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For the study of Liberal, SDP and Issue 79 / Summer 2013 / £6.00 Liberal Democrat history

Journal of LiberalHI ST O R Y

A forgotten Lib–Con alliance Alun Wyburn-Powell The Constitutionalists and the 1924 election A new party or a worthless coupon? David Dutton ‘A nasty, deplorable little incident in our political life’ The Dumfries Standard, 1957 David Cloke : the legacy Meeting report James Fargher The South African war and its effect on the Liberal alliance Kenneth O. Morgan The relevance of Henry Richard The ‘apostle of peace’ Liberal Democrat History Group 2 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 Journal of Liberal History Issue 79: Summer 2013 The Journal of Liberal History is published quarterly by the Liberal Democrat History Group. ISSN 1479-9642 Liberal history news 4 Editor: Duncan Brack Lloyd George commemorations; plaque to Lord john Russell; statue Deputy Editor: Tom Kiehl unveiled in Seaforth Assistant Editor: Siobhan Vitelli Biographies Editor: Robert Ingham Reviews Editor: Dr Eugenio Biagini A forgotten Liberal–Conservative alliance 6 Contributing Editors: Graham Lippiatt, Tony Little, The Constitutionalists and the 1924 election – a new party or a worthless York Membery coupon? by Alun Wyburn-Powell Patrons Letters to the Editor 15 Dr Eugenio Biagini; Professor Michael Freeden; Honor Balfour ( and Hugh Pagan) Professor John Vincent

Editorial Board Liberal history quiz 2012 15 Dr Malcolm Baines; Dr Ian Cawood; Matt Cole; Dr Roy The answers (questions in issue 78) Douglas; Dr David Dutton; Prof. David Gowland; Prof. Richard Grayson; Dr Michael Hart; Peter Hellyer; Dr ‘A nasty, deplorable little incident in our political 16 Alison Holmes; Dr J. Graham Jones; Dr Tudor Jones; Tony Little; Prof. Ian Machin; Dr ; Dr Ian life’ Packer; Dr John Powell; Jaime Reynolds; Dr Andrew , National Liberalism and the editorship of the Dumfries Standard, Russell; Dr Iain Sharpe 1957; by David Dutton Editorial/Correspondence Report 23 Contributions to the Journal – letters, articles, and David Lloyd George: The Legacy, with Kenneth O. Morgan and David Howarth; book reviews – are invited. The Journal is a refereed publication; all articles submitted will be reviewed. report by David Cloke Contributions should be sent to:

Duncan Brack (Editor) The South African war and its effect on the 26 54 Midmoor Road, SW12 0EN Liberal alliance email: [email protected] James Fargher examines the impact of the war on the alliance between the All articles copyright © Journal of Liberal History. All Liberal Party and the Irish nationalists rights reserved. The relevance of Henry Richard 36 Advertisements Kenneth O. Morgan recalls the legacy of Liberal MP Henry Richard (1812–88), Full page £100; half page £60; quarter page £35. the ‘apostle of peace’ Discounts available for repeat ads or offers to readers (e.g. discounted book prices). To place ads, please contact the Editor. Reviews 47 Economic Affairs special issue, Eight Years Since The Orange Book, reviewed Subscriptions/Membership by Duncan Brack; Worcester and Mortimore, Explaining Cameron’s Coalition, An annual subscription to the Journal of Liberal History reviewed by Mark Pack; A Flagship Borough: 25 Years of a Liberal Democrat costs £20.00 (£12.50 unwaged rate). This includes Sutton Council, reviewed by Mark Pack; Hall, Ulster Liberalism 1778–1876, membership of the History Group unless you inform reviewed by Eugenio F. Biagini; introduction to Reviews in History, by Danny us otherwise. Non-UK subscribers should add £10.00. Millum Institutional rate £50.00, including online access. As well as printed copies, online subscribers can access online copies of current and past Journals. Online subscriptions are available to individuals at £40.00.

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Patrick Mitchell 6 Palfrey Place, London SW8 1PA; email: [email protected] Liberal Democrat History Group Payment is also possible via our website, www.liberalhistory.org.uk. The Liberal Democrat History Group promotes the discussion and research of topics relating to the histories of the Liberal Democrats, Liberal Party, and SDP, and of Liberalism. The Cover design concept: Lynne Featherstone Group organises discussion meetings and produces the Journal of Liberal History and other Published by the Liberal Democrat History Group, occasional publications. c/o 54 Midmoor Road, London SW12 0EN For more information, including historical commentaries, details of publications, back issues Printed by Kall-Kwik, of the Journal, and archive and other research sources, see our website at: 18 Colville Road, London W3 8BL www.liberalhistory.org.uk. July 2013 Chair: Tony Little Honorary President: Lord Wallace of Saltaire

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 3 Liberal History News summer 2013

Lloyd George commemorations As readers of the winter issue of the guest speakers were Lord Kenneth sponsored by Liberal Democrat Journal (no. 77), the special issue on Morgan, the foremost academic Assembly Member Cllr William the life and career of David Lloyd authority on Lloyd George, and Powell and organised by Professor George, will know, 17 January 2013 Lord Dafydd Wigley, the Plaid Russell Deacon, Chairman of the was the 150th anniversary of the Cymru peer, who used to sit for Lloyd George Society, with origi- birth of Lloyd George, in a terraced Lloyd George’s old seat of Caer- nal materials created by the Welsh house in Chorlton-on-Medlock narfon Boroughs. Guests also heard political artist Dan Petersen. We in . His father’s fail- the first performance of a specially understand that the exhibition was ing health, and death the following composed piece of music, ‘Why the best attended event of this kind year, took the family back to Wales Should We Not Sing?’, commis- ever held at the Pierhead. and Lloyd George grew up speak- sioned by Martin Thomas (Lord Aspects of Lloyd George’s life ing Welsh as his first language, Thomas of Gresford), the President and legacy were also remembered tutored and encouraged by his of the Lloyd George Society. The at the Lloyd George Society week- Uncle Lloyd in the Caernarfonshire piece, written by Nicholas O’Neill, end school in Llandrindod Wells village of Llanystumdwy. Graham Composer-in-Residence to the Par- in February, with talks about the Lippiatt reports on the series of liament Choir, intertwines read- Museum from its curator Nest events held in January to commem- ings from texts by and about Lloyd Thomas, the life of Jennifer Long- orate the 150th anniversary. George with music designed to ford by Dr J Graham Jones (Head of Thursday 17 January saw a cer- illustrate the various phases of his the Welsh Political Archive at the emony at Lloyd George’s statue life and career. It was performed National Library in Aberystwyth) in Parliament Square in London, on the night by musicians from the and after-dinner remarks by Baron- organised by Liberal Democrat peer South Bank Sinfonia, with Elinor ess Jenny Randerson, Parliamen- Roger Roberts (Lord Roberts of Bennett (Lady Wigley), harp and tary Under-Secretary of State at Llandudno). The service was led by Paul Medlicott, baritone. The texts the Wales Office. the Chaplain of the Speaker of the were read by Martin Thomas. As Lord Morgan remarked, ‘the House of Commons, the Reverend Meanwhile in Wales, the Lloyd old boy would think we’d done Rose Hudson-Wilkin. There fol- George Museum in Llanystumdwy Lord Tenby him proud’. lowed a laying of daffodil wreaths held an exhibition and graveside by the Lloyd More information about the at the statue by Lloyd George’s commemoration on 17 January to George statue Lloyd George Society can be found grandson, Viscount Tenby, and honour the Welsh Wizard, fol- in Parliament at its website, www.lloydgeorgeso- two of the younger members of lowed by tea in Llanystumdwy Square ciety.org.uk the George family. A wreath was Hall. This event offered a unique also laid by Jane Bonham Carter opportunity to see some of the cur- (Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarn- rent Earl Lloyd-George of Dwy- bury) the great-granddaughter of for’s collection of heirlooms and H.H. Asquith, as a token of rec- mementos from Lloyd George’s onciliation between the families political life. On the next day against the background of the split there was a chance to hear some- in the Liberal Party precipitated by thing about Lloyd George’s social Lloyd George’s becoming Prime and political legacy, with a lecture Minister in 1916. The Gwalia Male on ‘Keeping the wolves of hun- Voice Choir sang Mae Hen Wlad ger from the door: Lloyd George’s Fy Nhadau, the Welsh national National Insurance Act 1911’ by Dr anthem. The commemoration then Steven Thompson from the Uni- moved into Parliament with a ser- versity of Aberystwyth. vice at the Undercroft Chapel in Also in Wales, the Lloyd George Hall and afterwards to Society organised an exhibition of the Jubilee Room to hear speeches drawings, photographs, cartoons, from representatives of the four information boards and other mate- main political parties in Wales. rials celebrating Lloyd George and Later that evening a dinner was various aspects of Welsh and British held at the , political life. Held at the National sponsored jointly by the Club and Assembly’s Pierhead Building in the Lloyd George Society. The Cardiff Bay, the exhibition was

4 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 liberal history news

As the Liverpool Echo reported at the time, Birkenhead MP Frank Field, who unveiled the statue, described the event as ‘one of the most staggering days’ of his politi- cal career. He said: ‘There was such an excitement and buzz there and it was all because of the huge drive and vision of Brenda Murray. was amazed by how many people turned up – it was packed. There were huge numbers of supporters. I am still absolutely buzzing from the event. It was extraordinary and could not have been a more excit- ing day.’ Mrs Murray told the Echo that Plaque to Lord John Russell she hoped the statue would mark On the final day of the Liberal Unveiling of the and his wife Anne Robertson . In Seaforth out as a tourist attraction. Democrat 2012 autumn confer- plaque to Lord 1813, the family moved to Seaforth, She said: ‘I think a lot of people ence, Lews MP and Lib Dem min- John Russell; on just to the north of Liverpool and will come from outside the area to ister unveiled a right, Norman now located in the Metropolitan see this, especially because we have blue plaque to the Whig/Liberal Baker MP Borough of Sefton. the Gormley sculptures just half Prime Minister Lord John Russell Local historian Brenda Mur- a mile away which are extremely at 14 Sussex Square in Brighton. ray, who received a British Empire popular.’ Tony Little represented the Liberal Medal for services to heritage and ‘This is not the end of our cam- Democrat History Group. history in the 2013 New Year’s paign. We want everybody to love The plaque was erected at the Honours list, mounted a campaign Seaforth and appreciate the fact it initiative of local residents and to raise funds for the statue, and produced such a successful Prime commemorates the period in 1838– raised £15,000, plus £10,000 from Minister.’ 39 during which Russell stayed in the Heritage Lottery fund. The 6ft monument was created Brighton. Speaking on behalf of The bust of Gladstone was by sculptor Tom Murphy, with the the Sussex Square residents, David unveiled on 23 February at Our pedestal and engraving done by Jackson said: ‘Lord John Russell Unveiling of Lady Star Of The Sea church in John Smith, of Crosby Memorials. was an eminent politician of his day the bust of Seaforth. It looks out on to the for- Mr Murphy said: ‘My job is to and worked tirelessly for his politi- Gladstone in mer site of St Thomas’s Church, provide the best portrait I can and cal beliefs. The blue plaque will be Seaforth: from built by Gladstone’s father John and what I wanted was for everyone to a reminder of his time in Brighton left, Tom Murphy, demolished in 1980. see his great intelligence. What is and contribute to the history and Brenda Murray, At the age of nine, Gladstone exciting as a sculptor is that you are heritage of our lovely building.’ Frank Field MP wrote in his diary that he hoped his the last link to that dead person – At the time, Russell was Home (photo courtesy father would bequeath the church the bit before the full stop provid- Secretary in Lord Melbourne’s of Liverpool Echo) to him because he loved it so much. ing a sort of life after death.’ Whig government. He had been responsible for the introduction of the 1832 Great Reform Act and, in 1846, would become Prime Min- ister. During the family’s stay at Brighton, on 19 October 1839, Rus- sell’s wife Lady Adelaide gave birth to their second child, Victoria; but unfortunately Lady Adelaide caught a fever a few days later and died on 3 November. In his grief, Russell almost gave up politics but was persuaded to change his mind. In 1841 he re-married.

Gladstone statue unveiled in Seaforth Four-times Liberal Prime Minister was born in Rodney Street, Liverpool, on 29 December 1809, the fourth son of the merchant Sir John Gladstone

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 5 A Forgotten Liberal–Conservative Alliance The Constitutionalists and the 1924 General Election – a new Party or a worthless Coupon?

Collaboration between Liberals and Conservatives in British politics is not new. Some past arrangements, such as the Lloyd George Coalition, or the National Government of 1931, have been well researched, while others, including the Constitutionalists, have barely received any attention. Whilst it is fairly well- known that Churchill labelled himself as a Constitutionalist at the 1924 general election, in an attempt to straddle the Liberal– Conservative divide, he was not the only candidate bearing the label. Alun Wyburn- Powell identifies the other candidates who also styled themselves Constitutionalists, and investigates their electoral records, their views and their objectives.

6 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 A Forgotten Liberal–Conservative Alliance The Constitutionalists and the 1924 General Election – a new Party or a worthless Coupon?

n analysing their perfor- 162 candidates faced a Conserva- to those of the Fusionists, and some mance at the 1924 election, it tive contender.1 of the groups’ membership over- Iis possible to draw conclusions By the following election, in lapped. Whilst the Fusionists had about the success of the Constitu- 1923, the political landscape was been more strategic in their long- tionalist experiment and its impact very different. Lloyd George and term ambition permanently to on the Liberal Party, placing it in Asquith were reconciled and the merge their branch of Liberalism the wider context of the Liberals’ Liberal Party was more or less reu- with the Conservatives, the Con- decline and, in doing so, to answer nited, in opposition to the Con- stitutionalists were more short- the question as to whether the Con- servatives’ plans for protection. The term and their focus was primarily stitutionalists were a putative new Liberals gained seats, winning 159, concerned with maximising their party, or simply a loose grouping against 191 for Labour and 258 for chances of victory at the 1924 elec- using a coupon for short-term elec- the Conservatives. The inconclu- tion, by avoiding a local Liberal– toral advantage. sive outcome of the election placed Conservative contest. the Liberals in the invidious posi- The first publicity for a putative tion of having to permit or deny Constitutionalist group appeared The Lloyd George Coalition Labour their first opportunity to in in September 1920, and the 1920 attempt at fusion form a government. They allowed as a display advertisement invit- The closeness of the political rela- Labour a milestone nine-month ing readers to attend a confer- tionship between some Liberals term in office, much to the annoy- ence in London to ‘help to carry and Conservatives was such that ance of most Conservatives and out the preliminary organisation during the Lloyd George Coa- many right-leaning Liberals. For of the Constitutional Party’.2 It lition Government of 1916–22, many voters, and even some Liberal was placed in the name of Charles there were moves towards ‘fusion’ MPs, this suggested that the Lib- Higham, an export merchant, of the Coalition Liberals and the eral Party had become superfluous, who sat as the Coalition Conserva- Conservatives. However, these with the essential battle of ideas tive MP for Islington South from manoeuvres were not seen favour- raging between the Labour Party 1918 to 1922. No further public- ably throughout the parties and and the Conservatives. ity appeared and no new party the moves were blocked, even Between the ending of the emerged. The Constitutionalist within the Lloyd George Liberal fusion plans in 1920 and the 1924 label was used occasionally in the side of the alliance, in 1920. At the election, three former Liberal MPs early 1920s in local politics, notably following election in 1922, Lloyd – Hilton Philipson, Arthur Evans by the ruling Liberal–Conserva- George led a depleted band which and Walter Waring – defected to tive alliance in Bootle in 1920–21 stood for that election under the the Conservatives. Other Liber- and then by the local Conservatives name ‘National Liberal’, exposed als, in particular Winston Church- alone in 1922–23.3 to competition from Labour and, ill, continued to harbour hopes The term reappeared in national in some cases, also from Asquith- Winston for some form of alliance with the politics when George Jarrett, the ian Liberals. Hastily-made Churchill in Conservatives. It was against this one-armed former chief organiser arrangements for the National 1924, after his background that the Constitution- of the Lloyd George Coalition- Liberals to be spared Conservative election as alists emerged as an attempt at an supporting National Democratic opposition were only partly imple- Constitutionalist anti-socialist alliance. The aims of and Labour Party (NDP), described mented and 43 of Lloyd George’s MP for Epping the Constitutionalists were similar himself as a ‘’ in

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 7 a forgotten liberal-conservative alliance a letter to The Times. He stood in 1922 defeat at Dundee. In May 1923, in a more Conservative direction’.16 the 1922 election as the nominee he described himself in private The result turned Lloyd George’s of both the National Liberal and as ‘a Tory Democrat’.9 However, thinking away from his plans for an Conservative associations in Dart- the arrival of the general election alliance with the Labour govern- ford, winning the seat against both in December 1923 forced him to ment and towards a revival of a Lib- Labour and Asquithian Liberal abandon his oscillation over party eral–Conservative arrangement. opposition. At the following con- labels. He settled for the Liberal To Lloyd George, and many other test, in 1923, Jarrett wrote in his candidacy at West Leicester, where Liberals, the Abbey by-election election address: ‘A year ago you he hoped that he might be spared a result demonstrated the strength of honoured me by returning me … Conservative opponent, although Anti-Socialist Liberalism and, at without respect to party … Again I it was, as observed, the same time, the weakness of the stand as the Constitutional Candi- impossible to see why he should Liberal Party. This was a widely- date.’4 His name appeared on both have thought this ‘remotely likely.’10 drawn conclusion at the time but, the Liberal and Conservative Party His wife, Clementine, so often as pointed out by Chris Cook, official lists of candidates in 1923. more objective than her husband an erroneous one. Churchill had However, in a straight fight with When the about his career, advised Churchill: mainly attracted former Conserva- Labour, he was defeated. Jarrett ‘I am sure the old real Liberals will tive voters and the Liberal Party thus served only one year in Parlia- Westminster want you back but … do not give had hardly campaigned.17 Church- ment, from 1922 to 1923, but was them cause … for thinking that ill’s eve-of-poll speech had advo- the first to do so as a Constitution- Abbey by- you would like a new Tory Liberal cated a united Conservative party alist.5 He formally joined the Con- Coalition … if you were to lose a ‘with a Liberal wing’.18 servative Party in January 1924. election was seat … it would be better for you to Jarrett was a close associate of be beaten by a Tory (which would Algernon Moreing, who was first called in Feb- arouse Liberal sympathy) than by The 1924 cast of Constitutional elected for the East Yorkshire con- a Socialist’.11 Churchill lost West characters stituency of Buckrose as a Coalition ruary 1924, Leicester to Labour and, like Jarrett After the Westminster near-miss, Liberal in 1918. He was a strong and Moreing, he was very unsym- Churchill decided to improve his advocate of fusion in 1920.6 In 1922 Churchill pathetic towards the Liberal Party negotiating position by gathering Moreing changed constituencies when it supported Labour after the around him a Liberal group ready and was successful as the National was caught 1923 election. When he was asked to co-operate with the Conserva- Liberal candidate for Camborne. in February 1924 to stand again as tives; he envisaged that his follow- However, the 1923 election in this between par- a Liberal, Churchill replied that he ers would occupy the same position constituency illustrated that Lib- would not be willing to fight the as the Liberal Unionists had in eral reunion was less than total; the ties. He was Conservatives.12 On 26 February 1886. On 10 May 1924 Church- only two candidates in Camborne convinced 1924 the Glasgow Herald declared ill informed Baldwin that he was were both Liberals, Moreing’s that Churchill was preparing the organising a group of Liberal only challenger being the Asquith- that Baldwin way for his return to the Conserva- MPs who would be willing to co- ian Liberal, . Moreing’s tive Party.13 operate with the Conservatives – name also appeared on the official wanted him When the Westminster Abbey Churchill provisionally called them list of Conservative candidates. by-election was called in Febru- ‘Liberal–Conservatives’.19 He told Unresolved differences between returned, ary 1924, Churchill was caught Baldwin that there were at least the followers of Lloyd George and between parties. He was convinced twenty Labour seats which could Asquith in Camborne led to the and won- that Baldwin wanted him returned, be won by Liberals, and only Liber- nomination of the two Liberal can- and wondered if the local Con- als, if they were given Conservative didates and the so-called United dered if the servative association might adopt support.20 This helped Churchill Liberal Committee in London him as their candidate, despite the persuade Baldwin to try and find declared its neutrality between the local Con- fact that he was not even a mem- him a safe Conservative seat in or candidates, rather than risk fuelling ber of their party.14 But when the near London and, if possible, a seat the local split. Jones was the win- servative Westminster Conservative Asso- for which there was no Liberal can- ner of the 1923 contest. In February ciation adopted Otho Nicholson as didate. They agreed that at this 1924, Moreing and Jarrett wrote to association their candidate instead, Churchill stage Churchill would not join the Churchill complaining about the decided that he would still contest Conservative Party, but that he difficult position in which they had might adopt the seat. Baldwin did not intervene. could stand under the label of ‘Con- been put by the Liberals’ support Churchill was variously described stitutionalist’. On 5 August 1924 for Labour and declaring that they him as their in the press as a ‘Constitutional- the Chairman of the Epping Con- looked to Churchill for leadership.7 candidate, ist’ or as an ‘Independent anti- servatives wrote to Churchill to ask By 1922 Socialist’.15 Even though a Liberal if he would allow his name to go had already been a Conservative, despite the candidate was standing in the by- forward as a candidate for the seat.21 a Liberal, a Coalition Liberal and a election, the party was virtually He did; but a Liberal candidate was National Liberal. As an enthusias- fact that he inactive in the election; Asquith also in the field. As the October tic advocate of fusion, he had con- was ill and Lloyd George took no 1924 election approached Churchill sidered calling the proposed new was not even part in the campaign. Churchill lost was in negotiation with the Union- party ‘The Constitutional Reform to Nicholson by just forty-three ist Central Office to arrange for a Party’.8 He continued to speculate a member of votes, but performed the ‘paradoxi- raft of his ‘Constitutionalist’ can- about other possible labels, to aid cal feat of opposing an official Con- didates to be given a clear run by his return to Parliament after his their party. servative … while moving himself the Conservatives. He reported

8 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 a forgotten liberal-conservative alliance hopefully that the deal would cover MP, Sturrock publicly questioned Hamar faced repeated Labour opposition. ‘25 or 27’ candidates.22 his party’s continued survival, In 1924, Ward stood as a Consti- Hamar Greenwood was writing to The Times a letter includ- Greenwood tutionalist, although the Liberal Churchill’s key ally in the Consti- ing the comment: ‘When the obitu- Party always claimed him as one tutionalist venture. Brought up in ary of the Liberal Party comes to was Church- of their members and supported Canada, Greenwood had strong be written, as come it may …’.29 his candidature. He was ill and Imperial leanings and was brother- In 1924, Sturrock moved south to ill’s key ally unable to take an active part in the in-law to the arch-Imperialist Con- contest North Tottenham as a Con- election campaign, but there was servative MP, .23 During stitutionalist with Liberal and Con- in the Consti- a joint campaign of Liberals, Con- his first spell in the House of Com- servative support. 30 servatives and trade unionists on his mons, from 1906 to January 1910, Henry Cairn Hogbin was first tutionalist behalf.35 The press commented that Greenwood had been Churchill’s elected to Parliament in 1923, for the local Conservatives, who had Parliamentary Private Secretary. Battersea North. Standing as a Lib- venture. been ‘lukewarm’ at the previous He was re-elected in December eral, he beat his only opponent, election, rallied enthusiastically to 1910 and rose to be Chief Secre- , then standing his support in 1924 ‘in a joint Anti- tary for Ireland. He lost his seat in as a Labour–Socialist candidate.31 Socialist effort’.36 1922 and failed to be re-elected the In 1924 Hogbin again faced only In 1924, nine of the ten Staf- following year. By 1924, he was Saklatvala, but by this time the two fordshire seats saw straight fights exploring alternative avenues back men had both changed party labels; between Labour and one other chal- to the Commons, and was offered Hogbin stood as a Constitutional- lenger. In seven of these nine, the the Liberal candidature for Central ist, and Saklatvala as a Commu- Conservatives faced Labour, with- Cardiff, at the instigation of Lloyd nist, having been denied Labour out Liberal intervention. In the George.24 However, Greenwood support. Thus, the contest had the remaining two – Stoke and Burslem declined, saying that: ‘the best unusual feature of having no Lib- – Labour faced a challenger fight- way to defeat … is … eral, Labour or Conservative can- ing under the Constitutionalist ban- to unite in common action. These didate. If ever there was a contest ner. Ward contested the Stoke seat views must preclude acceptance where Constitutionalism had an and William Allen fought Burslem of your suggested nomination … unfettered opportunity to pit its as the Constitutional candidate.37 where there is already a Conserva- virtues against its antithesis, this Allen was a barrister and had been tive and a Socialist candidate in was it. Hogbin put the question of a Liberal MP from 1892 to 1900. In the field’.25 A more attractive offer the Constitution in the forefront 1924, no party label appeared on came when the Unionist MP for of his address and claimed that the the front of his election address.38 East Walthamstow announced his great issue was ‘whether you will The document had very little retirement in late September 1924 have Constitutional Government policy content, was moderately and an arrangement was reached for … or submit to the forces of revolu- anti-Labour in tone, and made no Greenwood to stand there as a Con- tion and disorder.’32 mention of the Conservatives, or stitutionalist, unopposed by the By background, John Ward of any party leader at all, but Allen Tories. 26 However, like Churchill, had little in common with most of did declare that he had ‘accepted the Greenwood was not given a clear the other Constitutionalists, who invitation of the Liberal Association run against Labour. He also faced were mainly wealthy and well- to become a Candidate.’39 a Liberal opponent, who argued educated. Ward had received little (John) Hugh Edwards was the that the withdrawal of his own can- formal education, working ini- author of three biographies of didature would make a present of tially as a navvy and only learn- Lloyd George. Before the First the seat to Labour; he claimed that ing to read as a teenager. In 1886 World War, Edwards had become Greenwood had tried to persuade he had joined the far-left Social notorious for his anti-socialist cam- Liberal headquarters to have him Democratic Federation and three paigning. He sat for Mid Glamor- ‘retired’.27 However, in the event years later he founded the Nav- gan from December 1910 until his only Greenwood, Moreing and vies’ Union. In 1914 Ward was defeat in 1922.40 He then stood in Churchill went into the 1924 elec- commissioned into the army as a Accrington in 1923, where he was tion facing a Liberal opponent; the Lieutenant-Colonel and, using his elected as a Liberal. In 1924 he again other Constitutionalists managed connections with organised labour, stood for Accrington, this time as to avoid this. recruited five battalions. His ser- a Constitutionalist with support Considerably less strident in his vice as a commissioned officer from the local Liberal and Con- anti-Socialist views than most of was, however, a distinction which servative associations. Edwards was the others who became Constitu- he shared with many of the other received with ‘great cordiality’ at tionalists, and not alienated by the Constitutionalists.33 The Consti- the Accrington Central Conserva- Liberals’ attitude to the first Labour tutionalists’ military training may tive Club, where his candidature government, was John Leng Stur- have contributed to their tendency was adopted unanimously. Edwards rock. Sturrock was first elected as to focus on results, irrespective pledged himself ‘that he would Coalition Liberal MP for Montrose of the means. Ward represented never lose an opportunity of voting in 1918, being re-elected in 1922 Stoke in Parliament from 1906, ini- against Socialists’. He claimed he and 1923. He wrote after the 1923 tially as a Lib-Lab member. He had had done so ‘even to the annoyance election that: ‘If … [Labour leader refused to sign the Labour Repre- of the heads of his own party’ and Ramsay] MacDonald desires to sentation Committee constitution that he had ‘stuck to the Conserva- form a Government he is entitled to in 1903, and was elected without tives on all occasions’ since the last do so’. 28 While serving as a Liberal their endorsement.’34 He therefore election.41

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 9 a forgotten liberal-conservative alliance

