English orator and politician, born at Uggeshall, his father’s small farm, near Wrentham, Suffolk, in 1786. His father removed to Norwich to engage as a weaver, and the boy was sent to Homerton College, London, to be trained as an Independent minister, but was soon attracted to Unitarianism, and became a leader of the English rationalists. He was one of the most powerful orators in favor of the repeal of the Corn Laws, his speeches being quoted by M. Guizot as the most finished productions on the subject. His Letters of a Norwich Weaver-Boy contributed much to the promotion of free trade. He was elected to Parliament in 1847, and sat until 1863. He died in London on the 3rd of June 1864. He published three volumes of sermons and a work entitled The Religious Ideas, and edited The Monthly Repositor. See also “‘Make us a god,’ said man,” “The Barons Bold.”
