{{Short description|19th century British Liberal Party politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}} {{Use British English|date=March 2018}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = Jacob Bright | honorific_suffix = | image = Jacob Bright MP 002.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Jacob Bright | office = Member of Parliament for Manchester | term_start = 1867 | term_end = 1874 | predecessor = Thomas Bazley, Edward James | successor = Thomas Bazley, Hugh Birley, William Romaine Callender | majority = | office1 = Member of Parliament for Manchester | term_start1 = 1876 | term_end1 = 1885 | predecessor1 = Thomas Bazley, William Romaine Callender, Hugh Birley | successor1 = Constituency abolished | majority1 = | office2 = Member of Parliament for Manchester South West | term_start2 = 1886 | term_end2 = 1895 | predecessor2 = Lord Frederick Spencer Hamilton | successor2 = William Johnson Galloway | majority2 = | office3 = Mayor of Rochdale | term_start3 = 1856 | term_end3 = 1857 | predecessor3 = Post created | successor3 = Robert T. Heape | majority3 = | office4 = Councillor for Rochdale | term_start4 = 1856 | term_end4 = 1857 | predecessor4 = | successor4 = | birth_name = Jacob Bright | birth_date = 26 May 1821 | birth_place = Rochdale, Lancashire, England | death_date = 7 November 1899 | death_place = Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England | other_names = | alma_mater = | occupation = Politician | party = Liberal Party | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | spouse = Ursula Mellor Bright | children = 3 }}
The Rt Hon. '''Jacob Bright''' (26 May 1821 – 7 November 1899) was a British Liberal politician serving as Mayor of Rochdale and later Member of Parliament for Manchester.
==Background== Bright was born at Green Bank near Rochdale, Lancashire. He was the fourth of eleven children of Jacob Bright and Martha Wood. His father was a Quaker and had established a cotton-spinning business at Fieldhouse. His elder brother, John Bright, was a radical politician, and his sister, Priscilla Bright McLaren, campaigned for women's rights.<ref name=odnb>{{cite ODNB |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3418 |title=Bright, Jacob (1821–1899) |accessdate=2008-10-10 |author=Alan Ruston |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/3418 }}</ref><ref name=obit>''Obituary'', The Times, 9 November 1899, p.6</ref>
Jacob Bright was educated at the Friends School in York before entering the family business of John Bright & Brothers, cotton-spinners.<ref name=obit/> Bright and his brother Thomas managed the firm, and by 1885 the business had expanded into carpet manufacture.<ref>''Biographies of Candidates'', The Times, 25 November 1885, p.5</ref> He was also responsible for introducing the linotype machine to England.<ref name=odnb/>
Bright was an anti-vivisectionist. He was an honorary member of the National Anti-Vivisection Society.<ref>{{cite journal|year=1899|title=Obituary: The Right Hon. Jacob Bright, P.C., J.P.|journal=The Zoophilist|volume=19|issue=8|pages=170}}</ref>
== Career==
===Civic politics=== Bright became involved in radical politics and supported Chartism.<ref name=odnb/> He was the first mayor of Rochdale on the town's incorporation as a municipal borough.<ref name=obit/> He stood for election in 1865 in Manchester. Although unsuccessful on his first attempt, he won a by-election in 1867.<ref name=obit/> The election was notable because Lilly Maxwell voted for Bright. This vote by a woman was later overturned.<ref name=grun>[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/mar/19/in-praise-of-lily-maxwell In Prise of ... Lily Maxwell], 19 March 2011, The Guardian, Retrieved 30 January 2016</ref> Bright was one of the earliest supporters of the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal.<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 February 1900 |title=Manchester Ship Canal: Half-Yearly Meeting - Statement from the Chairman |work=The Manchester Guardian |pages=4}}</ref>
===National politics===
Bright held his seat at the general election in 1868. He lost his seat at the 1874 general election, but was returned to parliament at the by-election in 1876.<ref name=obit/> When the three-seat Parliamentary Borough of Manchester was divided into eight single-seat constituencies in 1885, Bright was selected as the Liberal candidate for the new Manchester South West constituency. He was defeated in 1885, but successful in the general election in 1886.<ref name=obit/> As a Member of Parliament, Bright was considered an "advanced radical". He was a peace campaigner and supported women's suffrage.<ref name=obit/>
Bright remained as MP for South West Manchester until 1895. Upon retirement, Bright was sworn into the privy council at the suggestion of Lord Rosebery.<ref name=obit/> Jacob Bright died at midnight on 7/8 November 1899, aged 78, at his residence, "Nunn's Acre", Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.<ref name=obit/> He was cremated without a funeral service. The central committee of the Society for Women's Suffrage passed a resolution recognising his contribution to the movement.<ref name=odnb/> There is a memorial for Jacob and Ursula at St George's Church, Esher.
==Family== In 1855, Bright married Ursula Mellor Bright, daughter of a Liverpool merchant and campaigner for women's rights. They had three children.<ref name=odnb/>
==Gallery== <gallery mode="packed" heights="150px"> Jacob Bright, Vanity Fair, 1877-05-05.jpg|"The Apostle to the Women". Caricature by Spy published in Vanity Fair in 1877 Esher, St Georges Church, the Bright memorial (2).jpg|The Bright memorial, St Georges Church, Esher </gallery>
==References== *{{Rayment-hc|date=March 2012}} {{Reflist}}
== External links == *{{Hansard-contribs | mr-jacob-bright | Jacob Bright }} {{S-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Manchester | with = Thomas Bazley 1858–1880 | with2 = Hugh Birley from 1868 | before = Thomas Bazley<br />Edward James | after = Thomas Bazley<br />Hugh Birley<br />William Romaine Callender | years = 1867 – 1874 }} {{s-bef | before = Thomas Bazley<br />William Romaine Callender <br />Hugh Birley }} {{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Manchester | with = Thomas Bazley to 1880 | with2 = Hugh Birley to 1880 | with3 = William Henry Houldsworth from 1880 | with4 = John Slagg 1880–1885 | years = 1876 – 1885 }} {{s-non | reason = Constituency abolished }} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Manchester South West | years = 1886 – 1895 | before = Lord Frederick Spencer Hamilton | after = William Johnson Galloway }} {{s-civic}} {{s-new| post}} {{s-ttl |title=Mayor of Rochdale |years=1856–1857 }} {{s-aft |after=Robert T. Heape }} {{S-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bright, Jacob}} Category:1821 births Category:1899 deaths Category:Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:UK MPs 1865–1868 Category:UK MPs 1868–1874 Category:UK MPs 1874–1880 Category:UK MPs 1880–1885 Category:UK MPs 1886–1892 Category:UK MPs 1892–1895 Category:Mayors of Rochdale Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Manchester Category:British women's rights activists