Thomas Robinson used the label have never let Party influence any of Commons in 1922 and did not Constitutionalist for his campaign vote.’44 However, he was one of the contest another election. Jarrett in Stretford in 1924, where he was Liberal MPs who had defied the had joined the Conservative Party already the sitting MP. During the party whip on 21 January 1924 and before the 1924 election and unsuc- whole period from his first elec- voted against putting Labour into cessfully fought this and two later tion in 1918 to his retirement in office, along with Hogbin, Rob- elections as a Conservative candi- 1931, he was elected as the result of inson, Edwards and Sturrock. As a date, never being re-elected.47 a local Liberal–Conservative pact. result, local Conservatives strongly Constitutionalist candidates He stood under a variety of labels, supported ’s candidature in only stood in England and Wales, generally variations on ‘Independ- 1924, some signing his nomination nearly all in urban seats, mainly ent and Anti-Socialist’, papers.45 north-east of London and in Lan- although he was always claimed The assembled group of Consti- cashire and Staffordshire. In most by the Liberal Party as one of their tutional candidates fell well short Scottish constituencies, an informal candidates.42 Robinson’s 1924 elec- of Churchill’s target. Ten Liberal or pact existed between the Conserva- tion address was strongly anti- former Liberal MPs stood as Con- tives and Liberals, but the label Labour in tone.43 stitutionalists, listed in Table 1. Constitutionalist was not used. Abraham England was another In addition to the former Lib- Only 15 Scottish seats of the total Lancashire MP who was elected as erals mentioned in Table 1, four of 71 had both a Conservative and a the result of a local pact between other candidates were listed in Liberal candidate in 1924.48 the Liberals and Conservatives, some newspapers as Constitu- The past electoral record of the and who stood as a Constitutional- tionalists. These were the former Constitutional candidates con- ist in 1924. Robinson and England, Coalition NDP MP, C. Loseby, vinced them that their chances of although adopting the Constitu- standing in Nottingham West, film victory would be much enhanced tionalist label in 1924, were there- producer, E. Doran, standing in if they faced only Labour opposi- fore effectively just continuing a Silvertown, the former Conserva- tion. Between them at the last two pre-existing local arrangement. tive candidate and heraldry expert, elections (1922 and 1923) they had England claimed he had ‘been no A. Fox-Davies, in prevailed in every straight fight Party hack … I am anti-nothing … and first-time candidate J. Davis, with Labour except one (ten of the If you examine my record for the contesting Consett.46 Higham, eleven such contests); whereas they last Parliament you will probably the promoter of the first attempt had failed in all but one of their be astonished to find the number of at a Constitutionalist organisa- other contests (five of the six), as votes I gave to the Labour Party. I tion, had retired from the House shown in Table 2. There are no records of meet- Table 1 Former-Liberal Constitutional Candidates in 1924 ings of the Constitutionalists to Candidate Constituency Incumbent MP thrash out party policy, and cer- tainly nothing to suggest that the W Allen Burslem W E Robinson, Lib, retiring group agonised over their politi- W L S Churchill Epping C Lyle, Con, retiring cal philosophy. Their election J H Edwards Accrington Edwards incumbent Lib addresses did not bear the hallmark A England Heywood & Radcliffe England incumbent Lib of any central co-ordination. The choice of the name Constitutional- H Greenwood Walthamstow East L S Johnson, Con, retiring ist loosely fitted their political posi- H C Hogbin Battersea North Hogbin incumbent Lib tions and highlighted their fears of A H Moreing Camborne L Jones, Lib, re-standing an unbridled socialist government. The origins of Constitutionalism T Robinson Stretford Robinson incumbent Lib can be traced back to the theories J L Sturrock Tottenham North Morrison, Lab re-standing of John Locke, that government J Ward Stoke-on-Trent Ward, incumbent Lib should be legally limited in its pow- ers and that its authority depended Table 2 Previous Results for Constitutionalist Candidates on its observing these limits. In Britain, with its uncodified consti- 1922 1923 tution, the potential for govern- Opponents Result Opponents Result ment excess was certainly present Churchill SPP, 49 Lab, Lib, Con lost Lab, Con lost in theory, but the record of the first, timid, respectable, safe and rather Greenwood Con, Lab, Lib lost Con, Lab lost rule-bound Labour government Hogbin Lab, Lib lost Lab won had already dispelled most fears on Edwards Lab lost Lab won this score. Moreing Lib, Lab won Lib lost The Constitutionalists did not co-ordinate their activities as a Ward Lab won Lab won group in the approach to the 1924 England Lab won Lab won election. They had no party mani- Robinson Lab won Lab won festo and organised no joint meet- ings. A common theme of their Sturrock Lab won Lab won election addresses was the absence Allen Did not stand – Did not stand – of any mention of political parties

10 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 a forgotten liberal-conservative alliance or of the leaders whom they sup- Table 3 Constitutionalist Candidates’ Results in 1924 Election ported; only those leaders whom Candidate Opponents Result Majority51 Change from 1923 they opposed were mentioned. result52 Whilst the common enemy was Churchill Lib, Lab Won 9,763 different seat clearly Labour, the stridency of their criticism varied from mild Greenwood Lib, Lab Won 3,066 different seat in the case of Allen to rabid in the Moreing Lib, Lab Won 2,310 +6,008 case of Moreing. The Constitu- Robinson Lab Won 9,306 +4,786 tionalists did not behave as a party, and were not treated as such by Ward Lab Won 4,546 +3,929 the other parties. At the 1924 elec- England Lab Won 3,824 +1,934 tion, Ward, England, Edwards, Edwards Lab Won 2,243 –945 Allen, Sturrock and Robinson had Hogbin Comm Lost –542 –728 the backing of their local Liberal associations and faced only Labour Sturrock Lab Lost –557 different seat opponents. Moreing, Churchill and Allen Lab Lost –606 did not stand Greenwood, who did not have the backing of their local Liberal asso- been the case had the candidates potential members as a result of the ciations, were faced with Liberal stood as Liberals. widening of the franchise in 1884. opponents. The position of Churchill, The longer-established Conserva- Greenwood and Moreing was dif- tives’ and the Liber- ferent. They were seen to be closer als’ were both, by The Constitutionalists’ to being Conservatives than Liber- that time, fully subscribed. Mem- election results als by this stage, and their results bers of the Constitutional Club had The Constitutionalists’ results in can more reasonably be compared to pledge support to the Conserva- the 1924 election were mixed. Seven to that which Conservative can- tive Party. of the ten former Liberal Con- didates would have achieved in The only Constitutional can- stitutionalists were elected. This the same constituencies. Church- didates to attend the dinner at the represented a net loss of one seat – ill’s seat at Epping was essentially a Constitutional Club were Church- Battersea North, contested by Hog- safe Conservative seat. Waltham- ill, Greenwood and Moreing.53 bin – when comparing seats where stow East, where Greenwood was Ward was invited but sent his apol- the same candidate contested the elected, had been a Conservative ogies. Almost all the other attend- 1923 and 1924 elections. However, seat at the last three elections, but ees at the dinner were figures from when comparing votes where the more marginal. Moreing’s constitu- the Conservative Party. Churchill candidates contested the same seats ency of Camborne was a knife- claimed at the dinner that although as in 1923, their aggregate majorities edge marginal, where left and he ‘and his Constitutionalist friends improved by 14,984, giving an aver- right had alternately won; how- represented a very small group of age improvement of just under 2,500 ever, the main contest recently had members in the House of Com- votes per seat.50 The 1924 election been between the two brands of mons … [t]hey also, to some extent, was a much more difficult election Liberalism – Moreing as a Lloyd represented a larger group of Lib- than 1923 had been for candidates George Liberal and Leif Jones as an eral members, who had stood with standing as Liberals and, had the Asquithian. In 1924, with a revival Conservative support and who Constitutionalists all stood under on the right and a Liberal decline, would certainly recognise that fact the Liberal banner, their aggregate the seat would probably have in the action which they would take vote would almost certainly have swung to the more rightward con- in the new Parliament’.54 fallen. Three of the Constitution- tender, whatever the party label. This was not to be so. The Con- alists failed to achieve a clear run So, overall, the Constitution- stitutionalists’ political paths were against Labour, but still won their alist experiment achieved modest already diverging. Table 4 illus- contests. Conversely, two who success as a defensive tactic, but it trates the political paths which the enjoyed a clear run against Labour did not herald an electoral break- Constitutionalists subsequently failed to be elected, as did Hogbin, through or the emergence of a new followed. standing against only a Communist party, or even a grouping, with a Ironically, it was in the challenger, as shown in Table 3: distinct identity. announcement of its demise that Ward, Edwards, England and the press finally accorded the Con- Robinson repeated their victories stitutionalists the status of a party. of 1923, in the same constituencies, The diverging paths of the ‘The Constitutional Party is no with straight wins against Labour. Constitutionalists after the more’, the Times reported only The Constitutionalist label helped 1924 election seven weeks after the 1924 election: to ensure that they did not face a After the election, the ‘Constitu- Conservative challenger, but the tional Group’ of MPs held a dinner It has always been difficult to cal- Conservatives had not contested at the Constitutional Club, which culate exactly how many mem- any of these seats in the last two was attended by over fifty guests. bers the party embraced, but the elections anyway. However, the The Constitutional Club had been general impression after the elec- label helped to galvanise a greater founded in 1883, one year after tion was that the correct total level of active support from local the National Liberal Club, both in was seven … then Mr. Church- Conservatives than would have anticipation of a large number of ill joined the Government and

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 11 a forgotten liberal-conservative alliance

Table 4 Constitutionalist Candidates’ Allegiance after 1924 ‘followed the Chancellor in his 57 Candidate 1924 result Subsequent allegiance transfer of allegiance’. However, he retained a benevolent attitude Churchill Won took Conservative whip towards the Liberal Party, warn- Greenwood Won took Conservative whip ing that: ‘Liberals … represent an Moreing Won took Conservative whip element not inferior, at least intel- Sturrock Lost would have taken Conservative lectually or patriotically, to what whip one may find in Conservative or Socialist ranks … [T]elling Liber- Hogbin Lost defeated as a Conservative in als to put their shutters up imme- 1927 diately … is calculated to produce Robinson Won took Liberal whip, then anything but an exact antithesis Independent of what is desired … Government Edwards Won took Liberal whip supporters are unwise to indulge in 58 Ward Won took Liberal whip an anti-Liberal vendetta.’ Hogbin endured the distinction of being the England Won took Liberal whip, Liberal only Liberal MP ever to be defeated National in 1931 by a Communist. He was given one Allen Lost re-elected in 1931 as a Liberal more opportunity to avenge his 55 National defeat at the hands of the left, and it was potentially an easy path. He Table 5 Victors in seats with Constitutionalist Candidates was selected to stand as the Con- servative candidate at the Stour- 1923 1924 1929 bridge by-election in 1927, caused Camborne Lib Const Lib by the death of the sitting Con- Epping Con Const Con servative MP, who had enjoyed a Walthamstow East Con Const Lab majority of just under 2,000 votes. At a meeting the week before the Stoke-on-Trent, Stoke Lib Const Lab by-election Hogbin arrived saying Accrington Lib Const Lab that he was ‘all to pieces’ and had Heywood & Radcliffe Lib Const Lib come against the advice of his doc- 59 Stretford64 Lib Const Ind tor. His campaign suffered and he lost the election to Labour by Tottenham North Lab Lab Lab a margin of over 3,000 votes, thus Battersea North Lib Comm Lab ending his political career. Stoke-on-Trent, Burslem Lib Lab Lab Robinson continued his ambigu- ous relationship with the Liberal Party for the rest of his parliamen- was classified as a Conservative, serving as Prime Minister. Green- tary career, which lasted until he and the Liberals claimed Colo- wood served just a single further retired in 1931. In 1929, he again nel England, Colonel Ward, Mr. term in the House of Commons, had the support of both Conserva- Edwards and Sir Thomas Robin- but never returned to ministerial tives and Liberals, but said that he son, reducing the party to two, office. In 1929 he was elevated to ‘acknowledged no party Whip in Sir Hamar Greenwood and Cap- the peerage, after which he served the House of Commons. He went tain Moreing, who have both as honorary treasurer to the Con- there, not in the interests of any now agreed to accept the Con- servative Party, being advanced to party, but in the interests of the servative Whip.56 a viscountcy towards the end of his nation.’60 In a letter to the Daily term. Moreing beat his arch-rival, News in 1929, he claimed that he The varied career paths of the Con- Leif Jones, in 1924, but in 1929, had been ‘an Independent MP’ since stitutionalists after 1924 demon- in the last head-to-head contest the Coalition was dissolved in 1922. strated that they were never more between them, Jones overturned ‘Notwithstanding this’, he said, than a loose grouping, using the the result. Moreing was by then ‘my Liberal friends in the House of Constitutionalist label as a coupon labelled as a Conservative. This was Commons generously continued to avoid splitting the anti-Labour his last outing at the polls, having to send me their whip which I have vote. stood in five successive elections, regarded as an act of courtesy. To The three successful Consti- each time under a different party prevent however any possibility of tutional candidates who took the label: Coalition Liberal in 1918, misunderstanding in the future on Conservative whip after the 1924 National Liberal in 1922, Liberal in this point, I arranged that the send- election – Churchill, Greenwood 1923, Constitutionalist in 1924 and ing of the whip to me should be dis- and Moreing – enjoyed vary- Conservative in 1929. continued in this Parliament’.61 ing fortunes in their subsequent Two of the unsuccessful Consti- The remaining three success- careers. Churchill was appointed tutional candidates – Sturrock and ful Constitutional candidates Chancellor of the Exchequer in Hogbin – would also have taken the – Edwards, Ward and England the new Conservative govern- Conservative whip in the House of – all resumed their allegiance to ment and remained in Parliament Commons had they been elected. the Liberal Party in the House of as a Conservative until 1964, twice Sturrock announced that he had Commons after the 1924 election.

12 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 a forgotten liberal-conservative alliance

Edwards re-took the Liberal whip Greenwood, Moreing, Sturrock of those joining Labour regretted once it was clear that there was and Hogbin to transfer their alle- their move.66 This strongly suggests no prospect of closer formal ties giance from the Liberal Party to the that, among other factors, there is a between the Liberals and Conserva- Conservatives, avoiding a public fundamental cultural compatibility tives. He sat until the 1929 election, rupture with the Liberals and the between Liberals and Conserva- when he was defeated as the official need for a personal explanation of tives which does not apply to the Liberal candidate by Labour. He defection. They were following a relationship between Labour and then retired from national politics. path which they would have fol- the Liberals or Liberal Democrats. Ward, like Edwards, served out lowed in any case. However, it was This compatibility was evident in the full 1924 Parliament as a Lib- a one-way street: no Conservative the relations which were established eral and stood as the party’s offi- came to the Liberal Party via the between the Constitutionalists and cial candidate at the 1929 election. Constitutionalist route. Although their local Conservative associa- He was beaten by Lady Cynthia the Liberal Party lost some of its tions in 1924. It reappeared with the Mosley, representing the Labour already erring personnel, it did not Liberal Nationals after 1931 and it Party, and retired from active poli- lose a single seat to the Conserva- was again borne out in the events tics. After the 1924 election, Eng- tives as the result of the Constitu- leading up to the formation of the land re-took the Liberal whip, but tionalists venture, when comparing 2010 coalition. ‘acknowledged the great help of the situation in 1923 (before the the Conservative Party, who had Constitutionalists) with that in Alun Wyburn-Powell is the author of given loyal support to a candidate 1929 (after the Constitutionalists). – Liberal Leader not quite their own colour’.62 In Of the seats involved in the Consti- (Politico’s, 2003) and Defectors and 1929 his election address said that he tutionalist venture, those lost went the Liberal Party 1910 to 2010: A again offered himself as the ‘Liberal to Labour, and this was in line with Study in Inter-party Relations Candidate’; however, he included prevailing national trends. Table (Manchester University Press, 2012). a separate message from the local 5 illustrates the changes in party He was awarded his PhD from the Uni- Unionists saying that they would incumbency in the seats where versity of Leicester on the day that the not nominate a candidate and would Constitutionalists stood in 1924. Liberal Democrat–Conservative coa- again urge support for him. He sup- lition was formed in 2010 for his thesis ported the Liberal Nationals in 1931, ‘Defectors and the Liberal Party since but retired at the election that year. Conclusions What is, per- December 1910’. Although Allen had sat as the The Constitutionalist episode Liberal MP for Newcastle-under- accounted for a very small propor- haps, surpris- 1 The figure excludes Independent Lyme from 1892 to 1900, he failed tion of the total exodus of MPs and Conservative challengers and two- to in his bid to return in 1924. How- former MPs from the Liberal Party. ing is that member seats where one Conserva- ever, he was re-elected as the Liberal The departure of Churchill was a Churchill, tive and one National Liberal stood. National MP for Burslem, for one serious loss to the Liberals, but it 2 Times, 17 September 1920, p. 7, col f. Parliament, in 1931. His return to the would have occurred in any event, with all his 3 Davies, S. and Morley, B., County House of Commons after an absence even without the Constitutional- Borough Elections in England and Wales, of thirty-one years was probably the ist venture. What is, perhaps, sur- leadership 1919–38. longest interval between periods of prising is that Churchill, with all 4 Gravesend and Dartford Reporter, 18 service of any MP. his leadership skills, actually took skills, actu- October 1924, p. 4, col e. Loseby, the former Coalition fewer defectors with him than did 5 W.D. Harbison was also designated NDP MP from 1918 to 1922, failed John Simon – generally regarded as ally took as a ‘Constitutional and Democratic’ to return to Parliament as a Con- a political loner – during the Lib- candidate for Saffron Walden at the stitutionalist in 1924. He again lost eral National split after 1931. fewer defec- 1922 election. He was included on the in 1929, standing as a Conservative In the longer term context, one- official list of National Liberal candi- in Nottingham West. Davis fought sixth of all the Liberal or Liberal tors with dates, but he was not elected. only the one, unsuccessful, elec- Democrat MPs elected from the 6 Moreing to Guest, 31 March 1920, tion campaign as a Constitutionalist December 1910 to the 2010 elections him than did Parliamentary Archives, Lloyd candidate, in Consett in 1924. Fox- – 116 of the 707 elected – defected George Papers, LG/F/22/25. Davies did not contest any further from the party at some stage John Simon 7 Moreing and Jarrett to Churchill, parliamentary elections, but he did after their first election.65 Within 5 February 1924, Churchill Papers, sit as a Conservative local councillor. this context, the Constitutional- – generally Churchill Archives Centre, CHAR Doran, who failed as a Constitution- ist departures were a small aug- 2/132/29–31. alist in 1924, was eventually elected mentation of an established trend. regarded as 8 Maclean MSS 467 fol 69, 17 January as a Conservative in 1931. However, Including the Constitutionalists a political 1924, quoted in Hart, M.W., ‘The his time in Parliament was contro- who went on to join the Conserva- decline of the Liberal Party in parlia- versial for his anti-Semitic views and tives, 34 Liberal MPs or former loner – dur- ment and in the constituencies, 1914– he was defeated in 1935.63 MPs defected to the Tories over 1931’, Oxford, D. Phil., (1982), 176. the course of the century from 1910 ing the Lib- 9 Riddell Diary, discussion Riddell to 2010; a slightly larger number and Horne, 30 May 1923, quoted in The Impact of the (47) defected to Labour. A striking eral National Gilbert, Churchill, Volume V, 7-8. Constitutionalists on the feature of this exodus was that all 10 Jenkins, Roy, Churchill, (Macmillan, Liberal Party those former Liberals who joined split after Basingstoke, 2001), 381-5. The Constitutionalist episode the Conservatives remained happy 11 Clementine Churchill to Church- provided a route for Churchill, in their new party, whilst over half 1931. ill, n.d. (November 1923?), quoted in

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 13 a forgotten liberal-conservative alliance

Gilbert, Churchill, Volume V, 18. 30 Montrose Review, 17 October p. 4, col b. 54 Times, 4 November 1924, p. 16, 12 Gilbert, Churchill, Volume V, 1924, p7, col c. 46 Craig describes Loseby and col c. 25–26. 31 Battersea Borough News, 31 Octo- Davis as Constitutionalists, 55 Allen is described by Craig, p. 13 Glasgow Herald, 26 February, ber 1924, p. 3, col b. and Doran and Fox-Davies as 251, as Nat (NL) after the 1931 1924. 32 Times, 29 November 1923, p. 13, Conservatives. election. 14 Gilbert, Churchill, Volume V, 28. col g. 47 Freddie Guest, the former Coa- 56 Times, 17 December 1924, p. 14, 15 Times, 3 March 1924, p. 12, col d. 33 These included Moreing, Green- lition Liberal Chief Whip, did col c. 16 Jenkins, Churchill, p. 390. wood, Churchill, England and not use the label Constitution- 57 Letter by Sturrock, Times, 18 17 Cook, C. and Ramsden, J., By- Allen. alist at the 1924 election, but he February 1929, p. 8, col d. elections in British Politics (Mac- 34 Brodie, Marc, ‘Ward, John was closely associated with those 58 Ibid. millan, 1973), pp. 53–62. (1866–1934)’, Oxford Dictionary of who did. Guest’s 1924 election 59 County Express, 19 February 18 Jenkins, Churchilll, pp. 388–90. National Biography. address described him as the 1927, p3, col d. 19 Gilbert, Churchill, Volume V, 43. 35 Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel, 18 ‘Liberal Anti-Socialist Candi- 60 Stockport Advertiser, 10 May 1929, 20 Ibid, p. 39, quoting letter Birk- October 1924, p. 9, col a. date’ and he stated that he was p11, col c. enhead to , 28 March 1924. 36 Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel, 1 prepared to support a Conserva- 61 Robinson to Daily News, 8 July 21 Gilbert, Churchill, Volume V, 43. November 1924, p. 6, col a. tive Government under Bald- 1929, quoted Craig, Parliamen- 22 Churchill to Balfour, 11 October 37 Craig, British Parliamentary Elec- win’s leadership. tary Election Results, 1918–49, p. 1924, quoted in Gilbert, Churchill, tion Results, 1918–1949, (Macmil- 48 Excludes Dundee, a two-mem- 406. Volume V Companion Part 1, p. 218. lan, 1977), p. 251. ber seat which had one Liberal 62 Radcliffe Times, 1 November 23 Notes on Greenwood, n.d. but 38 Ibid., 18 October 1924, p. 9, col and one Conservative candidate 1924, p. 6, col f. 1917 or later, Lloyd George a. in 1924. 63 The Constitutionalist label made Papers, LG/F/168/2/12. 39 Allen, Election Address, 1924, 49 Scottish Prohibition Party one, unrelated, reappearance, 24 Greenwood to Lloyd George, Bristol University Archives. 50 Calculated by aggregating the when used by Leslie Haden- 3 October 1924, Lloyd George 40 The constituency was renamed increases or decreases in margins Guest in 1927. Haden-Guest was Papers, LG/G/8/9/1. Neath in 1918. of victory or defeat from all the no relation to Freddie Guest and 25 Greenwood to Saunders, 4 Octo- 41 Accrington Gazette, 18 October seats where the same candidate was from a Labour background. ber 1924, Lloyd George Papers, 1924, p. 3, col a. contested the seat in 1923 and 1924. 64 Stretford was held by Robinson LG/G/8/9/1. 42 Craig, Parliamentary Election 51 Positive figures represent a in 1923, 1924 and 1929 under dif- 26 Walthamstow and Leyton Guardian, Results, 1918–1949, p. 406. majority, negative figures repre- ferent party labels. 26 September 1924, p. 4, col c. 43 Robinson, Election Address, sent a margin of defeat. 65 Wyburn-Powell, Alun, ‘Defec- 27 Ibid., 17 October 1924, p. 5, col b. 1924, Bristol University 52 Where the same constituency tors and the Liberal Party since 28 Letter by Sturrock, Times, 15 Archives. was fought by the same can- December 1910’, University of December 1923, p. 8, col b. 44 Radcliffe Times, 25 October 1924, didate at the 1923 and 1924 Leicester PhD., (2010), p. 27. 29 Letter by Sturrock, Times, 21 p. 6, col d. elections. 66 Wyburn-Powell, ‘Defectors and April 1924, p. 4, col a. 45 Radcliffe Times, 18 October 1924, 53 Freddie Guest also attended. the Liberal Party’, pp. 153–54.

Joseph Chamberlain: Imperial standard-bearer, national leader, local icon Conference: Newman University, , 4 July 2014; The Library of Birmingham, 5 July 2014

Joseph Chamberlain, the most significant mayor of modern Birmingham, MP for Birmingham East for thirty-seven years, President of the Board of Trade from 1880 to 1885, Colonial Secretary from 1895 to 1903 and ‘the man who made the weather’ in British politics for twenty years, died on 2 July 1914. Although the event was overshadowed by the Bosnian crisis caused by the assassination of Franz Ferdinand four days earlier, The Times printed an obituary of Chamberlain that ran to three pages and public activity in Birmingham completely halted as a mark of respect during his funeral after the Chamberlain family rejected an internment at Westminster Abbey. Chamberlain’s complex and frequently misunderstood career is to be the subject of a major international conference to be organised jointly by the Journal of Liberal History and Newman University, Birmingham, in collaboration with Birmingham City Council and Severn Trent Water. The first day, at Newman University, will begin with a keynote address from Professor Peter Marsh, author of Joseph Chamberlain: Entrepreneur in Politics and The Chamberlain Litany and will focus on Chamberlain’s career beyond Birmingham. Panels of presentations will explore themes such as Chamberlain’s career as an educational reformer, his relations with other senior figures of the late Victorian establishment and his political, economic and social philosophy. That evening, a conference dinner with a speaker will be held at Joseph Chamberlain’s home, Highbury Hall. On 5 July. at the new Library of Birmingham in the city centre, the leader of Birmingham City Council will introduce a day debating Chamberlain’s contribution to the ‘Second City’. There will be a panel of MPs from each of the three major parties arguing that their party embodies Chamberlain’s inheritance, and posters, artefacts and documentary evidence from the city’s archives and museums for delegates to explore. It is hoped that the event will conclude with a walking tour of important sites in the City associated with the Chamberlain family. Proposals for papers may consist of individual papers or of papers grouped for a panel session. For session proposals, two, or preferably three papers should relate to a common theme, not necessarily bound by a chronological framework. For an informal discussion of ideas for papers or panels or other issues, please contact the conference organiser, Dr Ian Cawood, Head of History at Newman University and author of The 1886–1912: A History at [email protected].

14 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 Letters Honor Balfour I Honor Balfour II Helen Langley’s excellent article In her article ‘Honor Balfour and on Honor Balfour (Journal of Liberal the Liberal Party’, Helen Langley Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman History 78, spring 2013) mentions notes in footnote 44, in relation to A Scottish Life and UK Politics 1836–1908 that at the 1943 by-election in Dar- Aubrey Herbert, that ‘it has proved wen which she fought – and lost by difficult to establish more about only 70 votes – the local newspaper Herbert other than he was a jour- by Dr Alexander (Sandy) S. Waugh, BSc(Econ), BD, PhD, refused to publicise her campaign nalist’. I do not blame her for this, ASCC, FSA Scot because she had dared to break the but surely her editor should have It is expected that this new biography of The Rt Hon. Sir wartime electoral truce agreed put her right about Aubrey Herbert Henry Campbell-Bannerman, GCB (Liberal Prime Minister between the major parties. OBE (1905–81), Chief Agent of the in 1905–08) will be published in 2014, the year of the 115th Even though her Conservative Liberal Party for a time after 1945, anniversary of his election to the Liberal Leadership in the opponent, Stanley Prescott, was a Liberal parliamentary candidate House of Commons. the same age, Honor thought that in seven elections between 1929 and Early Notes of Interest will be appreciated to give the author he was a callow youth and she com- 1966 – nearly winning Chester in an optimum contact list for circulating publication details plained that she ‘was not only fight- 1929, and contesting Westmorland when available. ing the press boycott but was also (now ’s seat) in 1964 and fighting the boy Prescott’! Berwick-upon-Tweed (now Alan Please write to: Prescott remained as MP for Beith’s seat) in 1966 – and a real, Sandy Waugh Darwen until retiring at the 1951 dedicated Liberal at a time when 1 Pantoch Gardens, Banchory, Kincardineshire AB31 5ZD, election. He later committed sui- there were far too few such people , UK [email protected] cide in June 1962 at the age of 50. around. Michael Meadowcroft Hugh Pagan Liberal history quiz 2012 In the last issue, Journal of Liberal History 78, we published the questions in our annual history quiz at the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton in September last year. The winner was David Maddox, with an impressive 19½ marks out of 20. Below we reprint the answers. 1. Lady 2. 3. 4. The Campaign for Gender Balance 5. 1921 6. Birmingham Hodge Hill 7. 1886 8. Argyll and Bute 9. Mary 10. Winston Churchill as I Knew Him 11. Enid Lakeman 12. Lynne Featherstone 13. Rabbit 14. Trinidad 15. Southport 16. First four women to be Liberal parliamentary candidates, at the 1918 general election 17. Nancy Seear 18. Darwen, Lancashire 19. Sutton Courtenay churchyard, Oxfordshire 20. First two women Lib Dems to be elected to the Scottish Parliament

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 15 ‘A nasty, deplorable little incident in our political life’ Liberalism, National Liberalism and the Editorship of the Dumfries Standard, 1957

In a brief statement and, it must be said, it caused to the British on 22 June 1957 the sometimes corrupt government, it was Dumfries and Galloway relationship between reported as far away as Standard and Advertiser British politicians the United States.2 It was announced that its editor and the country’s hardly even a matter of for the past three years, press the dismissal of national importance. A.G. Williamson, had the editor of a small But it did prompt a ceased to be associated Scottish newspaper heated debate in the with the newspaper. and, subsequently, the House of Commons Robert Fergusson, suggested involvement and a statement by the until then the political of the local MP in Prime Minister of the correspondent of this development day. It was perhaps, as the Glasgow Herald, was scarcely an event one MP put it, ‘a nasty, would take over with of international deplorable little incident 1 Dumfries High 3 immediate effect. significance. Yet, because Street in the in our political life’. By In the long, troubled of the embarrassment 1940s David Dutton.

