Bright, John, 1811–89, British statesman and orator. He was the
son of a Quaker cotton manufacturer in Lancashire. A founder
(1839) of the Anti-Corn Law League, he rose to prominence on the
strength of his formidable oratory against the corn laws. A
staunch laissez-faire capitalist, and, with Richard Cobden, a
bastion of the Manchester school of economics, he resented the
protection given to landholders by these laws at the expense of
manufacturing interests. After the repeal (1846) of the corn
laws, Bright's principal concern was parliamentary reform, which
he pursued relentlessly until passage of the third Reform Bill
in 1884. A member of Parliament for Manchester (1847–57), he
lost his seat because of his opposition to British involvement
in the Crimean War, which he considered un-Christian and against
Britain's economic interests. He represented Birmingham
(1858–89) and served in William Gladstone's cabinets as
president of the Board of Trade (1868–70) and chancellor of the
duchy of Lancaster (1873–74, 18