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For the study of Liberal, SDP and Issue 53 / Winter 2006–07 / £6.00 Liberal Democrat history Journal of LiberalHI ST O R Y Gladstone on leadership Patrick Jackson Gladstone and the Conservative collapse Rober Cook Dishing the Whigs in Winchester Alun Wyburn-Powell The Inverness turning point 1954 Inverness by-election Nicholas Mander Last of the Midland radicals Sir Geoffrey Mander, Liberal MP 1929 – 45 Jaime Reynolds Last outpost of urban radicalism Wolverhampton East, Liberal seat 1832 – 1945 Liberal Democrat History Group Varnished Leaves The relevance Pages 26–32 of this Journal contain a biography of Geoffrey Mander, Liberal MP for Wolverhampton East of history 1929–45. The article has been written by Charles Nicholas Mander, using material published in his book Varnished Leaves: A Biography of the Mander Family of Wolverhampton 1750–1950 (Owlpen Press, 2005). ‘Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.’ By the 1820s the family had established one of the largest chemical factories in Britain. The varnish (George Santayana, 1905) business flourished so much following the rise of the railways that John Mander was able to describe his forebears as the ‘uncrowned kings of Wolverhampton’. As well as the business, the book tells of the family’s The Journal of Liberal History houses, gardens and art patronage, and, of course, its politics. announces a new series of articles. What can we learn from We reproduce here the first page of the flyer produced for the book. Further information can be obtained the lessons of history for modern- from The Owlpen Press, Owlpen Manor, Dursley, Gloucestershire GL11 5BZ; tel. 01453 860 8261; email day Liberal politics? [email protected]. For example, what relevance has the Liberal record on international institutions have to current problems in the Middle East? Does the historic Liberal attachment to free trade have any relevance in these days of globalisation and the WTO? What can Gladstone’s, or Lloyd George’s, approaches to taxation tell us about modern tax policy? Are the principles on which Beveridge founded welfare provision still of value in the twenty-first century? Articles are invited in this series; we hope to run the first in the summer issue of the Journal. Articles should be thought- provoking and polemical, and between 1500 and 2500 words in length. If you would like to discuss any ideas for articles, please contact the Editor on [email protected]. Next issue: 1906 special The spring 2007 issue of the Journal of Liberal History will be a special issue on the 1906 election and the legacy of the period of reforming Liberal government which followed. Articles, several of which were given as papers to the Cambridge seminar in October, include pieces on Liberal economic policy, foreign policy, and the constitution; assessments of Campbell-Bannerman, and of Churchill as a Liberal; and a debate between academics putting the pessimistic and optimistic view of the long-term prospects for the Liberal Party. Contributors include David Dutton, Vernon Bogdanor, Ian Packer, Thomas Otte, Richard Toye and Ewen Cameron. Journal of Liberal History 54 will be published just before Easter. Journal of Liberal History 53 Winter 2006–07 Journal of Liberal History Issue 53: Winter 2006–07 The Journal of Liberal History is published quarterly by the Liberal Democrat History Group. ISSN 1479-9642 Gladstone and the Conservative collapse 4 Editor: Duncan Brack Patrick Jackson analyses the article on ‘The Conservative Collapse’ in the Assistant Editor: Siobhan Vitelli Fortnightly Review of 1 May 1880, published anonymously but written by Biographies Editor: Robert Ingham Gladstone Reviews Editor: Dr Eugenio Biagini Deputy Reviews Editor: Tom Kiehl Dishing the Whigs in Winchester 12 Patrons The impact of electoral reform in the nineteenth century on elections in Dr Eugenio Biagini; Professor Michael Freeden; Winchester; by Robert Cook Professor John Vincent The Inverness turning point 18 Editorial Board How the Liberals’ near-miss in the Inverness by-election of 1954 proved a Dr Malcolm Baines; Dr Roy Douglas; Dr Barry Doyle; turning point in the party’s fortunes; by Alun Wyburn-Powell Dr David Dutton; Professor David Gowland; Dr Richard Grayson; Dr Michael Hart; Peter Hellyer; Ian Hunter; Dr J. Graham Jones; Tony Little; Professor Last of the Midland radicals 26 Ian Machin; Dr Mark Pack; Dr Ian Packer; Dr John Biography of Sir Geoffrey Mander, Liberal MP for Wolverhampton East, Powell; Jaime Reynolds; Iain Sharpe 1929 – 45; by Nicholas Mander Editorial/Correspondence Last outpost of urban radicalism: 33 Contributions to the Journal – letters, articles, and Wolverhampton East, Liberal seat 1832 – 1945 book reviews – are invited. The