16 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 ‘A nasty, deplorable little incident in our political life’ Liberalism, National Liberalism and the Editorship of the Dumfries Standard, 1957

ounded in 1843, the Standard since 1919, was also chairman of ongoing and apparently irrevers- had a long tradition of sup- the Dumfriesshire Liberal Associa- ible decline of the orthodox Liberal Fport for Liberalism. By the tion. In an understated obituary Party. second half of the twentieth cen- following Reid’s death in 1962, the After 1945, by contrast, the Lib- tury this made it something of a Standard declared that the leading eral National Party looked to be rarity within the British press. At political articles of the former edi- little more than an increasingly a national level, the News Chroni- tor had been ‘forceful, fluent and anomalous survival from an ear- cle, which itself closed in 1960, was persuasive’.8 When in 1934, after a lier era, especially once the Wool- the nearest thing to a Liberal title, lengthy period of uncertainty, Dr ton–Teviot Agreement of 1947, and and even it gave its support to the Joseph Hunter MP announced that a subsequent arrangement relating Labour Party in the general elec- he was not only joining the Simo- specifically to Scottish constitu- tions of 1945, 1950 and 1951.4 The nite group of MPs in the House of encies, allowed for the fusion of Manchester Guardian, still pub- Commons but also taking up a sen- Conservative and Liberal National lished in Manchester but enjoy- ior administrative post within the (soon to be renamed National Lib- ing a national circulation, was Liberal National Party, the Stand- eral) Parties at constituency level.9 also broadly sympathetic. But ard and the local Liberal Associa- As National Liberals survived only local Liberal-supporting newspa- tion both gave their full support. by courtesy of their Tory masters, pers, of which there were around So total was the resulting eclipse and became almost indistinguish- twenty, were significant factors of orthodox Liberalism in the con- able from them, the Standard’s posi- in sustaining the party’s vital- stituency that the association was tion was ever harder to justify. ity in such disparate locations as able to hold on to the title of ‘Dum- In maintaining the same attitude Carlisle, Huddersfield, Rochdale, friesshire Liberal Association’ until towards Major Niall Macpherson, Greenock and Aberystwyth.5 ‘We as late as 1960. In its editorial col- elected as a Liberal National with have never tried to hide our Liber- umns the Standard insisted that not Conservative support in 1945 and alism under a bushel’, declared the Founded in only Hunter, who died suddenly in thereafter as a National-Liberal- Dumfries Standard in 1955, ‘no one 1935, but also his Liberal National Unionist, as it had towards Hunter can accuse us of concealing where 1843, the successor, Sir Henry Fildes, had and Fildes, the Standard could our true sympathies lie’.6 The close every bit as much right to the des- justly be accused of colluding in an relationship between the newspa- Standard ignation ‘Liberal’ as did repre- act of deception. Addressing the per and the local party was symbol- sentatives of the mainstream party Annan branch of the Dumfriesshire ised by the tradition, dating back to had a long – who were in any case conspicuous Unionist Association in Decem- ‘the early days of Queen Victoria’s by their absence from the constitu- ber 1946, Macpherson insisted that reign’, whereby successful Liberal tradition of ency. The only difference was that he was ‘a Liberal and proud to be and earlier Radical parliamentary Liberal Nationals recognised the one’. But, he continued, the inter- candidates would address their sup- support for need, even at the cost of the tem- ests of Conservatives and Liberals porters following the declaration porary abandonment in a hostile were ‘identical’, even though their of the poll from the first-floor win- Liberalism. world of the traditional Liberal backgrounds were different. ‘Their dow of the newspaper’s offices in doctrine of free trade, to enter into interests would gain the day in the the centre of Dumfries.7 By the sec- governmental partnership with the long run and he was confident that But the picture was in fact Conservatives to resist the domes- the Liberals and Conservatives more complex than the Standard’s ond half of tic challenge of socialism and, later, would be fighting side by side at repeated expressions of its undy- the increasingly menacing threat of the next election.’10 A short-lived ing commitment to Liberalism the twenti- political extremism in continental attempt the previous year to re- might suggest. The newspaper eth century Europe. establish an orthodox Liberal pres- had been complicit in the defec- Such a line was just about plau- ence in the constituency, including tion of the sitting Liberal MP to this made it sible. Having succeeded by the a forlorn candidature at the gen- the Liberal National camp in the middle of the 1930s in creating the eral election, soon spluttered out. early 1930s. Indeed, the Standard something apparatus and infrastructure of a No Liberal would contest the seat was an important factor in ensur- national political movement, and again until a by-election in 1963. ing that Liberalism in the Dum- of a rarity with the allegiance of around three In these circumstances Macpher- friesshire constituency became in dozen MPs, the Simonite faction son laid claim to represent Liberal- practice Liberal Nationalism. The within the had some claim to represent the ism – without prefix or suffix – in key to its influence lay in the fact authentic voice of modern Liberal- Dumfriesshire with little fear of that James Reid, editor of the paper British press. ism, not least in the context of the contradiction. As the 1950 general

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 17 ‘a nasty, deplorable little incident in our political life’ election approached, the Standard newspaper was in any case appre- The newspaper adopted a harsher argued that ‘there is no difficulty in hensive that any attempt to unseat tone towards the MP than at any Dumfriesshire, where a good Lib- him by the nomination of a Liberal time since his first election to par- eral is standing in a straight fight candidate at the next general elec- liament more than a decade earlier: with a Labour opponent’.11 The tion might simply serve to split close and, as a small but growing the ‘Liberal vote’ and thus allow When a man thinks that the group of critics argued, unhealthy for the return of a socialist. The 60 nations who condemned relationship between the MP and ideal scenario from the Standard’s the Government at the United the local newspaper was empha- point of view was an arrangement Nations General Assembly are sised by Macpherson’s practice of with the Conservatives similar to ‘very probably wrong’ as he holding his regular constituency that which existed in Liberal seats remarked to the writer of this surgeries in the Standard’s offices, such as Bolton West and Hudders- column on Saturday 24 Novem- treating its premises ‘as almost an field West. Macpherson, an ‘ideal ber 1956, he is showing a good official office’.12 Member in every way, could not deal of independent thought. In 1954, however, the octoge- hold the seat as a Conservative However, most Liberals, includ- narian Reid finally stood down without Liberal support’. ‘As a Lib- ing Mr Clement Davies and from the editor’s chair. He was eral newspaper in a traditionally Mr , who have replaced by A. G. Williamson, for- Liberal constituency, the Standard personally approved the stand merly editor of the Stirling Jour- would be happy if it had a Liberal the Standard has taken, remain nal. It was a curious appointment Member, without any other politi- unconvinced.19 granted that Williamson was a cal tag, who would have the sup- committed supporter of the ortho- port of Conservatives at election As the dust began to settle on Eden’s dox Liberal Party. The proprietors times.’16 disastrous Middle Eastern adven- of the Standard perhaps believed The new What changed matters was the ture, the Standard referred, with- that the new editor would mallea- Suez Crisis of 1956. As a junior out elaborating, to the ‘concerted bly follow the political line so long appointment minister in ’s gov- pressure’ brought to bear upon it pursued by his predecessor. Alter- ernment, Macpherson had either to to force it to ‘abandon its 113-year- natively, they may have come to soon effected give full support to the Prime Min- old Liberal principles’ and back the believe their own propaganda that ister’s fateful policy, or to resign. government. This was a matter of National Liberalism was a genuine a marked He opted for the former course and ‘real concern to everyone, irrespec- and legitimate variant of the Lib- thereby inevitably incurred mount- tive of political sympathies’ which eral creed, and expected William- change in the ing criticism from the Standard. ‘struck at the very roots of a free son to do the same. At all events, Although the Parliamentary Lib- press in this country’ and had to be the new appointment soon effected coverage and eral Party under Clement Davies resisted ‘no matter the source’ from a marked change in the coverage editorial line had tended, more often than not, which it came.20 and editorial line of the Standard. to vote with the Conservative gov- It was later revealed in parlia- This was greeted by a significantly of the Stand- ernment of 1951–55, Suez opened ment that, as early as August 1954, increased circulation and, as far as up a clear division between the two only five months into Williamson’s could be divined from the news- ard. This was parties.17 The Standard presented the editorship, Macpherson had asked paper’s correspondence columns, issue as clearly as it could: him not to differentiate so clearly a warm reception from its reader- greeted by a between Liberalism and National ship. One correspondent expressed Major Niall Macpherson, MP Liberalism. The following month his relief that the Standard ‘seems to significantly for Dumfriesshire, who claims he raised the matter again and said have taken a stand for the princi- to represent the Liberal as well that he wanted to discuss it with ples for which it was founded, and increased as the Conservative interests in the directors of the newspaper.21 discarded the mean expediencies the constituency, again voted This was arranged and Macpherson which could only have brought it circulation for the Government in the vital attended a meeting of the directors into disgrace and disrepute’.13 Sup- opposition censure motion last on 29 September. An uneasy truce port for the Liberal Party inevi- and, as far Thursday 1 November 1956. Mr then remained in place between the tably involved opposition to the Clement Davies, Leader of the MP and the editor until the Suez National Liberals, whom the as could be Liberals and the Liberal MPs in Crisis of 1956 brought matters to a Standard now described as merely the House all voted against the head. Macpherson now complained ‘henchmen’ of the Conservatives.14 divined from Government. Yesterday, Major again to Williamson and the direc- It also meant disowning most of Macpherson told the Standard: tors. The latter met on 20 Novem- the political analysis developed by the newspa- ‘I am sorry that your views and ber to consider the position against the previous editor. The National per’s corre- mine seem to be so far apart in the background of the recent deci- Governments of 1931 and 1935, regard to the action of the Gov- sion of the South West Scotland which had given the National Lib- spondence ernment in intervening in the Liberal Federation to select a can- erals their raison d’être, were now Israeli–Egyptian war. My own didate to oppose Macpherson at the castigated as ‘the worst Govern- columns, a view is that we are both legally next general election. The direc- ments in history’.15 For the time and morally entitled to do so, tors decided to invite Macpherson being, however, any criticism of warm recep- and that we are acting in the best to a meeting the following Satur- Macpherson personally remained interests, not only of ourselves, day, 24 November. Ironically, in muted. The MP was recognised tion from its but of world peace, however view of the fate which awaited him, to be a conscientious and reliable paradoxically it may appear at Williamson was asked to issue the constituency Member and the readership. the present time.’18 invitation:

18 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 ‘a nasty, deplorable little incident in our political life’

Dear Major, Following upon was dissatisfied with the conduct of ‘This ridicu- meeting the editor was sacked’.29 the decision by the Liberal Fed- matters ‘unconnected with politics’ After an intervention by the Leader eration to contest the seat at the and that his removal had not been lous row has of the Opposition, , next General Election, the direc- ‘at the instigation of the member of Prime Minister Harold Macmil- tors had a meeting on Tuesday Parliament for the constituency’. been ele- lan agreed to look into the matter. morning to consider the new Indeed, the board’s decision was ‘in When the Prime Minister made a situation which has arisen, and no way influenced’ by Macpher- vated into a statement two days later, he chose it was felt that a word with you son who had ‘no part whatsoever’ to focus his defence of Macpher- would be helpful. Could you in choosing the new editor.25 Yet great scan- son on the rather narrow point that come to my room at 11.30 on Williamson claimed to have been dal’, Macmil- the Under-Secretary was involved Saturday morning, when they told by the chairman of the board ‘solely as the member for the con- will be there to see you? … If I that the directors were dissatis- lan noted. stituency’ and not as a junior minis- do not hear, I will assume you fied with his work and considered ter. Not surprisingly, this argument will be present. Many thanks. that he was ‘going towards Labour ‘PQs and pro- failed to satisfy Macpherson’s crit- Regards. Yours sincerely, A.G. in his writing’.26 This last charge is ics. Gaitskell tried to ridicule the Williamson22 difficult to sustain on the evidence tests to me MP’s actions. To opposition laugh- of Williamson’s recent editorials ter he suggested that Macpherson When the meeting took place the and only makes sense in light of from Labour had complained to the directors chairman, before allowing the busi- the difficulty the directors would about the level of attention given by ness to begin, required Williamson have faced in accusing the editor of and Liberal the newspaper to Liberalism instead to leave the room, even though that supporting ‘Liberalism’, when this of National Liberalism. ‘Was it not room was the editor’s own office. remained the official stance of the MPs.’ very unreasonable to ask the editor Williamson did so under protest. newspaper. As Williamson later to devote more space to National Precisely what happened next put it, ‘As for my alleged Labour Liberalism’, enquired Gaitskell, is an area of some dispute. What leanings, a newspaper which was ‘when not one of us knows what it is clear is that when Williamson personally commended by two is?’ Fraser, by contrast, insisted on was allowed to return he was successive leaders of the Liberal tabling a motion ‘that this House told that the Standard would in party and Liberal headquarters for has taken note of the action of the future support Macpherson and its Liberalism was in no danger of Joint Under-Secretary of State for the Conservative government. going Socialist.’27 Furthermore, Scotland, the member for Dum- Williamson asked whether the when Macpherson was interviewed friesshire, which led to the dis- Standard was still a Liberal news- on the matter by the Scottish Daily missal of the editor of the Dumfries paper and was told that it was. His Express, he admitted that, about and Galloway Standard and strongly suggestion that a genuinely Liberal two months after the November deprecates such action as being paper could not give full support to meeting, he was asked by one of inconsistent with his tenure of either the MP or the government the directors whether, in the event office as a Minister’.30 was left unanswered. of Williamson’s dismissal, he knew A further statement by Mac- There matters rested until 19 of anyone who might take his millan on 30 July to the effect that June, the following year, when place. ‘I thought about it’, recalled Macpherson had not been involved Williamson was summarily dis- Macpherson, ‘and mentioned Mr with Williamson’s dismissal failed missed.23 He was given two months’ Fergusson’ – Williamson’s eventual to close the matter, especially as it salary and informed that there replacement.28 coincided with Macpherson’s own would be a new editor in the edi- Williamson claimed compen- admission that he had indeed been tor’s chair the following morn- sation for wrongful dismissal and asked for suggestions about a pos- ing. But what was the relationship his claim was supported by the sible replacement editor.31 Labour between these developments and Newspaper Society and the Guild members gave the Prime Minis- the November meeting? The of Editors. More significantly, ter’s statement a noisy and hostile Labour MP Tom Fraser later told he appears to have approached at reception, with Gaitskell suggest- the House of Commons that the least one opposition MP. At a time ing that it was quite unconvincing. minutes of the meeting had subse- when the Conservative govern- Macpherson, he argued, should quently been deleted from the firm’s ment remained in some disarray resign. A censure motion was tabled minute book and a revised set sub- following the upheavals of Suez, for 1 August.32 Macmillan was suf- stituted from which Macpherson’s the Labour Party in particular ficiently concerned to record these role was omitted. Furthermore, quickly appreciated the oppor- developments in the privacy of his Fraser claimed that the minutes of tunity to cause it further embar- diary. ‘This ridiculous row has been another meeting, at which consid- rassment. On 23 July 1957, Tom elevated into a great scandal’, he eration was given to the question Fraser, Labour MP for Hamilton, noted. ‘P[arliamentary] Q[uestions] of whether to support Macpherson asked the Scottish Secretary, Jack and protests to me from Labour and or the official Liberal candidate for Maclay, himself a National Lib- Liberal MPs. There is now a hostile Dumfriesshire at the next general eral, whether he was aware that his motion on the order paper (sup- election, were also deleted and the Under-Secretary, Macpherson, had ported by Grimond) and I have told relevant paragraph rewritten by had a meeting with the directors of the Chief Whip that we must dis- one of the directors.24 The board of the Dumfries Standard at which the pose of it by debate if necessary.’33 directors, however, later issued a editor had been criticised for writ- Opening the debate, with statement insisting that Williamson ing editorials hostile to the gov- Macpherson sitting silently on the was dismissed because the board ernment and that ‘as a result of that Treasury bench, Fraser argued

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 19 ‘a nasty, deplorable little incident in our political life’

that, at the November meeting, by 293 votes to 233. Macmillan Harold realistically possible. At the Fed- the Dumfries MP had exercised seemed well pleased with his own Macmillan MP eration’s annual general meeting in ‘improper influence’ over the direc- performance and with the impact (Prime Minister Dumfries in February 1958 it was tors to have the editor sacked. On of the vote: 1957–63); announced that the Carlisle Journal, the evidence available, suggested Major Niall a newspaper with a 160-year-old Fraser, Macpherson had ‘been in I spoke for twenty minutes or Macpherson MP radical tradition, untainted by asso- the whole affair up to the neck’. He less, and managed to squash the ciation with the National Liberals, had ‘behaved in a way inconsistent accusation. The Opposition (Lib would shortly launch a South West with his tenure of office as a Min- and Labour) was very weak. Scotland title, based on Dumfries ister’. Fraser called upon the Prime Gaitskell behaved lamentably. and under the editorship of the Minister to appoint an independent He allowed the whips to be put ex-Standard editor, A. G. William- enquiry to establish all the facts of on; but (altho’ he was in his place son. Sir Gordon Lethem, chairman the case. His motion was seconded when I sat down) he hadn’t the of the Federation, referred to the by the Liberal leader, Jo Grimond, courage to answer me. We won recent silencing of ‘one of the most and vociferously supported by easily, and our boys were very vigorous and independent voices in opposition MPs who, even with- pleased at a) my loyalty b) my their midst’. Now, he was happy to out an enquiry, appeared convinced success in the debate. All this report, the voice of Liberalism was that Macpherson had behaved helps, with so many divisions again to be raised.38 improperly. ‘This was a plot’, and disaffections in the Party on The South-West Scottish Jour- insisted Emrys Hughes, Labour MP more serious affairs.36 nal duly made its first appearance for South Ayrshire and Bute, ‘to on 7 March 1958 amid messages of get rid of an editor who had cour- Macpherson thus survived and welcome and support from lead- age and independent-mindedness went on to hold a succession of ing Liberals such as Jo Grimond and and who had become something junior offices in the governments sympathetic journalists, including of a thorn in the side of the Tory of Macmillan and Alec Douglas- Alastair Hetherington of the Man- Party’ in South West Scotland.34 In Home until the Tories lost office chester Guardian. With a cover price response, Macmillan pointed to the in the general election of October of just 2d, it was clearly intended to inconsistency between Fraser’s cen- 1964.37 But for the Liberals, strug- undercut its rivals and, by the end sure motion and his call for an inde- gling to re-establish a genuine pres- of the month, it was reported that pendent inquiry before the House ence in South West Scotland after total circulation already exceeded reached a conclusion on the matter. more than two decades of virtual that of the five established newspa- It was, argued the Prime Minis- extinction, the loss of the Stand- pers currently serving the Dum- ter, ‘a compromise by malice out of ard’s support was a significant blow. fries and Galloway area.39 One of innuendo’.35 The South-West Scotland Lib- the new paper’s key aims was to These were difficult days for eral Federation had been set up in undermine Macpherson’s position a government still struggling to February 1955 with the clear aim and, in particular, his continuing recover from the seismic shock of of recreating a Liberal infrastruc- pretentions to represent the Liberal the Suez Crisis and the resulting ture that would enable the party to cause. ‘Why go on masquerading change of premier but, when the put forward candidates in Dum- under the guise of Liberal’, asked House divided on strictly party friesshire and the adjoining constit- the Journal, ‘when even the head lines, Fraser’s motion was rejected uency of Galloway as soon as was of the Tory Party and their chief

20 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 ‘a nasty, deplorable little incident in our political life’ propagandist Lord Hailsham, the candidate in a calculated effort to fulfilled. Over the next few years Conservative Party Chairman goes extend his electoral appeal. This several local Conservative associa- out of his way to attack Liberalism? ‘disguise’, argued Lethem, ‘had tions reached the conclusion that The electorate is not all that daft caused misunderstanding and had the National Liberals had exhausted not to see through the stratagem.’40 deceived a number of Liberals who their usefulness and took the deci- The most important thing was were perhaps too guileless to realise sion to drop the hybrid labels under for the Liberals to put up a candi- there were people who could be so which they had been known ever date and thus prevent Macpher- treacherous as to fight their political since the Woolton–Teviot Agree- son from tapping unchallenged battles under the flag of the other ment of 1947. Yet this was not the into the continuing Liberal vote. side’. 43 When the Liberal Party in way matters were seen in Dun- ‘The Dumfriesshire Liberals must Dumfriesshire finally managed to friesshire, where Macpherson con- contest the seat at the next Gen- re-form a constituency association, tinued to cling tenaciously to his eral Election, if only to dispose its chairman, Ralph Hetherington, National Liberal affiliation, while of the National Liberal myth, or called upon Macpherson to make stressing the ongoing similarity cease to be a political force in the it ‘abundantly clear’ that he did not between Liberalism and the mod- constituency.’41 The Journal sought represent Dumfriesshire Liberals. ern Conservative Party. Election- to differentiate between the two ‘Otherwise’, Hetherington added eering in 1959, he suggested that movements laying claim to the title with scarcely concealed sarcasm, everything advocated by the Lib- ‘Liberal’ with a clarity to which ‘people might be led to suspect the eral Party in its manifestos for 1951 the Standard had seldom aspired in Unionist candidate of a little sordid and 1955 had been implemented the years since the original split of vote-catching.’44 by the Conservative government the early 1930s. It looked forward On the national plane, the brief of which he was a member.47 Even to a time when the political life of life of the South-West Scottish Journal in 1963, when the Conservative South West Scotland ‘would not be did witness one decisive moment administration’s mounting troubles as confused as it is ’. At pre- in the relationship between the gave rise to renewed expectations sent, ‘we have two rival Liberal Liberal and National Liberal Par- of an imminent general election, it organisations, one of which just ties. The seat of Torrington in was announced at the annual gen- manages to hold itself together to Devon, held by the National Liber- eral meeting of the Dumfriesshire give the National Liberal Member als ever since 1931, was recaptured Unionist Association that the MP its blessing and the other does all by the Liberals at a by-election would once again be standing as it can to prepare for the day when in March 1958. This was the first a National-Liberal-Unionist. By it expects to throw him out’.42 But time that the Liberals had gained this stage even the Standard, while the new paper’s was not a seat at a by-election since 1929 still offering Macpherson its sup- maintained. Just six months after its and victory was all the sweeter for port, doubted the wisdom of his launch the South-West Scottish Jour- being secured at the expense of a designation and suggested that nal was merged with its parent pub- ‘National Liberal and Conserva- it would now be difficult to find lication, the Carlisle Journal. tive’ opponent. As Lady Violet ‘even a handful of the old National One key question remains. Why Bonham Carter, whose son Mark Liberals’ in the constituency.48 was Macpherson, supported by the With one was the victorious candidate, later Macpherson, however, justified the Dumfries Standard, so determined to recalled, there was a ‘strange sense designation with a logic which at preserve his National Liberal cre- eye clearly of being a member of an army of least satisfied himself, if not his Lib- dentials at a time when all objec- liberation entering occupied terri- eral critics: tive indicators pointed to his being on the local tory which for years had been ruled an unreconstructed Tory? Both by quislings and collaborators and The title National-Liberal- Macpherson and many of his politi- situation, that their day was over once and for Unionist fits the facts and no cal opponents believed, almost as an all’. 45 With one eye clearly on the one can object to a title that article of faith, that the MP would the Journal local situation, the Journal echoed fits the facts. It is historically be unable to hold on to his constitu- this sentiment. Its leading article and factually accurate. I am a ency without the support of a sig- echoed this was confidently entitled ‘Tor- member of the Liberal Union- nificant number of Liberal votes, rington Means End of National- ist group in the House of Com- or even, on the basis of its electoral sentiment. Liberals’. The lesson, it claimed, mons and everyone knows I am history before the 1930s, that Dum- was clear: ‘the sham of the Liberal- a member of the Conservative friesshire was a ‘natural’ Liberal Its leading Nationalist cum Conservative label Government. There is noth- seat. This proposition had not been is clearly understood by the elector- ing whatever incompatible in seriously tested. Because of a lack of article was ate and … the days of the so-called this and there is nothing strange time in 1955 and out of the appar- confidently Liberal-Nationalist are well and or anomalous in the joint title ent fear in 1959 that a split Liberal truly over’. It was now important National-Liberal-Unionist.49 vote would result in the return of entitled that ‘every effort should be made to the Labour candidate, the South- perfect organisation in the constit- Hector Munro, chairman of the West Scotland Liberal Federation ‘Torrington uencies … What was done at Tor- Unionist association, offered a drew back from fielding a candi- rington should be possible in many less opaque explanation: ‘We have date. To the mounting irritation of Means End of other places at the general election no intention of surrendering our his critics, therefore, Macpherson if some time and effort are devoted right in choosing a label that is continued to put himself forward National-Lib- to organisation now.’46 most appropriate’.50 In other words, to the voters of Dumfriesshire as In many parts of the country Dumfriesshire Tories would hold the National-Liberal-Unionist erals’. the Journal’s prediction was quickly on to their hybrid designation for

