Claim: William Cobbett disliked the rapid growth of London and nicknamed it the Great Wen in his 1830 work, Rural Rides.
Evidence: 1830 in 2 volumes. The term was coined in the 1820s by William Cobbett, the radical pamphleteer and champion of rural England. The term is quoted in his 1830 work Rural Rides: "But, what is to be the fate of the great wen of all? The Great Wen is a disparaging nickname for London. Cobbett saw the rapidly growing city as a pathological swelling on the face of the nation.