SIR JOHN ELDON GORST AND BRITISH SOCIAL POLICY 1875-1914 by Olwen Claire Niessen A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Waterloo, Ontario, 1984 ©Olwen Claire Niessen 1984 I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis , I authorize the University of Waterloo to lend this thesis to other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. Signature oc.~~ I further authorize the University of Waterloo to reproduce this thesis by photocopying or by other means, in total or in part, at the request of other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. Signature QC,-~~ (ii) The University of Waterloo requires the signatures of all persons using or photocopying this thesis. Please sign below, and give address and date. (iii) ABSTRACT SIR JOHN ELDON GORST AND BRITISH SOCIAL POLICY 1875-1914 The period of Liberal rule in Britain between 1906 and 1914 is justly remembered for its social reforms. The "New Liberalism" of these years produced the social legislation which constituted the nucleus of what is now the British "Welfare State". These measures represented a reversal of the individualistic, laissez-faire doctrines of the nineteenth century, a reversal effected partly through the efforts of social investigators, partly as a result of hard-headed political expediency and the ambitions of particular Government ministers, and partly the Liberal Government's response to the threat of Socialism. These reforms also resulted from the efforts of various individuals and many of them, particularly those of Cabinet rank, such as Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, have received recognition from historians for their efforts. Other equally concerned and energetic reformers have virtually been ignored. One of these is Sir John Eldon Gorst. Through examination of Gorst's speeches in the House of Commons, his writings in the periodic press, and his communications to the Times, plus reports therein of his various activities connected with social reform measures, it is shown that Gorst made a significant contribution to late Victorian and Edwardian social legislation. (iv) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my appreciation to those persons who have helped to make this thesis a reality. I acknowledge my debt to the following persons: To my supervisors, Dr. R.C. MacGillivray and Dr. D.E. Wright, who directed my work with understanding, for their helpful suggestions and generous devotion of time; and to Dr. G.M. Ostrander for his help and support. To the Librarians and staff of the University of Waterloo and to those in the many libraries and record offices I visited in England. I am especially indebted to Allison Buchan of the Alexander Turnbull Library, New Zealand; the staff of the Bodleian Library, Oxford; and the staff of the Public Record Office, Kew and Portugal St. For permission to use private papers in their possession I am especially grateful to the Marquess of Salisbury; the Auckland Institute and Museum; the Bodleian Library, Oxford; Churchill College, Cambridge; Greater London Council; Keeper of the Cambridge University Archives; National Archives, New Zealand, and the National Portrait Gallery. For their generous assistance I also wish to thank Mr. Geoffrey D.M. Block, OBE, Conservative Research Department; Dr. N.D. Daglish; R.H. Harcourt-Williams, Hatfield House; Kay M. Sanderson, National Archives of New Zealand; and Dr. Philip Waller, Merton College, Oxford, I must also acknowledge financial support from the Canada Council, through a Doctoral Fellowship, and the Ontario Government, through an Ontario Graduate Scholarship, which made it possible for me to research and write this thesis. I am extremely grateful to Chris Burns for her excellent typing and deciphering of the manuscript. Finally, I would like to thank my husband, Paul, for his constant encouragement and unfailing support. 0) TAllLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER I . THE EARLY YEARS 4 II. THE QUEST FOR TORY DEMOCRACY: GORST AND 56 PARTY ORGANIZATION 1875-1885 ° III. THE QUEST FOR TORY DEMOCRACY: GORST AND 97 SOCIAL REFORM 1875-1890 IV. THE WORKINGMENS' ADVOCATE 135 V. VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL 1895-1902 ' I 192 VI. "THE CHILDREN'S VALIANT CHAMPION" 320 VII. CAMPAIGN FOR FEEDING LEGISLATION 372 VIII. THE FINAL YEARS 428 APPENDICES 447 BIBLIOGRAPHY (vi) LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS p.vii John Eldon Gorst. c. 1863 (Auckland Institute and Museum) p.319 Sir John Eldon Gorst. c. 1905 (National Portrait Gallery) vii John Eldon Gorst. c. 1863. INTRODUCTION During the quarter century between 1880 and 1914, mounting social, economic and political problems gradually effected a change in attitudes concerning the role of the State in society which dramatically transformed British social policy by the eve of the First World War. In responding to the various problems, successive British governments found themselves being drawn into ever-increasing areas of national life until governments themselves became prime agents of social