Description
Autograph Pass, signed ‘Rich Cobden’, admitting the bearer to the Strangers Gallery of the House of Commons, possibly in 1846 during the repeal of the Corn laws. 4 x 6 inches, folded, upper right corner clipped. Thursday 14 May [?1846]. Richard Cobden (1804-65), economist and politician, known as the Apostle of Free Trade. In 1846 May 14th was a Thursday. The bill to repeal the Corn Laws passed the House of Commons on 16 May 1846 by 98 votes. In the next month Peel was forced to resign the Prime Ministership, and in his resignation speech he credited Cobden, more than anyone else, with the repeal of the Corn Laws.