Was The Expansion Of The Press Between 1695 and 1760 Commercially Or Politically Driven?

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and growth of papers with unmistakeably political intentions, such as the proliferation of opposition press. However, this essay will argue that there was predominantly commercial motive behind politicising the press, since it would guarantee readers.

This section will highlight that rapid urbanisation drove geographical expansion of the press from the capital to the provinces in search of commercial benefit. Michael Harris argues that the extension of the industry away from London was a blend of ‘commercial speculation’ and ‘political opportunism’. I would argue that the main catalyst was speculation, particularly by London-based printers, that there was a lucrative market in the growing urbanisation of the towns outside of the capital during our period. Barker makes a particularly pertinent point on the subject of the urbanisation of provincial Britain in the first half of the century, arguing that the watershed moment of prosperity and urbanisation occurred in the ...

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away from London in amidst demographic growth in towns is the context of an increasingly consumerist society. It was this urbanization and consumerism that drove the development of the peripheral newspapers because the greater number of urbanised industries and merchants concentrated in the enlarging towns wanted a consistent source of reliable news surrounding changes in the markets. Brewer argues that it was this preoccupation with consumption, commerce and the extension of credit that entwined businessmen and printers who ran newspapers in anxiety over domestic and foreign economic and political news. This can be seen in the writing of Daniel Defoe in 1728. He comments on the ...

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