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 21 ‘a nasty, deplorable little incident in our political life’ as long as they saw advantage in David Dutton is the author of Lib- 19 Standard, 28 November 1956. Cecil King, commented: ‘Lord doing so. erals in Schism: A History of 20 Standard, 5 December 1956. Drumalbyn (né Macpherson), a In the event, the new Prime the National Liberal Party (I. 21 The Standard was owned by Thos pleasant fool, is resurrected to Minister, Alec Douglas-Home, B. Tauris, 2008) and A History Hunter, Watson and Co. Ltd. It be Minister without Portfolio to determined that Macpherson of the Liberal Party since 1900 was taken over by George Out- deal with the new Labour Rela- could best serve the interests (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), and ram and Co. Ltd, owners of the tions Bill in the Lords.’ The Cecil of his beleaguered government contributes regularly to the Journal Glasgow Herald, in August 1958. King Diaries 1970–1974 (London: from the . In the of Liberal History. 22 Manchester Guardian, 31 July 1957. Jonathan Cape, 1975), p.48. resulting by-election a genu- 23 Manchester Guardian, 27 July 1957. 38 Carlisle Journal, 25 February 1958. inely Liberal candidate stood 1 Dumfries and Galloway Standard 24 Enquiries to the current Deputy 39 South-West Scottish Journal (here- in the constituency for only and Advertiser (hereafter Stand- Editor of the Dumfries Stand- after S-W S Journal), 28 March the second time since 1931. In ard), 22 June 1957. ard have failed to determine the 1958. that contest the Unionist can- 2 New York Times, 2 August 1957. present location of these minute 40 S-W S Journal, 4 April 1958. didate stood as just that – albeit 3 Emrys Hughes, Labour MP books or, indeed, whether they 41 S-W S Journal, 20 June 1958. with the stated support of the for Ayrshire South and Bute, still survive. 42 S-W S Journal, 30 May 1958. National Liberal Association, 1946–69, House of Commons 25 Manchester Guardian, 27 July 43 Standard, 20 November 1957. For whose very existence in any Debates (hereafter H of C Debs), 1957. a discussion of the wider sig- meaningful form many now 5th Series, vol. 574, col. 1553. 26 ibid. nificance of the National Lib- questioned. Meanwhile Charles The son-in-law of Keir Hardie, 27 ibid. eral factor in Scottish politics Abernethy, the Liberal candi- this left-wing MP was as often a 28 Scottish Daily Express, 27 July after 1945, see I G C Hutchison, date, spoke confidently of his thorn in the side of his own party, 1957. Scottish Politics in the Twentieth aim to ‘return the constitu- which twice withdrew the whip 29 Standard, 24 July 1957. Century (Palgrave: Basingstoke, ency to the Liberal tradition’51 from him, as he was, as on this 30 Standard, 27 July 1957. 2001), pp. 76–8. and of the voters’ opportunity occasion, of the Conservatives. 31 H of C Debs, 5th Series, vol. 574, 44 Standard, 23 September 1959. of ‘returning again to their old 4 York Membery, ‘Who killed the col. 1069. 45 Arthur Cyr, Liberal Party Politics allegiance and voting Liberal’.52 News Chronicle?’, Journal of Liberal 32 The Times, 31 July 1957. in Britain (London: John Calder, In the event the Unionists nar- History, 69, winter 2010–11, p.5. 33 P. Catterall (ed.), The Macmillan 1977), p. 101. rowly held off Labour’s chal- 5 For a recent analysis of the Diaries. Prime Minister and After 46 S-W S Journal, 4 April 1958. lenge; but the Liberal candidate importance of a supportive local 1957–1966 (London: Macmillan, 47 Standard, 3 October 1959. The lost his deposit.53 press in the constituency of Colne 2011), p. 52. dying years of the National Lib- Over thirty years, excepting Valley, see Matt Cole, Richard 34 H of C Debs, 5th Series, vol. 574, eral party in Britain as a whole the brief interval of William- Wainwright, the Liberals and Lib- cols 1539–56. are considered in David Dut- son’s three-year editorship, the eral Democrats: Unfinished Business 35 The Times, 2 August 1957. ton, Liberals in Schism: A History Dumfries Standard had played a (Manchester University Press: 36 Catterall, The Macmillan Diaries, of the National Liberal Party (Lon- significant role in transforming Manchester, 2011), pp. 61–66. p. 53. don: I B Tauris, 2008), chapter 5, Dumfriesshire from a ‘natu- 6 Standard, 25 May 1955. 37 Macpherson served as Joint ‘The Long Road to Extinction, ral’ Liberal to a ‘natural’ Con- 7 Standard, 28 May 1955. Under-Secretary at the Scot- 1947–68’. servative seat. The National 8 Standard, 24 January 1962. tish Office, June 1955–October 48 Standard, 5 October 1963. Liberal ‘deception’ had done 9 Fusion did not in fact take place in 1960; Parliamentary Secretary 49 ibid. lasting damage to the Liberal Dumfriesshire. The Unionist and at the Board of Trade, October 50 ibid. cause which the restoration of ‘Liberal’ Associations retained 1960–July 1962; Minister of Pen- 51 Standard, 27 November 1963. more honest politics at the 1963 their separate identities, but sions and National Insurance, 52 Ewart Library, Dumfries, box by-election could not easily agreed to form a joint committee July 1962–October 1963; and, 10, Abernethy election leaflet. reverse. Writing in the mid- of equal membership at election as Lord Drumalbyn, Minister 53 The full result was: David 1920s the celebrated newspaper times to support their candidate. of State at the Board of Trade, Colville Anderson (Union- magnate, Lord Beaverbrook, Standard, 25 October 1947. October 1963–October 1964. He ist) 16,762; Ian Jordan (Labour) argued that when politicians 10 Standard, 11 December 1946. re-emerged as Minister with- 15,791; Charles Abernethy (Lib- and newspapers were in ‘cor- 11 Standard, 8 February 1950. out Portfolio in ’s eral) 4,491; John Gair (Scottish dial and sincere agreement on 12 Sir Gordon Lethem quoted in government, October 1970– Nationalist) 4,001 any departure of policy, noth- Manchester Guardian, 16 Novem- January 1974. In the wake of this 54 Lord Beaverbrook, Politicians and ing but good results from their ber 1957. last political reincarnation, the the Press (London: Hutchinson, cooperation in educating the 13 Standard, 2 April 1955, letter waspish newspaper proprietor, 1925), p. 10. nation’. But, he continued, ‘the from A I Milton. agreement must be an hon- 14 Standard, 11 June 1955. est one in which both parties 15 Standard, 25 May 1955. The History on Twitter attain conviction by a process Standard extended this descrip- of rational argument’.54 Over a tion jointly to the Lloyd George Liberal Democrat History Group generation the Dumfries Stand- Coalition of 1918–22. The History Group is now on Twitter! A daily posting of Liberal events ard and a succession of Liberal 16 Standard, 19 September 1956. on this day in history. @LibHistoryToday. National, National Liberal and 17 For the broader significance of National-Liberal-Unionist the Suez Crisis for the Liberal Other History Groups MPs had acted in ‘cordial and Party, see M McManus, ‘Liber- Labour: @LabourHistory. Conservatives: @ConHistGrp. sincere agreement’. But the als and the Suez Crisis’, Journal of ‘honesty’ of which Beaver- Liberal History, 42, spring 2004, Others of interest brook wrote was marked only pp. 38–41. History of Parliament project: @HistParl. Alun Wyburn-Powell (Liberal by its absence. 18 Standard, 7 November 1956. historian): @liberalhistory.

22 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 public relations. He cultivated a presidential style, which no Prime Reports Minister had done previously. For some, this style, and his close- ness to some newspapers, was too much. Members of the cabinet were David Lloyd George: The Legacy reportedly particularly upset at Conference fringe meeting, 9 March 2013, with having to meet in Inverness Town Hall in order to accommodate Kenneth O. Morgan and David Howarth; chair: Lloyd George’s holiday. Celia, Baroness Thomas Lord Morgan also noted that Lloyd George was the first Prime Report by David Cloke Minister to write his memoirs, and to make significant amounts n the 150th anniversary of his democracy into British parliamen- of money as a result. This may also birth, in a joint meeting with tary politics more powerfully and be a reflection of the fact that he Ithe Lloyd George Society at the with more lasting effect that any- was the first Prime Minister not to spring 2013 Liberal Democrat con- one before him, including Joseph come from a financially privileged ference, representatives and Group Chamberlain. He used the force background. members were invited to consider of populism (notably in the Lime- the legacy of David Lloyd George – house and Newcastle speeches in not just for Liberalism, and for the 1909) and the power of the media Party party, but for the country as a whole. to get things done. This was most Lord Morgan acknowledged that Baroness Thomas opened the notable in the confrontations with Lloyd George had divided his party meeting with a vignette which the Lords over the 1909 People’s in 1918, but in his view this was a highlighted the extent to which Budget and the subsequent Parlia- reflection of what had happened Lloyd George has played such an ment Act. Lord Morgan did not during the war. Nonetheless, the integral part in the lives of Brit- believe that Lloyd George intended split between the pro- and anti- ish Liberals. Her family owned a the Lords to throw out the budget government Liberals had been very postcard of a great Welsh disestab- but he was quite prepared to face rough and ready and there were a lishment rally, with Lloyd George them down if they did. Quite number of casualties in the process. wagging his finger at the audi- extraordinarily, he had urged his This in turn led to the division of ence; up in the organ loft was her cabinet colleagues to spend as much the party and serious consequences grandfather. they could in order to build the case for all Liberals. It was interesting Lord Morgan, introduced as the for land duties. He wondered to the to note that two of Lloyd George’s world’s greatest expert on Lloyd audience – and to Lord McNally in great heroes had been Joseph George, was called upon to reflect particular – whether a member of Chamberlain, who himself had upon LG’s legacy to the country. any other cabinet had had a similar split the Liberal Party, and Theo- David Howarth, former Liberal experience! dore Roosevelt, who broke from Democrat MP for Cambridge, con- In his campaigning for the Par- the US Republican Party to form fined his remarks to the impact that liament Act Lloyd George indulged Lloyd George the Progressives. Lloyd George had on his party and in what Lord Morgan described as The resulting peacetime coali- the lessons from that for the Liberal democratic confrontation, despite was clearly, tion (on which, incidentally, Lord Democrats. It would be fair to say the opposition of the King, the Morgan believed he had written that one presentation was rather Archbishop of Canterbury and in Lord Mor- his best book) had achievements at more positive than the other! other members of the Establish- first, especially in the area of social Lord Morgan recalled that when ment. Interestingly, given later gan’s eyes, reform. It created a different kind he had spoken on behalf of Lloyd developments in Liberal policy, of politics, at least for a time, and George at the Group’s 2007 fringe fearing a Conservative major- the first one much reflected on since the 2010 meeting on the greatest Liberal, he ity Lloyd George did not want an general election. However, Lloyd had lost out to John Stuart Mill. He elected House of Lords, but rather modern George’s coalition was inherently wondered whether, now that the an enfeebled one so, that the elected unstable; coupled with the smell of Liberal Democrats were in govern- House would always prevail. Prime Min- corruption and conspiracy, exem- ment, members might look more plified by the scandal over the sale favourably upon him! ister, creat- of titles, this meant that one of his He considered first Lloyd Premiership ing, as he legacies was to make coalitions George’s legacy to the country. Lloyd George was clearly, in Lord inherently unpopular. (As an aside, Three Ps stood out: Parliament, pre- Morgan’s eyes, the first modern did, so many Lord Morgan noted that the atmos- miership and party. On all of these, Prime Minister, creating, as he did, phere of the Lloyd George coalition Lord Morgan claimed, Lloyd George so many of the institutions of the of the insti- government had been well caught in had a quite extraordinary impact. modern premiership: the Cabi- Arnold Bennett’s novel Lord Raingo.) net Office, special advisers (in the tutions of In addition to splitting the Lib- famous ‘Garden Suburb’ in the gar- eral Party and discrediting coali- Parliament den of Number 10) and personal the modern tion government, Lloyd George For Lord Morgan Lloyd George handling of foreign policy, indus- enabled the Labour Party to brought the force of mass trial disputes and the government’s premiership. become the majority party of the

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 23 report: david lloyd george – the legacy left. Lord Morgan recalled George widening of the scope of unem- During the inter-war years Bernard Shaw’s advice to the ployment insurance. Lord Morgan Lloyd George was the major politi- in 1918: noted that Lloyd George was often cal proponent of Keynesianism ‘go back to Lloyd George and say accused of pursuing the low road, and, indeed, anticipated him in “nothing doing”’ – very sound but many of the great minds of pub- the 1924 and 1925 Liberal Summer advice, in Lord Morgan’s view. lic life had worked closely with him Schools. The slogan ‘We can con- Lord Morgan then turned to in pursuing this agenda. quer unemployment’ demonstrated some general reflections on the Whilst Lloyd George’s jingo- a leader who was not paralysed by broad cultural changes initiated ism and militarism during the First the idea of debt but believed that by Lloyd George, which had had World War meant that it was not depression could be counteracted a very direct, powerful and long- Lord Morgan’s favourite part of his by promoting growth, investment lasting impact, down to the present career, it demonstrated that he was and employment. It was a posi- time. First, Lloyd George helped to an extraordinary leader. In con- tive characteristic of both Keynes make Wales a political reality. He trast to Churchill, he succeeded and Lloyd George, Lord Morgan had not been alone in this – Lord despite not having full control of argued during questions, that their Morgan acknowledged that there the House of Commons and despite ideas evolved. had been others who were influen- the Generals playing politics and In summing up Lord Morgan tial, notably Tom Ellis – but Lloyd conniving with the Court. The war argued that Lloyd George’s adop- George, through disestablishment made the state much more power- tion of new ideas and desire to and through tackling the power ful in social, economic and cultural move forward was a positive con- of the Welsh gentry, made Wales a spheres and this too was part of trast with the other great British more democratic nation, increas- Lloyd George’s legacy – includ- war leader, Winston Churchill. The ingly confident of its own capacity. ing votes for women, which he had appeal of Churchill was a nostalgic Cymru Fydd (Young Wales or Wales always supported, and a strength- one and he himself fought to main- of the Future), which he helped ened role for trades unions. tain an outmoded class system and lead, clearly anticipated devolution. This concern In foreign affairs, Lord Mor- a fading Empire. By contrast, Lloyd In elaborating during questions, gan acknowledged that Lloyd George was a critic of the class sys- Lord Morgan added that the con- for social George has been much-criticised tem, of the Establishment and of cept of was a fluid one, for the part he played in the crea- conventional wisdom: ‘a critic who but he was confident that it meant reform did tion of the post-war world and the changed his world’. As depicted something like the devolution of entrenchment of the principle of in his statue in Parliament Square, our own day. It was something that not end in nationality that we still have today. Lloyd George points the way for- Lloyd George wished for other Beyond Europe, two of his crea- ward. And as Lloyd George him- countries of the Empire, not just 1914. The tions, Palestine and Iraq, caused self said of Abraham Lincoln at the Wales, and had seen implemented 1918 coali- serious problems which proved to unveiling of his statue, also in Par- in South Africa in the aftermath of be mishandled by successive gov- liament Square, ‘he lost his nation- the Boer War. Lord Morgan also tion began ernments. Nevertheless, he was, as ality in death … truly he belongs to argued that it was inconceivable Keynes recognised, the one ‘peace- the ages’. that Wales would break away and with a very maker’ who sought to revise the Lady Thomas then turned to in that there was a distinction with Versailles settlement, though this former Cambridge MP and now Ireland. strong social sometimes drifted into appease- the Director of the MPhil in Public No other politician, Lord Mor- ment. By the very end of the Policy at the University of Cam- gan argued, could make a stronger programme: inter-war period, however, he had bridge, David Howarth, for his claim as the founder of the wel- become a powerful and brilliant thoughts on Lloyd George’s legacy fare state. Lloyd George laid the subsidised critic of appeasement and assisted and lessons for the party. basis for it in the 1909 Budget (and Churchill in becoming Prime Howarth prefaced his remarks later in 1914) using a redistribu- public hous- Minister. by noting that he could not match tive, progressive budget to fund Lord Morgan also argued that Lord Morgan’s depth of knowl- welfare, create employment and ing, started Lloyd George had a very special edge of Lloyd George and that he assist children. This was followed insight into Ireland. As a Welshman was merely giving the views of by the National Insurance Act of under his he had a sense of what it meant to be a retired politician and current 1911, creating a comprehensive sys- under the heel of the English, and as social scientist. He also noted that tem of universal benefits and a new minister a Nonconformist he appreciated the he was probably going to give a concept of ‘social citizenship’. All outlook of the Protestants of Ulster. more negative judgement than this was drawn on by Beveridge Christopher Despite that, he was responsible for Lord Morgan. He then outlined in his later report. An extraordi- Addison, and the very dark phase in Anglo-Irish an aspect of Lloyd George’s char- nary achievement, Lord Morgan history, the shameful exploits of the acter that made the whole exercise believed, accomplished without the widening ‘black and tans’. However, he had a problematic. As Lord Riddell, one much help from others in the cabi- reverse gear; he changed the policy of the great diarists of early twen- net, apart from Asquith. of the scope and created a settlement that has tieth century had observed, Lloyd This concern for social reform broadly lasted – a major achieve- George ‘is the only person I know did not end in 1914. The 1918 coa- of unem- ment for these islands, in Lord who is not obsessed with ghosts’. lition began with a very strong Morgan’s view. A consequential As Lord Morgan had said, Lloyd social programme: subsidised pub- ployment legacy of this time, however, was George looked forward; there lic housing, started under his min- that the Irish Catholic vote went to was thus something of a paradox ister Christopher Addison, and the insurance. the Labour Party. in worrying about the ghost of

24 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 report: david lloyd george – the legacy someone who did not worry about began negotiating for an electoral According to of the Conservative Party with them himself. pact with the Tories very early on, the collectivist wing of the Liber- For Howarth the place to start with a view to putting forward a Howarth the als. Despite expending a great deal was to try and look for a parallel joint programme. Howarth sug- of time on this project it fell apart, figure in more recent history, and gested that the Maurice debate of lessons for but one consequence of it, however, for him that was . Both May 1918 gave Lloyd George the was that it made reunification of men proved to be enormously dis- justification he required; in that the Liberal the Liberal Party in 1923 extremely ruptive figures in their respective debate Asquith had led his official difficult. parties; both were dynamic, with Liberals into the lobbies against Democrats, Howarth also noted that when frequent eye-catching initiatives; the government over the allega- Lloyd George decided to start his both indulged in tactical manoeu- tion, made in the press by a senior therefore, own party it had no activists. The vres of dazzling rapidity; both army officer, that it had starved were: don’t Liberal Party locally had not split. were, in their different ways, bril- the Western Front of resources in He had money and access to new liant orators and able to come to order to use them in the Mediter- pursue a ideas, but the painful truth is that terms with the media of their day; ranean, and had misled Parlia- the breakthroughs mentioned by and both, some might allege, did ment over it. This meant that Lloyd centre vote Lord Morgan did not lead to elec- not always have the highest stand- George was able to argue (to him- toral success. Why was that, How- ards of honesty. self at the very least) that the Lib- that does arth asked? In his view it was very They were also both obsessed erals that had voted against him clear that the events of 1918–22 had with big business, and admired could not be trusted with post-war not exist, alienated too many of the troops businessmen; Lloyd George, for reconstruction. on the ground; they wandered example, once said that Leverhulme This argument did not stand and don’t away. It was noticed at the time that was worth ten thousand sea cap- up to much scrutiny, however, as Labour campaigns in constituencies tains. In Howarth’s view, bringing Howarth pointed out that the list alienate the were being run by previous Liberal men like Sir Eric Geddes into his of MPs that voted against the gov- activists. Labour did not just cap- government was a sign of his exces- ernment and the list of those who party. ture Liberal Party intellectuals, it sive admiration of the dynamism of received the coalition ‘coupon’ in gained its local base as well. big business. There was also a link the 1918 election were not mutually According to Howarth the les- with Lloyd George’s cultivation of exclusive. In addition, some who sons for the Liberal Democrats, Keynes. Similarly, Tony Blair was had supported him were abandoned therefore, were: don’t pursue a cen- keen on bringing in new theorists because they were in the wrong tre vote that does not exist, and and new ideas, though he often sub- seats, which left a very bad taste. don’t alienate the party. sequently fell out with them. Lloyd George’s attitude to In answering the questions that Possibly connected to these his fellow Liberal MPs was also followed, the speakers were able to strands was a similar attitude to reflected in the speech he gave on provide some further illumination ‘big-tent politics’: that one person 12 November 1918, to which he on the points that each of them had could rise above party, could be had invited all Liberal MPs. In it made. Regarding the split in the bigger than their party and could he claimed that he would be a Lib- Liberal Party, Lord Morgan argued reconstruct politics around their eral until he died, and would never that the big division occurred before own personality. They were also abandon the party. He then went Lloyd George became Prime Minis- both uninterested in history, which through a list of measures impor- ter, over conscription, and that this had significant consequences for tant to Liberals and argued that the reflected the unhappiness of many what they did. The big difference coalition should continue; a motion Liberals over the war. He did not between them was that Blair did was then passed in support. At the agree, however, that Lloyd George not split his party – which, How- same time, however, he was nego- shared responsibility for dragging arth contended, gives us a glimpse tiating a joint programme with the the country into an unnecessary at how divisive a figure Lloyd Tory leader , including a war. He did not think that doing George was. loosely disguised form of Imperial nothing was an option, and having To highlight this, Howarth Preference. decided to go to war Lloyd George turned to the 1918 general election A combination of puzzlement at argued that the government should and its consequences. He began by the joint programme and the use of exercise the full power of the state saying that he did not believe that the coupon caused deep resentment to win it. Lloyd George felt that the 1918–22 government marked throughout the 1920s and beyond. many Liberal critics of the war only the end of Liberal England; that Indeed, Howarth had personal half wanted to win it. occurred in the 1930s, when the connections with people who had On the Maurice debate Lord party split three or even four ways. known Asquith – they hated Lloyd Morgan argued that it had been a Nonetheless, what happened in this George. major mistake by Asquith and that period did represent a serious weak- Howarth believed that Lloyd if Lloyd George had lost it the war ening of the party, which meant George had a peculiar notion as to would have been run by the army that it was less able to survive what his friends were. He had an ambi- and not the civil power. Howarth happened in the 1930s. tious plan to form a ‘fusion party’ agreed with him on the substance In Howarth’s view, Lloyd with the Conservatives. Strangely of the debate. His difficulty was George’s manoeuvres in 1918 it was not an alliance of moderates with how Lloyd George gone about were utterly disgraceful. Hav- but of extremists; Howarth won- winning it – a dilemma that contin- ing decided that the Liberal Party dered whether it was an attempt to ues to trouble Liberals in the pre- was dead the Coalition Liberals reunite the Chamberlainite wing sent day.

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 25 The South African War and its Effect on the Liberal Alliance

The 1899 war between the British Empire and the two Boer republics in South Africa was a turning point not only for British imperial history but also for the parties in Parliament. The brought forward questions about imperialism, national identity and morality which resulted in a break in the alliance between the Liberal Party and the Irish nationalists. James Fargher analyses the impact of the war on the relations between the two parties and on the political history of Irish home rule.

26 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 The South Af rican War and its Effect on the Liberal Alliance

he Liberal Party and ’s TIrish Parliamentary Party had allied themselves in 1886 over the issue of home rule in Ireland. Although both parties had fallen into opposition after the Union- ist victory in the election of 1895, a shared belief in home rule kept the Liberals and the now-fragmented Irish nationalists allied together until 1899.1 But the outbreak of the South African War caused an intense wave of nationalist sympathy for the Boers amongst the Irish, who openly championed the Afrikaner farmers in their struggle. Whilst the Liberals had tolerated previ- ous grievances between themselves and the Irish, in 1899 the national- ists separated themselves to such a degree that eventual reconcilia- tion with the Liberal Party in the early twentieth century was to be difficult, and lukewarm, for both sides. The pressure of the Boer War and the issue of patriotism would cause both sides to renounce their alliance, ensuring that home rule would not be truly revived until 1910, when a desperate Liberal minority government was forced to make terms with the reunited Irish Parliamentary Party in order to control the House of Commons. Boers at the But the sincere spirit of coopera- Battle of Spion tion present in the nineteenth cen- Kop, 23–24 tury had evaporated, after the allies January 1900 turned against each other when

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 27 the south african war and its impact on the liberal alliance confronted with the South African the two parties, and sees the demise McCready for Ireland and for home rule which War. of the Liberal alliance as inevita- had been created in a large section Originally, Gladstone had ble. Historians in this field tend even goes as of the and aroused developed a personal passion for to argue that there was no lasting feelings of distrust and indignation Irish home rule, and the Liberal Liberal commitment to home rule far as to say in all sections of public opinion’.9 Party had come to accept it as one from 1886 all the way to 1914, and However, and crucially, McCready of the reforms in the party’s mis- that the Liberal alliance could never that vitriolic states that the alliance disintegrated sion, beginning with the first Home overcome the powerful national- after the failure of the second Home Rule Bill in 1886. This platform ist currents of the multinational Irish opposi- Rule Bill and was non-existent was sincerely maintained even after . Stephen Howe, during the late 1890s.10 This paper the failures to pass Irish home rule for instance, argues that the vari- tion to the will attempt to show that, in fact, in 1886 and 1893. Campbell-Ban- ous elements of the Irish Parlia- Boer War although the Liberal–Irish alliance nerman, for example, felt that ‘until mentary Party could not balance may have arguably broken down by the social order was restored in Ire- Irish nationalism and loyalty to ‘alienated the late 1890s de facto, it was not for- land by some means or other [the the United Kingdom, ultimately mally repudiated until the outbreak Liberals] could not attend to the making a true Liberal alliance in very large of the Boer War, and that both the reforms urgently required for both impossible.4 H. C. G. Matthew also Liberals and the Irish referenced Scotland and England’.2 Although commented on the disagreements measure the the theoretical alliance from 1895 in opposition after the 1895 gen- between the Liberals and the Irish to 1899 – indicating a reluctance eral election, the Liberals refused in the late 1890s, saying, ‘the split sympathy for to completely abandon the idea of to repudiate their alliance with the over English education, the dif- a Liberal–Irish alliance until the Irish until 1899. ferent standards demanded by the Ireland and outbreak of war in South Africa. The Boer War marks the end of Irish of the Liberals and the Union- The devastating split in 1899 meant this awkward period between the ists, and the disputes within the for home rule that attempts to revive the alliance allies and its influence merits fur- Irish themselves brought a de facto in the 1900s were hampered by the ther analysis. Some have argued end to the alliance’.5 It is true that which had poisonous legacy of the war, and that a passionate Liberal belief in the two parties were not inherently while partially successful, were home rule flowed from Gladstone natural allies, but it is important to been created dogged by defections from key to the eventual passage of the third recognise the reluctance on both Liberal leaders and marked by an Home Rule Bill in 1914, despite sides to formally end the alliance in a large sec- absence of the previous commit- occasional minor breaks between before the outbreak of war in 1899. ment to Irish home rule. the Liberals and the Irish national- Furthermore, given this long tion of the It is useful to begin by examin- ists. This conventional understand- history of cooperation, it is remark- liberal party ing one of the fundamental difficul- ing points to Gladstone’s two failed able that an Irish Home Rule Bill ties to the Liberal alliance, namely home rule bills and notes the reluc- was not introduced until as late as and aroused the religious division between the tance of Liberal leaders to attempt 1912. Indeed, H. W. McCready has parties, and to appreciate the efforts to once again fight an impossible commented that although it was feelings of subsequently required to uphold Parliamentary battle – even though entirely possible for the Liberals to this partnership. By the late nine- they maintained their support for re-introduce home rule into Par- distrust and teenth century, the backbone of the home rule in principle. Patricia Jal- liament in 1906, ‘it is striking that Liberal Party was made up of Prot- land, for example, in her book The this electoral victory and the great indignation estant Nonconformists, or Dissent- Liberals and Ireland: the Ulster Ques- impulse it gave to one of the most ers. Methodism in particular, one tion in British Politics to 1914, argues dynamic governments in the whole in all sections of the most influential of the Non- that ‘without some such obliga- history of British liberalism was conformist sects, had a history of tion to fulfil a historic pledge, some not followed, as had the last two of public anti-Catholicism which stretched sense of commitment to a firm liberal victories under Gladstone, back to John Wesley himself.11 principle, the Liberal Party would by the introduction of a third home opinion’. This strain between the largely surely have abandoned home rule rule bill’.6 Although theoretically Nonconformist Liberal Party and entirely in the years after 1894’.3 continuing to support home rule, the nationalist Irish Catholics was This claim demonstrates a reason- the Liberal Party effectively aban- made apparent when Gladstone able analysis of Liberal and Irish doned this platform until after the first made home rule a Liberal Party relations, but it confuses the genu- 1910 general election. Not only, in goal in 1886. Stephen Koss notes ine, or Gladstonian, alliance which McCready’s view, was home rule that: both parties paid homage to before unofficially dropped from the Lib- the South African War with the eral platform and only resurrected … in 1886, the Grand Old Man ungainly and tense relationship under the direst of circumstances,7 embarked on an Irish policy that between the two parties from 1906 it ‘cannot be explained solely by shattered his party and alien- to 1914. Rapprochement, to some the fact that the liberals were long ated a considerable number of extent, did occur after the war, but in opposition and then, in office, Nonconformists … even those with considerable difficulty and became dependent upon Irish sup- who stood by him regretted it was marked by the dissension of the port only with the election of 1910, as a sell-out to Roman Catho- , who jettisoned important as those factors were’.8 lics and hooligans (the two being home rule as their Liberal Unionist McCready even goes as far as more or less synonymous), who predecessors had done in 1886. to say that vitriolic Irish opposi- usurped priority from more Another view emphasises the tion to the Boer War ‘alienated in legitimate Nonconformist underlying antagonism between very large measure the sympathy claims.12

28 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 the south african war and its impact on the liberal alliance

