ernment. ‘Nobody can suppose’, put in the same terms today, but it early days in Australia were marred wrote Mill, ‘that it is not more ben- illustrates the general point – and in by a series of gaffes and misunder- eficial to a Breton, or a Basque of this context it is interesting to note standings, but his patronage of local French Navarre, to be brought into how the Spanish regions have come writers and artists and his readiness, the current of the ideas and feelings to terms with their current status, on occasion, to defy protocol won of a highly civilised and cultivated how they are building relationships the admiration of some. As gover- people – to be a member of the with EU structures, how regional nor and commander-in-chief his real French nationality, admitted on equal government has diminished, not in- power was limited, though the po- terms to all the privileges of French creased, the pressures for independ- sition was not entirely ceremonial. citizenship, sharing the advantages of ence – and how some regionalist par- He helped arrange for the partici- French protection, and the dignity ties (e.g. Convergencia i Unia in Cata- pation of New South Wales contin- and prestige of French power – than lonia) are becoming more liberal. But gents in the Boer War and calmly to sulk on his own rocks, the half- more nationalists tended to lean in the dealt with an outbreak of bubonic savage relic of past times, revolving direction of rhetoric over blood and plague in the colony in . His in his own little mental orbit, with- race – a simplistic and illiberal answer most significant political act was to out participation or interest in the to the problems of a complex world. refuse, with Chamberlain’s backing, general movement of the world. The a dissolution of the state parliament Notes: same remark applies to the Welsh- in in the knowledge that See Graham Watson, ‘Scottish Liberals, man or the Scottish Highlander, as Scottish Nationalists and Dreams of a William Lyne was in a position to members of the British nation.’ Common Front’, Journal of Liberal Demo- form a government. The creation of The argument would hardly be crat History (Spring ). the Commonwealth of Australia in left Beauchamp in a difficult position. He went on leave in Oc- tober on half-pay and did not return. In Beauchamp married Lady Lettice Grosvenor, sister of the Biographies Duke Westminster, and prepared to throw himself into British politics. But the Unionists’ move after towards the policy of tariff reform William Lygon, 7th Earl alienated a life-long free trader. Not surprisingly, he was received with Beauchamp (1872–1938) enthusiasm into the Liberal ranks. He was known to be wealthy and David Dutton influential and had the reputation of being a model landlord. Beauchamp soon became renowned for his hos- Though he has not left an enormous mark upon the pitality. His receptions at Halkyn House in Belgrave Square became a historical record, William Lygon, Earl Beauchamp, occupied highlight of the social season for Ed- an important position in Liberal politics for more than two wardian Liberals. Beauchamp was Captain of the decades. For much of his career he was obliged to grapple Honourable Corps of Gentlemen- with the intractable problems of Liberal decline. at-Arms in – and His Majes- ty’s Steward, –. But his pro- Lygon was born in London on came Mayor of Worcester in , motion to Asquith’s cabinet in June February , the elder son of at the age of just twenty-three. With as Lord President of the Coun- Frederick Lygon, sixth Earl Beau- his high Anglican background he cil came as a surprise. ‘Beauchamp a champ, and his first wife, Mary, daugh- was a natural adherent of the Un- cabinet minister!’ proclaimed a Tory ter of the fifth Earl Stanhope. Educated ionist party. Even so, most observers who had known him well at Ox- at Eton, he succeeded his father as Earl – and Beauchamp himself – were ford. ‘I don’t know why, but this Beauchamp on the day before his surprised when the Unionist Colo- strikes me as inexpressibly funny.’I nineteenth birthday in , and nial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain, In the absence, before December shortly after going up to Christ offered him the governorship of , of cabinet minutes, it is not Church, Oxford. He thereby inherited New South Wales in . He was easy to determine the nature of , acres in Worcestershire. still only twenty-seven years of age. Beauchamp’s contribution to the His interest in public affairs This rather imaginative appointment turbulent political years before the quickly became apparent and he be- proved only partially successful. His outbreak of the First World War.
