swallowing the ''Manchester Gazette'', the paper took the title ''Manchester Times and Gazette'' in 1831. In 1835 the paper published a series of letters by

Richard Cobden Richard Cobden (3 June 1804 – 2 April 1865) was an English Radical and Liberal politician, manufacturer, and a campaigner for free trade and peace. He was associated with the Anti-Corn Law League and the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty. As a you ...

, and Prentice subsequently made it a mouthpiece for the

Anti-Corn-Law League The Anti-Corn Law League was a successful political movement in Great Britain aimed at the abolition of the unpopular Corn Laws, which protected landowners’ interests by levying taxes on imported wheat, thus raising the price of bread at a time ...

. In 1849, the paper merged with the ''

Manchester Examiner The ''Manchester Examiner'' was a newspaper based in Manchester, England, that was founded around 1845–1846. Initially intended as an organ to promote the idea of Manchester Liberalism, a decline in its later years led to a takeover by a group w ...

'', recently founded as a radical competitor after a falling-out between Prentice and Cobden, and became the ''Manchester Examiner and Times''. (The ''Examiner'' had been founded by the young

Edward Watkin Sir Edward William Watkin, 1st Baronet (26 September 1819 – 13 April 1901) was a British Member of Parliament and railway entrepreneur. He was an ambitious visionary, and presided over large-scale railway engineering projects to fulfil his b ...

, whose father was noted for his involvement in the Anti-Corn-Law League.) Briefly known as the ''Manchester Weekly Examiner & Times'' in 1856–57, the paper settled down under the title ''Manchester Weekly Times and Examiner'' (or simply ''Manchester Weekly Times'') in 1858. The newspaper's last issue appeared on 22 July 1922. The 3,973 issues of the ''Manchester Times'', published between 1828 and 1900, are available to read in digitised form at the British Newspaper Archive.Digitised copies of the ''Manchester Times''
at the British Newspaper Archive

References

Publications established in 1828 Publications disestablished in 1922 Newspapers published in Manchester Defunct newspapers published in the United Kingdom Defunct weekly newspapers 1828 establishments in the United Kingdom 1922 disestablishments in the United Kingdom {{England-newspaper-stub