'' The Manchester Guardian '' was founded in Manchester in 1821 by cotton merchant John Edward Taylor with backing from the Little Circle , a group of non-conformist businessmen . They launched their paper after the police closure of the more radical '' Manchester Observer '' , a paper that had championed the cause of the Peterloo Massacre protesters . Taylor had been hostile to the radical reformers , writing : " They have appealed not to the reason but the passions and the suffering of their abused and credulous fellow-countrymen , from whose ill-requited industry they extort for themselves the means of a plentiful and comfortable existence . They do not toil , neither do they spin , but they live better than those that do . " When the government closed down the '' Manchester Observer '' , the mill-owners ' champions had the upper hand
Peterloo Massacre
Peterloo Massacre
The Guardian