author

Theophila Carlile Campbell

1837–1913

A late-Victorian writer with a direct link to one of Britain’s fiercest fights over free expression, she wrote a vivid account of her father Richard Carlile’s battles against censorship. Her best-known book brings radical publishing, prison, and political struggle into sharp human focus.

2 Audiobooks

The Battle of The Press

The Battle of The Press

by Theophila Carlile Campbell

The battle of the press : $b as told in the story of the life of Richard Carlile by his daughter, Theophila Carlile Campbell

The battle of the press : $b as told in the story of the life of Richard Carlile by his daughter, Theophila Carlile Campbell

by Theophila Carlile Campbell

About the author

Born in 1837 and died in 1913, she was an English writer and the daughter of radical publisher Richard Carlile. The clearest source I found for her own life identifies her mainly through that family and literary connection.

Her known work is The Battle of the Press: As Told in the Story of the Life of Richard Carlile, published in 1899. In its preface, she explains that she wanted to give later readers a faithful account of her father’s work, sacrifices, and imprisonment in the campaign for a freer press and freer public discussion.

That makes her an interesting figure not just as a biographer, but as someone preserving the memory of a major struggle over censorship and civil liberty in Britain. Readers coming to her today will find a personal, committed voice telling the story of radical politics from inside the family that lived it.