Joseph Brotherton

Samuel William Reynolds Jnr 1794 - 1872

Summary

Portrait of Joseph Brotherton, half-length, seated in an armchair in front of a curtain, directed to right, looking away to left; holding a rolled paper inscribed 'Petition of the Borough of Salford' in his right hand; at right, a table with a book, inkwell and pen. Joseph Brotherton (1783-1857) became a partner in his family firm, a cotton and silk mill in Salford, in 1802. In 1816 he became a nonconformist minister of the Salford Swedenborgian Church. The church required abstention from eating meat or drinking alcohol. He is considered a pioneering vegetarian. From 1815 he was a member of the Little Circle group and he was co-founder of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce in 1820. After the Little Circle group achieved the Reform Act 1832, Brotherton was elected Salford's first MP. Published in 1836