John Bright, Victorian moralist

Right: John Bright (author – Elliott & Fry, source – scan from original, Bernd Schwabe, Hanover).

John Bright (1811-89)

The ‘great Victorian moralist’

By Stephen Roberts

Aradical and Liberal statesman, supreme orator, and keen advocate of free trade, John Bright would become most famous for his opposition to the iniquitous Corn Laws, hence him being dubbed one of the ‘great Victorian moralists’.

The son of a respected Quaker cotton-spinner, and born at Greenbank, Rochdale, an early centre of the Industrial Revolution, on 16th November 1811, Bright would be brought up a Quaker himself. Educated at a Friends’ school in Ackworth, Yorkshire (then York and Newton, near Clitheroe), he took a keen interest in public issues from an early stage, whilst still employed at his father’s mill, where he became a partner (Jacob Bright had opened his own cotton mill in 1809). Bright grew up in a large family, Jacob’s second marriage to Martha Wood having bestowed eleven children. The fact Bright became a man of many facets was down, in part, to his parents. From his mother he inherited sensitivity and imagination, from his father, a bluntness of manner. It’s an interesting combo that would create a decent individual. You’d know where you stood with him, but he also had an intrinsic caring nature.

At a time when the ‘Grand Tour’ usually implied a trip around the sights of Europe, Bright took on something rather different, and more ambitious, a tour around the Near East (1835), when he would have been approaching his mid-20s. When he returned, he lectured in Rochdale on his travel experiences, as well as on some of his pet interests, such as commerce and political economy. Given his oratorical skills, I would imagine that an evening listening to Bright must have been entertaining (much like one of my own gigs I have to say).

The Anti-Corn Law League was formed in 1839. Bright became a leading member and formed an impressive partnership with Sussexborn Richard Cobden (1804-65), agitating against the Corn Laws which raised food prices for the poor whilst protecting landowners’ interests (the rich) by levying taxes on imported wheat. In tandem with Cobden, Bright launched into free trade agitation throughout the nation. In that same year (1839), Bright married Elizabeth Priestman, a fellow Quaker, who sadly died of consumption in 1841, having provided him with a daughter.

Bright then became MP for Durham (1843), beginning a long association with the institution that he dubbed the ‘mother of parliaments’. He would remain a sitting MP until his death in 1889, and made his mark early on by vigorously opposing the Corn Laws until they were finally repealed in 1846. The previous year (1845), Bright was appointed to select committees on both the Game Laws and one dedicated to cotton cultivation in India. Bright then became MP for Manchester (1847), by which time he was in his mid-30s. Also, in 1847, Bright married for a second time to Margaret Leatham, another Quaker. Another seven children followed, and whilst the second Mrs Bright had a keen interest in politics, this was not something encouraged by her husband. For all his radicalism, one cause that he wasn’t ready to support was women’s rights. Bright would cut an increasingly lonely figure after Margaret’s death in 1878.

Above: This meeting of the Anti-Corn Law League, in London, in 1846, shows just how much support it garnered (author – unknown, source – www.uoregon.edu).

BRIGHT TRIVIA John Bright was 5 foot 7 inches tall, and was a dab hand at both fly fishing and billiards. It is thought Bright came up with the classic expression, to ‘flog a dead horse’.

In 1852, Bright assisted in the temporary restructuring of the Corn-Law League. Both Bright and Cobden were also members of the Peace Society, so bravely and enthusiastically opposed British involvement in the Crimean War (1854) when pretty much everyone else wanted to see us take up arms against Russia. You certainly have to be a conviction politician to espouse unpopular causes. He also campaigned against the death penalty and for universal male suffrage and a secret ballot, none of which put him in the mainstream.

Left: Statue of John Bright in his home town of Rochdale, which can be found in Broadfield Park (author – ‘Poorlyglot’, source – Own work).

Whilst MP for Birmingham (1857), Bright collaborated with Cobden again in another free-trade initiative, the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty of 1860, which sought to create closer trade links between Britain and France. Michel Chevalier (1806-79) was a French economist who shared similar views to the British duo.

Manchester’s Free Trade Hall. John Bright was the MP in Manchester and a keen advocate of free trade. The hall was built in the 1850s to commemorate the repealing of the Corn Laws in 1846 (Steve Roberts).

