View source for John Albert Bright

{{short description|British politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2017}}
[[File:John_Albert_Bright.jpg|thumb|John Albert Bright]]
'''John Albert Bright''' (1848 – 11 November 1924)<ref name="rayment-brum">{{cite web
 | url   = http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Bcommons3.htm
 | title   = House of Commons constituencies beginning with "B" (part 3)
 | work   = Leigh Rayment's House of Commons pages
 | access-date   = 2009-04-02
 | url-status = usurped
 | archive-url   = https://web.archive.org/web/20090810231549/http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Bcommons3.htm
 | archive-date   = 10 August 2009
 }}</ref> was an [[English people|English]] [[industrialist]] and [[Liberal Unionist Party|Liberal Unionist]]  and [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] politician.

==Family and education==
J A Bright was the eldest son of the Liberal reformer, [[orator]] and [[Politician|statesman]],  [[John Bright]]. His family were steeped in [[Radicalism (historical)|Radical]] and [[reform]]ing politics. His father’s brother, [[Jacob Bright]] was Liberal [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MP]] for different seats in [[Manchester]] between 1867 and 1895. His aunt was Priscilla Bright McLaren (1815–1906) a dedicated campaigner for [[women’s rights]] and the wife of [[Duncan McLaren]] the Liberal MP for [[Edinburgh (UK Parliament constituency)|Edinburgh]] from 1865 to 1881.<ref>Edward H Milligan, ''Priscilla Bright McLaren'' in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' online; 2004-12</ref> His brother, [[William Leatham Bright]] (1851–1910), was Liberal MP for [[Stoke upon Trent (UK Parliament constituency)|Stoke-on-Trent]] from 1885 to 1890.

As a prominent member of the [[Religious Society of Friends]] (Quakers), John Bright employed [[Lydia Rous]] as a teacher for his children.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=Rous, Lydia (1819–1896), headmistress|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-48673|access-date=2020-10-09|year = 2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/48673}}</ref> In time he sent his son to the Quaker [[Grove House School]], in [[Tottenham]], London. John Albert later attended [[University College, London]], where he won a prize for [[experimental physics]]<ref>The Times, 25 June 1866 p5</ref> and gained his [[Bachelor of Science|B.Sc]] in 1867.<ref>''The Times'', 16 August 1867 p8</ref> In 1883, he married Edith Eckersley Shawcross, the daughter of W T Shawcross from [[Rochdale]]. They had one son and a daughter.<ref name="Who was Who, OUP online, 2007">''Who was Who'', OUP online, 2007</ref>

==Career==
John Albert had no desire to follow in his father’s footsteps and pursue a Parliamentary career, although he did share his Liberal politics and spoke at public meetings, often in support of his father.<ref>The Times, 12 December 1876 p5</ref><ref>The Times, 14 January 1878 p10</ref> Instead, he went into the family [[Cotton mill|cotton-spinning and manufacturing]] business and lived largely outside his father’s shadow.<ref name="The Times, 13 November 1924 p16">The Times, 13 November 1924 p16</ref>

He did have a public life of his own however. He was a [[Justice of the Peace]] for [[Lancashire]] and for the Borough of Rochdale where he also served on the [[School boards in England and Wales|School Board]] and the [[County Borough of Rochdale|Town Council]].<ref>''The Times'', 1 July 1892 p3</ref>

In November 1890, he chaired a meeting in Rochdale's Duckworth's Hotel, where the Rochdale Photographic Society was founded, and he became the President for the next 12 years.{{Citation needed|date=September 2015}}

