The English politician John Bright (1811-1889) was one of the leading figures in 19th-century British radicalism. An outstanding orator, he was the most prominent British supporter of the North during the American Civil War.

Born at Rochdale, Lancashire, on Nov. 16, 1811, John Bright was strongly influenced first by the Quaker religion of his family and second by the industrial environment in which he was brought up. His father was a textile manufacturer, and he himself went into the business when he was 16 years old. He revealed a growing interest in the politics of reform throughout the early 1830s, but it required an exceptional sense of commitment to break away from Quaker quietism into platform agitations.

The turning point of Bright's life was his meeting with the reformer Richard Cobden and his involvement in the Anti-Corn Law League, founded in 1839. He was returned to Parliament in 1843, and although his share...