Nonconformists had enormous its sectarian character’.17 In a rare In fact, in December 1898, the political influence over the Liberals, case of Irish National Federation Irish even tried to use religious and they helped to form the Liberal and Irish National League unity, pressure to bring the parties closer agenda. the Irish too ‘pledged themselves together. When the government Despite this religious difference, to stand by the Nonconformists introduced yet another religious the Liberals and the Irish main- in trying to gain some protection schooling bill, it was supported by tained the Gladstonian alliance against [certain] clauses’.18 The alli- the Irish, much to the frustration even after the defeat of the second ance was rooted in home rule and, of the Liberals. The Irish national- Home Rule Bill in 1893. True, the to a lesser extent, a common oppo- ists used this opportunity to try to Liberals began to concentrate on sition to the Anglican Church, and coerce the Liberal Party into raising other reform projects, much to the it is significant that even three years home rule as its first priority, above frustration of the Irish, but this after the failure of the second Home all other efforts, the period following Gladstone’s resig- Rule Bill the parties were able to New York Times reporting the Irish nation was also marked by an inter- maintain a veneer of cooperation as ‘delighted because they calculate est in home-rule-all-round, which over contentious theological mat- that the worse the position of the would ‘simultaneously sol[ve] the ters. This desire to maintain the Liberal Party becomes, the greater nationalist problem and the prob- alliance would only change with will be its temptation to make lem of business congestion in the the start of the Boer War, when terms’. 22 This episode highlights Commons … Home-Rule-all- even the de jure arrangement was the overwhelming Irish desire for round enjoyed some popularity repudiated. national autonomy, and the para- as a means of uniting the various This religious conflict would mount importance of the alliance nationalists within the Liberal only plague the alliance when it as they attempted to persuade the Party’.13 Home-rule-all-round uncomfortably juxtaposed the Liberals to jettison other distracting would ultimately founder with opposing national identities and reform projects in favour of home the collapse of nationalist parties when it reminded Liberals that rule alone. Religious division, in in Scotland and Wales, but with their Irish allies were ultimately this instance, served as a potential the formation of a home-rule-all- nationalists. A rift opened over the tool for strengthening the Liberal round committee the Liberals still issue of a publicly funded Roman alliance. This would seem to reaf- effectively demonstrated their com- Catholic university in Ireland, firm the idea that neither party had mitment to the Irish, and members which the Liberals firmly opposed forgotten or abandoned the parlia- such as Richard Haldane could still due to their secularist principles, mentary alliance during the years boast ‘he was a Home Ruler in 1886 but which the nationalists saw as of opposition. and he was a Home Ruler in 1896’.14 a matter of Irish autonomy. John The allies were also often in This period after 1893 became, Redmond, leader of the Parnellite active agreement with each other however, more fractious between Irish National League, exclaimed over non-home rule issues dur- the parties as they began slowly in the House of Commons in Feb- ing this period. For instance, John drifting apart, especially over edu- ruary 1898 that: Dillon supported the Liberals over cational matters which ‘strained’15 a dispute involving Parliament’s the Liberal–Irish alliance, in the John Dil- … to preserve this Liberal alli- South African Committee (the words of H. C. G. Matthew. Start- ance Ireland has been called body responsible for overseeing ing in 1896, for example, the Liber- lon, leader upon to pay and she has made events in South Africa, including als and the Irish disagreed over the great sacrifices … it is my belief relations between the British colo- Unionists’ Education Bill, which of the Irish that the unity of the statesman nies and the Boer republics) where promised to give increased power of the century was sacrificed in it appeared that the Irish national- to sectarian education. The Bill National Fed- order to maintain the Liberal ists were under-represented. Dillon was an affront to the secular Lib- alliance … and all in return that and the Irish National Federation erals, but it was eagerly supported eration … Ireland has received is practi- so enthusiastically cooperated with by the Catholic Irish nationalists, cally nothing.19 the Liberals that it even caused Wil- leading some to believe that ‘the suggested liam O’Brien, head of the small Irish are Catholic first and Home But William Harcourt, then leader United Irish League faction, to Rulers a long way afterwards’.16 It instead that of the Liberals, responded by shout ‘let the honourable Member was true that the Liberals criticised reminding the Irish of all the Lib- for East Mayo tear himself away the Irish for voting along with the the Liberals eral sacrifices made for home rule from the Liberal party and assert Unionists, but the parliamentary and the current alliance.20 John Dil- the rights of the Irish Members!’23 alliance continued, despite this should, in lon, leader of the Irish National Meanwhile, the Unionists setback. Although they opposed compromise, Federation, which comprised the attempted to subvert home rule government support of religious, majority of the former Irish Parlia- by introducing the Local Govern- especially Catholic, education, reassure the mentary Party, suggested instead ment (Ireland) Act of 1898, which the Liberals were able to tolerate that the Liberals should, in com- granted local autonomy to popu- occasional deviations from the alli- House that promise, reassure the House that larly elected county and district ance, in this case quelling hostilities ‘Home Rule headed their pro- councils, as in the rest of the United between their own Nonconform- ‘Home Rule gramme’. 21 What is noteworthy is Kingdom, alongside their policy of ist voters and the Irish Catholics the fact that all three leaders paid ‘killing home rule with kindness.’ as well as ‘still mak[ing] a pretence headed their homage to the idea that the alliance In a bid for at least a shred of self- of reliance on the Irish vote to was still active, even if having set- government, the Irish nationalists assist them in divesting the bill of programme’. backs in the Commons. voted to pass the Bill, much to the

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 29 the south african war and its impact on the liberal alliance

dismay of the Liberals who saw it betraying a note of fatigued exas- as unfairly enfranchising wealthy peration.28 The Irish nationalists Irish landlords, as it would provide had started to become more out- them with agricultural grants from spoken in their demands for Irish the Treasury. Charles McLaren, a home rule, further alienating the Scottish Liberal, opined: Liberals who were both home rul- ers and aware that home rule had as a Liberal and a supporter of the failed twice before, the second time Irish Nationalist Party in all their before the insurmountable Lords. political reforms, I have a right to In spite of this, Redmond’s refer- ask why, on this occasion, they ence to the alliance demonstrates are deserting the Irish tenant that it lived on, even if only on an in favour of the Irish landlord abstract level, before the outbreak … we have seen Irish Members of the Boer War. It is significant watching, in apparent satisfac- that the Liberal Party refused to tion, a Tory Government voting explicitly renounce the alliance money in support of the land- until hostilities in South Africa lords of Ireland.24 began in 1899. Therefore, the dis- solution of the alliance during the Again, this speech emphasises the war is a powerful indicator of a idealised unity of the parties. Their sharp shift in consciousnesses for disagreement only stemmed from both the Liberal and Irish parties. the fact that, for the Irish nation- In August, the issue of Roman alists, the Local Government Act Catholic university education in represented another step towards Ireland once again surfaced. Trou- home rule whilst for the Liberals, it ble was brewing in South Africa, was a surrender to the landed, priv- and Irish nationalist contempt for ileged class. British imperial policy was polar- This is not to minimise the fact ising opinions. Robert Perks, that the Liberal–Irish alliance had a prominent Methodist Liberal been slowly disintegrating due to Member, delivered a blistering parliamentary quarrels and Irish speech against the Irish nationalists. frustration over the lack of pro- He acknowledged that: gress towards home rule. In Febru- ary 1899, only a few months before … the unholy alliance seems to the war, John Redmond called this have come to an end, or it will situation ‘a shameful repudiation of come to an end when my Irish the pledges to the Irish people.’25 He friends thoroughly appreciate went on to say that: the fact that they will get noth- Home Rule is the most urgent ing from Her Majesty’s Gov- of all questions of domestic reform, ernment … How absurd it is and therefore must be dealt with for Irish Members to argue that first. That surely was an essential English Nonconformists have no condition of the alliance when we right to express an opinion on were told that the highest interest of Irish religious questions, when Ireland was to support the Liberal they are the very men who come Party. And it … at any rate has gone forward to help the Government to the winds. That … was the pro- saddle upon English Noncon- gramme and platform of the Lib- formists an obnoxious system of eral Party when the Irish alliance elementary education!29 was entered upon, and it was on the faith of the condition that Home It is difficult to say whether Perks Rule should have foremost place in was exaggerating the situation the programme of the Liberal Party between the parties or if the alli- that the Irish people – to their great ance genuinely was on the verge sorrow, as I believe they now real- of collapse even on a conjectural ise – consented to abandon the great level. But the speech shows that man who had extracted that alli- some form of alliance had survived ance from the Liberal Party.26 from 1893 to this critical moment, In response, Haldane mused, arduously maintained in the face of ‘if the honourable Member desires increasing strain. to make cooperation with the Meanwhile, tensions were members of the Liberal Party dif- building up in South Africa, espe- ficult upon this subject, I cannot cially over the issue of the Uitland- help thinking that he selected the ers – settlers, largely British, who best possible means of doing it’,27 flocked to the Transvaal after the

30 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 the south african war and its impact on the liberal alliance discovery of massive gold depos- war, the Liberals could no longer underlining the dilemma in which its in the Rand in 1886. Sensing an find any further common ground the Liberals found themselves. opportunity to absorb the Boers with the Irish nationalists. The The joint Boer ultimatum into the Empire, the Unionist gov- nationalists celebrated any obstacle had expired on 11 October 1899, ernment had begun to demand to British imperialism for patriotic demanding a withdrawal of all unprecedented voting rights and reasons because, as Christine Kine- British troops from South Africa. exclusive civil liberties for the Uit- aly notes in her book, A Disunited When Britain refused, the South landers. Calls for war mounted, Kingdom, the Irish sympathised African Republic and the Orange following continued refusal from with the Boers as a free people Free State declared war. The war the Boers to grant citizenship ben- fighting against British colonialism. would be the tipping point for the efits to foreign gold prospectors. She writes that ‘many [national- Irish–Liberal alliance, severing the While the Liberals criticised the ists] viewed [the war] as an attempt last connections between the vari- government’s handling of the dip- by British imperialism to crush ous Irish factions and the Liberal lomatic situation with the Boer the self-determination of the Boer Party, and proving to be too great republics, ultimately they did feel a people. This sentiment was par- of a rupture for the tottering Glad- sense of imperial loyalty which the ticularly evident in Ireland, where stonian alliance. Irish nationalists did not. As storm Home Rule dominated the politi- When Parliament was recalled clouds gathered, Robert Perks cal agenda’.33 The Liberal electorate to address the new war in South and another prominent Methodist may not have been in favour of the Africa on 17 October, John Red- MP, Henry Fowler, actively cam- war, but they were acutely aware mond disgustedly remarked, ‘there paigned amongst Nonconformists of the nationalists’ anti-imperial is now a state of war, and we are to support the British position in rhetoric. told the Liberals and Tories unite, South Africa. Perks announced at a This stance came at a price, and I am sorry to say in regard to public meeting that ‘the Cape Col- however: English Liberalism that is largely ony and the Colony of Natal are as true … let the Liberals and Tories much British territory as the coun- But if the Liberals were often do as they will; thank God there ties of Cornwall and Kent’.30 The viewed with indifference or are in this House a few men who Liberal Party was trapped, needing contempt by their Irish political … will register their votes against simultaneously to appear patriotic allies … in Unionist eyes they this measure’.39 He was followed as well as being morally opposed appeared to be taking again the by another Irish nationalist MP to war with the small republics. part of England’s enemies … who stated that, ‘our sympathies As Jeffrey Butler writes about the always with a blindness that was are entirely with the Boers … as approach of the South African War, folly or an intent that could only an Irish Member, I protest against be called treacherous, sapping this unjust war, and I trust that God Imperialism and Home Rule and straining at the pillars of a will defend the right’.40 both involved the issue of secu- great Empire.34 In another case, Edward Saun- rity. Gladstone’s actions on derson, a staunch Irish Unionist, many issues raised at various It is also crucial to remember that acidly remarked on 17 October: times the question whether the the Liberal Party as a whole only Liberals could be trusted with began to denounce the methods of I am happy to know that on this the security of the nation … The warfare (much less the war itself) occasion, as on all similar occa- Venezuela crisis, the [Jameson] as the conflict entered its counter- sions when this country is at Raid, the Kruger Telegram, insurgent phase in mid 1900, and war, party politics are forgot- another Ashanti War, Dongola, Kitchener began using the infa- ten, and Englishmen, whether the Jubilee, Omdurman, and mous ‘methods of barbarism’ to they are Liberals or Radicals or Fashoda – put pressure on Lib- stamp out the Boer guerrillas.35 Conservatives, stand shoulder to eral leaders … to prove their Even Campbell-Bannerman’s con- shoulder. The principal speak- patriotism.31 demnation of the concentration ers in this debate have been Irish camps and atrocities ‘nearly finally Members … I think some sur- In contrast, the Irish nationalists split the Liberal front bench’,36 with prise must be felt at the vigorous continued to empathise with the Liberal Imperialist leaders such as manner in which Roman Catho- Boers, seeing them as white fel- Asquith and Grey dissenting.37 At lic Irishmen support the Boers.41 low victims of British – specifically the outbreak of the war, Liberal English – imperialism. opposition to the conflict was much Saunderson perfectly captured Hence, whilst William more muted than it would later the mood of the House when he O’Brien’s United Irish League become. The fact that the Boers observed the dramatic division of drafted resolutions of sympathy had declared war on the United the British and the Irish national- with the Boers ‘in [their] coura- Kingdom placed the Liberal Party ist Members. Speaking later dur- geous opposition to the dishonest in an awkward position, G. H. L. Irish nationalist ing the war, one Irish nationalist attacks of Rand capitalists and their Le May affirming that ‘technically leaders: declared that ‘as long as that is the allies in the British Ministry’,32 the the Boers were the aggressors; the John Redmond spirit which animates the Front Liberals became critically alienated fact that Kruger [President of the (1856–1918) Opposition Bench the Liberals are from their erstwhile parliamen- Transvaal] got his ultimatum in John Dillon destined for a long time to sit on tary allies by such virulent attacks first alienated from the Transvaal (1851–1927) those benches’ and they had become against the Empire. Despite their much sympathy that it might oth- William O’Brien ‘simply a mockery and a reproach’.42 own principled opposition to the erwise have received in Britain’,38 (1852–1928) To be sure, a few fringe and radical

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 31 the south african war and its impact on the liberal alliance

Liberals still stuck with the Irish in the treaty of 1884, and by massing Other Liberal leaders agreed, and their bitter resistance to the war, large bodies of British troops on the during the war the party renounced but the overwhelming majority of frontier of the republic’50 – it was the last pretences of an alliance with the party (at least at the outset of voted down with an overwhelming the Irish. Matthew notes that dur- war) refused to take the Irish posi- majority of 322 to 54. As the New ing the election of 1900, virtually no tion and angrily repudiated charges York Times reported, ‘the minority speeches were made regarding Ire- that the party as a whole was ‘pro- consisted mainly of Irish Members land, and the party ‘held to Herbert Boer’ or unpatriotic.43 and a few Radicals … the majority Gladstone’s view that it was best to Indeed, the leaders of the Lib- included the occupants of the front allow the question to fall as far into eral Party in both the House of Opposition bench and the bulk of the background as possible’.58 One Commons and the House of Lords the Liberals’.51 Even Campbell-Ban- year later, in the summer of 1901, expressed a sense of solidarity with nerman and his Liberals refused to Perks wrote a letter to Rosebery the government after war had been vote in favour of this amendment. outlining the new electoral plan of declared. Lord Kimberley, leader of Indeed, as the New York Times campaign, part of which was ‘to the Liberals in the Lords, addressed observed ‘the Irish Members are repudiate the alliance, [and] declare the peers, saying ‘whatever may be not in high favour just now, even that Gladstonian Home Rule is our opinions as to the past history in the Liberal press, on account of dead’.59 Matthew himself com- of this melancholy business, we are their unpatriotic speeches’.52 The mented that, ‘this aspect of the cam- ready as the usual supporters of the Liberals had utterly divorced them- paign had little to do with Ireland; government to give our support selves from the Irish; in the face of a it was a dissociation from the Irish to whatever measures may be nec- common national enemy they had in their capacity as pro-Boers’,60 and essary to vindicate the honour of opted to reach out to the Unionists that ‘these Liberal Imperialists thus the Empire and to protect its inter- rather than to remain loyal to the committed themselves to the posi- ests’. 44 Although Campbell-Ban- now defunct Liberal alliance. Even Camp- tion of an absolute Liberal majority nerman, leader of the opposition This was further reinforced as … on the ground that unless the de in the Commons, stated that the the debate over the war dragged bell-Ban- facto breakdown of the alliance was Unionists’ mishandling of the situ- on. When asked to clarify why the explicitly and publicly accepted by ation ‘did more than anything else Irish sided with the Boers, Patrick nerman and the Liberals, they would not win to end all chances of success from O’Brien, Member for Kilkenny, over the “centre of the nation”’.61 the negotiations’,45 he ultimately replied ‘what is more natural than his Liber- For both electoral as well as princi- agreed that ‘actual hostilities have that the people of Ireland “right- pled reasons, the Liberals decided commenced and an active aggres- fully struggling to be free”, should als refused to officially end the last vestiges of sion has been committed which is be with the Boers, who are also the Irish alliance, which had been the plain duty of our Ministers, of rightly struggling to maintain their to vote in struggling ever since the defeat of Parliament, and of the people to freedom and to keep you out of the favour of this the second Home Rule Bill. It is resist’. 46 Campbell-Bannerman, Transvaal?’53 John Dillon criticised however noteworthy that it was the and the vast majority of his party, the government, saying that Great amendment. outbreak of the South African War felt that above all else British South Britain had consistently neglected which finally caused both sides to Africa must be protected from the the Irish and that it ought to have Indeed, as accept a formal termination of their Boer invasions. In the words of The ‘shown the same zeal as she now partnership. Methodist Recorder, the influential displays on a gigantic scale for the the New McCready further observes Nonconformist newspaper, ‘there is removal of the largely … bogus that both Herbert Gladstone and a melancholy satisfaction in learn- grievances of the Uitlanders’.54 In York Times Campbell-Bannerman considered ing … the Transvaal declared war fact, William Redmond, brother of it unwise to pursue Irish home rule against England, and that Eng- John Redmond, was so spirited in observed with the voters due to the national- land never invaded the territory his defence of the Boers that he had ists’ unpopularity with the British of the two Republics nor fired the to be escorted from the House by ‘the Irish public following the outbreak of first shot’.47 With the exception of the Serjeant at Arms.55 He would go war.62 Many Liberals were shocked, a small group of pro-Boer Liber- on to comment towards the end of Members are for instance, when some of their als including Lloyd George (called the conflict, ‘there ought to be some former allies began openly urging the ‘feeblest’ section of the party representative of the Liberal party not in high Irish immigrants in South Africa to by Kenneth Morgan48) and before in the House manly enough to take up arms against government Kitchener’s brutal counter-insur- adopt the policy of Mr. Gladstone favour just troops.63 Campbell-Bannerman, a gent campaign, the Liberal Party long ago’.56 Herbert Gladstone, the sincere home ruler, believed that the noted its moral opposition to the son of William Gladstone himself, now, even ‘recent follies’64 of the Irish national- war before voting through the even announced in December 1899, in the Lib- ists during the war made it impos- money and supplies necessary for that ‘the alliance between the Lib- sible for the Liberal Party to support the Unionist government to wage erals and the Nationalists has been eral press, home rule, at least in the immediate war in South Africa.49 dissolved’.57 This is noteworthy not future. Gladstone, realising the hos- In fact, when John Dillon only because he was the son of the on account tile attitude towards home rule in moved to publish a statement con- Grand Old Man, but he also was Great Britain after 1899, managed demning the war – ‘[it] has been to remain a principled home ruler of their to quietly drop it from the party’s caused by the assertion of claims throughout the rest of his career. electoral platform in both the 1900 which interfere with the inter- His suggestion that the Liberal alli- unpatriotic and 1906 elections.65 nal government of the republic ance had officially ended late in As for the Irish, in February in direct violation of the terms of 1899 was therefore a significant one. speeches’. 1900 John Redmond put a bill

32 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 the south african war and its impact on the liberal alliance before the House demanding an Due to lin- included Henry Fowler, Asquith and introduce either of Glad- end to the war in South Africa; and Grey (the same group of men stone’s Home Rule measures. he freely admitted that ‘when the gering ani- who had opposed Campbell-Ban- No such measure, by whomever Empire is involved in complica- nerman’s ‘methods of barbarism’ introduced, could possibly pass, tions a feeling of hope and satis- mosity over speech).72 The League was explicitly and, therefore, to hold it up as a faction stir[s] the majority of Irish opposed to Irish Home Rule and it thing which as to affect people’s home and abroad’.66 When icily the Boer War fed off Liberal resentment towards votes is ridiculous; it is a bogey, asked whether he feared losing all the Irish.73 a bugbear.76 prospects for home rule from the and facing Although the war may not have Liberal Party, Redmond retorted made rapprochement impossible, And yet, surely home rule stood that ‘Ireland has nothing to lose a possible it was certainly strained. A lim- just as much chance of passing the and everything to gain by raising mutiny from ited degree of cooperation existed Lords in 1906 as it had in 1893? her voice on the side of justice and between the parties after the Irish Moreover, the party was happy to liberty’.67 Just before the proposal the Liberal reunified in 1900 and the Liberals allow Duncan Pirie, Liberal Mem- was voted down, by 368 to 66, one lost the khaki election of that year. ber for Aberdeen North, to intro- Liberal rose and ‘said that there Imperialists However, McCready has speculated duce two Government of Scotland was one day that the Boers would that warming Irish–Liberal rela- bills, one in 1906 and one in 1908, never celebrate, and that was the and their tions, especially in the run-up to which promised home rule for day on which the British Parlia- the 1906 election, were influenced Scotland.77 Neither of these meas- ment should surrender’.68 The Lib- supporters,79 largely by concerns that the Union- ures had the slightest chance of erals were patriotic Britons first ists would once again triumph. passing (although in 1908, the bill and Irish sympathisers a long way Campbell- Failing to anticipate their landslide received support from nearly 30 per afterwards. The war itself also was victory and desperate to pull them- cent of the Commons78), but they a major cause of the reunification of Bannerman selves out of opposition, the Liberals prove that it was Irish home rule the Irish factions into the Irish Par- reached out to fellow Irish MPs and specifically which the Liberals were liamentary Party in early 1900 and embraced a Irish voters.74 Rather than an indi- keen to avoid. indicates perhaps a search for inner cation of sincere partnership, this Due to lingering animosity strength following their collective more moder- smacks more of political lobbying over the Boer War and facing a divorce from the Liberals. than of Gladstonian cooperation. possible mutiny from the Liberal In late 1905 the Liberal Party ate, ‘step-by- Interestingly, the Irish had more Imperialists and their supporters,79 once again came to power, easily acutely sensed an upcoming Lib- Campbell-Bannerman embraced winning a majority in the House of step’ process eral victory, especially after the end a more moderate, ‘step-by-step’ Commons in early 1906 and ending after his vic- of the South African War and the process after his victory in 1906.80 their need to search for parliamen- advent of new issues such as tariff McCready has argued that this tary allies. But unlike in the 1880s tory in 1906. reform. The stakes for the national- step-by-step approach was ‘a sur- and 1890s, when the party had sup- ists were high and they: render of the Gladstonian wing of ported home rule, the new Liberal the party to the position which the government had a drastically dif- … had to exert every effort to liberal imperialists had been pro- ferent Irish policy and relation- secure that the liberal leader moting for some years’, and indeed, ship with the nationalists. Hamer [Campbell-Bannerman] … this new policy came originally notes that, ‘the great causes of the should not succumb to pressure from Grey.81 After a year in office, past … [such as] Home Rule … had from that section of the party a conservative offer was made to either turned sour or now aroused … which was still believed to be the Irish, proposing a Home Rule passions that seemed to Liberals antipathetic to home rule, but council in Ireland, some members very frightening and un-virtuous should rather concede guaran- appointed, a few elected, which … issues like the tees to the Irish party compa- would be in charge of petty Irish became transmuted into hideous and rable to those which had made administration and be presided over frightening new forces’.69 That swift possible such close cooperation by the veto-wielding Lord Lieuten- change was due, in part, to the Irish between the nationalists and the ant. Redmond ‘[denounced] it as reaction to the Boer War. liberal party of Gladstone’s day.75 totally unacceptable’82 and another Lord Rosebery, the former Lib- nationalist MP refused to vote for eral leader, made an important The war’s legacy had clearly taken the proposal because, ‘I discovered speech in December 1901, speaking its toll on Liberal–Irish relations, in it the Liberal Imperialist alterna- at length about the South African resulting in a considerable swing tive to Home Rule’.83 Such a strik- War before turning to party poli- in the party against Irish home ing departure from Gladstone’s tics and ‘called on Liberals to cast rule, both amongst the backbench- vision of Irish home rule is remark- aside “fly-blown phylacteries of ers as well as the leaders of the Lib- able, and surely is connected with the past,” including home rule’.70 eral League. The new antipathy the vicious divisions which split the Although Rosebery no longer con- towards home rule was now exem- Liberals from the Irish at the out- trolled the party, his influence was plified by the likes of Augustine break of war in South Africa. This enormous and this declaration seri- Birrell, President of the National new change in attitude came from ously threatened to cause a party Liberal Federation, who remarked, those in the party ‘in favour of split.71 Indeed, under him the Lib- scrapping home rule … [or] further eral Imperialists emerged as a pow- It is utterly out of the ques- to defer it’84 – those who had been erful sub-group within the party, tion in the coming Parliament influenced by the Irish attitude dur- forming the Liberal League which to stand by the Treasury Bench ing the Boer War. In this manner,

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 33 the south african war and its impact on the liberal alliance the split between the parties in 1899 The Boer War he had married his party to the study at King’s College London, where was perpetuated until 1912 by the Irish nationalists. Despite the fail- he aims further to explore the links war’s poisonous legacy. marked the ure of two home rule bills and the between imperial history and modern There was difficulty in rallying electoral defeat of 1895, the spirit international politics. the Gladstonian home rule spirit end of the of alliance continued between the in 1910 as well. The general mood parties, as has been shown through 1 In 1890, the Irish Parliamentary of the party was not one of empa- Gladstonian their relationship in Parliament. Party was rocked by the Parnell thy for the Irish, and the partner- This loose home rule union would divorce scandal, which split the party ship which the Liberals formed with relationship be maintained until the eve of the into the Parnellite Irish National the nationalists in 1910 was one of and created war in South Africa, when the League and the anti-Parnellite Irish necessity, not choice. Grey (now Liberals were horrified to find National Federation. A third faction, ), for example, bitterness that their allies not only opposed the United Irish League, was formed reflecting upon the crisis in which defending the two white British in 1898. All three were to reunite into the minority Liberal government amongst colonies, but even lobbied on behalf the new Irish Parliamentary Party in found itself after the two 1910 gen- of the enemy. 1900, largely in response to the Boer eral elections, suggested that even many Liber- The Boer War marked the end War. This paper will specifically in these desperate times the Liber- of the Gladstonian relationship address the relationship between the als should dismiss the idea of coali- als towards and created bitterness amongst Liberals and these components of tion with the Irish, believing that many Liberals towards the Irish the IPP. These groups will simply both the Liberals and the Conserva- the Irish nationalists. Although they man- be referred to generally as ‘the Irish tives had failed to win the nation’s aged, somewhat, to repair the alli- nationalists’ or ‘the Irish’. confidence and that ‘we cannot nationalists. ance to a suitable degree to stumble 2 D A Hamer, Liberal Politics in the Age inspire this by patching up work- together towards home rule in the of Gladstone and Rosebery: A Study in ing arrangements either with the 1900s, this process was not without Leadership and Policy (Oxford: Claren- Labour or Irish parties’.85 It is sig- serious opposition from Liberals don Press, 1972), p. 128. nificant that even the Foreign Sec- influenced by the events of 1899– 3 Patricia Jalland, The Liberals and Ire- retary, when faced with a hung 1902. This paper has attempted to land: The Ulster Question in British parliament, disdained to return to underline the contribution which Politics to 1914 (New York: St. Mar- the Irish nationalists, the only hope the war made to this political shift, tin’s Press, 1980), p. 26. which the Liberals had to cling on to amongst other factors. 4 Stephen Howe, Irish and Empire: Colo- power. The party would ultimately The Boer War therefore snapped nial Legacies in Irish History and Culture be forced to form a new partner- the connections which bound the (Oxford: , ship with the Irish, but not without Liberals and the Irish together 2000), p. 41. strong reservations, not least from in the cooperative, Gladstonian 5 H C G Matthew, The Liberal Impe- the Foreign Secretary and from spirit. There was a sharp distinc- rialists: The Ideas and Politics of a Post- Asquith, now Prime Minister. tion between the degrees of Liberal Gladstonian Elite (Oxford: Oxford The Irish themselves were support for home rule before and University Press, 1973), p. 270. extremely suspicious about the 1910 after the Boer War, and it was the 6 H W McCready, ‘Home Rule and the Liberal government’s intentions. war itself which caused the Lib- Liberal Party, 1899–1906,’ Irish His- Thomas O’Connor, one prominent eral Party to explicitly renounce torical Studies 13, no. 52 (1963), p. 316. Irish nationalist leader, wrote to their shaky alliance with the Irish. 7 ibid. John Dillon to ‘go straight ahead Attempts to compromise through- 8 ibid., p. 317. and do what we think right, fight out the latter half of the 1890s were 9 ibid. through thick and thin with the replaced with a bitter divide over 10 ibid. Liberals … get them to propose the war, and it is no coincidence 11 D G Paz, Popular Anti-Catholicism Home Rule immediately or break that Herbert Gladstone announced in Mid-Victorian England (Stanford: with them’.86 Dillon agreed, and that the alliance had ended in Stanford University Press, 1992), pp. the united Irish prompted a Cabi- December 1899, nor that the Liberal 160–61. net crisis when they refused to pass League and its opposition to home 12 Stephen Koss, ‘Wesleyanism and the budget through Parliament rule was born during this period. the Empire,’ The Historical Journal 18 until a solemn promise was reluc- In a larger sense, the Boer War (1975), p. 107. tantly issued by Asquith to pass demonstrates the powerful impact 13 Matthew, The Liberal Imperialists, p. home rule.87 of imperial politics on the domes- 267. Ronan Fanning concluded that tic front. It marked the end of the 14 Quoted in ibid., p. 268. ‘the government had little stomach Victorian-era relationship between 15 ibid., p. 270. for home rule’,88 and that the Irish the Irish Parliamentary Party and 16 ‘Will Fight to a Finish; Battle had resorted to much arm-twisting the Liberal Party, both of whom Between Nonconformists and Irish until the Liberals finally passed the would eventually be replaced with Catholics,’ The New York Times, 24 third Home Rule Act in 1914. To be more radical groups, and heralded May 1896. sure, there were Liberals that genu- the coming of a more extreme Irish 17 ibid. inely supported the cause of home effort to achieve not only auton- 18 ibid. rule, and it is perhaps ironic that it omy, but complete independence. 19 Redmond, Speech to the House of was the Liberal Imperialists who Commons, 11 February 1898, Han- ultimately conceded to the Irish. James Fargher recently graduated from sard Parliamentary Debates, Commons, When Gladstone embarked Drew University in the United States. vol. 53 (1898), 381. upon his home rule policy in 1886, He will shortly be starting postgraduate 20 ibid.

