Profile Major Works Resources

John Bright, 1811-1889.

British Quaker manufacturer, Liberal politician and leading member, with Richard Cobden, of the Anti-Corn Law League and "Manchester School" liberalism. 

John Bright was elected a member of parliament in 1843 for Durham, and from 1847 for Manchester.  A vigorous peace activist, Bright opposed the Crimean War, Bright lost his Manchester seat in 1857 but got elected for Birmingham later that same year, a seat he would retain for the next thirty years.  In parliament, John Bright was a vigorous promoter of free trade, financial reform, the expansion of the suffrage, national education, opposed the EIC government in India and supported the northern states during the United States Civil War.  In 1868, he joined the Liberal government of William Gladstone, as President of the Board of Trade. Severe health problems forced him to resign in 1870.  But after recovery, he returned to government, joining Gladstone's government in 1873 as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, but lost his position when the Gladstone government fell in 1874.  He returned to the same position in the 1880 Gladstone cabinet, but resigned 1882 over the bombardment of Alexandria.  Despite his earlier sympathies with the Irish cause and his leadership in the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland and other Irish reform bills, Bright opposed Home Rule and split from the Liberals over the issue in 1886, joining instead the Union Liberals (despite their protectionist inclinations) for his last few years.

 

  

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Major Works of John Bright

  • Speech on legislation and policy for India, 1858 [bk]
  • Speeches of John Bright, M.P. on the American Question (ed. F. Moore) 1865 [bk]
  • Speeches on Questions of Public Policy by Richard Bright, (ed. J.E. Thorold Rogers) 1868 
    • v.1 - On India, Canada, America, Ireland and Russia [bk, lib]
    • v.2 - On Reform, Free Trade, Agriculture, Peace Taxation and other matters [bk, lib]
    • [1869 ed: v.1, v.2]
    • [1878 one-vol ed]
    • [Lib]
  • Speeches on the Public Affairs of the last twenty years (ed. R.H.S.), 1869 [bk]
  • Public Addresses by John Bright, (ed. J.E. Thorold Rogers), 1879 [bk]
  • The Public Letters of John Bright (ed. J.H. Leech), 1885 [bk]

 
HET

 
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Resources on John Bright

  • Manchester and John Bright, by J.P. Rickards, 1859 [bk]
  • Letter to John Bright, Esq. M.P., by one of his constituents, by William Lucas Sargant, 1861 [bk]
  • Letter to John Bright, Esq. M.P. respecting the Irish Church, by Henry Earl Grey 1868 [bk]
  • The Rt. Hon. John Bright: Cartoons from the collection of 'Mr Punch', 1878 [bk]
  • The Life and Speeches of John Bright, by G.A. Smith, 1881, v.1, v.2
  • John Bright, by C.A. Vince, 1898 [bk]
  • John Bright: a monograph by R. Barry O'Brien, 1911 [bk]
  • The Life of John Bright, by G.M. Trevelyan, 1913 [bk]
  • "Bright, John" in L. Say and J. Chailley-Bert, editors, 1892, Nouveau Dictionnaire de l'économie politique []
  • "Bright, John" in R.H. Inglis Palgrave, editor, 1894-1899, Dictionary of Political Economy [1918 ed.]
  • "Bright, John" and 1911 Britannica
  • Wikipedia

 

 
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