The Leeds Patriot and Yorkshire Advertiser was established in 1826 and edited by its owner John Foster, a timber merchant from Knaresborough. Foster was a radical who supported the call for universal manhood suffrage. He detested the Liberal Baines family, who promoted the interests of the manufacturing classes through their newspaper, the Leeds Mercury.

With the alliance of radicals and Tories over the issue of factory reform, Foster enthusiastically threw in his lot with Tory Richard Oastler and the Ten Hours Movement. He supported the Movement through his newspaper and in person, becoming a member of the West Riding Central Committee and attending meetings and demonstrations.

The downfall of the Leeds Patriot began when Foster was sued for libel by Knaresborough linen merchant, Thorpe. Although the judge ordered the case to be settled out of court, the costs crippled Foster. Despite the efforts of Richard Oastler to help by raising money through an advert in the Leeds Intelligencer, Foster was forced to close the Patriot. He blamed his involvement in the Factory Reform Movement for all his ill-fortune and his relationship with Oastler descended into a flurry of open and very public invective through the pages of the London-based Morning Chronicle.