For the study of Liberal, SDP and Issue 46 / Spring 2005 / £5.00 Liberal Democrat history

Journal of LiberalHI ST O R Y

Liberals and the land Roy Douglas Land taxing and the Liberals, 1879 – 1914 Hans-Joachim Heller Sir Edward Grey’s German love-child Anne Newman Dundee’s grand old man Biography of Edmund Robertson MP Ian Ivatt Frances Stevenson, Lloyd George and the Surrey – Sussex dimension Brenda Tillotson and Ian Hunter At the heart of the party Biography of Raymond Jones, party worker Liberal Democrat History Group Cover picture: ‘Who made the earth?’ from Land Values, February 1914.

2 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 Journal of Liberal History Issue 46: Spring 2005 The Journal of Liberal History is published quarterly by the Liberal Democrat History Group. ISSN 1479-9642 Land taxing and the Liberals, 1879 – 1914 4 Editor: Duncan Brack Roy Douglas explores why the Liberals of the late nineteenth and early Deputy Editor: Sarah Taft twentieth centuries cared so much about the land question in general, and Assistant Editor: Siobhan Vitelli land value taxation in particular. Biographies Editor: Robert Ingham Reviews Editor: Dr Eugenio Biagini Deputy Reviews Editor: Tom Kiehl Sir Edward Grey’s German love-child 12 The unusual family story of the leading Liberal statesman, recently uncovered Patrons by Hans-Joachim Heller. Dr Eugenio Biagini; Professor Michael Freeden; Professor John Vincent Dundee’s grand old man 16 The life and political career of Edmund Robertson, Lord Lochee of Gowrie Editorial Board (1845–1908); by Anne Newman. Dr Malcolm Baines; Dr Roy Douglas; Dr Barry Doyle; Dr David Dutton; Professor David Gowland; Dr Richard Grayson; Dr Michael Hart; Peter Hellyer; Ian Hunter; Frances Stevenson, Lloyd George and the 24 Dr J. Graham Jones; Tony Little; Professor Ian Machin; Surrey – Sussex dimension Dr Mark Pack; Dr Ian Packer; Dr John Powell; Jaime Ian Ivatt looks at David Lloyd George’s and Frances Stevenson’s connections Reynolds; Iain Sharpe with Surrey and Sussex. Editorial/Correspondence At the heart of the party 28 Contributions to the Journal – letters, articles, and book reviews – are invited. The Journal is a refereed Biography of Raymond Jones (1883–1948), constituency organiser, election publication; all articles submitted will be reviewed. agent and parliamentary candidate; by Brenda Tillotson and Ian Hunter. Contributions should be sent to: Duncan Brack (Editor) More on Lib Dem voting in the Commons 32 38 Salford Road, London SW2 4BQ Update on voting behaviour of Liberal Democrat MPs; by Philip Cowley and email: [email protected] Mark Stuart. All articles copyright © Journal of Liberal History. Letters to the Editor 33 Advertisements Liberalism in the 1920s (Jaime Reynolds); Hair in history (Tim Hill); Full page £100; half page £60; quarter page £35. Liberalism in Liverpool (Michael Meadowcroft). Discounts available for repeat ads or offers to readers (e.g. discounted book prices). To place ads, please contact the Editor. Report: Roy Jenkins – Reformer, Visionary, 34 Statesman Subscriptions/Membership with Dick Taverne, Shirley Williams and Peter Riddell; report by Neil Stockley. An annual subscription to the Journal of Liberal History costs £15.00 (£7.50 unwaged rate). This includes membership of the History Group unless you The pro with proven political effectiveness 37 inform us otherwise. The institutional rate is £25.00. Adrian Slade interviews Tom McNally.

Overseas (non-UK) subscribers should add £5.00; or, a special three-year rate is available for £55.00 Reviews 40 (individuals) or £85.00 (institutions). Dutton: A History of the Liberal Party in the Twentieth Century, reviewed by Online subscriptions cost £35.00. In addition to Matt Cole; Pearce, Reform! The Fight for the 1832 Reform Act, reviewed printed copies, online subscribers will be able to by Dr Kathryn Rix; Vane, Affair of State: A Biography of the 8th Duke and access online copies of current and past Journals. Duchess of Devonshire, reviewed by Tony Little. Overseas online subscriptions are available for £40.00 per year, or £100 for three years. Archives 46 Cheques (payable to ‘Liberal Democrat History The Beveridge archives at the LSE Library; by Sue Donnelly. Group’) should be sent to:

