The great men of the period, Cobden and Bright, are merely historical figures.
The educational advantages of Richard Cobden were not very ample.
In 1830 Cobden learnt that Messrs Fort, calico printers at Sabden, near Clitheroe, were about to retire from business, and he, with two other young men, Messrs Sheriff and Gillet, who were engaged in the same commercial house as himself, determined to make an effort to acquire the succession.
This last was under the direct management of Cobden, who, in 1830 or 1831, settled in the city with which his name became afterwards so closely associated.
The success of this enterprise was decisive and rapid, and the "Cobden prints" soon became known through the country as of rare value both for excellence of material and beauty of design.