==Politics==
In 1889 however, his father’s death plunged him into the world of Parliamentary politics. Bright’s death left a vacancy in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] constituency of [[Birmingham Central (UK Parliament constituency)|Birmingham Central]]. At the time the alliance of Liberal Unionists and [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]] in [[Birmingham]] was delicate. The Tories wished to nominate their own candidate to fight the [[by-election]] in Birmingham Central and the Liberal Unionists, led by the charismatic [[Joseph Chamberlain]] had no desire to cede the seat to them. The Conservatives, distrusting Chamberlain’s former radicalism, immediately put forward [[Lord Randolph Churchill]] as the putative candidate but Chamberlain cleverly prevailed on Bright to step into his father’s shoes. The Birmingham Conservatives and Lord Randolph Churchill came under pressure from the party’s [[Chief Whip]] at Westminster [[Aretas Akers-Douglas, 1st Viscount Chilston|Aretas Akers-Douglas]] and from [[Arthur Balfour]], who was closely associated with Churchill.<ref name="The Times, 13 November 1924 p16"/><ref>Ian Cawood, ''The Liberal Unionist Party: A History''; I B Tauris, 2012 p86</ref> With great reluctance the Tories accepted that Bright should be the Unionist candidate, although some local Conservatives were so indignant they resigned their party posts. Bright easily won the by-election, held on 15 April 1889, against the [[W E Gladstone|Gladstonian]] Liberal  [[Sir William Beale, 1st Baronet|William Phipson Beale]] by 5,621 votes to 2,561, a majority of 3,060 or 37.4% of the total poll.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ah2vCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA70 |title=British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885–1918 |first=F.W.S. |last=Craig |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] |isbn=9781349022984 |page=70 |date=1974-06-18 |access-date=2020-03-12 |via=Google Books}}</ref> This election was described by the biographer of John Bright as the Liberal Unionists’ first great victory.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=keeKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA284 |title=John Bright: Statesman, Orator, Agitator |chapter=John Bright |first=Bill |last=Cash |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |isbn=9780857720832 |page=184 |date=2011-10-01 |access-date=2020-03-12 |via=Google Books}}</ref> 
Bright held Birmingham Central until the [[1895 United Kingdom general election|1895 general election]] when he stood down <ref name="Who was Who, OUP online, 2007"/> probably under pressure from Chamberlain who felt he had not come up to his desired standards.<ref>Ian Cawood, ''The Liberal Unionist Party: A History''; I B Tauris, 2012 p127</ref>

Later, Bright left the Liberal Unionists, perhaps smarting from Chamberlain’s attitude towards him,  and reverted to his father’s original creed of [[Liberalism]]. He was Liberal candidate at [[Montgomery (UK Parliament constituency)|Montgomery Boroughs]] in the [[1900 United Kingdom general election|1900 general election]], narrowly failing to gain the seat, losing by just 169 votes.<ref>F W S Craig, ''British Parliamentary Election Results, 1885-1918''; Macmillan Press,  1974 p460</ref> However he was elected as [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Oldham (UK Parliament constituency)|Oldham]] at the [[1906 United Kingdom general election|1906 election]] standing on a platform in opposition to the [[tariff reform]] programme of his old Liberal Unionist chief, Joseph Chamberlain. He retired from politics at the general election of [[January 1910 United Kingdom general election|January 1910]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ah2vCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA165 |title=British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885–1918 |first=F.W.S. |last=Craig |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] |isbn=9781349022984 |page=165 |date=1974-06-18 |access-date=2020-03-12 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

Like his father, Bright held strongly [[pacifist]] views. He presided at a meeting held in [[Manchester]] in September 1899 to protest the policy which was leading to the [[Second Boer War|Boer War]]. In their assessment of Bright’s contribution to Parliamentary affairs, ''[[The Times]]'' reported that he was a useful but inconspicuous member, doing good work in committee, especially in shaping such measures as the [[Children Act 1908|Children Act of 1908]].<ref name="The Times, 13 November 1924 p16"/>

==Death==
Bright died aged 76 on 11 November 1924 at his home in Rochdale.<ref name="The Times, 13 November 1924 p16"/>

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=33em}}

==External links==
*{{Hansard-contribs | mr-john-bright-1 | John Albert Bright }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{s-bef | before = [[John Bright]] }}
{{s-ttl
 | title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Birmingham Central (UK Parliament constituency)|Birmingham Central]]
 | years = [[1889 Birmingham North by-election|1889]] – [[1895 United Kingdom general election|1895]]
}}
{{s-aft | after = [[Ebenezer Parkes|Sir Ebenezer Parkes]] }}

{{succession box
 | title  = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Oldham (UK Parliament constituency)|Oldham]]
 | years  = [[1906 United Kingdom general election|1906]] – [[January 1910 United Kingdom general election|Jan. 1910]]
 | with   = [[Alfred Emmott, 1st Baron Emmott|Alfred Emmott]]
 | before = [[Winston Churchill]] and<br />[[Alfred Emmott, 1st Baron Emmott|Alfred Emmott]]
 | after  = [[Alfred Emmott, 1st Baron Emmott|Alfred Emmott]] and<br />[[William Barton (British politician)|William Barton]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bright, John Albert}}
[[Category:1848 births]]
[[Category:1924 deaths]]
[[Category:English Quakers]]
[[Category:Alumni of University College London]]
[[Category:Liberal Unionist Party MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1886–1892]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1892–1895]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1906–1910]]
[[Category:Politics of Birmingham, West Midlands]]
[[Category:Politics of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham]]
[[Category:Directors of the London and North Western Railway]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Lancashire]]