Patrick Mitchell 6 Palfrey Place, London SW8 1PA; email: [email protected] Liberal Democrat History Group The Liberal Democrat History Group promotes the discussion and research of historical topics relating to the histories of the Liberal Democrats, Liberal Party, and SDP, and of Cover design concept: Lynne Featherstone Liberalism. The Group organises discussion meetings and produces the Journal and other Published by the Liberal Democrat History Group, c/o occasional publications. 38 Salford Road, London SW2 4BQ For more information, including details of publications, back issues of the Journal, tape Printed by Kall-Kwik, records of meetings and archive and other research sources, see our website at: 426 Chiswick High Road, London W4 5TF www.liberalhistory.org.uk. February 2005 Chair: Tony Little Honorary President: Lord Wallace of Saltaire

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 3 LAND TAXING AND THE LIBERALS

Why were Liberals of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries so excited 1879 – 1914 about ‘the land question’ in general, and land value taxation in particular? And is that excitement a matter merely for academic interest, or is it relevant to problems of the twenty-first century? Roy Douglas traces the steps by which an understanding of its significance developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He contends that the pre- Liberal government got closer than any other administration, before or since, to an effective attack on a perennial problem.

‘Hands Off!’ Liberal leaflet, December 1909 – published at the height of the crisis caused by the House of Lords’ rejection of the People’s Budget, with its provisions for land taxes.

4 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 LAND TAXING AND THE LIBERALS 1879 – 1914

epeal of the Corn agricultural connotation. Liberal The bill caused considerable trou- Laws in  was concern with ‘the land question’ ble in the government, and caused followed by rapid was eventually directed at all kinds the Duke of Argyll to depart from advances towards of land, urban as well as rural, but the Cabinet, and effectively from general free trade, it was events in rural areas that the Liberal Party. The Duke was Rculminating in Gladstone’s Budg- began to focus attention on the not only a great, and very influ- ets of  and . The s, wider problem. ential, Scottish landowner; he s and most of the s wit- In the late s, things began was also a man of considerable nessed general improvements to go wrong. The appalling wet intellect, and an important force in living standards in nearly all summer of  produced rot- of stability in the administration. classes, and, by common consent, ten grain in England and rotten The bill was nevertheless impelled free trade had played a major part potatoes in Ireland, threatening a through the Commons largely by in that development. Even agri- recurrence of the terrible ‘Hun- Gladstone’s own personality. More culture, for which many protec- gry Forties’. Fortunately, free surprisingly, it also got past the tionists had predicted disaster, was trade enabled the United King- House of Lords. In the view of the prospering. dom to import food from else- th Earl of Derby, son of a Con- Yet some Liberal Free Traders where, particularly the United servative Prime Minister, though soon came to feel that more was States, and people’s worst fears currently in the Liberal phase of required. In  the last great were not realised; though it was his rather mixed career, the com- speech of Richard Cobden con- a very close thing, particularly in monest judgement was, ‘We were tained a remarkable passage in Ireland. Privations caused by crop bound to try something, and, on which he declared that, if he were failures, on top of long-stand- the whole, there seemed nothing younger: ing agrarian grievances, sparked else to try.’ off the violent Irish ‘Land War’, The aftermath is as famous as I would take Adam Smith in which attracted enormous atten- the measure itself. There were ini- hand … and I would have a tion throughout the British Isles. ‘I would tial difficulties in applying the Act. League for free trade in Land just Tenant farmers were particu- The principal agitators, including as we had a League for free trade larly aggrieved, and Prime Minis- have a Parnell, were arrested, and then in Corn … If you can apply free ter Gladstone eventually decided released after the ‘Treaty of Kil- trade to land and labour too that it was imperative to concede League for mainham’. Then the tenants were … then, I say, the men who do what seemed to be their principal free trade persuaded to test the workings that will have done for England demands. This led to the Irish Land of the Act, but soon falling com- probably more than we have Act of , whose main provi- in Land modity prices made the ‘judicial been able to do by making free sions were the establishment of rents’ unrealistic, and in  a trade in corn. tribunals to adjust rents; an assur- just as new land agitation, the ‘Plan of ance that tenants who had fulfilled Campaign’, commenced. This was far from being a devel- the covenants of existing tenancies we had a Attempts were also made to oped land policy; but it did signal should be entitled to renewal if League for tackle the problem from a differ- a recognition that land reform was they wished; and provisions requir- ent angle. When the Liberal gov- an essential element of free trade. ing that improvements made by free trade ernment disestablished the Irish To many people, then as now, tenants should be credited to the Church in , provision was the word ‘land’ had a specifically improver at the end of a tenancy. in Corn.’ made under which many Church