34 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 the south african war and its impact on the liberal alliance

21 ibid. 36 ibid. 22 Henry Norman, ‘The News in 37 Roy Douglas, The History of the Liberal Democrat History Group online London,’ The New York Times, 18 Liberal Party, 1895–1970 (London: December 1898. Sidgwick and Jackson, 1971), p. Email 23 W O’Brien, Speech to the House 26. Join our email mailing list for news of History Group meetings and of Commons, 11 August 1896, 38 G H L Le May, British Suprem- publications – the fastest and earliest way to find out what we’re Parliamentary Debates, acy in South Africa 1899–1907 doing. Fill in the form at: http://bit.ly/LDHGemail. Commons, vol. 44 (1896), 569. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965), 24 C McLaren, Speech to the House p. 28. Website of Commons, 17 May 1898, 39 J Redmond, Speech to the House See www.liberalhistory.org.uk for details of our activities and Hansard Parliamentary Debates, of Commons, 17 October 1899, publications, guides to archive sources, research resources, and a Commons, vol. 57 (1898), 1640. Hansard Parliamentary Debates, growing number of pages on the history of the party. Emphasis added. Commons, vol. 77 (1899), 134. 25 J Redmond, Speech to the House Emphasis added. Facebook page of Commons, 16 February 1899, 40 W Field, Speech to the House News of the latest meeting and publications, and a discussion forum: Hansard Parliamentary Debates, of Commons, 17 October 1899, www.facebook.com/LibDemHistoryGroup. Commons, vol. 66 (1899), 1189. Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 26 ibid. Commons, vol. 77 (1899), 151 Twitter 27 R Haldane, Speech to the House Emphasis added. The History Group is now on Twitter! A daily posting of Liberal events of Commons, 16 February 1899, 41 E Saunderson, Speech to the on this day in history. Follow us at: LibHistoryToday. Hansard Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 17 Octo- Commons, vol. 66 (1899), 1195. ber 1899, Hansard Parliamen- 1899, Hansard Parliamentary 76 , quoted in 28 In fact, the Rev. Hugh Price tary Debates, Commons, vol. 77 Debates, Commons, vol. 76 Tuff, Speech to the House of Hughes, one of the foremost (1899), 151. (1899), 453. Commons, 12 April 1905, Han- Methodist preachers and a 42 J Tully, Speech to the House of 56 W Redmond, Speech to the sard Parliamentary Debates, Com- skilled orator called the Irish Commons, 15 February 1901, House of Commons, 16 Janu- mons, vol. 144 (1905), 1486–90. Catholics ‘the spoiled darlings of Hansard Parliamentary Debates, ary 1902, Hansard Parliamentary 77 House of Commons Debate, 14 party politicians’, exposing per- Commons, vol. 89 (1901), 243. Debates, Commons, vol. 101 June 1906, Hansard Parliamen- haps frustration with the contin- 43 Douglas, The History of the Liberal (1902), 119. tary Debates, Commons, vol. ued Liberal support for the Irish Party, 1895–1970, p. 25. 57 Matthew, The Liberal Imperialists, 158 (1906), 1165; and House of nationalists. (Henry Norman, 44 Kimberley, quoted in ‘Parlia- p. 271. Commons Debate, 26 May 1908, ‘As London Sees European Poli- ment Assembles,’ The New York 58 ibid., p. 273. Hansard Parliamentary Debates, tics,’ The New York Times, 5 Feb- Times, 18 October 1899. 59 Letter, Perks to Rosebery, 8 Commons, vol. 189 (1908), ruary 1899.) 45 Campbell-Bannerman, quoted August 1901, quoted in ibid. 968–75. 29 R Perks, Speech to the House in ‘Parliament Assembles,’ The 60 ibid., p. 274. 78 House of Commons Debate, 26 of Commons, 3 August 1899, New York Times, 18 October 61 ibid. May 1908, Hansard Parliamen- Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 1899. 62 McCready, ‘Home Rule and the tary Debates, Commons, vol. 189 Commons, vol. 75 (1899), 1339. 46 ibid. Liberal Party, 1899–1906,’ p. 319. (1908), 968–75. Emphasis added. 47 ‘Editorial Notes,’ The Method- 63 Thomas Pakenham, The Boer 79 McCready, ‘Home Rule and the 30 Michael Hughes, Conscience ist Recorder, 19 October 1899, War (New York: Random Liberal Party, 1899–1906,’ p. 327. and Conflict: Methodism, Peace microfilm, 3, United Methodist House, 1979), p. 107. 80 F S L Lyons, The Watershed, and War in the Twentieth Century Archives, Madison NJ. 64 Campbell-Bannerman, quoted 1903–07, A New History of Ire- (Peterborough: Epworth, 2008), 48 Kenneth Morgan, The Age of in McCready, ‘Home Rule and land, vol. VI: Ireland Under the p. 27. Lloyd George (London: George the Liberal Party, 1899–1906,’ p. Union, II 1870–1921, edited by W 31 Jeffrey Butler,The Liberal Party Allen and Unwin, 1971), p. 28. 320. E Vaughan (Oxford: Clarendon and the Jameson Raid (Oxford: 49 Bernard Porter, The Pro-Boers 65 Charles Mallet, Herbert Glad- Press, 1996), p. 113. Clarendon Press, 1968), p. 285. in Britain, The South African stone: A Memoir (London: 81 McCready, ‘Home Rule and the 32 ‘War Feeling in England,’ The War, edited by Peter Warwick Hutchinson, 1932), p. 175. Liberal Party, 1899–1906,’ pp. New York Times, 13 August 1899. (Harlow: Longman Group, Ltd., 66 ‘Redmond Proposes Peace,’ 324–27. This statement was actually 1980), p. 240. The New York Times, 8 February 82 ibid., p. 114. written on behalf of the United 50 ‘Parliament Assembles,’ The New 1900. 83 T Kettle, Speech to the House of Irish League by Michael Davitt York Times, 18 October 1899. 67 ibid. Emphasis added. Commons, 20 May 1908, Han- MP, who would resign from 51 ibid. 68 ibid. sard Parliamentary Debates, Com- Parliament in protest of the Boer 52 ‘London Rejoices Over Victory,’ 69 Hamer, Liberal Politics in the Age of mons, vol. 189 (1908), 403–04. War. the New York Times, 21 October Gladstone and Rosebery, pp. 324– 84 McCready, ‘Home Rule and the 33 Christine Kinealy, A Disunited 1899. 26. Emphasis added. Liberal Party, 1899–1906,’ p. 324. Kingdom?: England, Ireland, Scot- 53 W O’Brien, Speech to the House 70 McCready, ‘Home Rule and the 85 Quoted in Ronan Fanning, Irish land, and Wales 1800–1949 (Cam- of Commons, 23 October 1899, Liberal Party, 1899–1906,’ p. 328. Policy of Asquith’s Government and bridge: Cambridge University Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 71 ibid. the Cabinet Crisis of 1910, Studies Press, 1999), p. 83. Commons, vol. 77 (1899), 555. 72 ibid., p. 333. in Irish History, edited by Art 34 R B McCallum, The Liberal Party 54 J Dillon, Speech to the House 73 ibid., p. 328. Cosgrove and Donal McCartney from Earl Grey to Asquith (Lon- of Commons, 25 October 1899, 74 ibid., p. 338. (Dublin: Leinster Leader Ltd., don: Victor Gollancz, 1963), p. Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 75 F S L Lyons, The Irish Parlia- 1979), p. 282. 83. Commons, vol. 77 (1899), 675. mentary Party, 1890–1910 (Lon- 86 ibid., p. 280. 35 Butler, The Liberal Party and 55 W Redmond, Speech to the don: Faber and Faber, 1951), pp. 87 ibid., p. 281. Jameson Raid, p. 286. House of Commons, 20 October 111–12. 88 ibid., p. 303.

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 35 The Relevance of Henry Richard

The issues of the present day make it particularly appropriate to reflect on the long and controversial career of Henry Richard. Born in rural Tregaron, in southern Ceredigion in 1812, the issues which he championed have a remarkable contemporary relevance. Since one of Richard’s famous slogans was ‘Trech gwlad nag Arglwydd’ (A land is mightier than its lord) it may appear paradoxical that his career should be re-evaluated by a member of the present (still unelected) House of Lords. For all that, this provides an opportunity to recall one of the most remarkable and courageous Welshmen of the modern world. By (Lord) Kenneth O. Morgan.

36 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 The Relevance of Henry Richard

e was associated with of the Welsh MPs. He did not sym- Richard has not been well served, great causes – notably pathise with agrarian agitation in perhaps in part because his strain Has the proclaimed apos- Wales, nor in pursuing disestablish- of anti-separatist Welsh radicalism tol heddwch (apostle of peace) in the ment of the Church for Wales on does not relate easily to the histori- crusade for world peace which took its own, separately from England. cal antecedents of . him from the Peace Treaty of Paris He was bracketed with other ‘old However, Richard represents in 1856 to that of Berlin in 1878, and hands’, senior Welsh Liberals like something of much importance in in the challenge to militarism and Lewis Llewellyn Dillwyn, Sir Hus- the spectrum of nineteenth-cen- imperialism which led to confron- sey Vivian and Fuller-Maitland. tury Welsh Liberalism, so often tations with both Gladstone and In language reminiscent of Tony seen purely introspectively – its Disraeli. In Wales itself, he is most Blair a hundred years later, Rendel internationalist dimension. In this, celebrated as the radical victor in saw Richard as ‘old Wales’, aiming he emulated William Rees, ‘Gwi- the important electoral contest in at ‘respectability above all things’ lym Hiraethog’, the inspirational Merthyr Tydfil in 1868, ‘the crack- and ‘very “middle class”’. (This bard/publicist who met and cor- ing of the ice’ in the old neo-feudal from Rendel, who made millions responded with Mazzini, who political and social order, and an from armaments manufacture and worked closely with the American immense landmark in the achieve- kept a comfortable residence on the anti-slavery movement and who ment of democracy in our nation. French Riviera). The alternative championed Abraham Lincoln Richard is now largely a forgot- to Richard’s ‘old Wales’, contrary and made him a Welsh popular ten figure, other than in the annual to Tony Blair’s formulation, was hero – and who also lacks a decent Richard memorial lecture faith- felt to be ‘young Wales’ rather than modern biography.3 Richard, like fully maintained by the United ‘new Wales’.1 Hiraethog, operated on a world Nations Association in Wales. After This characterisation of Henry stage. In the peace movement, he his triumph in 1868, he turned Richard endured, with his being collaborated with great French- into a kind of revered licensed seen as a kind of beleaguered back- men like Lamartine, Tocqueville rebel, the doyen of Welsh mem- water from a previous age. Despite and particularly Victor Hugo, who bers, a national treasure honoured, the massive upsurge of interest in addressed the 1848 Peace Congress acclaimed and usually ignored. the social and political history of in Paris. Henry Richard, more than Although he stayed on as mem- modern Wales, he has remained a most Welsh , was a citizen ber for Merthyr until his death surprisingly neglected figure. The of the world. This was acknowl- in 1888, he seemed marginalised work of a historian like Matthew edged by another great internation- by the new currents of radicalism Cragoe treats him unsympatheti- alist MP, Keir Hardie, when he was after 1880, and was swept aside by cally, almost dismissively. Despite elected MP for Merthyr himself far younger, more glamorous and the existence of a goodly collection in 1900 during the mass jingoism charismatic nationalist figures like of Richard’s political papers in the of the South African War. Hardie Tom Ellis and David Lloyd George. archive of the National Library of was elected primarily as a socialist, Stuart Rendel (himself a middle- Wales, there has been no biography on class grounds, though he gained aged Englishman with an Eton since C.S. Miall’s extraordinarily wider radical support in Liberal and Oxford background) wrote old-fashioned work of 1889, a ‘life circles. But he paid his full tribute in his memoirs of Richard as ‘the and letters’ of traditional Victo- to Merthyr Tydfil’s unique politi- leader … of a section of the House rian piety.2 In his entries in both the cal tradition, and to the followers of which was exceedingly English’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biog- Henry Richard Henry Richard in 1868 ‘who were for all his accepted chairmanship raphy and the Welsh Encyclopaedia, (1812–88) then uncorrupted’.4 A seamless

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 37 the relevance of henry richard tradition of radical, pacific interna- tended to ignore the ports tionalism and fraternalism had been and larger towns of the restored. industrialising south where It is therefore of much impor- ‘the population had long tance to Welsh historians to re- ceased to be distinctively investigate both the central themes Welsh’.6 He vindicated of Richard’s long career in his Wales most eloquently and own day and their later relevance. effectively in a famous series Because the crusades in which of articles on the social and Richard so willingly enlisted, far political condition of Wales from dying with him, have been in the Morning and Even- ongoing and remain of deep sig- ing Star in 1866, in which nificance in Wales and the world at emphasis was laid heav- present. ily on Wales as a ‘nation of There were four Henry Rich- Nonconformists’, shown in ards whom we should define and Horace Mann’s 1851 census celebrate. First, of course, there of religious worship to be was Henry Richard the Welshman. 78 per cent Nonconform- The son of a Calvinist Method- ist and only 22 per cent ist minister in Tregaron, the Rev. Anglican. It was on this Ebenezer Richard, he became a basis, as the voice of Welsh Congregationalist after entering Nonconformity, that he Highbury Congregational College, became Liberal candidate and became a minister of Marlbor- for Merthyr Tydfil in 1868, ough Chapel in the Old Kent Road its electorate having been in 1835. From then on, he lived massively expanded by the primarily in England. He seemed Reform Act of the previ- destined for an active career spent ous year. His very adop- primarily in the world of English tion made it plain that it dissent. But it was Welsh issues that was as a Nonconformist began to call him. He wrote in the that he offered himself to English press offering social and the electors. The body that religious explanations of the fac- put itself forward described tors lying behind the Rebecca riots itself as ‘The Henry Rich- of the early 1840s with their assault ard or Nonconformist on toll-gates. More powerfully, he Committee’.7 When, in this became one of the leading oppo- two-member constituency, nents of the notorious Blue Books he came top of the poll, out-polling Caricature of session in parliament of Gladstone’s of 1847, that Brad y Llyfrau Gleision his fellow Liberal, the ironmas- Henry Richard measure to disestablish the Church which traduced Wales in its culture, ter Richard Fothergill, and oust- (with the caption in Ireland. This established, he language, religions and moral pro- ing the Liberal industrialist, Henry ‘Peace’), Vanity wrote, several important princi- bity. Richard was appalled and his Austen Bruce, shortly to become Fair, 4 September ples.8 It acknowledged that where highly effective retaliatory articles Gladstone’s , it was 1880 the established church was not the in the Daily News and elsewhere widely perceived that, in a nation church of the nation its position gave him a new status in his native hitherto conspicuous for its politi- was anomalous. It recognised that Wales.5 cal unimportance, a new more ecclesiastical property was national Richard’s view of Welsh nation- democratic era had dawned. property as it had endured since hood linked it indissolubly with Richard’s view of his native the middle ages. Above all, it dis- Nonconformity. All the many Wales was thus defined by his reli- posed of the fallacy of a collective positive features of the Welsh he gious background. His Letters in state conscience which imposed its identified with the values of the the English press had depicted own beliefs as an established creed chapel – its populist democracy, its Wales as a deeply divided country, on resistant dissenters. Along with vibrant Welsh-language culture, with a small, privileged landlord other favourable measures such its love of music and poetry, the class, English in speech and sym- as the repeal of the Test Acts for absence of crime. Wales was gwlad pathy, and, crucially, Anglican in Oxford and Cambridge, Richard y mennyg gwinion, the land of the religion, fundamentally separated and his allies in the Liberation Soci- white gloves, a place unpolluted from the Nonconformist mass of ety could see an irresistible onward by violence with few of its peo- the population. There was a pro- momentum for the various Non- ple in prison, where judges were found inequality entrenched within conformist causes. presented with white gloves at the its society, and therefore his politi- Welsh disestablishment was assizes to celebrate a crime-free, cal priority henceforth, throughout not, however, at all a straightfor- respectable community, and where his two decades in parliament, was ward matter. In the first place, policemen hung around looking the disestablishment and disendow- there was an urgent need for lead- for something to do. Here, Richard ment of the ership and direction in pressing was far from wholly wrong though in Wales. He had the enormous the matter home. Only since the he did focus on ‘Proper Wales’, and encouragement in his very first 1868 election had the issue gained

38 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 the relevance of henry richard a clear overwhelming priority in for disestablishment for Wales disestablishment. The primacy Wales.9 Even then support for dis- alone. His roots were in the Lon- of the Church in Wales should be establishment amongst Welsh MPs don-based Liberation Society of removed because the people of was limited. Thirty of the thirty- which he was a leading officer and Wales wanted it, and demonstrated three members were Anglican, and which had been a powerful force the fact with large Liberal plurali- twenty-four were landowners, all on his behalf at the polls in 1868. ties in successive general elections the ten Conservatives and fourteen Richard was no kind of nationalist from 1868 to 1886. Richard and his of the Whig-liberals who formed or home ruler. In a parliamentary Liberationist colleagues also rec- the bulk of the Gladstonian ranks. debate on international arbitration ognised the historic importance of Only three Welsh MPs were Non- in 1873, he asked rhetorically, ‘Is the Welsh Sunday Closing Act of conformists, Richard himself, Evan not England our country?’13 He saw 1881 as setting a precedent for solely Matthew Richards (Cardiganshire) a fundamental difference between Welsh legislation, even though his and Richard Davies (Anglesey). Wales, an intrinsic part of the support for this measure stemmed There was significant bickering United Kingdom, albeit one with mainly from his temperance rather when Watkin Williams, Liberal grievances and priorities of its own, than his nationalism. He was turn- member for Denbigh District and and Ireland, where many saw dises- ing his attention also to the Welsh- an Anglican, put forward a motion tablishment as a precursor to home ness of the Church of England in for Welsh disestablishment and dis- rule. To Richard, by contrast, dis- the appointment of its bishops, endowment in August 1869 with- establishment was an alternative and also to retaining the Mey- out consulting his colleagues. This to it. He felt it was dangerous to ricke endowments at Jesus College, led to much protest. Many doubted press the case on quasi-nationalist Oxford, for the Welsh scholars for whether the maverick Watkin Wil- grounds, and it also risked the pos- whom they were intended. Prin- liams was really a Liberal at all, sibility of Wales losing valuable cipal Harper of Jesus seemed on and it was darkly murmured that Church endowments in the process. the verge of frittering them away. he had voted against John Stuart This was also the view of his col- Richard worked to this end with Mill in the Westminster constitu- league, Sir George Osborne Mor- sympathetic Welsh Anglicans such ency at the recent general election. gan (Denbighshire): ‘I entertain as Dean Henry T. Edwards, the Henry Richard himself thought strong doubts whether it is possible Liberal brother of the ferocious the motion ill-advised and badly to separate the question of disestab- defender of the Anglican establish- timed. The issue of the secret ballot lishment in Wales from that of Eng- ment, Bishop A. G. Edwards of St. should have been dealt with first, land – Wales being, politically at Asaph.17 with a commission of inquiry to least, as much a part of England as Over a wide range of issues he collect data on the strengths of the Yorkshire or Cornwall.’14 Richard was recognised over a generation various religious bodies in Wales. agreed with Sidney Buxton that the as the most authoritative voice on The influential journalist John general case for disestablishment behalf of the religious, civic and Griffith (‘Gohebydd’) thought Wil- in England, Wales and Scotland educational demands of Welsh liams’s demarche was a ‘very great mis- together ‘would be of greater inter- Liberals. In the 1880 general elec- fortune’.10 When Williams’s motion est and command a much larger tion, Gladstone’s aide Lord Richard was finally debated on 24 May 1870, Over a wide circulation’ than if it were confined Grosvenor was to urge Richard to Richard inevitably spoke and voted to Wales on its own.15 speak on behalf of William Rath- for it, but it gained only forty-seven range of In spite of this, Richard’s role as bone in Caernarfonshire. ‘You votes. Only seven Welsh MPs voted an advocate for Welsh causes was have a peculiar faculty of raising for it, eight Welsh Liberals voted issues he was a powerful one, and his speeches the enthusiasm of Welshmen and against, and ten others were absent in the Commons, often of great Mr. Rathbone labours under the or abstained, including the Non- recognised length, commanded much respect. disadvantage of not being able to conformist E. M. Richards, and E. By the 1880s, his outlook on the speak one word of Welsh’.18 Rich- J. Sartoris (Carmarthenshire) who over a gener- basic rationale for the Welsh ard was also urged to lend his vocal had been advised not to vote for it Church question was clearly shift- support to the Liberal the Hon. for fear of jeopardising his seat.11 ation as the ing. In a debate on a further motion G. C. Brodrick in his unsuccess- Perhaps most seriously, Gladstone to disestablish the Welsh Church, ful contest in highly anglicised himself felt impelled to deliver most author- he and his fellow veteran Liberal Monmouthshire.19 He was thus an ex cathedra statement opposing itative voice Lewis Llewellyn Dillwyn (Swansea able to draw attention to the needs Welsh disestablishment (one which District) took a clear national stand. and historic identity of Wales as was to embarrass him greatly in on behalf of The Welsh Church was now briskly no politician had previously been later years). The Welsh Church, he dismissed as an ‘alien Church’; able to do. In particular, he had a declared, had ‘a complete constitu- the religious, it was Eglwys Loegr, ‘the Church clear impact on the ideas of Glad- tional, legal and historical identity of England in Wales’. Richard’s stone, who made plain in a speech with the Church of England’ and civic and own exceedingly lengthy speech, at the Mold eisteddfod in 1873, near it was impossible to legislate for it which took up eleven columns in his Hawarden home, that Rich- separately.12 This was not the way educational Hansard, focused on the historical ard’s Letters had made a profound in which intelligent would-be dis- alienation of the Church from the impression upon him. ‘A country- establishers ought to proceed, in demands Welsh nation over the centuries.16 man of yours – a most excellent Richard’s view. He was now far more emphatic on Welshman – Mr Richard MP did But his dissenting view went of Welsh the distinctive cultural and politi- a great deal to open my eyes to the beyond matters of parliamentary cal features of Wales as provid- facts.’20 It was Richard, as much tactics. He did not favour pressing Liberals. ing the basic arguments for Welsh as Rendel, who helped Gladstone

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 39 the relevance of henry richard to become in time a great Welsh Richard He told the electors in Aberdare 70,000 acres of the Cawdor estate, hero, ‘the people’s William’ in that they tell the landlords that: and the Hon. George Douglas-Pen- a special sense in the principal- was a great ‘We are the Welsh people, not you. nant, the son of Lord Penrhyn in his ity – not to mention becoming the This country is ours, not yours.’24 castle, now represented the Welsh- people’s disestablisher. It might democrat. He went on to battle for the reform speaking farmers and labourers in be added that it was very much to of the franchise in the county con- those rural communities. As yet, Gladstone’s advantage that in 1886 His Letters stituencies, which duly happened the novelty of the secret ballot Richard, somewhat reluctantly in the Reform and Redistribution had had little impact. After 1880, in view of his powerful commit- passionately Acts of 1884–85, and this served however, democratic Liberalism ment to Protestantism, declared to make the Liberals’ strength in prevailed. his support for Irish Home Rule, attacked Wales all the more impregnable. In the longer term, the memory in contrast to such Nonconformist political Richard’s first major speech in of political pressure and intimida- comrades as the Rev. R. W. Dale the House in 1869 was on a major tion became a major lieu de memoire and (for a time) Thomas Gee.21 The landlord- democratic theme. He and other for Welsh Liberals, as Taff Vale and secessions to the Liberal Unionists Liberals declared that there had Tonypandy were to become for the in Wales were kept to a minimum. ism in Wales. been much evidence of intimida- Welsh Labour movement. Welsh With regard to Welsh affairs, Rich- tion by landlords at the polls, with Liberals had acquired the popu- ard’s outlook was different from the He declared the eviction of many tenant farm- lar martyrology without which younger nationalists of Cymru Fydd, ers for voting Liberal.25 He raised no popular movement can thrive. like Tom Ellis, in the 1880s. He that Welsh the issue in a debate on 6 July 1869, It was Wales’ Amritsar or Sharp- endorsed nationality, not national- when in a highly personal way eville. Lloyd George gave it imper- ism. Thus to them he was cautious, politics were he referred to forty-three cases of ishable prominence in his speech at behind the times. After his death it political eviction in Cardiganshire the Queen’s Hall in London on 23 was noticeable that the Welsh MPs servile and and many others in Carmarthen- March 1910 on behalf of his Peo- immediately formed a ‘Welsh Par- shire and Caernarfonshire. Colonel ple’s Budget. Referring to the evic- liamentary Party’ (chaired by Stu- dependent. Powell, the former Conservative tions in 1868, he declared that ‘they art Rendel), an idea which Richard MP for Cardiganshire, was identi- woke the spirit of the mountains, had always resisted as unofficial Wales was fied as one egregious case of a bul- the genius of freedom that fought chairman. But in his own time he lying landlord. A recent account of the might of the Normans for two was an essential bridge between the ‘feudal’, not a this episode is somewhat grudging centuries. There was such a feeling British-wide radicalism of the six- and perhaps influenced by an ina- aroused amongst the people, that, ties and the more pluralistic, more democracy at bility to read the Welsh-language ere it was done, the political power socially aware Liberalism of the late all but a land press. There is no doubt in fact that of landlordism in Wales was shat- Victorian period. On issue after Richard’s motion brought a serious tered as effectually as the power of issue he proclaimed the needs and where ‘clans- political scandal to public atten- the Druids.’29 Lloyd George’s lan- identity of Wales. He used debates tion. A Liberal colleague noted guage was florid and overdrawn, on the appointment of Welsh- men bat- the particular delight with which perhaps, but it was in broad terms speaking judges in 1872 and 1874 to Gladstone listened to his speech. A an accurate testimony of the demo- spell out the validity of the culture tled for their nationwide fund organised by the cratic upsurge which Henry Rich- and its language, no mere patois as radical journalist, John Griffith,Y ard had generated then. he eloquently demonstrated.22 This chieftains’. Gohebydd, raised around £4,000 to As a democrat, Richard was no Nonconformist non-nationalist, compensate some of the victim- socialist. However, he was able to therefore, was clearly a godfather of ised farmers.27 More important, a identify with the working-class the growing sense of Welsh nation- Select Committee was appointed movement of the day. He was thus a hood that evolved in the decades under the chairmanship of Lord bridge between the worlds of Cob- down to the First World War. In Hartington which received power- den and Bright and of Keir Har- that sense he is also a godfather of ful evidence from the Rev. Michael die. He recognised, of course, that devolution. Daniel Jones and other leading Merthyr and Aberdare were work- Secondly, Richard was a great Liberals about the nature of rural ing-class communities, composed democrat. His Letters passionately intimidation. Jones had written largely of miners and ironworkers, attacked political landlordism in to Richard on the extent of rural and Richard’s campaign acknowl- Wales. He declared that Welsh poli- persecution – ’in the next election edged the fact. The Reform League tics were servile and dependent. we shall lose ground if the farmers in 1868 deliberately placed work- Wales was ‘feudal’, not a democ- have no protection’.28 Its findings ing-class representatives, including racy at all but a land where ‘clans- were a major factor in the passing several survivors of the last Char- men battled for their chieftains’.23 of the secret ballot in 1872. It was a tist upsurge in 1848, on Richard’s Thus he campaigned vigorously in great democratic triumph for Rich- platforms. He proclaimed him as the Reform League for manhood ard. Perhaps in grim retaliation, the poor man’s candidate, without suffrage and the secret ballot. He recaptured, the resources to buy his way into regarded the 1867 Reform Act as a in the 1874 general election, seats a constituency, and contrasted his first instalment of a wider enfran- in Carmarthenshire, Cardigan- own relative poverty with the afflu- chisement. In time, he became an shire and Caernarfonshire, those ence of the bourgeois industrialist eloquent advocate of women’s suf- counties where rumours of land- Henry Austen Bruce. He was also frage as well. His own election lord coercion in 1868 had been most skilful in taking up such issues as in Merthyr and Aberdare had an vivid. Landowners such as Viscount pit safety and the imposition of the inspirational, revivalist quality. Emlyn of Golden Grove, heir to the ‘northern’ or double-shift system

