Joseph Gales, Sr.

Joseph Gales (4 February 1761 – 21 July 1841) was a journalist, newspaper publisher and political figure. He was the father of the younger Joseph Gales.

Gales was born in Eckington, Derbyshire, in England. He left to undertake a printing apprenticeship in Manchester, but left after he was attacked by his master's wife. Soon after, he completed his apprenticeship with James Tomlinson in Newark, Nottinghamshire. While in Newark, he married Winifred Marshall, a novelist and political writer.

In 1784, Gales moved to Sheffield in Yorkshire. Shortly after moving to Sheffield, he became a Unitarian, and took up various Radical causes, advocating religious tolerance, Parliamentary reform and the abolition of slavery, and opposing boxing and bull-baiting.

Gales met Tom Paine, who encouraged him to found a radical newspaper. In June 1787, he began publishing the Sheffield Register, initially in partnership with David Martin. The newspaper focussed on reporting local news, and on reprinting tracts by reformers such as Paine and Joseph Priestley.

In 1789, Martin left the partnership. Gales' politics became more prominent. He welcomed the French Revolution, acclaiming the victory of "our French brethren over despots and despotism". He marked this by roasting an ox and carrying it in a procession through the town which was fired on by local authorities.

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