James Rivington

James Rivington (1724 – July 1802) was an English-born American journalist who published one of the most infamous Loyalist newspapers in the American colonies, Rivington's Gazette. Some scholars in the 1950s determined that despite all outward appearances, Rivington was a member of the American Culper Spy Ring.

Early life

Rivington was one of the sons of the bookseller and publisher Charles Rivington and inherited a share of his father's business, which he lost at the Newmarket races. In 1760 he sailed to North America and resumed his occupation in Philadelphia and in the next year opened a print-shop at the foot of Wall Street, New York. In 1773 he began to publish a newspaper "at his ever open and uninfluenced press, Hanover Square". The first number of a newspaper, The New York Gazetteer or the Connecticut, New Jersey, Hudson's River, and Quebec Weekly Advertiser was issued in April 1773.

His initially impartial stance shifted as a revolution loomed and public opinion polarized, until by late 1774 he was advocating the restrictive measures of the British government with such great zeal and attacking the patriots so severely, that in 1775 the Whigs of Newport, Rhode Island, resolved to hold no further communication with him. The Sons of Liberty hanged Rivington in effigy, and the patriot poet Philip Freneau published a mock speech of Rivington's supposed contrition at his execution, which Rivington reprinted. He infuriated Captain Isaac Sears, the prominent patriot and Son of Liberty.

Rivington

Coordinates: 53°37′32″N 2°33′59″W / 53.6255°N 2.5664°W / 53.6255; -2.5664

Rivington is a small village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, occupying 2,538 acres (10.27 km²). It is about 6 miles (9.7 km) southeast of Chorley and about 8.5 miles (13.7 km) northwest of Bolton. Rivington is situated on the fringe of the West Pennine Moors, at the foot of Rivington Pike. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001 it had a population of 144, reducing to 109 at the 2011 Census.

Life in the Middle Ages centred on the families who owned the manor in what was then an isolated rural community. Agriculture, hand loom weaving, quarrying and mining occupied the few inhabitants until the middle of the 19th century. A chapel built before 1541 was replaced by the present church in 1666 and by 1703 Nonconformism led to the building of a Presbyterian church, now a Unitarian Chapel. A grammar school was founded by charter of Queen Elizabeth I in 1556.

Construction of reservoirs for Liverpool Corporation in the mid-19th century led to a decrease in the population when farms were cleared, the valley flooded and property in the western part of the village demolished. William Lever bought the Rivington Hall estate at the turn of the 20th century and used his wealth to renovate the old barns and create a large public park.

Rivington (disambiguation)

Rivington is a village in Lancashire, England.

Rivington may also refer to:

People with the surname

People with the given name

Rivington (publishers)

Rivington, or Rivington's, also called Rivington & Co., was a London-based publishing company founded by Charles Rivington (1688–1742), originally from Derbyshire, and continued by his sons and grandsons.

History

In 1736 Charles Rivington and a partner called Bettesworth founded a company of booksellers called "The New Conger", rivalling an older firm called "The Conger" that dated from about 1700. From selling books, Rivington moved on to the business of publishing books. In 1741 he published the first volume of Samuel Richardson's novel Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded. Both men were from Derbyshire, and Rivington had persuaded Richardson to write a novel in the form of a correspondence.

After his death in 1742, Charles Rivington was succeeded by his two sons, John (1720–1792) and James Rivington (1724–1802). James emigrated to the United States, where he pursued his trade in New York City; John carried on the business on the lines marked out by his father and went on to become the great Church of England publisher of his day. In 1760, he was appointed publisher to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and the firm kept up this relationship for over seventy years. After admitting his sons Francis (1745–1822) and Charles (1754–1831) into partnership, Rivington took on for the "New Conger" Association the publication of standard editions of the works of Shakespeare, Milton, Locke, and other English classics. John Rivington died on 16 January 1792.