John Morgan Cobbett (13 November 1800 – 13 February 1877) was a

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

and

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

politician. Trained as a barrister, he was the second son of the English

pamphleteer Pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets, unbound (and therefore inexpensive) booklets intended for wide circulation. Context Pamphlets were used to broadcast the writer's opinions: to articulate a polit ...

, farmer, journalist and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

William Cobbett William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835) was an English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey. He was one of an agrarian faction seeking to reform Parliament, abolish "rotten boroughs", restrain foreign ...

, author of ''

Rural Rides ''Rural Rides'' is the book for which the English journalist, agriculturist and political reformer William Cobbett is best known. At the time of writing in the early 1820s, Cobbett was a radical anti-Corn Law campaigner, newly returned to Engl ...

'' (1830) and his wife Anne ''née'' Reid. In 1851, he married Mary Fielden, the daughter of

John Fielden John Fielden (17 January 1784 – 29 May 1849) was a British industrialist and Radical Member of Parliament for Oldham (1832–1847). He entered Parliament to support William Cobbett, whose election as fellow-MP for Oldham he helped to bring ...

, his father's fellow-member for

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

John Morgan Cobbett's political affiliations are complicated. He had stood unsuccessfully at

on an all-Radical "plague on both your houses" slate with

in 1847. He was elected in 1852 as the Radical half of an explicit Radical-Tory alliance. At the 1857 election, he was opposed by two Liberals and denied that he had sold out to

Palmerston Palmerston may refer to: People * Christie Palmerston (c. 1851–1897), Australian explorer * Several prominent people have borne the title of Viscount Palmerston ** Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston (c. 1673–1757), Irish nobleman an ...

, asserting that the Liberal Chief Whip had no confidence in him. In 1865 he stood unsuccessfully in conjunction with a Conservative, opposed by two Liberals. Nonetheless, from 1852 to 1865, outside Oldham he was generally taken to be a Liberal. He contested Oldham as a Conservative in 1868 (unsuccessfully) and was elected as a Conservative at a by-election in 1872 - and was thereby the last MP in the UK to be elected by public (rather than secret) ballot. From 1872 to his death in 1877, he sat as a Conservative (but one calling for annual Parliaments and manhood suffrage). He is buried in a family plot at the West Street Cemetery in

Farnham Farnham ( /ˈfɑːnəm/) is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a trib ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

References

External links

* 1800 births 1877 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1852–1857 UK MPs 1857–1859 UK MPs 1859–1865 UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs 1874–1880 {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1800s-stub