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 5 LAND TAXING AND THE LIBERALS,1879–1914 tenants were enabled to purchase George noted the paradox that Liberal Party a few decades ear- their holdings. Further provisions the great technological improve- lier. The Duke of Argyll was not for tenant land purchase were ments of the preceding century the first of their number to depart, made under the Irish Land Act of had not been accompanied by a and as time went on many more , and the brief Conservative significant relief of poverty, which followed. The issue of Irish Home government of  also took up in many places was as dire as it Rule was the occasion rather than the idea with ‘Lord Ashbourne’s had been before industrialisa- the cause of the mass departure of Act’. Other Irish land purchase tion began. He argued that the Whigs in . At the same time, Acts followed, culminating in root of poverty, urban as well as the relative importance of the rad- George Wyndham’s Act of . rural, lay in the existing character ical land reformers grew. These various Acts, Liberal and of land ownership. If the land sys- Even before the ‘Liberal Conservative, were all based on tem were changed, then poverty Unionist’ departure of , the the principle that tenants should could be eradicated. Irish ‘Land War’ had been linked be able to acquire their holdings, The impact of Henry George’s with a parallel ‘Land War’ in the when the landlord was willing to ideas during the s was enor- Hebrides, with which Henry sell, through a sort of long-term mous. He made several lecture George and his policies were mortgage advanced by the gov- tours in Britain, and produced closely associated. The agita- ernment. By the early twentieth a number of other influential tion began in Skye, and rapidly century, a very large part of Irish books, including Protection or Free spread to a considerable number land was already under a kind Trade, a widely read defence of of other islands and parts of the of peasant proprietorship. The the free trade position. Sir Robert mainland. There were no killings, arrangements pleased the former Ensor has noted at some length but there were rent strikes and landowners, for whom Irish land the enormous influence which land seizures, which occasioned a was a wasting asset. It pleased George exerted on early Social- number of fights between croft- their former tenants, whose over- ists; his influence on Liberals, ers and police. Marines were also riding concern had been to own more particularly the younger involved, and for a large part of the land they cultivated. It also and more radical members of the the s a gunboat plied the satisfied the British government, party, was just as great. Hebrides. George himself spoke which no longer needed so many George and his followers in Skye in the course of one of his military and police to maintain argued that a remarkably simple British lecture tours. order in Ireland. The people who remedy was available, which would Many Liber- The new ‘Land War’ attracted gained nothing from the arrange- not require any sort of political great attention in Scotland, where ment were the urban population, earthquake. Let land remain in als became many working-class people were and others who had no direct its present private hands, but the of recent Hebridean extraction, interest in agriculture. owner of a piece of land should be land taxers, and no doubt some of them had The various episodes of Irish required to pay a tax related to the and many personal memories of the evic- land agitation, and the measures value of that land. The valuation tions of crofters to make way for undertaken to rectify or mollify should refer to the site alone, and people sheep earlier in the century. The Irish grievances in the latter part not to any improvements, such as Glasgow and Edinburgh press of the nineteenth century and the buildings or crops, which human whose ini- of the s gave frequent, and very beginning of the twentieth, effort had brought on to the land. prominent, attention to events all attracted a great deal of public Thus the value of the land would tial interest in the Isles, which were largely attention throughout the British pass to the community as a whole. had been ignored by their English coun- Isles. People everywhere began to At a time when the burden of terparts. Might these struggles wonder whether developments in taxation in all countries was vastly in land tax- in remote places perhaps have Ireland were somehow relevant to lighter than it is today, George was some relevance to the problems their own troubles. able to contend with much force ing decided of urban workers? The Scottish that a ‘single tax’ on land values Land Restoration League was set could replace all other kinds of that the up in Glasgow in February , Radicalisation of the taxation. This view was widely Liberal and in November of the same Liberals argued by his British followers year the Liberal ‘Six Hundred’ In , almost at the same from the late s onwards. Party was – effectively, the local Liberal moment as the crops failed and Many Liberals became land Association – of the town carried the ‘Land War’ began, a remark- taxers, and many people whose the best with a large majority a resolution able book written by the Amer- initial interest had been in land calling for a tax on site values. ican economist and political taxing decided that the Liberal vehicle By the s, advanced Liber- philosopher Henry George, Party was the best vehicle through through als were seeing more and more entitled Progress and Poverty, was which to operate. This was bound parallels between events in Ire- published, at first in the United to frighten off many of the Whig which to land and Scotland on the one States, but soon in many other landowners who had formed a hand, and the problems of English countries, including in Britain. very important element in the operate. agriculture, and most particularly

