Henry
Brougham, the son of Henry and Eleanora Brougham, landowners in Westmorland,
was born in Edinburgh on 19th September,
1778. Henry, was extremely intelligent and was accepted as a student
at Edinburgh University at the age of
14. At first Brougham studied science and mathematics and while still
a student presented a paper Experiments and
Observations of the Infection, Reflection and Colours of Light,
to the Royal Society. Brougham became interested in law and in 1800
joined Edinburgh University's faculty of advocates.
In 1802 Brougham and a few friends founded the journal Edinburgh
Review. In the next two years Brougham contributed thirty-five
articles. At university Brougham developed radical political opinions
and many of these articles dealt with the issue of social reform.
The Edinburgh Review was a great
success and quickly became one of the most influential political publications
of the 19th century. As well as writing articles for the Edinburgh
Review, Brougham wrote the book An
Inquiry into the Colonial Policy of the European Powers.
Brougham worked as a lawyer in Edinburgh
for three years but he came to the conclusion that his radical political
views would prevent him from obtaining promotion so in 1803 he decided
to move to London. In London he became friends with a group of radicals
that included Thomas Barnes, William
Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt, Lord
Byron, and Charles Lamb.
Brougham developed a reputation as a lawyer with progressive views.
This brought Brougham to the attention of the leaders of the Whigs.
In 1807 Brougham was given the task of organising the Whigs press
campaign in the 1807 General Election. Three years later, the Duke
of Bedford, a Whig aristocrat, offered Brougham,
the parliamentary seat of Camelford. The
constituency only had twenty votes and they were all under the control
of the Duke of Bedford. Although Henry Brougham disapproved of this
corrupt system he accepted the seat in order to enter the House
of Commons.
Brougham soon established himself as one of the leading radicals in
Parliament. His first campaign in Parliament was against slavery
and in 1810 played an important role in making participation in the
slave trade a felony. The Duke of Bedford had financial problems and
had to sell Camelford in 1812 and Brougham
had to find another seat in the next election.
Brougham decided to become the Whig parliamentary candidate in Liverpool.
This was a brave decision as Liverpool
was one of the main centres of the British slave trade. Brougham was
defeated by the Tory George Canning and
was without a seat in the House of Commons for the next four years.
Henry Brougham continued to work as a lawyer and in August 1812 he
defended thirty-eight handloom weavers who had been arrested by Joseph
Nadin, Deputy Constable of Manchester,
while trying to form a trade union. Their leader John
Knight was charged with "administering oaths to weavers pledging
them to destroy steam looms" and the rest of the men were accused
of attending a seditious meeting. As a result of Brougham's brilliant
defence, all thirty-eight were acquitted.
In 1815 Lord Darlington offered Henry Brougham the vacant seat of
Winchelsea. Like Camelford, Winchelsea
was a pocket borough. Unable to find a
seat which he had a chance of winning, Brougham accepted Lord Darlington's
offer and the following year became M. P. for Winchelsea.
In the House of Commons Brougham became
the leading spokesmen for the radicals. In 1819 he blamed the Tory
government and Manchester's local magistrates for the Peterloo
Massacre. He also spoke out against the prison sentences imposed
on Henry Orator Hunt, John
Knight, Samuel Bamford and the other
organisers of the meeting at St. Peter's Field.
Brougham was actively involved in educational reform. He supported
the Ragged Schools Union, Mechanics
Institutes and the Society for the Diffusion
of Useful Knowledge. Brougham's ideas on state-funded education
were unpopular and the education bills that he introduced to Parliament
in 1820, 1835, 1837, 1838 and 1839 were all defeated.
In 1830 Brougham was given a peerage and became Lord Chancellor in
Lord Grey's new Whig government. Brougham, who had been arguing for
parliamentary reform for over thirty years, played an important role
in persuading the House of Lords to pass the 1832
Reform Act. Lord Brougham was also one of the main people behind
the passing of the 1833 Anti-Slavery Act.
Lord Brougham lost office after the defeat of the Whigs
in 1834. Brougham's views were considered to be too radical by Lord
Grey's successor, Lord Melbourne, and
was not given government office after the Whigs returned to power
in April 1835. Lord Brougham remained committed to further political
reform and helped Melbourne's government pass the Municipal
Reform Bill in 1835. A strong believer in equal rights for women,
Brougham also played an important role in the passing of the Matrimonial
Causes Act in 1857. Henry Brougham died on 17th May, 1868.
(1)
Henry Brougham, letter to Earl Grey on the Peterloo Massacre on 31st
August, 1819.
The
magistrates there (in Manchester) and all over Lancashire I have long
known for the worst in England, the most bigotted, violent and active.
I am quite indignant at this Manchester business, but I fear, with
you, that we can do nothing till parliament meets.
(2) Henry Brougham, letter to
Lord Lambton on the Peterloo Massacre on 20th September, 1819.
The
case of the Manchester magistrates is desperate. There is no speaking
with patience on it. I wish to God Parliament were met. My tongue
itches to be at them. I dare hardly venture to go to a meeting at
Kendal for fear of being carried away and then carried off to Appleby
Jail under the new law of commitment.
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