Richard Cobden

Richard Cobden (1804-1865), British economist and statesman, known as the Apostle of Free Trade.

Cobden was born in Sussex on June 3, 1804. At the age of 15 he went to work in London for his uncle, a calico merchant, and in 1828 he established an independent calico business with some friends. His philosophy of free trade was first apparent in two pamphlets he wrote, England, Ireland, and America (1835) and Russia (1836). In 1838 he joined with the British statesman John Bright and five other merchants to found the Anti-Corn Law League. As part of a campaign to decrease the cost of living, the league agitated for repeal of the corn laws. Cobden successfully stood for election to Parliament in 1841 to work for repeal of the corn duties, which was effected in 1846.

In Parliament Cobden favoured a laissez-faire economic philosophy, that is, minimum interference of government in business. He opposed factory reforms and trade unions and objected to the intervention of government in the affairs of foreign nations. His opposition to British foreign policy cost him his seat in Parliament in 1857. He was so respected by his political opponents, however, that Prime Minister Henry Palmerston offered Cobden the post of president of the Board of Trade in his Cabinet in 1859. Cobden rejected the offer, but remained politically active. The following year he negotiated an Anglo-French commercial treaty. His last important political action was to support the Union in the American Civil War, at a time when other British leaders were hesitant. He died in London on April 12, 1865.