Probably the most famous and successful of the personalities on the Rochdale scene in the 19th century was John Bright. Bright was front and centre in all of the political and labour struggles of the time, but unlike his contemporary, Thomas Livsey, Bright was not seen as a champion of the average man.

John Bright was born in Rochdale in 1811. His father Jacob Bright was a Quaker and a cotton spinner, and he passed on to his son a commercial and religious heritage that were to define his life.

John Bright became the M.P. for Durham in 1843 and he had an illustrious political career gaining a reputation as an outstanding orator and a persuasive debater. In later years he was the M.P. for both Stockport and Birmingham. He spoke out against slavery and campaigned for an extension of voting rights.

In Rochdale though, John Bright was known as an unyielding, unsympathetic mill owner. Whilst he was campaigning against slavery, he was resisting efforts to improve the slave-like conditions under which children worked in factories, including his own. It was also well known that the housing he provided for his workers was of such poor quality that they lived in the worst slums in a town not known for salubrious living conditions.

In a time when the Rochdale workers were attempting to preserve their meager wages through their union, John Bright prided himself on fighting them every step of the way. Faced with a strike among his carpet weavers, he did not hesitate to replace them with blackleg workers.

Views on Bright vary even in retrospect. He was clearly an important and influential spokesman on a number of major issues. He led a long and successful commercial and political life. However, on the day of his funeral in Rochdale, the general population exhibited little grief at his passing.