It was founded by Joseph Gales, a Unitarian, who supported various Radical causes, advocating religious tolerance, Parliamentary reform and the abolition of slavery, and opposed boxing and bull-baiting.
[3] In June 1787, he began publishing the Sheffield Register, initially in partnership with David Martin,[4] from offices in Hartshead.
Gales was suspected of writing a letter offering to sell pikes to the London society, but was on business in Derby when troops arrived to arrest him.
His wife Winifred remained behind to sell the Register to Montgomery,[3] who relaunched the newspaper as the Sheffield Iris and adopted a less radical editorial line.
[5] Despite moderating the newspaper's line, Montgomery was prosecuted for sedition in 1795 for publishing a poem on a handbill which celebrated the fall of the Bastille, and was sentenced to three months in prison.
In August, he wrote a report offering mild criticism of an incident in Norfolk Street, where a popular protest was attacked by a militia, resulting in two deaths.