Richard Cobden [1804-1865]
A brief introduction.
Richard Cobden, born 3rd June, 1804 in Heyshott, near Midhurst, West Sussex was one of 11 children and spent his early life in extreme poverty. His family had been resident in that neighbourhood for many generations, occupied partly in trade and partly in agriculture. His grandfather owned Bex Mill in Heyshott and was a maltster, an energetic and prosperous man who served as bailiff and chief magistrate, taking rather a notable part in county matters. His father, forsaking malting, took to farming. A poor business man, he died while Richard was a child. After his death the family moved to Midhurst where Richard attended a dame school. Eventually the family were forced to distribute the children to numerous relatives. Richard went to an uncle in Yorkshire where he was treated very badly, attending Bowes Hall School in Teesdale.
 
He received very little formal schooling and at the age of 15 became a clerk in the textile industry. A year later he was working as a commercial traveller. After developing knowledge of the cotton trade, Cobden decided to start his own business. In 1828 he joined with two other young men [Sheriff and Gillet] to start a company selling calico prints in London. The business was an immediate success and by 1832 Richard Cobden was living in an affluent part of Manchester. After 8 years he and his partners had turned a £1,000 investment into £80,000.
 
Cobden had made enough money to spend time travelling. Between 1833 and 1837 he visited France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, America, Egypt, Greece and Russia. Cobden collected information about these countries and in 1835 published his book, England, Ireland and America. In this book Cobden warned that in the future Britain would find it difficult to compete with the emerging economic power of America. Cobden was also extremely critical of the way that Ireland was being ruled. In the book Cobden also advocated a policy of free trade, low taxation, reduced military spending and an improvement in our system of education.
 
In 1837 Richard Cobden became a member of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce and joined Thomas Potter and John Shuttleworth in the agitation that resulted in Manchester achieving a democratically elected local council. In 1838 Cobden was one if the first men to be elected as a Manchester Alderman.

In October 1837, Joseph Hume, Francis Place and John Roebuck formed the Anti-Corn Law Association in London. The following year Cobden joined with Archibald Prentice to establish a branch of this organisation in Manchester. In 1839 Cobden and the Manchester Anti-Corn Law Association presented a petition to Parliament. With four-fifths of all MPs representing rural constituencies it soon became clear to Cobden that petitions in themselves would not achieve the repeal of the Corn Laws.
 
In March 1839 Cobden was instrumental in establishing a new centralised Anti-Corn Law League. Now able to organise a national campaign in favour of reform he recruited a number of talented speakers to the movement, the most important of which was John Bright, who at that time was one of Britain's best known orators.
 
In 1840 he married Miss Catherine Anne Williams, a Welsh lady.
 
In 1841 General Election he became the MP for Stockport. Although continuing to tour the country making speeches against the Corn Laws, he was now in a position to constantly remind the British government that reform was needed. By 1845 the League was the best organised political group in Britain speaking to very large audiences all over the country.
 
The failure of the Irish potato crop in 1845 and the mass starvation that followed, forced Sir Robert Peel and his Conservative government to reconsider the wisdom of the Corn Laws. Irish nationalists such as Daniel O'Connell also became involved in the campaign. Peel was slowly won over and in January 1846 a new Corn Law was passed reducing the duty on oats, barley and wheat to the insignificant sum of one shilling per quarter.
 
Richard Cobden was now a national hero but because he had neglected his business in Manchester he was now deeply in debt. His supporters raised £8,000 as a reward for his efforts and he used this money to purchase Dunford, the farmhouse where he was born in Heyshott.

Cobden had suffered from bronchial problems for many years. He left Midhurst on March 21 1865 travelling to London to speak in the House of Commons, and caught a cold. He recovered for a short period after his arrival in London; but on the 29th suffered a relapse, and on April 2, 1865 he died peacefully at his apartments in Suffolk Street of an acute attack of bronchitis.
 

He was buried at West Lavington church, on April 7. His grave was surrounded by a large crowd of mourners, among whom were Gladstone, Bright, Milner Gibson, Charles Villiers and a host besides from all parts of the country. In 1866 the Cobden Club was founded in London, to promote free-trade economics, and it became a centre for political propaganda on those lines; and prizes were instituted in his name at Oxford and Cambridge.   Richard Cobden left 5 daughters, of whom Mrs Cobden-Unwin [wife of the publisher Mr Fisher Unwin], Mrs Walter Sickert [wife of the painter] and Mrs. T. J. Cobden-Sanderson [wife of the well-known artist in bookbinding], afterwards became prominent in various spheres, and inherited their father's political interest.

"The manliest and gentlest spirit that ever tenanted a human form." In these words did his friend John Bright (1811-89) pay tribute to the memory of Cobden. The consummation of Cobden's life work in bringing about the abolition of the corn laws, which made bread expensive and the adoption of free trade, exercised an influence on the industrial and commercial progress of Britain during the later 19th century which it would indeed be difficult to exaggerate.
 

