Anti-War?
Manchester has a long association with anti-war causes. Local Quaker MP John Bright condemned the Crimean War (1853-56) while the Manchester Guardian offered steadfast opposition to the Boer War (1899-1902). The Guardian’s stance attracted both heartfelt praise and bitter condemnation.
Yet little over a decade later, the Guardian broke ranks with the pacifists. Emily Hobhouse, a former Boer War correspondent, and the former Labour Party leader, Keir Hardie, were surprised to find that CP Scott supported the First World War (1914-18) and viewed opposition futile.
Liverpool, 23 Mar 1900
Some readers were supportive of the paper’s stance on the Boer War. The semi-anonymous AWC praises the Manchester Guardian for having ‘real grit’ in opposing the war concluding that ‘truth is a higher thing than personal profit.’
Ref. GDN/324/7/42
Oswestry, 28 October 1899
Many readers cancelled their subscriptions in response to the Manchester Guardian’s ‘unpatriotic’ stance over the Boer War. This angry reader laments the editor’s ‘invincible prejudice against [his] own country in favour of the Boers.’
Ref. GDN/324/7/8
Manchester, 19 Dec 1914
Scott explains that he sees no tension in supporting the First World War as it ‘stands on a wholly different footing’ to the Boer War. The Guardian’s support for the First World War was in tune with public opinion.
Ref. GDN/333/162
