Career
The family was Nonconformist in religion and Liberal in politics. John Cheetham served as Member of Parliament for South Lancashire and later Salford. During the Lancashire Cotton Famine in 1861-1864, Cheetham rose to prominence as President of the Cotton Supply Association: a body that aimed to promote the growth and export of raw cotton outside the United States and particularly in the British Raj.
As the United States cotton supply returned however, Cheetham"s frequent attacks on the governance of the Raj gradually caused opinion in Britain and India to turn against the Association, and it dissolved in 1872.