# Liberalism — Character guide

> Key figures in Liberalism by L. T. Hobhouse.

- [William Ewart Gladstone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/liberalism_se/characters/gladstone.md): Gladstone stands at the hinge of Hobhouse's story, the practical statesman who carried Cobdenite fiscal reform to completion and then stretched liberal principle into imperial and Irish questions where freedom of contrac
- [Jeremy Bentham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/liberalism_se/characters/bentham.md): Bentham supplies the intellectual bedrock that Hobhouse's liberals are raised on, the 'pure milk of the Benthamite word' that shapes James Mill and lingers in his son. His legacy is a tension: a doctrine that cannot appe
- [James Mill](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/liberalism_se/characters/james_mill.md): James Mill represents the old Liberalism in its most uncompromising form, the doctrinaire utilitarianism that Hobhouse treats as a starting point rather than a destination. His presence shadows the book through his son, 
- [Richard Cobden](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/liberalism_se/characters/cobden.md): Cobden is the quiet architect of the economic creed that Gladstone spent his middle years completing, the 'Cobdenite policy of financial emancipation' that reshaped British budgets and the supremacy of the Commons. Yet H
- [John Locke](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/liberalism_se/characters/locke.md): Foundational philosopher of liberal ideas on government and rights.
- [Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/liberalism_se/characters/sir_henry_campbell_bannerman.md): Liberal Prime Minister referenced in political context.
- [The Englishman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/liberalism_se/characters/the_englishman.md): Generic representative of English liberal character.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/liberalism_se/characters