Anti-Corn Law League

A meeting of the Anti-Corn Law League in Exeter Hall during 1846.

The Anti-Corn Law League was in effect the resumption of the Anti-Corn Law Association, which had been created in London during 1836 but did not obtain widespread popularity. The Anti-Corn Law League was initiated in Manchester during 1838. Richard Cobden and John Bright were the two principal persons of the league while George Wilson, the president of the League, was in charge of administrative duties. Joseph Ivimey, the Superintendent Registrar for St Pancras, was an active member and acted as the League's solicitor.

The goal of the league was the abolition of the Corn Laws, achieved during 1846, after which the league challenged other protectionist practices in the United Kingdom. The goal was to establish a fully free-trade economy and thus decrease the price of basic food products (such as bread and agricultural produce), to enhance the performance of agriculture and industry, and to create stronger commercial relations—- supposedly the guarantors of peace—- with other nations.

See also

• Manchester capitalism

Further reading

• H. J. Leech (Ed.): The public letters of the Right Hon. John Bright. London: Low, Marston & Co., 1895. Reprint New York, NY: Kraus Reprint, 1969.
• Paul A. Pickering and Alex Tyrrell: The people's bread, a history of the Anti-Corn Law League. London: Leicester University Press, 2000. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7185-0218-3
• George Barnett Smith: The Life and Speeches of the Right Hon. John Bright, M.P., 2 vols., 1881.
• Obituary in The Law Times for Joseph Ivimey, pub 9 November 1878.
• John M. Gilchrist: The Life of John Bright, M.P.. In Cassell's Representative Biographies (1868).
• Charles Vince: John Bright (1898); Speeches on Parliamentary Reform by John Bright, M.P., revised by Himself (1866).
• Thorold Rogers (Ed.): Speeches on Questions of Public Policy, by John Bright, M.P.. 1868.
• Thorold Rogers (Ed.): Public Addresses. 1879.
• John Bright: Speeches of John Bright, M.P., on the American Question. With an introduction by Frank Moore. [With a portrait.]. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1865.
• Archibald Prentice: History of the Anti-cornlaw-league. (London. 1853, 2 vol.). 2. ed. with a new introd. by W. H. Chaloner. London: Cass, 1968.
• Franz Simonson: Richard Cobden und die Antikornzolliga, sowie ihre Bedeutung für die wirthschaftlichen Verhältnisse des Deutschen Reiches. Berlin, 1883.
• Norman McCord: The Anti-Corn Law League 1838 - 1846. London: Allen & Unwin, 1958. Reprinted, Aldershot: Gregg Revivals, 1993.
• Archibald Philipp Primrose (Earl of Rosebery): Lord Rosebery's Speech on the Anti-Corn Law League and Free Trade, Manchester 1897. London: Cobden Club, 1898.

External links

• Spartacus Schoolnet
• The Online Library of Liberty