Bright, John 1811-89
English orator and radical politician

Born in Rochdale, Lancashire, he was the son of a Quaker cotton-spinner. When the Anti-Corn Law League was formed in 1839 he was a leading member, and, with Richard Cobden, engaged in free-trade agitation. He became MP for Durham (1843) and strongly opposed the Corn Laws until they were repealed. He was elected MP for Manchester in 1847. Like Cobden, he was a member of the Peace Society and energetically denounced the Crimean War (1854). Elected in 1857 for Birmingham, he seconded the motion against the Conspiracy Bill which led to the overthrow of Lord Palmerston's government. His name was closely associated with the Reform Act of 1867. In 1868 he accepted office as President of the Board of Trade but retired through illness in 1870, returning in 1881 as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He retired from the Gladstone ministry in 1882, opposing his Home Rule policy (1886-88).

Bibliography: G M Trevelyan, John Bright (2nd edn, 1925)