Blatchford and Alexander M. Thompson founded the paper in Manchester in 1891 with capital of just £400 (£350 from Thompson and Blatchford, and the remaining £50 from Robert's brother Montague Blatchford). Robert Blatchford serialised his book "Merrie England" in the paper, and also published work by a variety of writers, including George Bernard Shaw, and artwork by Walter Crane. The women's column was written initially by Eleanor Keeling Edwards and, from October 1895, as the women's letters page by Julia Dawson, pen name of Mrs Myddleton-Worrall. It was Julia Dawson who pioneered the "Clarion" Vans, which toured small towns and villages throughout England and Scotland from 1896 until 1929, spreading socialist propaganda.