Journal is a refereed publication; all articles submitted will be reviewed. Jaime Reynolds analyses Mander’s Midlands seat. Contributions should be sent to: Duncan Brack (Editor) Letters to the Editor 35 38 Salford Road, London SW2 4BQ Electoral support (John Meadowcroft); Herbert Gladstone and South Africa email: [email protected] (Peter Hatton) All articles copyright © Journal of Liberal History. Tom Horabin remembered 36 Advertisements Interview with Mary Wright, the daughter of Tom Horabin MP; by Robert Full page £100; half page £60; quarter page £35. Ingham Discounts available for repeat ads or offers to readers (e.g. discounted book prices). To place ads, please contact the Editor. Beveridge in person 37 Encounter with Lord Beveridge; from the papers of Ivor Davies Subscriptions/Membership An annual subscription to the Journal of Liberal Report: The Suez crisis 39 History costs £20.00 (£12.50 unwaged rate). This With Professor Peter Barberis; report by Graham Lippiatt includes membership of the History Group unless you inform us otherwise. The institutional rate is £30.00. Non-UK subscribers should add £5.00. Reviews 42 Hurst, Charles Kennedy: A Tragic Flaw, reviewed by Duncan Brack; Foote, Online subscriptions cost £40.00 (individuals) or £50.00 (institutions). Non-UK subscribers should The Republican Transformation of Modern British Politics, reviewed by add £5.00. As well as printed copies, online Eugenio Biagini; Masson, ‘Women’s Rights and Women’s Duties’: The subscribers will be able to access online copies of Aberdare Women’s Liberal Association, 1891–1910, reviewed by Eugenio current and all past Journals. Biagini; Ellis & Treasure, Britain’s Prime Ministers, reviewed by J. Graham Cheques (payable to ‘Liberal Democrat History Jones; Holmes, In the Footsteps of Churchill, reviewed by J. Graham Jones Group’) should be sent to: Patrick Mitchell Archives 50 6 Palfrey Place, London SW8 1PA; Project to catalogue the papers of Richard Wainwright and David Steel; by email: [email protected] Becky Webster Payment is also possible via our website, www.liberalhistory.org.uk. Liberal Democrat History Group The Liberal Democrat History Group promotes the discussion and research of historical topics relating to the histories of the Liberal Democrats, Liberal Party, and SDP, and of Cover design concept: Lynne Featherstone Liberalism. The Group organises discussion meetings and produces the Journal and other Published by the Liberal Democrat History Group, occasional publications. c/o 38 Salford Road, London SW2 4BQ For more information, including details of publications, back issues of the Journal, tape Printed by Kall-Kwik, records of meetings and archive and other research sources, see our website at: 426 Chiswick High Road, London W4 5TF www.liberalhistory.org.uk. January 2007 Chair: Tony Little Honorary President: Lord Wallace of Saltaire Journal of Liberal History 53 Winter 2006–07 On 1 May 1880 the Fortnightly Review, edited by John Morley,1 published an anonymous article of about 7,500 words under the heading ‘The Conservative Collapse: GLADSTONE AND THE Considered in a Letter from a Liberal to an old Conservative’.2 The pseudonym ‘Index’ concealed the authorship of CONSERVATIVE COllAPSE Gladstone, then on the threshold of his second administration, and the article is of considerable interest both for what it says and for the circumstances in which it was written. The aim of this article by Patrick Jackson is to consider what this little known episode reveals about the idiosyncratic views of Gladstone on Liberalism and on the nature of party leadership; and also to consider how Liberal supporters such as Morley were made to realise that the old man’s indispensable leadership was only Front page of available on his own the Fortnightly terms. Review article of 1 May 1880 Journal of Liberal History 53 Winter 2006–07 GLADSTONE AND THE CONSERVATIVE COllAPSE LADSTONE’S DIA- displayed’.4 During the next few For Glad- The claim, so to speak, of G RIES provide the days the scale of the electoral and H, or rather, I should say, salient facts: on 13 victory became apparent, as it stone the of G with H as against me, or April 1880, ‘Began emerged that Disraeli’s Con- rather as compared with me, is t ent at ively a n servative Party had lost a third downfall complete … [If] they should anonymousG letter on the Con- of the seats it had held in the on surveying their position see servative Collapse’; on the fol- previous parliament. For Glad- of ‘Bea- fit to apply to me, there is only lowing day, ‘Worked on Anon stone the downfall of ‘Beacons- consfield- one form and ground of appli- Letter: really drawn forth by fieldism’ was ‘like the vanishing cation, so far as I see, which the letter of Lord Bath’; and of some vast magnificent