40 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 the relevance of henry richard of working in the mines. John Bey- the world of Protestant dissent, line of demarcation, both of race non, secretary of the local Double since, unlike most of his brethren, and language, upon the same foot- Shift Committee, campaigned for he was a passionate advocate of a ing as an English town or district’.34 him. Recent wage reductions in the purely secular education.32 This was The following year, Gladstone took pits also helped Richard’s cause. He wholly consistent, of course, with the different line that it would raise claimed that his election victory his support for disestablishment a religious issue and would commit was a triumph for the property- and the general broad principle of the state to a new principle in aid- less, disinherited working-class the separation of church and state. ing colleges from the Exchequer on man.30 In the 1874 election, Richard However, his educational views are the basis of teaching only ‘an unde- shrewdly declared his sympathy often misrepresented.33 He did not nominational education’. After for much of the programme of the object to the state being involved failing to help Owen’s College, Amalgamated Association of Min- in education as such, but simply to Manchester, the government could ers which had grown rapidly in the its being used to promote denomi- hardly help Aberystwyth.35 The Welsh coalfield, and whose secre- national instruction and clerical ‘college by the sea’ on the seafront tary, Thomas Halliday, ran against special interests. His views were opened in October 1872 with most him in the election. Halliday polled far more progressive than simply of the £10,000 purchase money still remarkably well, obtaining 4,912 a rehearsal of the anti-clericalism owing, and only twenty-five initial votes (25.3 per cent), and Richard’s that coloured debates on education students. But Richard’s campaign vote fell on a much smaller turn- in Britain, France and many other went on and in 1882 Aberystwyth out of voters than in 1868. Even countries at the time. He wanted a did receive an annual grant of so, his established credentials as new, national system of education, £4,000 a year. a working-class candidate and a primary and secondary, sustained He served in 1881 on a com- proven champion of labour legis- by central government. It would mittee of immense importance lation still made him impregnable be uniform and universal; also it for Welsh education, the Select and he easily headed the poll. Fol- would be compulsory and free of Committee on Higher Education lowing another comfortable vic- charge. He saw it as a particular key chaired by his old election adver- tory in 1880, in 1885 and 1886 he to progressive change within Wales sary, Henry Bruce, now Lord and his Liberal running-mate, C. where educational provision was Aberdare.36 Richard himself, now H. James James, were returned recognised as being weak. A secular Statue of an elderly man, proved to be a unopposed. Richard, then, was not system of primary education, via Henry Richard most effective member of it, full an inappropriate hero for the social the Board schools without religious at Tregaron, of energy and attested facts. The democracy, as well as the political involvement, and a new network of Ceredigion Committee advocated the setting democracy, of a later era. As noted, non-denominational secondary or he was an inspiration for the social- ‘intermediate’ schools were essen- ist Keir Hardie in the ‘khaki elec- tial to his objectives, and they form tion’ of 1900. Over a century later, a major part of his legacy. Even in March 2010, his name was men- though his amendment to the For- tioned (by Monsignor Bruce Kent) ster Act failed badly in 1870, he had in the roll-call of left-wing heroes the satisfaction of seeing Clause 25 at the funeral service of another of the Act, which allowed School great Welsh democratic repre- Boards to finance the school fees of sentative, , which I voluntary denominational schools attended. In the long line of dem- from the rates, repealed by Lord ocratic dissenters, Alan Taylor’s Sandon’s Education Act of 1876, ‘trouble-makers’, Richard takes his passed by Disraeli’s Conservative honoured place. government. Thirdly, Richard was a consid- He thus became a major pio- erable educationalist. At first, his neer of Welsh education. On higher concern seemed largely an out- education, he played a major part, growth of his religious views. He with the energetic if controversial was a leading figure amongst the Sir Hugh Owen, in building up the Nonconformists within the Lib- new ‘college by the sea’, the college eral Party who attacked the Forster at Aberystwyth first established in Education Act of 1870 for its subsi- 1872. He battled hard with Glad- dies to church schools from public stone for a public subsidy in 1870 funds. Thus he led a public outcry and 1871, but at first without suc- against the Cowper-Temple clause cess. In 1870 the Prime Minister in the 1870 Act, since it would have took the line that he had already led to increased rate aid to denomi- refused grants to various English national schools. There was, he colleges and would hardly be able wryly observed, ‘no conscience to make an exception in the case clause for ratepayers’. However, his of Aberystwyth. Significantly, amendment in committee obtained though, he did concede that ‘it was only sixty-two votes, with Non- impossible to place Wales, with its conformist MPs divided.31 His own clearly marked nationality and its stance was a minority one within inhabitants divided from by strong

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 41 the relevance of henry richard up of two new colleges in Wales, was undoubtedly a major figure the arbitration of disputes between one in the north and one in the in the social revolution that trans- nations. He visualised beyond that a south. Gladstone, now strongly formed Welsh education, and indi- kind of league of nations to admin- committed to Welsh causes, lent rectly social mobility, in the last ister such a system and to provide his authoritative support, and the decades of the century. A year after an effective and workable regime of Aberdare Committee’s proposals Richard’s death, the 1889 Welsh international law. went ahead. In time, after much Intermediate Eduction Act, passed Even in the warlike atmosphere public campaigning, these institu- by the Salisbury government, of the mid and later Victorian tions turned out to be located in saw another of his dreams come period, Richard and his associates Bangor and Cardiff respectively. It into effect, the new intermediate in the Peace Society were not with- was also proposed that a new state- schools. For decades to come, the out success. They managed to have supported structure of ‘intermedi- ‘county schools’, free and unsec- a protocol inserted in the Treaty ate schools’ be created throughout tarian, were a decisive instrument of Paris of 1856 that wound up the Wales to provide students for them of social change. The Welsh could Crimean War in favour of interna- as well as to promote professional even pride themselves in having tional arbitration, and, more sur- opportunities more generally. It a state-run educational system in prisingly, another included in the was an issue on which Richard had advance of England, and without Treaty of Berlin in 1878 when it spoken in the Commons. This was its paralysing social divide created was rumoured, however improb- a progressive, forward-looking by the private schools. In 1893 there ably, that Bismarck himself showed agenda for Welsh education. But followed another landmark for some interest in the notion.41 These it also left Aberystwyth high and which Richard had campaigned, were no more than paper suc- dry, with the prospect that it would a federal national University of cesses. But Richard found great lose its annual grant and see it trans- Wales, created to crown the edi- encouragement in Gladstone’s ferred to Bangor. Richard now fice of Welsh higher education, and decision to go to arbitration with redoubled his efforts on behalf of destined to last for the next hun- the United States to adjudicate on Aberystwyth, applying particular dred years. the American claims against Brit- pressure on the minister in charge Fourthly and finally, there is ain following the activities of the of education, A. J. Mundella. Here Richard the great international- British-built Alabama, operated by his efforts finally bore fruit. Mun- ist and crusader, perhaps the area the Confederate navy, during the della wrote, in somewhat panicky in which his reputation was most American Civil War. In the event, fashion, to Richard in 1884” ‘I wish generally ceated. He always oper- despite some domestic disgrun- you would come and see me about ated within other reformist move- tlement, the British accepted the Aberystwyth. We had better set- ment across the world, notably tribunal’s claims and paid dam- tle this question before you turn us with the anti-slavery movement ages of three and a quarter million out, as the Tories will not help you. in the United States. A committed pounds, a significant sum but much If we subsidise a third College, we pacifist, in 1848 he was appointed less than the Americans had asked must do it on the same conditions as Secretary of the Peace Society and for. This episode could, perhaps, the other two.’37 In the event, Mun- he retained this position when he only have taken place in the con- della managed to prise only £2,500 retired, on grounds of age, in 1885. text of the particular relationships out of the Exchequer for Aber- He played a prominent part at the between Britain and the United ystwyth, but in August 1885 the peace congresses at Brussels and States at the time, but it did offer incoming Salisbury government, Paris in the year of revolutions, Richard’s proposals some practical for somewhat unexplained rea- 1848; the latter thrilled to an inspi- encouragement. sons,38 generously raised the Aber- rational address from Victor Hugo: Richard took several opportu- ystwyth grant to £4,000 as well. ‘France, England, Germany, Italy, Fourthly and nities to bring the cause of peace All three of the new Welsh uni- Europe, America, let us proclaim before the House of Commons. versity colleges, therefore, could to all nations: “You are brothers!”’ finally, there The first, on 8 July 1873, was a regard Richard as a highly impor- Richard campaigned inexhaustibly motion on behalf of a general and tant ally. against war. He vehemently con- is Richard the permament system of international In his old age, in 1886–88 Rich- demned the Crimean War, along arbitration.42 He deplored the hor- ard served on the Cross Commis- with his close friends Richard Cob- great inter- rors of war and ‘the bottomless pit sion on elementary education, on den and , and crusaded of military expenditure’ and called which he was again an effective against the wars variously waged nationalist for an effective system of interna- member.39 Some of his time was by Britain against the Boer Repub- tional law. Gladstone replied in taken in fending off bombardments lics, the Zulus and the Afghans in and crusader, amiable and respectful terms, and from the move- the late 1870s, that era of aggres- spoke warmly of the arbitration ment about whose activities Rich- sive imperialist militancy. He also perhaps the between Britain and the United ard was less than enthusiastic, like condemned Gladstone’s invasion area in which States at Geneva, but called for ‘a many senior Liberals of the day. of Egypt in 1882, declared by the step by step’ approach. Richard’s He found pressure from Beriah Prime Minister to be a temporary his reputa- motion was lost ninety-eight to Gwynfe Evans, the energetic secre- policy but in fact inaugurating a eighty-eight. tary of the ‘Society for the Utilisa- lengthy British occupation that tion was On 15 June 1880, Richard tried tion of the Welsh Language’, to be endured until 1954. Richard’s major again, calling for international ‘rather embarrassing’.40 In general, demands were forward-looking in most gener- disarmament, but now adding a however, his educational activi- the extreme. He called for an inter- new theme, namely that foreign ties were valuable and creative. He national tribunal to be set up, for ally ceated. wars and the concluding of foreign

42 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 the relevance of henry richard treaties should always require the His most the 1860s. Richard himself got into was an atmosphere of relative indif- consent of parliament.43 This again trouble during the American Civil ference, even of impatience that made no headway. His most impor- important War when, unlike most Welsh- such an ancient cause could still tant effort came in an amendment men, he rebelled against the cult of take up parliamentary and politi- to the Address on 19 March 1886. effort came Lincoln and defended the South, cal energy. He urged that no wars should be since he claimed it was a victim of After the First World War, poli- embarked upon, no treaties con- in an amend- Northern aggression. When asked tics in Wales drifted away from the cluded, and no territories annexed about slavery, this pillar of the anti- priorities of Henry Richard. It was to the Empire without ‘the knowl- ment to the slavery movement responded that an era of unionism in which all par- edge and consent of Parliament’. it would die out in time through ties, fortified by the Second World He pointed out that the royal pre- Address on 19 peaceful means. What is interest- War, participated. The Labour rogative in these matters was a ing, however, is that this is much Party, especially in the case of such total fiction. A war was already in March 1886. the same line of argument adopted figures as Aneurin Bevan and Ness being before parliament was asked He urged at the time by another pacifist and Edwards, mirrored Henry Richard to vote supplies. He contrasted the radical, Samuel Roberts, ‘S.R.’ of in seeing the problems of Wales as totally different system of control that no wars Llanbrynmair, who actually set up part of a wider theme, in Labour’s exercised in the French Republic a Welsh settlement in the slave state case that of class, as for Richard it and by the Congressional House should be of Tennessee, intended to escape had been of Nonconformist unity. of Representatives. ‘We never get landlord persecution in Wales. That Only with the creation of a Secre- the information before war breaks embarked decision virtually ruined Roberts’ tary of State for Wales in 1964 did out’, Richard declared, with total reputation and career and he was a there seem to be a change of direc- accuracy. ‘Is it not a monstrous upon, no much diminished figure when he tion, though the new Welsh Office thing that the blood and treasure returned to Wales after the war.45 was significantly limited in its and moral responsibility of a great treaties con- Richard, by contrast, endured no powers. The real advance from the nation like ours should be pledged such fate. It was testimony to how Henry Richard legacy came with for all time behind our backs?’ cluded, and uniquely robust his reputation had the pressure for devolution in Scot- ‘The British governments had, become. land, and to a lesser degree Wales, all of them, a mania for annexa- no territories What remained of Henry Rich- in the 1970s. That followed, vari- tion’, Henry Richard concluded ard’s campaigns after his death? It ously, the unexpected upsurge of in moving fashion: ‘My hope is in annexed to is striking in the early twenty-first Plaid Cymru, the campaign for the the Democracy. I have lost faith in century that all his causes have Welsh language (only a relatively Governments. They seem to have the Empire a powerful contemporary reso- minor theme in Henry Richard’s delivered themselves up, bound nance. With regard to his commit- day), and especially the introduc- hand and foot, to the power of without ment to the advancement of Wales, tion of Scottish and Welsh devolu- rampant militarism which is the ‘the knowl- there has been an ongoing process tion bills in the Commons by the curse of Europe.’44 Gladstone’s reply of evolution. Despite the apparent Callaghan government follow- reads weakly and evasively now. edge and tone of more emphatic national- ing the Kilbrandon Commission. He argued the difficulty in distin- ism in the Cymru Fydd movements Devolution eventually followed in guishing between war and ‘war- consent of of the 1890s, associated with Ellis 1999, winning support by the tini- like operations’. James Bryce, who and Lloyd George, Welsh political est of majorities, but it gradually wound up for the government, was Parliament’. ambitions down to 1914 remained gained in popular support. In 2009 even worse. Absurdly for so great within the parameters of the age the Jones Parry report called for the a scholar of American issues, he of Henry Richard. While progress law-making powers and financial replied to Richard’s point about was made on disestablishment, authority of the Welsh assembly the US House of Representatives education, land reform and tem- to be put to a popular referendum. by claiming that the American sys- perance, there was only limited Henry Richard was not a forgot- tem was very different since ‘it had concern with anything resembling ten figure here – the present writer no foreign policy this side of the separation, or even devolution. E. had an interesting exchange about Atlantic anyway’. Richard’s motion T. John’s efforts prior to the First Richard when giving evidence to was lost 115 – 109 but it is difficult World War to promote a movement the Richard Commission and being not to believe that he won the argu- for Welsh home rule led nowhere.46 interrogated by Ted (now Lord) ment, even against the combined There was only limited adminis- Rowlands, the former member for learning of Gladstone and Bryce. trative devolution – in education Merthyr Tydfil, as it happened. The At times, Richard’s uninhibited in 1907 and in agriculture after the priorities today clearly see the role pacifism could lead him into dif- war in 1919. The emphasis was still of the Assembly to be the key to the ficulty. Nineteenth-century Brit- on extending equality for Wales future of Wales in British and Euro- ain had a warm sympathy for the within the United Kingdom – and pean politics, and we have moved efforts of ‘nations rightly struggling also the Empire, which the Welsh on far from Henry Richard. Even to be free’, such as the Greeks and warmly endorsed during the First so, he played a significant role ear- Italians, who appealed to those of World War, under the leadership lier on, in pressing for Welsh leg- classical bent. Garibaldi, leader of of a Welsh Prime Minister. The old islation, for Welsh parliamentary the famous red-shirted ‘thousand’ national movement of post-1868 priorities distinct from those of during the battles for Italian uni- had clearly run its course; when England, and a firm Welsh pres- fication, had been a great popular Welsh disestablishment and disen- ence in the political agenda. Rich- hero on reformist platforms during dowment, Richard’s old dream, ard, and abiding memories of the the campaign for a Reform Bill in was finally achieved in 1919, there triumphs and suffering of 1868, still

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 43 the relevance of henry richard

Richard felt that power should flow from below and independent free citizens should be empowered as he saw them being in Wales after 1868. A committee (including the present writer) is now at work on the pros- pects for a written constitution. The agenda for democracy that Henry Richard proposed is still to be pursued. Richard’s work as an educa- tionalist has taken a very different form. The denominational conflicts of his day have largely been super- seded, although the debate about faith schools and their encourage- ment may revive his priorities as regards the value of secular educa- tion. His vision of a secular, com- prehensive free system of primary and secondary education is still hampered by the existence of a dual system of education, public and private, based on private funding and on class. His ideas still resonate. Perhaps it is in successful campaigns for access and for the pursuit of life- long learning that Richard’s objec- tives have made most progress. Finally, and crucially, there is Richard the apostle of peace. As noted, his campaigns for the Peace Society were not wholly fruitless. The idea of international arbitra- tion gained more support after the Anglo-US settlement of the Alabama claims. By 1914 there were arbitral agreements between twenty governments, and over a hundred arbitral agreements in force. The United States was espe- cially active through such figures as Secretary of State Elihu Root, President Woodrow Wilson and remain important in the making of The author, were proposed by the Conservative through the steel capitalist, Andrew modern Wales. Lord Morgan, – Liberal Democrat coalition after Carnegie, who set up his Endow- Richard’s concern with democ- speaking at its creation in May 2010. But Henry ment for International Peace, and in racy is, even more, a work in pro- Abney Park Richard would note the sluggish 1910 called for a League of Nations. gress. The constitutional and cemetery, North progress made towards some of his The Hague peace congress of 1899 political system in which he oper- London, at the objectives. In 2010 there was still set up a Permanent Court of Arbi- ated, based on parliament and grave of Henry an unelected House of Lords; it tration at the Hague, and another, strong centralist governance, are Richard; 1 April still contained bishops as a symbol larger, peace congress followed now transformed. All the textbooks 2012 of the Church establishment. The there in 1907. But these yielded which described the democratic authority of the Commons was still very little. It was indeed ironic that fabric of Richard’s day, works by inadequate in relation to the execu- they honoured a strongly mili- Bagehot, Dicey, Anson and later tive, and its prestige as a reputable taristic US President, Theodore Jennings, are now scarcely relevant. assembly had recently declined. Roosevelt, champion of ‘the big There were significant reforms Above all, Richard, who liked stick’ in foreign affairs, the voice of introduced by the Blair govern- to cite the written constitutional gunboat diplomacy in Latin Amer- ment after 1997, including reform arrangements of the Americans and ica and the advocate of a strong of the Lords, human rights legisla- the French, would not accept that navy. Roosevelt himself celebrated tion, freedom of information legis- British citizenship was still con- a ‘peace of righteousness’, achieved lation, and of course devolution for strained. With a largely unwritten by fighting the good fight in a just Wales, Scotland and Northern Ire- constitution, the British remained war.47 It was symbolic of the hypoc- land. Further reforms, some though subjects, not full citizens. They risy of the times that Roosevelt not all in a democratic direction, remained subjects of the Queen. in 1910 became a recipient of the

44 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 the relevance of henry richard

Nobel Peace Prize – though he bypassing of the United Nations, One of Richard’s practical has been followed by even more and war being planned in order to themes still is very attainable. He improbable people since. impose ‘regime change’ far away called for parliamentary sanction The ending of the First World without the sanction of the inter- to be required both for conducing War encouraged brave new world national community. He would treaties and for going to war. The hopes of the creation of a new have campaigned against war in Brown government did respond world order, something approach- Afghanistan in 2010 as he did in and seemed prepared to advocate ing the peaceable ideals of Henry 1880, even when the British army what would have been a clear dimi- Richard. In fact, the Treaty of Ver- was commanded by the Welshman nution of the royal (i.e. the prime sailles was met with much disillu- Lord Robert. Gladstone’s response ministerial) prerogative. Its Con- sionment. The League of Nations to Richard in the Commons over stitutional Renewal Act passed just set up to promote the peaceful Egypt is paralleled by the ‘liberal before the general election, in April resolution of disputes and world internationalism’ governing Tony 2010, would have pleased Henry disarmament soon proved to be a Blair’s responses over Iraq and Richard in one respect, since it did disappointment. Welsh interna- Afghanistan. The same questions require parliamentary sanction for tionalists and advocates of peace arise over the status of an interna- treaties to be approved. This met an moved on smartly beyond Rich- tional organisation and the nature old demand, not only from Rich- ard’s pacifism now, as when David of its authority. ard’s generation but also from those Davies, an idealistic champion of Richard’s approach was essen- in the Union of Democratic Con- the League, called for an interna- tially one of pure and simple paci- trol in 1914 who opposed ‘secret tional peace force to impose order. fism. That has had no impact since treaties’. The old Ponsonby rules The Woodrow Wilson Chair of his death any more than Gan- dating from MacDonald’s first gov- International Politics Davies had dhi’s doctrine of non-resistance ernment in 1924 were recognised as set up at Aberystwyth to promote was decisive in winning India its inadequate. However, the previous the idea of the League was in 1936 independence. George Lansbury’s draft bill of 2008 had also included occupied by E. H. Carr, whose Christian appeals in the thirties to a proposal that the war-making Twenty Years Crisis (1939) poured both Hitler and Mussolini to desist power be determined by affirma- massive scorn on ‘utopians’ who from force now appear tragic and tive resolution of parliament. The wanted international arbitration.48 pathetic. But Henry Richard’s call Joint Select Committee, on which Carr cheered Hitler on in his demo- for international arbitration is still the present writer sat, decided lition unilaterally of the peace set- far from redundant. The Perma- by one vote in private session not tlement of Versailles. In both world nent Court of International Jus- to support a statutory sanction.51 wars, the Welsh were as belliger- tice set up under the League of Many problems remain in resolv- ent as any and recruited heavily Nations in 1922 gave way to the ing the war-making power – the both times. They endorsed a Welsh more authoritative International precise meaning of the term ‘war’, Prime Minister (a youthful associ- Court of Justice, also at The Hague, Henry Rich- the problem of ‘mission creep’ ate of Henry Richard) who called in 1946. There was also the Inter- ard’s cru- (as demonstrated in Afghanistan for ‘a knock-out blow’ and ‘uncon- national Criminal Court set up in since 2001), the problem of reveal- ditional surrender’. There was a the 1990s. The World Court has sades, then, ing the legal justification and the brief flourish of Richard’s legacy in not been very active, since it sees role of the Attorney-General, the the 1923 general election when the only two or three cases a year. In limited or government’s source of suppos- Christian pacifist, George Maitland key cases it has had much difficulty edly independent legal authority Lloyd Davies, who had spent time in making its decisions effective, perhaps who is himself or herself a member in Wormwood Scrubs and Win- notably when it vainly ordered the of that government. All this means ston Green prisons as a conscien- Israeli government to destroy the confused that Richard’s agenda is still very tious objector during the war, was wall it had created in Palestine in relevant. He would have been as elected MP for the University of 2004. The Criminal Court has been as some of surprised as others were that the Wales.49 But this was a strictly tem- undermined by some of the great Royal Air Force should be flatten- porary phenomenon. Davies upset powers including the United States them may ing Baghdad or Basra in the name some of his supporters by unex- and . Even so, the writings of of a wholly innocent resident of pectedly taking the Labour whip, authorities such as Philippe Sands have been, Windsor. and lost his seat in 1924 to Ernest and Lord Bingham have served Henry Richard’s crusades, then, Evans, one of Lloyd George’s for- to show that, especially since the were cer- limited or perhaps confused as mer (male) private secretaries. Pinochet case in the 1990s, interna- some of them may have been, were Yet despite all this, and the war- tional law is now a more coherent tainly not a certainly not a failure. They retain like episodes that have chequered entity, and that the United Nations their validity in a still undemo- the history of the postwar world in is a more credible instrument in failure. They cratic, violent age. Reformers may Korea, Vietnam, the Middle East enforcing it. Bingham has even retain their still regard him as a prophetic fig- and many other places, the issues seen the Iraq invasion as leading to ure. They may still honour the red ventilated by Henry Richard retain aggressor nations being more read- validity in a flame of radicalism that inspired their validity. Richard would have ily ‘arraigned at the bar of world him as it has inspired internation- surely approved of those in Brit- opinion, and judged unfavour- still undemo- alists and idealists in later genera- ain in 2003 who protested against ably, with resulting damage to their tions. The apostle of peace may lie the invasion of Iraq as he protested standing and influence’.50 Com- cratic, vio- a-mouldering in the Abney Park against that of Egypt. He would pared with Henry Richard’s day, it cemetery, but his truths perhaps go have joined them in deploring the is perhaps less of a lawless world. lent age. marching on.

