Cobbett, William: - William Cobbett (1763-1835) was an English political pamphleteer, farmer, journalist, and member of parliament born in Farnham, Surrey. The son of a farmer, in his youth he worked on a farm at Farnham Castle and as a gardener in the King's garden at Kew. His rural upbringing instilled in him a lifelong love of gardening that he sustained even as he championed free speech, parliamentary reform, and protections for the working class. By the time of his death, he had written more than twenty-five million words in over fifty works, including Rural Rides, A Grammar of the English Language, The American Gardener, and The English Gardener. He influenced, among others, Charles Dickens and G. K. Chesterton.