Constituency : Bolton 1880-85
John won the second seat at Bolton making it the first double triumph for the Liberals since 1852.
John was a Quaker and went into his family's cotton spinning firm. In 1867 he married John Bright's neice. He was a Unitarian and an advanced Liberal but declined an invitation to contest the seat in 1873. He was a large benefactor to Bolton funding the Haulgh Board School, the Chadwick museum and a gymnasium.
John supported women's suffrage. He opposed denominational education. He spoke for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act. In 1880 he and Charles Hopwood introduced an unsuccessful bill to allow wives to prosecute husbands for the neglect of their children.
In 1885 the Tories captured both seats.
In 1890 John gave Mere Hall to the borough.
He died in 1904 aged 62. The Thomasson Memorial School for blind and deaf children was built as a memorial to him in 1907.
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