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 45 the relevance of henry richard

Kenneth O. Morgan is Visit- 9 Henry Richard to Thomas ; Parl. Deb., 3rd ser., CXCVII, 1886 (NLW. Gee Papers, 8308C, ing Professor at King’s College, Gee, 17 August 1869 (National 1294ff. (6 July 1869) where the 304). London, and Honorary Profes- Library of Wales [NLW] Aber- term ‘feudalism’ appears. 41 Goronwy J. Jones, Wales and the sor, University of Swansea. He ystwyth, Thomas Gee papers, 24 Aberdare Times, 14 November Quest for Peace (Cardiff: Univer- was Fellow and Praelector, The 8308D, 297); ‘Gohebydd’ (John 1868. sity of Wales Press, 1969), pp. Queen’s College, Oxford, 1966–89 Griffith) to Gee, 9 August, 11 25 Parl.Deb., 3rd ser., CXCVII, 81–82. and Vice-Chancellor in the Uni- August 1869 (ibid., 8310D, 506, 1294ff. 42 Parl. Deb., 3rd ser., CCVII, 52ff. versity of Wales 1989–95, elected 507). 26 Matthew Cragoe, Culture, Poli- (8 July 1873). Fellow of the British Academy in 10 ‘Gohebydd’ to Gee, 11 August tics and National Identity in Wales, 43 Parl. Deb., 3rd ser. (15 June 1880). 1983, became a Labour peer in 2000, 1869 (ibid., 8310D, 507). In 1832 – 1886 (Oxford: Clarendon 44 Parl. Deb., 3rd ser., CCCIII, 1395 made a bard at the Welsh Eistedd- fact, Sartoris did lose his Press, 2004), pp. 166–67. (19 March 1886). fod in 2008 and received a gold medal Carmarthenshire seat in the 1874 27 Michael Daniel Jones to Rich- 45 See Kenneth O. Morgan, ‘Lin- for lifetime achievement in 2009. general election. ard, 13 April 1869 (NLW, Rich- coln and Wales’ in Richard Car- This article, originally published in 11 Parl. Deb., 3rd ser., CCI, 1295. ard papers, 5504C). wardine and Jay Sexton (eds.), Welsh History Review (June 12 Parl. Deb., 3rd ser., CCXVII, 73 28 Kenneth O. Morgan, Wales in The Global Lincoln (New York: 2011) is based on the Henry Rich- (8 July 1873). British Politics, (Cardiff: Univer- Oxford University Press, 2010). ard memorial lecture of the United 13 J. Carvell Williams to Thomas sity of Wales Press, 1963), p. 38. 46 Kenneth O. Morgan, Wales in Nations Association, Wales, hosted Gee, 25 September 1869 (NLW, 29 David Lloyd George, Better British Politics, (Cardiff: Univer- jointly by the Menai branch of Gee papers, 8311D. 583), citing Times (London: Hodder and sity of Wales Press, 1963), pp. UNA and by , Henry Richard’s view. Williams Stoughton, 1910), p. 296. 255–59, and entry on E.T. John in delivered in Bangor, 13 May 2010. was secretary of the Liberation 30 Ieuan Jones, ‘The the Oxford Dictionary of National Society. Also George Osborne Election of 1868 in Merthyr Biography. 1 The Personal Papers of Lord Ren- Morgan to Richard, 20 August Tydfil’, inExplorations and 47 Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobi- del (London: Benn, 1931), pp. 1869 (NLW, Richard Papers, Explanations (Llandysul: Gwasg ography (New York: Macmillan, 304–05. 5505C). Gomer, 1981), pp. 206–12. 1913), pp. 575ff. Good accounts 2 Matthew Cragoe, Culture, Poli- 14 Sidney Buxton to Henry Rich- 31 Speech on second reading, Parl. of Roosevelt’s attitude appear in tics and National Identity in Wales, ard, 17 January ? (NLW, Richard Deb., 3rd ser., CC, 269, and John Milton Cooper, The War- 1832–1886 (Oxford: Clarendon Papers, 5503C); George Osborne amendment in Committee, 20 rior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson Press, 2004). For a helpful ref- Morgan to Richard, 20 August June 1870. He urged that the and Theodore Roosevelt (Har- erence to the Richard Papers, 1869 (ibid., 5505C). state confine itself to provid- vard: Bellknap, 1983) and James see J. Graham Jones in National 15 Parl. Deb., 3rd ser., CCCIII, 305 ing only literary and scientific Chace, 1912 (New York: Simon Library of Wales Political ff. (9 March 1886). education, with even the Bible and Schuster, 2005). Roosevelt Archive Newsletter 5 (Spring 16 Minutes of the Liberation Soci- excluded from state schools. See acquired his reputation as a man 1988). ety, 12 September 1881 (Swansea also Rev. R.W. Dale to Rev. of peace through his mediation 3 See Kenneth O. Morgan, ‘Lin- University Library). J.B. Paton, June 1870, in A.W.W. efforts at the Treaty of Ports- coln and Wales’ in Richard Car- 17 Henry Richard to Gladstone, Dale, The Life of R.W. Dale (Lon- mouth to wind up the Russo- wardine and Jay Sexton (eds.), 8 March 1870 (British Library, don: Hodder and Stoughton, Japanese war in 1905 and taking The Global Lincoln (New York: Gladstone papers, Add.MSS 1905), pp. 278–80. part in the Algeciras conference Oxford University Press, 2010). 44424, ff. 226 – 30). Richard 32 Rev. John Thomas to Richard, during the Moroccan crisis of 4 Labour Leader, 13 October, 1900; pressed the case of John Grif- 9 August 1886 (NLW, Richard 1906. Kenneth O. Morgan, ‘The Mer- fiths, rector of Neath, a Liberal. Papers, 5505C). 48 See Kenneth O. Morgan, thyr of Keir Hardie’ in Glanmor Dean H.T. Edwards to Richard, 33 e.g. in his entry by Matthew ‘Alfred Zimmern’s Brave New Williams (ed.), Merthyr Politics: 6 March 1879 (NLW, Richard Cragoe in the Oxford Dictionary of World: Aberystwyth in 1919 the making of a Working-class Tra- papers, 5503B). National Biography. and after’, International Relations dition (Cardiff: University of 18 Lord Richard Grosvenor to 34 Minutes of Richard’s interview (forthcoming). Wales Press, 1966), p. 80, and Richard, 17 November 1880 with Gladstone, 28 May 1870 49 Kenneth O. Morgan, ‘Peace idem, Keir Hardie, Radical and (NLW, Richard papers, 5504C). (NLW Richard Papers, 5509C). Movements in Wales, 1899 – Socialist (London: Weidenfeld 19 Lord Aberdare to Richard, 22 35 Gladstone to Richard, 14 April 1945’, in Modern Wales, Politics, and Nicolson, 1975), pp. 116–17. March 1880 (NLW, Richard 1871 (NLW Richard Papers, Places and People (Cardiff: Uni- 5 C.S. Miall, Henry Richard MP papers, 5503C). 5504B). versity of Wales Press, 1995), pp. (London: Cassell, 1889), pp. 20 Speech at Mold National 36 Report of the Committee appointed to 98, 103. 17–18. Eisteddfod, The Times, 20 inquire into the condition of Interme- 50 Tom Bingham, The Rule of Law 6 D.J.V. Jones, Crime in Nineteenth- August 1873. diate and Higher Education in Wales (London: Allen Lane, 2010), Century Wales (Cardiff: Univer- 21 Rev. R.W. Dale to Richard, (C.3047, 1881). p. 129; Philippe Sands, Law- sity of Wales Press, 1992), p. 45. 20 July 1886 (NLW, Richard 37 A.J. Mundella to Richard, 17 less World (London: Allen Lane, 7 Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, ‘The Papers, 5503C). March 1884 (NLW, Richard 2005), passim. Election of 1868 in Merthyr 22 Parl.Deb., 3rd ser., CCIX, 1664 Papers, 5505C). 51 The present writer voted in Tydfil’, inExplorations and – 6 (8 March 1872) and CCXX, 38 E.L. Ellis, The University College the minority on this motion by Explanations (Llandysul: Gwasg 535 (26 June 1874). Also see of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1872 – 1972 Martin Linton MP. Gomer, 1981), p. 201. This is T.R.Roberts (‘Asaph’), ‘Welsh- (Cardiff: University of Wales much the best analysis of the speaking Judges’, Young Wales Press, 1972), p . 83. 1868 election in Merthyr. (January 1900), pp. 18–21. 39 cf. Third Report of the Report of the 8 Kenneth O. Morgan, Wales in 23 Letters on the Social and Politi- Commissioners appointed to inquire British Politics 1868–1922 (Cardiff: cal Condition of the Principality of into the Elementary Education Acts University of Wales Press, 1963), Wales (London: Jackson, Wal- (C 5158). p. 25. ford and Hodder, 1867), p. 80 40 Richard to Gee, 1 November

46 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 reviews

is only true if you look at his later writings; his approach before and Reviews during his leadership was far more Keynesian and demand-man- agement -oriented. Orange Book co-editor Paul Marshall’s article The Orange Book revisited focuses on education, a topic that ‘Eight Years Since The Orange Book: Have the Liberal was notably absent from The Orange Book; predictably, he supports acad- Democrats ‘reclaimed’ Liberalism?’ (Economic Affairs 32:2, emies, free schools, profit-making June 2012) schools and the pupil premium as an aid to social mobility. Review by Duncan Brack ’ contribution recalls the rationale for The Orange Book in ince most people who com- ‘loudly made anti- its attack on the Liberal Democrats’ ment on The Orange Book reform statements’, and Nick ‘“nanny-state liberalism”, in which Stend never to have read it, Clegg, in telling small business an excessive weight was being it’s refreshing to read this selec- leaders that ‘supply-side liberalisa- given to state interference with too tion of seven short articles examin- tion is not the be-all and end-all little of the traditional liberal scep- ing the book’s impact and legacy. for growth … is simply wrong’ ticism of big government solutions’ However, since Economic Affairs is (p. 24) – which Papworth, and Tim (p. 32) and ‘the party’s entrenched the journal of the Institute of Eco- Leunig, author of another article, towards the reform nomic Affairs, home of economic put down to the fact that he’s not of public services’ (p. 33). Laws calls liberalism since its establishment in an economist by training. Liberal on the party to keep faith with eco- 1955, and since two of the articles’ Democrat ministers also come in nomic liberalism, including rais- authors are The Orange Book’s edi- for criticism for failing to reduce ing the personal income tax allow- tors, it’s not too difficult to work high marginal rates of income tax, ance threshold and reducing the out where these particular articles for increasing and state’s direct role in the economy are coming from. for failing to reduce sufficiently lev- (he accepts that public expenditure Indeed, the main complaint of els of public expenditure. cuts will have to end at some point, article author Thomas Papworth is Leunig identifies supply-side but wants to see a rate of growth of the Orange Bookers’ disappoint- reform as the core of the economic- public spending below the overall ing record in government. This is liberal agenda, citing the repeal of rate of growth of the economy). He attributed partly to Liberal Demo- the Corn Laws as the best histori- accepts that the economic-liberal crats’ ‘failure to understand the cal example. His article is primarily approach has often been associ- need to reform public services, a paean to Orange Book contribu- ated with ‘gross inequalities of and the supply-side of the econ- tor , in his role as a jun- wealth, income and opportunity’ omy more generally’ (p. 22), their ior minister at the Department of (p. 34) though fails to proposes any ‘benign, if not positive, view of Business, for starting to privatise regulation’ (p. 23), their concern the , reducing burdens with market failure (for exam- on sub-post offices (thereby help- ple in the disparity of bargain- ing smaller ones to remain viable), ing power between a worker and doubling the period before employ- their employer), and a focus on the ees enjoy protection against unfair immediate effects of policy at the dismissal and abolishing the default expense of the cumulative impacts retirement age. In contrast, Chris of successive layers of regulation. Huhne’s proposals for electricity Papworth argues that, as a result, market reform, aimed at establish- Lib Dem policy-making through ing a predictable long-term support conference ‘has a built-in tendency framework for low-carbon sources to load regulatory burdens and of energy, are sniffily dismissed as spending promises on the leader- not really supply-side reforms at ship’. This is a fair point, though all – which perhaps comes as a sur- it entirely ignores the fact that Lib prise to Leunig, since Huhne has, as Dem election manifestos are not he helpfully points out, a first-class drawn up by conference but by the degree in economics. Federal Policy Committee, which Stephen Davies’ article offers a takes a much more holistic view, brief summary of classical Liber- across all areas of policy, and also alism in the party since 1886. It’s works within a costings framework pretty good, through it mostly drawn up almost entirely by the ignores the 1950s battles between party’s Treasury team. the ‘radical individualists’ and the Even the Orange Book authors and, partly themselves come in for a share of as a consequence, claims Jo Gri- the blame. has at best mond as being ‘clearly in the clas- a mixed record on deregulation, sical Liberal tradition’ (p. 10). This

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 47 reviews measures to deal with them other to problems of growth and prosper- the exception of David Laws, who than improving education. ity; Papworth attacks the fact that does at least recognise this last as a For me the most interesting arti- the British state now accounts for challenge. cle was Emma Sanderson-Nash’s, 50 per cent of GDP while entirely Despite all this, the articles are which considers whether The ignoring the fact that this is largely worth reading as a contribution to Orange Book should be seen an one the result of the implosion of a the debate around the future direc- element in a strategic shift towards banking system that was not over- tion of the party and the historical greater professionalism and cen- but under-regulated. (And actu- antecedents of the economic-liberal tralisation in the party. She does ally, it doesn’t account for 50 per case. And despite its failings and a good job of tracing the story of cent – it’s now about 43 per cent, limitations, The Orange Book did organisational change within the the same as it has been, on average, at least, as several of these authors Liberal Democrats since its forma- for the last fifty years, though it point out, spark off a lively ideo- tion in 1988, but whether a move to was slightly higher when his article logical debate within the party – the right is an inevitable concomi- was written.) Problems of market which is unquestionably a healthy tant of increasing professionalisa- failure, rather than government development. tion – as she implies – is not dis- failure, are simply ignored, as is cussed, and neither is the argument the impossibility of meeting rap- Duncan Brack is the Editor of the Jour- that any shift to the right in Liberal idly more serious environmental nal of Liberal History. In 2007 he co- Democrat economic policy after constraints through deregulation, edited, with Richard Grayson and David 2007 was primarily a response to as are the social (and economic) Howarth, Reinventing the State: changing circumstances post-credit consequences of growing inequali- for the 21st Cen- crunch rather than a wholesale ties of income and wealth – with tury, a riposte to The Orange Book. revision of ideology. One interest- ing point highlighted by the article is the change in the composition of the parliamentary party, with a higher proportion of Lib Dem MPs now deriving from business back- 2010 analysed grounds than in either of the other two main parties. Robert Worcester and Roger Mortimore, Explaining One would not expect short articles of this kind and in this jour- Cameron’s Coalition (Biteback Publishing, 2011) nal to be self-critical, and mostly Reviewed by Mark Pack they aren’t. Deregulation is the unquestioned – and only – solution xplaining Cameron’s than the machinations and words of Coalition is the latest in politicians, who usually take centre Ethe series of general elec- stage in post-election accounts. tion analyses by MORI’s Robert The book is bulging with facts Worcester and Roger Mortimore, that make it hard to summarise this time joined by two other them beyond ‘go read the book’, authors. The book is therefore very though a few do particularly stand much the tale of the 2005–2010 out. The authors conclude that ‘the parliament and subsequent gen- nature of electoral support in Brit- eral election seen through the eyes ain has changed, probably perma- of MORI’s opinion polling, with nently … the culmination of years an often pungent analysis which of steady change … British voters allows Robert Worcester to point are … less tribal … and less polar- out happily where he got predic- ised’. Yet geographic division, espe- tions right and others got them cially the decline of the Conserva- wrong. tive Party in Scotland, has hard- Though there is a smattering of ened even as other divisions have references to polling results from softened. other firms, the great strength of Somewhat paradoxically, the the MORI data is that many of the authors also very successfully questions have been asked regularly model vote share in individual seats for decades, allowing the story of based on seventeen different char- 2005–10 to be put into a consist- acteristics drawn from the 2001 ent historical context, and polling census. Factors such as the number results judged against previous ones of two- or more-car households that led up to victory or defeat. It are very influential in explaining also means that (as with Deborah the Conservative vote share, whilst Mattinson’s excellent book, Talk- factors such as the proportion of ing to a Brick Wall, based on focus single-parent families do the same groups rather than polls) it is an for Labour. Some factors do seem to account of politics in which the divide, even if the old patterns no views of the public dominate rather longer have the same power.

48 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 reviews

In addition: winning Prime Minister too – did pull off a slim victory against the … the old habit, whereby a pre- odds. However, the authors also dominant belief among voters point out that the final result in that the economy was mov- 2010 was by such a fine margin (not ing in the right direction was many extra Labour seats would enough to ensure a government’s have transformed the possibilities re-election, no long holds. So, of a non-Conservative coalition) despite having convinced an that small events might have tipped extraordinarily high proportion the final outcome one way or the of the public that the economy other. As it was, Labour went down was on the upturn … Gordon to defeat with, as the book points Brown could not muster the out, ‘more middle-class voters than votes he needed. working-class voters’, for the first time in its history. The authors also point out that The book includes a useful ’s ratings as Prime introduction to how polls are con- Minister, whilst very low, followed ducted and how they are often mis- a simple extrapolation of Tony reported, with the warning to: Blair’s declining figures though his time as Prime Minister. The prob- … think of polls as being like a lem wasn’t that Brown worsened barometer – barometers don’t the long-term trend; it was more predict the weather; they meas- that the decline had set in from ure something that is helpful the moment Blair became Prime to know if you want to predict Minister. At the same time, Blair the weather. But for that pur- was lucky enough to fight elec- pose, rather than relying purely tions against unpopular Conserva- on voting intentions the many tive leaders, while Brown was up other measurements that the roles as important – or even more against , far more polls regularly provide may be important – than the few who popular than his three predecessors. far more useful in developing an have some fragments of informa- Indeed, the book points out that on impression of what the future tion about them preserved. That is their overall bundle of measures of may bring. what makes the recently published leader image, Gordon Brown was history of Sutton Liberal Demo- in a slightly better position in May Wise words from a good book that crats – A Flagship Borough: 25 Years 2010 than Tony Blair had been, ends with a very welcome appendix of a Liberal Democrat Sutton Coun- even pre-Iraq War in April 2001. – a survey of political cartoons dur- cil – so very welcome. Here, in this But was no David ing the 2010 election, an often over- 317-page book, are remembered Cameron. looked form of commentary. and preserved the names and deeds At times the authors skirt with of numerous vital volunteers from over-playing the determinism of Dr Mark Pack is co-author of 101 over the decades. Labour’s long-time decline in pop- Ways To Win An Election and ran Many people have contributed ularity during its term in office. the Liberal Democrats’ online campaign to the awesome electoral and politi- After all, – a Chan- for the 2001 and 2005 general elections cal record of success that is Sut- cellor succeeding a three-times ton Liberal Democrats: winning election after election, and being at the cutting edge of both green policies and local campaign tactics. Thanks to the book, many of them are now rightly honoured in print. Liberal Sutton Recorded too are the sorts of sto- ries that entertain many a political A Flagship Borough: 25 years of a Liberal Democrat Sutton reminiscence, such as the vomiting Council (Sutton Liberal Democrats, 2012) doll dressed as a superhero which a Conservative councillor brought to Review by Mark Pack one meeting (see page 77 to find the full story!). ook round the room at contribution to a political party The book takes a fairly conven- the next Liberal Democrat slips away through the cracks of the tional narrative approach from the Levent you attend and ask historical record, disappearing as 1970s through to the current day, yourself how many people will the direct personal memories peo- emphasising recording events over have their names recorded in places ple have of them fade and then end analysis. That makes it a compre- that future political historians can with death. hensive work, if at times a little find. A few, certainly, especially Yet many of those whose fate bit of a dry read as one issue after if they have been elected to pub- is to dissipate into nothingness are another is briskly recounted. It lic office. For most, however, their crucial to a party’s success, playing also means that by the end of it the

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 49 reviews reader has some clues as to how is a hint of an answer – consult, red thread which runs through all Sutton has been so successful for so consult, consult – though I suspect the chapters. At the time, there long, yet little in the way of direct many readers will be left wanting was nothing unusual or excep- analysis to tease out the lessons that to know more about quite how this tional about this: very much the could be applied elsewhere. Hav- combination was pulled off. same would have been true for lib- ing a talented and successful team Those, however, are topics that eralism in Britain or indeed any- clearly helped. How much was that can be picked up in training ses- where else in Europe or America. luck and how much was it due to sions and talks. What the book However, the challenge which measures which could be copied does, which neither of those can, defeated Ulster liberals was that elsewhere? is to preserve the memories of Sut- of creating an inclusive notion of Moreover, having taken over ton Liberal Democrats and many the common good which bypassed from a very low-spending Con- of the thousands of helpers who in the philosophical divide and his- servative regime, even the increases their own ways were crucial to it – torical animosity between the in spending introduced by the Lib- from running the printing machine people belonging to the two Chris- eral Democrats left overall spend- through the night through to tian confessions. Further ten- ing levels low in many areas com- regularly delivering leaflets in the sions within the Protestant camp pared to other councils. Yet the apparently most unpromising of between Anglicans and Noncon- Liberal Democrat council managed territory. It makes it a great book to formists (mainly the Presbyterians) to win widespread public support have produced and a very enjoyable compounded the problem. for the quality of its public ser- one to read. Although the noun and adjective vices. High-quality popular ser- ‘liberal’ began to circulate in Ulster vices despite relatively low spend- Dr Mark Pack is co-author of 101 from 1809 – significantly, in an ing levels is a combination many Ways To Win An Election and ran appeal for the Protestants to respect Liberal Democrats would like to be the Liberal Democrats’ online campaign the religious feelings of the Catho- able to copy in all sorts of places – for the 2001 and 2005 general elections lics – the concepts associated with including ! Again there it were already well-established in late eighteenth-century political debates, particularly in the search for a common ground between the elites of the two communities. At the turn of the century Ulster lib- Liberals in Ulster eralism was linked to the United Irishmen until the latter started to Gerald R. Hall, Ulster Liberalism 1778–1876 (Four Courts Press, recruit, besides ‘the respectable’, 2011) also ‘the lower orders’, in a move- ment which looked increasingly Reviewed by Eugenio F Biagini

he civil strife and social outside politics. This tradition was polarisation which char- rooted in the Enlightenment and Tacterised the ‘Troubles’ its legacy. When the latter began from 1968 to 1998 and beyond – to be undermined – by Romanti- and indeed the whole of the past cism and its concomitants, religious century since the Solemn League and nationalist revivalism – Ulster and Covenant to resist home rule liberalism started to wither, but its in 1912 – have for a long time defenders did not give up. As the obscured the extent to which, dur- author notes, ‘[m]uch of the tension ing the previous one hundred years and the drama of this story derives Ulster had been the hub of reform from the struggle of men and politics and various shades of lib- women to maintain their principles eralism. Only recently has there despite changing circumstances’ been a rediscovery of this dimen- (p. 11). sion, which was first examined in Hall examines the causes which John Bew’s ground-breaking The led to the rise and fall of Ulster Glory of Being Britons: Civic Union- liberalism in four substantial chap- ism in 19th Century Belfast (Dublin, ters with a broadly chronologi- 2008) and the important volume cal structure. The first deals with reviewed here. the ‘forging’ of Ulster liberal- Like Bew (whom, surpris- ism. The second and third exam- ingly, he does not cite), Hall aims ine its growth and consolidation, at recovering an Ulster political focusing on the concept of pub- tradition in which neither national- lic opinion and economic affairs, ism nor unionism were of primary and finally (chapter 4) its crisis and importance, and which sought decline from 1868. Religion – as to relegate religious differences a source of inspiration but also of to a self-contained private sphere sectarian division – represents a

50 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 reviews like a conspiracy, and actually became one in the run-up to 1798. Online reviews The rising was a disaster for Ulster Introduction to Reviews in History for Journal of Liberal liberals, because it renewed the sec- tarian polarisation which was so History readers antithetical to whatever they stood by Danny Millum for, and because it resulted – like the French revolution – in a bloody civil war. eviews in History (http:// review/1267) of The History of Par- From 1801 the Union provided www.history.ac.uk/ liament Online, a good example of a new chance to recast Irish poli- Rreviews), founded in 1996, a classic resource for political his- tics into a different mould, with is a freely-accessible online-only torians now being transformed by many hoping that Westminster journal published by the Institute digital technology. Such resources would foster the wider sympathies of Historical Research and featur- are now proliferating, but it is often and allegiances, but a twenty- ing reviews of books and digital harder to find in-depth objective nine-year delay in introducing resources. Coverage extends to all reviews for something like this Catholic emancipation poisoned geographical areas and types of his- than it would be for the equivalent the relationship between the com- tory, and its chronological scope book, and this gap is one which munities and paved the way for the extends back to AD 500. Reviews has striven hard to fill, rise of Daniel O’Connell. This was Its aim has always been to both in terms of coverage and also bad news for the liberals, whose review major recently published in providing would-be reviewers electoral support depended – then works of history in a serious and with guidance as to the criteria to as, indeed, ever since – on bridging scholarly way, and at greater speed apply to such resources. This piece the sectarian gap and building an and fuller length than in most has also elicited a response (http:// alliance between the open-minded printed journals. The online for- www.history.ac.uk/reviews/ people of both communities, one mat, of course, is perfect for this, review/1267#author-response) focusing on economic and social allowing us to commission pieces from the editor of the project, and concerns rather than theologi- of 2,000 to 3,000 words and pub- this is a good example of how this cal divides (p. 96). As the century lish them immediately, without the feature allows questions raised in went on, liberals discovered that constraints of typesetting or fixed the initial review to be answered by this could best be done by tak- publication dates which affect a those most qualified to do so. ing up issues such as land reform printed journal. A further unique In terms of books we have cov- and tenant rights, to which both feature is the right of reply afforded ered which are more specifically Protestant and Catholic farmers to authors, taken up by many, geared to liberal politics, and the were increasingly responsive. In through which Reviews hopes to Liberal Party, a nice example would this respect Hall’s decision to end encourage constructive discussion be this piece (http://www.his- his book in 1868 or 1876 is strange, and debate. tory.ac.uk/reviews/review/661) by for Ulster liberals experienced a The commissioning process Helen McCarthy on The Strange major revival – linked to their land relies on a combination of sugges- Survival of Liberal England: Political reform campaign – in 1880. Later, tions by academics, recommenda- Leaders, Moral Values and the Recep- those Ulster liberals who adopted tions by our Editorial Board and tion of Economic Debate, edited by radical land reform proposals were the careful perusal of publish- Duncan Tanner and Ewen Green. the only ones who prospered – as ers’ catalogues, and this currently The book’s title draws on George illustrated by the career of T. W. produces four new reviews every Dangerfield’s 1935 classicThe Russell, the Liberal MP for South week, with over 1,400 having now Strange Death of Liberal England, Tyrone for about thirty years until been published. and the longer format allows the 1918, during which he stood as a Although the scope of Reviews reviewer to explore this, and to Liberal, a Liberal Unionist and a is wide, there is, reflecting publish- fully site the collection in the histo- Liberal again, but always as a radi- ing trends, a great deal of mate- riography inspired by Dangerfield’s cal agrarian reformer. rial that may appeal to students of polarisation thesis. Once again, Beautifully produced and effec- British Liberal history, and politi- there is a significant response from tively marketed by Four Courts, cal history in general. The website the editors, tackling in detail the this book is a major addition to features a fully-faceted search func- issues and criticisms raised in the the scholarly literature and to the tion, so it is possible very quickly original piece. debate on a less well-known, but to limit the reviews to, say, British For those interested in other nonetheless significant, alternative and Irish political history from the reviews surrounding the rise of tradition in Irish politics. twentieth century (http://bit.ly/ Labour and eclipse of the Liberals in U4wzHj). This then produces 114 the first half of the twentieth cen- Eugenio F. Biagini is Reader in Mod- reviews (at the time this article was tury, see Laura Beers (http://www. ern History at Cambridge and a Fellow written!) which can be browsed, or history.ac.uk/reviews/review/985) of Sidney Sussex College; he is also the further filtered by keyword (e.g. ‘ on Parties and People, England 1914– Reviews Editor of the Journal of Lib- liberal’). 1951 by Ross McKibbin. Turning eral History. He has published exten- Glancing through these, your back to the era of Liberal ascend- sively on the history of Liberalism in eye might be drawn first to a recent ancy, we unsurprisingly find a Britain, Ireland and Italy. review by Jason Peacey (http:// number of reviews of works taking www.history.ac.uk/reviews/ a variety of different perspectives

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 51 ‘This new volume, taking a long view from the later seventeenth century to the Cameron-Clegg coalition of today, is a collective enterprise by many hands … This is an excellent book.’ Kenneth O. Morgan, Cercles

‘I had not expected to enjoy this book as much as I did, or to learn as much from it.’ William Wallace, Lib Dem Voice

‘The editors and their fourteen authors deserve congratulation for producing a readable one- volume history of Liberal politics in Britain that is both erudite but perfectly accessible to any reader interested in the subject.’ Mark Smulian, Liberator

Written by academics and experts, drawing on the most recent research, Peace, Reform and Liberation is the most comprehensive and most up-to-date guide to the story of those who called themselves Liberals, what inspired them and what they achieved over the last 300 years and more. An essential source for anyone interested in the contribution of Liberals and Liberalism to British politics.

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on Gladstone. So we have Read- the most commonly occurring which again affords the oppor- should feel free to contact the ing Gladstone by Ruth Wind- words in a review with the rest tunity to seek other opinions deputy editor (danny.millum@ scheffel (http://www.history. of the database, and lists the top besides those of our reviewer. sas.ac.uk) with any sugges- ac.uk/reviews/review/787), five matches. This can lead to Reviews in History is one tions they may have for review and Gladstone: Heroic Minister, obvious connections (all three of most popular of the IHR’s – although reviewers are nor- 1865–1898 (http://www.his- Gladstone biographies appear as offerings, with over 100,000 mally selected by invitation, tory.ac.uk/reviews/review/89) being related to the others), and visits a month, and an email volunteers are always welcome. and Gladstone: God and Politics less obvious ones – a book on subscriber list of around 4,000. It would also be great to receive (http://www.history.ac.uk/ altruism, for example, or one As such, it offers a great plat- suggestions about the website in reviews/review/698) by Rich- on . form for both authors and general, so if you have any ideas ard Shannon. These illustrate Another potentially inter- reviewers to get their ideas as to features you would like to another feature of Reviews esting feature for readers is the across to a broad audience of see, do just get in touch. which readers may find use- section listing other freely- academics, postgraduates and ful – the automatically gener- accessible reviews of the book the informed general public. Danny Millum is deputy editor of ated ‘related reviews’ list which (see ‘Other reviews’ at http:// We are always keen to engage Reviews in History at the Institute appears on the right of the www.history.ac.uk/reviews/ with our audience, and readers of Historical Research review, and which compares review/698, for example), of the Journal of Liberal History