“Right Hon. John Bright, M.P.” by Edward Linley Sambourne (1844-1910)</span>

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Right Hon. John Bright, M.P.

Edward Linley Sambourne (1844-1910)

Wood engraving

Punch (27 November 1880): 250

“Punch’s Fancy Portraits. — No. 9”

“As the Dramatic Author tries to see his way to a successful Irish Peace without a Plot, and with ‘no Great Properties.»”

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John Bright (many political cartoons)

William Ewart Gladstone

Ireland (homepage)

Image capture and text by George P. Landow.

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In his earlier political career Bright, a political radical who fought for extending the right to vote, opposed the Corn laws, paying taxes to the Church of England, and (as a member of the Peace Society) the Crimean War. According to Marjie Bloy, “in 1868 Bright accepted the post of President of the Board of Trade in Gladstone's first ministry but retired through ill-health in 1870. He returned to political life in 1881 as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He retired in 1882 because he opposed Gladstone's Home Rule policy for Ireland. Bright announced that he was not prepared to see power given to Irish nationalists who had made a mockery of parliamentary government. Bright was influential in the Unionist group in parliament and was regarded as one of the most eloquent speakers of his time” Sambourne here portrays Bright as a an inept dramatist without a coherent plan.

Created 11 May 2020