18 journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 Such evidence as there is suggests nounced that, with regret, he had and Asquith in – he sought the that he was rather overshadowed in- received the resignations of John role of conciliator, though with only side a cabinet of political heavy- Morley, John Burns and John Simon. limited success. While Beauchamp weights such as Lloyd George, Beauchamp ‘leant forward and asked reconciled himself to Lloyd George’s Winston Churchill, Edward Grey to be included’. In the event he, effective takeover of the party after and R.B. Haldane, as well as Asquith along with Simon, withdrew their Asquith’s retirement, many other himself. He was, judged one col- resignations when Asquith pointed Liberals did not. An attempt to patch league, except on ‘office questions’ a out that, should the cabinet break up, up differences with Walter Runciman ‘silent member of the Cabinet’. the only result would be to allow the led to a particularly blunt rebuff from That observer’s judgment had Unionists to enter the government. the latter’s wife. Beauchamp recorded only marginally changed by March Beauchamp now returned to the his exasperation: , as Beauchamp neared the end post of Lord President to fill the va- I came to see you at your request. of his ministerial career: ‘Beauchamp cancy created by Morley’s resigna- I was advised not to come by those is a nonentity of pleasant manners, a tion. In the early months of the war who know you. In your home to good deal of courage, and a man of Asquith gave serious consideration which you had invited me, you principle, but with no power of ex- to his appointment to the forthcom- entertained me to an hour and a pression.’ Asquith himself placed him ing vacancy for the Viceroyalty of half of studied insolence such as I in the lowest category in the ranking India, knowing that he would relish have never experienced in a var- list of his ministers which he drew the ceremonial side of that position. ied life. You took advantage of the up for the amusement of his youth- When, however, a coalition was fact that you were a lady to whom ful confidante, Venetia Stanley. formed in May , the necessity I must speak with respect in her With some show of reluctance to make room for Unionist minis- own house. I hope I may never on his part, Beauchamp was moved ters made him an inevitable casu- have such an experience again. I am afraid we must disagree as to the post of First Commissioner alty. He himself regarded Churchill much on the principles of hospi- of Works in November . In this as the ‘primary cause of trouble’, be- tality as we do on our ideas of position he proved to be a useful lieving that the First Lord should what Liberalism means. committee man while more colour- be the first victim of the govern- ful figures occupied the political mental reconstruction. Like many other Liberals he faced limelight. In April he sat on a As the demands of war threat- the general election with some cabinet committee to deal with the ened to encroach ever further upon optimism. But the result, in which wave of strikes in the transport sys- traditional Liberal principles, Beau- the party secured . % of the popu- tem and in December he champ became President of the lar vote but only fifty-nine seats in chaired the Central Land and Hous- Free Trade Union in in suc- the House of Commons, came as a ing Council, designed to advance cession to Arnold Morley. Once bitter disappointment. He sought Lloyd George’s Land Campaign. Lloyd George became Prime Min- consolation in taking the Chancel- By this stage he was regarded as ister, he moved increasingly into a lorship of the University of London being on the radical wing of the party position of opposition to the gov- in succession to Lord Rosebery. and in January presented Asquith ernment and he was sympathetic to In , however, Beauchamp’s with a letter signed by Hobhouse, Lord Lansdowne’s call for a compro- political career came to an abrupt McKenna, Runciman, McKinnon mise peace. This strand of Liberal- end. He resigned all his appoint- Wood, Simon and himself opposing ism suffered grievously in the gen- ments and public offices, except for Churchill’s extravagant estimates at eral election of December , but the Lord Wardenship of the Cinque the Admiralty. With the approach of Beauchamp, with his seat in the up- Ports which he had assumed in , European war he was among the per chamber, provided a source of and went to live abroad. But for a group of about seven ministers who stability and continuity in the par- crisis in his private life, he might well hesitated over the declaration of hos- ty’s fortunes during the difficult dec- have received high office in the Na- tilities. ‘All agreed we were not pre- ade of the s, becoming the par- tional Government formed a few pared to go into war now, but that ty’s leader in the Lords in in months later. (His successor as leader in certain events we might recon- succession to Viscount Grey. In this of the Liberal peers, the Marquess of sider our position, such as the inva- post he campaigned tirelessly. In the Reading, emerged as Foreign Sec- sion wholesale of Belgium.’ This election campaign he was the retary.) Though the matter was not group lunched at Beauchamp’s party’s most travelled speaker. He was widely publicised at the time, it is house, which was conveniently close particularly active at the party’s an- clear that Beauchamp was threatened to Westminster, on August to dis- nual conferences in the second half with divorce and criminal proceed- cuss their position. The following day, of the decade. ings which would reveal his homo- after the cabinet had discussed the With the Liberal Party still deeply sexuality. His accuser was his own formal statement to be made by the divided – notwithstanding the appar- brother-in-law, ‘Bend’or’, the eccen- Foreign Secretary, Asquith an- ent reconciliation of Lloyd George tric second Duke of Westminster. journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 19 The Labour MP Hugh Dalton con- trayal of his family tragedy in Evelyn The numerous collections now fided the truth of the matter to the Waugh’s novel Brideshead Revisited. held include several of potential in- privacy of his diary: terest to Liberal Democrat party Notes: historians. Indeed, the first collec- On Thursday night I dined with .J. Vincent (ed.), The Crawford Papers Ponsonby at the House, and he tion of any size to be received, in (Manchester, ), p. . , was the archive of the nine- told me all about the sad case of .E. David (ed.), Inside Asquith’s Cabinet teenth-century polymath and Radi- Lord Beauchamp, who has had a (London, ), p. . persistent weakness for footmen, .David, Inside Asquith’s Cabinet, p. . cal MP, Thomas Perronet Thompson and has been finally persuaded by .M. and E. Brock (eds), H.H. Asquith: Let- (–). Simon and Buckmaster to sign an ters to Venetia Stanley (Oxford, ), p. Born in Hull, the son of a undertaking not to return to Eng- . In Asquith’s private code Beau- wealthy local merchant and banker, land. The King didn’t want a scan- champ was, rather dismissively, styled as this extraordinary man enjoyed sev- dal because he was a Knight of the ‘Sweetheart’. eral different careers. He graduated Garter! .To make way for Lord Morley who was anxious to leave the India Office. in mathematics at Queen’s College Thereafter Beauchamp lived a . Beauchamp and others to Asquith, Cambridge in , and then had somewhat pathetic peripatetic ex- January , cited in R.S. Churchill, periods in the navy and the army. Winston S. Churchill: Young Statesman Close family connections with istence. According to one account – (London, ), pp. –. he told his children that suicide was .J.A. Pease, diary August . William Wilberforce led to his ap- the only way out. He hoped that .David, Inside Asquith’s Cabinet, p. . pointment in as governor of the arrival in of a new king, .M. Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill – Sierra Leone, from where he was Edward VIII, with supposedly en- (London, ), p. . recalled in apparent disgrace within . D. Dutton (ed.), Odyssey of an Edwardian lightened views, might enable him two years, having tried to change too Liberal (Gloucester, ), p. . to end his exile. . Beauchamp to H. Samuel, Decem- much too fast. He rejoined the army, It was not to be. He died of can- ber , enclosing letter to Mrs and was involved in disastrous cam- cer in New York on November Runciman, Samuel MSS A//vii/. paigns in the Gulf (including the . His wife had died in , but .G. Ridley, Bend’Or, Duke of Westminster: evacuation of Ras-al-Khyma in July a Personal Memoir (London, ), p. . ), leading to his court martial. he was survived by two of his three .B. Pimlott (ed.), The Political Diary of Returning home, he threw him- sons and by four daughters. His title Hugh Dalton –, – (Lon- passed to his eldest son, who had don, ), pp. –. self into Radical politics, met Jeremy been elected as Liberal MP for Nor- .K. Young (ed.), The Diaries of Sir Robert Bentham, and made the first of many folk East in and who held jun- Bruce Lockhart – (London, ), contributions to The Westminster Re- p.. view. Inheriting his father’s fortune ior office in the National Govern- .N. Smart (ed.), The Diaries and Letters of in , he spent most of it on his ment. Perhaps Beauchamp’s most Robert Bernays, – (Lampeter, lasting legacy was the assumed por- ), p. . life as a political journalist (he im- mediately bought The Westminster Re- view) and Radical politician. His two most significant publications, pam- phlets on The True Theory of Rent and Catechism on the Corn Laws, appeared Archives in and . In the s he took up the cause of Catholic emancipation, and his pamphlet on the subject quickly sold Liberal and Related Archives , copies. He was a strong sup- porter of the Reform Act of , and soon sought a more active po- at the University of Hull litical role by standing for parliament Brian Dyson, Hull University Archivist himself, winning a by-election for Hull in as a Radical, in which capacity he was one of only six MPs to sign the original People’s Char- The University of Hull’s Brynmor Jones Library (BJL) has ter in , calling for a wider fran- been collecting political archives and manuscripts ever since chise and parliamentary reform. He the foundation of the university, initially a college of London also became active in the Anti-Corn Law League, and following victory University, in . It literally started with one item, a John in was publicly praised by Ri- Stuart Mill document donated by Professor Harold Laski of chard Cobden for his support. In the London School of Economics. he won Bradford for the Radi-
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