Richard Cobden was born on a farm called Dunford, [ now Dunford house ] in the hamlet of Heyshott near Midhurst, West Sussex. His father was a farmer, and his ancestors had lived in that district for centuries. In 1814 his father had to sell the farm and Richard, the fourth of eleven children, was sent to a school in Yorkshire which he described as "Dotheboys Hall" in reality. In 1819 Cobden went to work in his uncle's warehouse in London where he proved to be an adept clerk and salesman, industry and good sense led in time to advancement, and he became a commercial traveller for the firm. In 1828 Cobden and two other young men started business as commission agents for a firm of Manchester calico printers. A year later when Left - engraving depicting Dunford Farm courtesy- National Library of Australia

he was 25, Cobden and his partners started a calico printing factory near Blackburn, Lancashire, which became a prosperous business. In 1832 Cobden settled in Manchester but went on to visit America and the Levant. Consequently he published England, Ireland and America in 1835 and Russia in 1836. In them he preached free trade and economic non-intervention by the government. In 1837 he stood as a parliamentary candidate for Stockport on a free trade platform but was unsuccessful. In 1838 he became one of the seven founding members of the Anti-Corn-Law League in Manchester.
 
He was a staunch supporter of the free trade movement, whose aims were to do away with customs duties on all goods entering one country from another and imposed for the benefit of home producers. In 1838, when the Anti-corn law league was formed to secure the repeal of laws imposing a duty on imported corn, he joined it, and became one of its leaders. He conducted lecture tours all over England
In 1841 he entered parliament as member for Stockport, and after 5 years of ceaseless effort had the supreme satisfaction of seeing the corn laws repealed.
His parliamentary speeches were clear, quiet and persuasive. He was the only man ever to beat Peel in debate in parliament and in 1846 Peel acknowledged Cobden's rule in the repeal of the Corn Laws. He refused to merge the ACLL with wider programmes of reform because he saw the advantages of a single policy, and saw the appeal to new industrial areas. He was so committed to the cause of free trade that he became bankrupt. A public subscription of £80,000 was raised in recognition of his services and in 1847 he used the money to buy back his childhood home and farm. see report
 
Cobden did not hold Cabinet office although in 1860 he was responsible for arranging a commercial treaty with France.
Cobden was throughout his career associated in politics with John Bright. Both were members of the peace society and opposed the Crimean war. Both were pledged to abolish slavery and spoke out strongly in favour of the north during the American Civil War. 1861-65.
 
Cobden died in London on April 2, 1865. [ 02.04.1865 ]
 
He is buried at Lavington, near Midhurst, close to his birthplace on the farm, which he had purchased, and where he spent some of the last years of his active and benevolent life.

Part of a report in Heyshott village newsletter May 2004
Richard Cobden had 10 brothers and sisters. His schooling started in Midhurst, but after his father had to sell Dunford farm due to financial losses, an uncle paid for his education for 5 years at Bowes hall in Yorkshire. This school attained notoriety as the model for Dickens' Dotheboys hall in Nicholas Nickelby. The legacy of his schooldays was serious injury to his feet due to frostbite. he required special boots for the remainder of his life.
 

Old postcard of Dunford, Cobdens home for the last 15 years of his life.   Old postcard of Oatscroft, Mrs. Cobden died here in 1877   The plaque on Cobdens pew in Heyshott Church click image to enlarge photo- Pam Hadley, 2007

In 1848, some success in his calico printing business in North Lancashire and a generous testimonial from his supporters following the repeal of the Corn Laws, enabled him to buy back Dunford and 140 acres of land for £3,500. On his first visit, he picked a leaf from a rose growing against 'the house were I was born'. Today this is preserved between sheets of plastic in the British Library. "We shall shine in roses" he wrote to his wife who was in London awaiting the birth of their third daughter, Jane. [Jane lived in Heyshott well into her 90's and is remembered by some in the village, in particular Bertha Moreton, who worked for her at Oakscroft and Betty Lovejoy who knew her well.] In time the growing family decided to live at Dunford full time and by 1854 they were in the splendid Italianate villa, which we know today.   In 1856 tragedy struck when Richard and Kates first born and only son died suddenly of scarlet fever at his school in Germany. Kate never fully recovered her health and Richards already fragile health - he had suffered repeated chest infections - was further damaged.   However he remained in active public life and, in April 1865, he was in London to speak in parliament, when he took ill and suddenly died. Gladstone led the funeral procession of some 3 to 4 thousand persons to West Lavington church. He and John Bright, Cobdens life long friend and political associate, led the pall bearers. The Rev. Caleb Collins took the service and Gladstone said "I have never seen in public life a character more truly simple, noble and unselfish".   As the Daily Telegraphs obituary put it "He brought untaxed bread into the poor mans home". He never held high office - he declined cabinet posts - yet he was respected by Emperor, President, Pasha and Tsar. We, in Heyshott remember him, with gratitude, too. He supported closely, the Rev. Caleb Collins in the substantial restoration, completed for Easter 1860, of our beloved church and he and his family endowed our village hall, club and school.   Heyshott | Heyshott Church