Daniel Isaac Eaton
Daniel Isaac Eaton was a notable 18th-century English political radical and publisher, born on January 7, 1753, in London. The son of a stationer, Eaton's early education spanned both England and France, and he became a freeman in the stationery trade in 1774. His political activism began in earnest after establishing his own shop in Hoxton in 1786, where he became involved with the London Corresponding Society and published various radical pamphlets.
Eaton was a strong critic of the political status quo, famously responding to Edmund Burke's derogatory comments about the lower classes with his own periodical, Hog's Wash. His commitment to free thought led him to publish controversial works, including Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason, which resulted in his imprisonment and prosecution for sedition. After seeking refuge in the United States from 1797 to 1800, he returned to England but faced continued professional and legal challenges, including bankruptcy and further imprisonment.
Despite these hardships, Eaton continued to advocate for radical ideas through various publications and was even cheered by the public during his sentencing to the pillory in 1812. His life ended on August 22, 1814, after a series of health issues, leaving behind a legacy of defiance against societal norms and a commitment to political discourse.
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Daniel Isaac Eaton
Writer
- Born: January 17, 1753
- Birthplace: London, England
- Died: August 22, 1814
- Place of death: Deptford, England
Biography
Daniel Isaac Eaton was baptised in the parish of St. Katharine Coleman, London, on January 7, 1753. He was the eldest son of Daniel Eaton, a stationer. After six years at an English boarding school and several more at the English College at St. Omer, in France, he became a bound apprentice at Stationers’s Hall in February, 1567, which qualified him to become a freeman and liveryman in March, 1774. On October 16, 1777, he married Susanna Maria Greene; they had three children. He was employed as a paper maker in Guildford in 1778 and as a parchment maker in Deptford in 1784, and he went on to establish his own stationer’s shop in Hoxton in 1786. The business moved to Bishopsgate Street in 1792, and it was at that point that Eaton’s career as a political radical began in earnest.
Eaton was baptized, married, and buried in the Church of England, but he had become a sceptic and a freethinker at an early age. Once he was set up in business he became active in the radical London Corresponding Society and began publishing its pamphlets, beginning with a Budget for the People in 1792. Incensed by Edmund Burke’s description of the lower orders as a “swinish multitude,” he established a weekly periodical, Hog’s Wash: Or, A Salmagundy for Swine in 1793, which became Politics for the People. Under the pseudonym Antitype he issued The Pernicious Effects of the Art of Printing upon Society, Exposed in 1793, which is reprinted Nicholas Mason’s 2003 anthology of British Satire, 1785- 1840. The shop in Bishopsgate Street became a regular meeting place for radicals, and he was prosecuted and imprisoned in 1793 for publishing the second part of Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason.
After emerging from prison unrepentant in 1795, Eaton took up where he had left off, launching three more journals—Political Classics (1794-1795), The Tribune (1795-1796) and The Philanthropist (1795- 1796)—and publishing works by leading French radicals, but continued harassment forced him to seek asylum in the U.S. He lived near Philadelphia from 1797 to 1800 but returned to England in 1801 to set up a stationer’s shop in the London district of Stratford. He was soon bankrupted and imprisoned again, and his stock was burned. After his release in 1805, he retired from the fray to manufacture soap, but once he was solvent again in 1810 he founded The Ratiocinatory: Or, Magazine for Truths and Good Sense and published the third part of The Age of Reason. For the latter crime he was sentenced to the pillory in May, 1812, but instead of subjecting him to the customary horrific abuse, the mob cheered him and brought him food. Committed to jail yet again, his response was to write and publish Extortions and Abuses of Newgate, and he was defended in the press by Percy Shelley and Leigh Hunt. By the time he was released in 1813, however, his health had failed. He died on August 22, 1814.