John Morgan Cobbett

John Morgan Cobbett (13 November 1800 – 13 February 1877)[1][2] was a Conservative Party and Liberal Party politician.

John Morgan Cobbett MP
John Morgan Cobbett
Member of Parliament for Oldham
In office 5 June 1872 – 13 February 1877 Serving with Frederick Spinks (1874–1877) J. T. Hibbert (1872–1874)
Preceded by	John Platt J. T. Hibbert
Succeeded by	J. T. Hibbert Frederick Spinks
In office 7 July 1852 – 11 July 1865 Serving with J. T. Hibbert (1862–1865) William Johnson Fox (1857–1862) James Platt (1857–1857) William Johnson Fox (1852–1857) John Duncuft (1852–1852)
Preceded by	William Johnson Fox John Duncuft
Succeeded by	John Platt J. T. Hibbert
Personal details
Born	1800
Died	13 February 1877 (aged 76)
Resting place	West Street Cemetery, Farnham, Surrey
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Other political affiliations	Liberal Party (UK) (until 1868)
Spouse(s)	Mary Fielden (1817-1896)
Children	Mary Cobbett (1852-1913) John Fielden Cobbett (1856-1918) William Morgan Cobbett (1860-1915)
Parents	William Cobbett, Anne Reid

Trained as a barrister, he was the second son of the English pamphleteer, farmer, journalist and member of parliament William Cobbett, author of Rural Rides (1830) and his wife Anne née Reid. In 1851 he married Mary Fielden, the daughter of John Fielden, his father's fellow-member for Oldham.[3][4]

Grave of John Morgan Cobbett and family members in West Street Cemetery in Farnham in Surrey

John Morgan Cobbett's political affiliations are complicated.[5] He had stood unsuccessfully at Oldham on an all-Radical 'plague on both your houses' slate with John Fielden in 1847. He was elected in 1852 as the Radical half of an explicit Radical-Tory alliance.[6] At the 1857 election he was opposed by two Liberals and denied that he had sold out to Palmerston, asserting that the Liberal Chief Whip had no confidence in him.[7] In 1865 he stood unsuccessfully in conjunction with a Conservative,[8] opposed by two Liberals.

Nonetheless, from 1852 to 1865 outside Oldham he was generally taken to be a Liberal.[9] 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.[2] From 1872 to his death in 1877 he sat as a Conservative (but one calling for annual Parliaments and manhood suffrage)[10][11]

He is buried in a family plot at the West Street Cemetery in Farnham in Surrey.

References

1. John Morgan Cobbett in the England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
2. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "O"
3. G D H Cole, The Life of William Cobbett, Routledge (2011) - Google Books pg.
4. Ross Johnson, Sentenced to Cross the Raging Sea: The Story of Sam Johnson, Victim of Oldham's Bankside riot of 1834, Ross Johnson (2004) - Google Books pg. 211
5. "Death of Mr J M Cobbett MP for Oldham". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 15 February 1877.
6. "The Elections". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 10 July 1852.
7. "The General Election". Morning Post. 30 March 1857.
8. "Oldham Election". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 24 June 1865.
9. For example his vote against the 1859 motion of no confidence which ended the second premiership of Lord Derby and led to the return of Palmerston as prime minister led to him being listed by (even Manchester) newspapers as one of the "English Liberals who voted with the government" - "The Ministerial Crisis". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 18 June 1859. p. 10.
10. "Death of Mr Cobbett MP". Pall Mall Gazette. 14 February 1877.
11. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) |format= requires |url= (help) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Cobbett