John Bright’s statue in Albert Square, Manchester, where he was the MP from 1847 (author – photograph by Mike Peel, www.mikepeel.net, source – Own work). 10 LANCASHIRE & NORTH WEST MAGAZINE The campaign succeeded despite a deep-seated Parliamentary mistrust of the French (which would have been replicated in the nation at large to be fair).

Bright seconded a motion against the Conspiracy Bill, which led to the overthrow of the government of Lord Palmerston. He also recommended the transfer of India to the direct government of the UK Crown, although his prime motivation seemed to be a less authoritarian rule over the sub-continent. During the American Civil War (1861-65), Bright was a supporter of the antislavery North.

Bright was also linked to the 2nd Reform Act of 1867, which sought to extend the franchise (electoral reform, religious freedom and free trade were always his favourite causes). The desire to see parliamentary reform was not surprising as Bright’s home town had always been prominent in this particular movement. Rochdale did much to make the man for it was also here where he learned his oratory, his first blast being at a temperance meeting. The Quaker background gave him his passion where fighting inequality was concerned. The following year (1868) he became President of the Board of Trade, but retired through ill health in 1870, when he was aged around 60 (he’d suffered a couple of breakdowns).

The conviction politician can never take a back seat though and Bright continued to involve himself in the issues of the day. He supported the Disestablishment of the Irish Church (1869), which aimed to end the political

privileges of the Anglican minority, favouring the cause of the Catholic majority, and the Irish Land Act (1870), which aimed to further benefit Catholics by turning land over to the Catholic peasants. Bright also took office as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1873 and 1881), but retired from Gladstone’s government in 1882 because he couldn’t support its aggressive policy on Egypt.

Whilst Bright may have supported some Irish legislation (disestablishment of the Irish church and land reform) he could not support Gladstone on Irish Home Rule (1886- 88) and was a significant influence on the Unionist party that wanted to maintain the status quo. Ireland would have to wait for the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 and the establishment of the Irish Free State the following year for an independent Ireland, although that solution would also see division, with Protestant majority Northern Ireland remaining part of the UK.

Bright died on 27th March 1889, aged 77. He had seen himself very much as a middle class spokesman, railing against the privileges of the landowning aristocracy, yet the causes he espoused, such as free trade, also benefited working class citizens. He was also a great Parliamentarian, so it was entirely apt that he should have coined that phrase ‘mother of Parliaments’ to describe the UK Parliament, whose model has been aped by many other nations around the world.

As far as Bright’s economic beliefs were concerned, it’s arguable that he had hit upon an essential truth. Free trade, by abolishing tariffs on imports, bestowed lower prices, a policy that benefited society’s poorest. It’s no wonder he fought long and hard on this issue. John Bright may well be looking down quizzically as we approach the end of the transition period on our EU membership. He might well be warning that our shopping trolley is about to become more expensive. If that gets a debate going in the pub, well, Mr Bright would be happy about that too. He was very much a ‘Marmite politician’, loved by many, detested by an equal number.

Below left: Richard Cobden, who collaborated with Bright in campaigning against the Corn Laws (author – Matthew Brady, source – US National Archives and Records Administration, College Park).

Above: Vanity Fair depiction of John Bright, 1869 (author – ‘Ape’, Carlo Pellegrini, source – Vanity Fair, 13th February 1869, digitised version from CCNY Libraries on www.flickr.com).

CHRONOLOGY

1811 – Birth of John Bright in Rochdale (16th November). 1839 – Formation of the Anti-Corn Law League. 1843 – John Bright first becomes an MP. 1846 – Repeal of the Corn Laws, arguably John Bright’s finest hour. 1847 – Bright becomes Manchester’s MP (until 1857). 1854 – Commencement of the Crimean War. Bright opposes British involvement. 1860 – The Cobden-Chevalier Treaty with France; another Cobden-Bright collaboration. 1861 – Start of the American Civil War. Bright supports the anti-slavery Union. 1873 – Bright first becomes Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. 1889 – John Bright dies, aged 77, at his home, ‘One Ash’, near Rochdale (27th March).