John Bright

The Right Honourable John Bright
John Bright in the 1870s
President of the Board of Trade
In office 9 December 1868 – 14 January 1871
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	William Ewart Gladstone
Preceded by	The Duke of Richmond
Succeeded by	Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
In office 30 September 1873 – 17 February 1874
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	William Ewart Gladstone
Preceded by	Hugh Childers
Succeeded by	Thomas Edward Taylor
In office 28 April 1880 – 25 July 1882
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	William Ewart Gladstone
Preceded by	Thomas Edward Taylor
Succeeded by	The Earl of Kimberley
Parliamentary offices
1843–1847	Member of Parliament for City of Durham
1847–1857	Member of Parliament for Manchester
1857–1885	Member of Parliament for Birmingham
1869–1870	Member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for Kennedy
1885–1889	Member of Parliament for Birmingham Central
Personal details
Born	16 November 1811 (1811-11-16) Rochdale, Lancashire, England
Died	27 March 1889 (1889-03-28) (aged 77) Rochdale, Lancashire, England
Political party	Liberal Unionist (1886-89) Liberal (1859-86) Radical (until 1859)
Spouses	Elizabeth Priestman ​ ​ (m. 1839; died 1841)​ Margaret Leatham ​ (m. 1847)​

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John Bright (16 November 1811 – 27 March 1889) was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, one of the greatest orators of his generation and a promoter of free trade policies.

A Quaker, Bright is most famous for battling the Corn Laws. In partnership with Richard Cobden, he founded the Anti-Corn Law League, aimed at abolishing the Corn Laws, which raised food prices and protected landowners' interests by levying taxes on imported wheat. The Corn Laws were repealed in 1846. Bright also worked with Cobden in another free trade initiative, the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty of 1860, promoting closer interdependence between Great Britain and the Second French Empire. This campaign was conducted in collaboration with French economist Michel Chevalier, and succeeded despite Parliament's endemic mistrust of the French.

Bright sat in the House of Commons from 1843 to 1889, promoting free trade, electoral reform and religious freedom. He was almost a lone voice in opposing the Crimean War; he also opposed William Ewart Gladstone's proposed Home Rule for Ireland. He saw himself as a spokesman for the middle class and strongly opposed the privileges of the landed aristocracy. In terms of Ireland, he sought to end the political privileges of Anglicans, disestablished the Church of Ireland, and began land reform that would turn land over to the Catholic peasants. He coined the phrase "The mother of parliaments."