ABSTRACT
Robert Blatchford was born on 17 March 1851 in Maidstone, Kent to two touring actors. He enlisted in 1871, and rose to the rank of sergeant before leaving the army in 1878. Subsequently, he became a clerk, and then a journalist. Later in life he became a socialist, co-founding the Clarion newspaper. His best known work was Merrie England, published in 1893. This was a collection of essays on socialism, which had originally appeared in the Clarion. Merrie England was immensely popular, selling more than two million copies. Blatchford died in 1943.