change. During the period 1880-1914, the functions of the State expanded steadily, culminating in a concentrated burst of social reform activity during the Liberal Administration of 1906-1914. This period saw the introduction of school meals and medical services for children, old-age pensions, and insurance against health and unemployment. Minimum wages were fixed in certain industries and labour exchanges were instituted. The enactment of these measures owed much to practical politics, most specifically, to successive governments' reactions to the social, economic, and political developments of the period and to their desire not to be outbid by their parliamentary rivals. However, much of this legislation was patterned on ideas formulated and promoted by social reformers and progressive politicians 1 during the final decades of the nineteenth century. Many of these 1For background to these various social, economic and political developments see Keith Burgess, The Challenge of Labour: Shaping British Society, 1850-1930 (London, 1980), Chap. 2-4. H.V. Erny, Liberals, Radicals and Social Politics, 1892-1914 (Cambridge, 1973). Eric Evans, Social Policy, 1830-1914: Individualism, Collectivism, and the origins of the Welfare State (London, 1978). J.R. Hay, The Origins of the Liberal Welfare Reforms, 1906-1914 (London, 1975). ·nonald Read, England, 1863-1914 (London, 1979). Paul Thompson, The Edwardians: The Remaking of British Society (London, 1975). 1. 2. individuals have received recognition from historians for their efforts while other equally concerned and energetic reformers have been largely ignored. Included in the latter group is Conservative politician, Sir John Eldon Gorst. Gorst had a long and noteworthy political career. He gave forty years of service to the Tory Party, thirty-three of them in Parliament. Between 1868 and 1874 he served as Party Agent, during which time he effected a reorganization of party machinery which resulted in the resounding Conservative victory in the 1874 General Election, He subsequently held the offices of Solicitor-General (1885-86), Under­ Secretary for India (1886-1891), Financial Secretary to the Treasury (1891-92), and Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education (1895-1902). He was also a member of the Tory party's prominent parlia­ mentary ginger group, the Fourth Party, and was British Plenipotentiary to the 1890 Berlin Labour Conference. Throughout his career Gorst actively promoted social issues, in the Commons, on public platforms, and in the press, and his efforts had a marked influence upon the social legislation of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Certain aspects of Gorst's colourful career have been the subject of individual historical studies. His work in the reorganization of the 2 Conservative Party has been examined in detail; the exploits of the 2see, for example, James Cornford, "The Transformation of Conservatism in the Late Nineteenth Century", Victorian Studies 7 (1963-64): 35-66. E.J. Feuchtwanger, "J.E. Gorst and the Central Organization of the Conservative Party, 1870-1882", Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, 32 (1959), 192-208. 3. Fourth Party, a quartet of Parliamentarians which included the renowned Randolph Churchill and future Prime Minister A.J. Balfour, have been 3 frequently recorded; and Gorst's role in the development of the extensive educational reforms of the period 1896-1902 has been scrutinized.4 However, because of his undeniable success in reorganizing and invigorating the Tory party machinery during the 'seventies and 'eighties, historians in general, "have been content to accept him as a good deed in a naughty world, and he has passed into undergraduate history as a byword for an imaginative approach to borough Conservatism which an insensitive party 5 orthodoxy foolis_hly chose to ignore". Consequently, Gors t I s efforts to obtain the reform and extension of British social welfare institutions, which have been acknowledged by many of his contemporaries, have largely been neglected by historians. In his work, Tory Democracy, W.J. Wilkinson has touched upon Gorst's social reform endeavours, 6 while those he put forth during Disraeli's last Administration have been noted by 7 Paul Smith; and Gorst's early twentieth-century agitation for increased 3 see Winston S. Churchill, Lord Randolph Churchill (1906, London, 1952), Chap. 3. H.E. Gorst, The Fourth Party (London, 1906). R.R. James, Lord Randolph Churchill (London, 1959), Chap. 3. 4 See, for example, Eric Eaglesham, From School Board to Local Authority (London, 1956). Bernard M. Allen, Sir Robert Morant (London, 1934), Part 3. See also, N. Daglish, "The Educational Work of Sir John Gorst" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Durham, 1974). 5 J .R. Vincent, " 1 A Sort of second-rate Australia': A note on Gorst and democracy, 1865-8", Historical Studies (Australia and New Zealand), 15 (1973), 539-544. 6 w.J. Wilkinson, Tory Democracy (New York, 1925). 7 P. Smith, Disraelian Conservatism and Social Reform (London, 1967).