6 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 LAND TAXING AND THE LIBERALS,1879–1914

those of the farm workers, on the Henry George Nationalisation Society proposed owners, who had once seemed to other. In the first half of the dec- (1839–97), land reform of yet another kind. be the munificent leaders of local ade, a series of articles, codified by author of Progress These various land reformers society, began to be perceived as and Poverty (on Joseph Chamberlain as the Radi- left, from the lid were certainly thinking on differ- no more than rentiers, drawing cal Programme, attracted much of a cigar box) ent lines, but they had vital points money from their tenants and attention. Chamberlain’s friend in common. All agreed that the giving little in return. At the same and admirer Jesse Collings saw the exclusive possession of land by time, industry encountered trou- way forward in the establishment relatively small numbers of land- bles of its own, and there was a of rural smallholdings – ‘three owners was not only inherently period of massive unemployment, acres and a cow’. Other Liberals unjust but generated poverty and which produced profound priva- were coming to lay emphasis on privation; and that it was both tions for working-class people. the more fundamental policy of desirable and possible to rec- Many different ideas, ranging land value taxation. These policies tify the current situation. Some from land reform to socialism, were not necessarily incompat- reformers laid more emphasis on from imperialism to temperance, ible, but they were very different. other factors as causes of poverty, were being discussed in Liberal The general election of  but few confuted the view that circles as possible ways of deal- was a particularly important one. the existing system of land own- ing with these various problems. For the first time, the great major- ership played an important part. Gladstone was campaigning ity of householders, rural as well as The Irish and Hebridean ‘Land actively for Irish Home Rule, urban, received the vote. George’s Wars’ had some weaker parallels but it was plain that neither the proposal for a tax on land values in England. In Wales, what started Grand Old Man nor the cause of was widely argued. ‘Three acres’ off as a rather similar movement Home Rule would remain at the was a very effective Liberal bat- soon became more deeply con- centre of politics forever. tle-cry, and many people have cerned with a struggle against Liberals at the lower levels of attributed the unexpected Liberal tithes paid to the established the party, operating through the victory in many rural constituen- Church. In this mixed contest, a National Liberal Federation, were cies to its influence on the newly young Welshman, David Lloyd thinking actively about the poli- enfranchised farm labourers. George – still several years off cies that would be required in the Among the Liberal victors was becoming an MP – first attracted next phase. At the NLF meet- Joseph Arch. He had left school attention. In the extraordinary ing in Manchester in , and at nine to become a farm worker. career which followed, the mem- again at Newcastle in , long Thereafter he had played a leading ory of events and ideas of his lists of policies were drawn up. part in founding the Agricultural youth never quite left him. The ‘Newcastle Programme’ was Labourers’ Union, and was now In the s and early s, exceptionally comprehensive, and returned as the MP for North- ‘Land Wars’ were by no means the is particularly famous. Two and a West Norfolk. In the Scottish only troubles to beset agricul- half thousand delegates from  crofting areas, proposals similar ture. The great influx of foreign Liberal Associations attended. to those which had been enacted food that had saved many work- Several kinds of land reform for Ireland in  were popular. ing people from starvation in the were proposed, including – in Four of the Highland MPs are beginning of the period did not a thinly veiled but unmistake- sometimes listed as Liberals, but abate. Many tenant farmers went able form – the taxation of land are sometimes regarded as mem- out of business, and agricultural values. Nobody claimed that the bers of a distinct ‘Crofters’ Party’. landlords were compelled greatly ‘Newcastle Programme’ was an Alfred Russel Wallace’s Land to reduce rents. Very soon land- election manifesto which would

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 7 LAND TAXING AND THE LIBERALS,1879–1914

bind a future Liberal government, but it gave a clear idea of what the party’s rank and file was thinking. In , Gladstone formed his last government, and in the following year made his second unsuccessful attempt to secure Home Rule. When he at last retired in March , Rosebery took the premiership, but there was not much sense of purpose. Sir William Harcourt’s  Finance Act was the most nota- ble achievement, but Harcourt and Rosebery were on notori- ously bad terms, both personally and politically. The government more or less fell to pieces in the following year, and a long period elapsed before the various quar- relling politicians who sought to lead the Liberal Party acquired any sense of consistent purpose. What eventually brought them together was opposition to Joseph Chamberlain’s ‘Tariff Reform’ campaign of , and a sturdy defence of free trade.

Turn of the century At lower levels of the party, how- ever, new ideas were developing rapidly, and among them land value taxation (LVT) was acquir- ing particular popularity. This was related partly to the special needs of local government, at a time when public interest in local administration, particularly in the towns, was much stronger than it is today. Local administration was financed largely through a system of rates on real property, and there was a growing demand that this rating system should be based exclusively on the value of sites, discounting the value of buildings or other improvements which had been put upon them. This proposal for site value rating (SVR) was simply LVT applied The land tax for local purposes. campaign as the cartoonists saw it; The idea was particularly pop- from Land Values ular among Liberals, but it was August 1907 (top) by no means exclusive to them. and June 1911 By , more than  assess- (middle); and ing bodies had declared in favour a Liberal Party  leaflet, December of SVR. Early in , no fewer 1909 (bottom). than  local authorities were reported to have petitioned for

8 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 LAND TAXING AND THE LIBERALS,1879–1914 the right to levy rates on the basis Lloyd thought that the Lords would not for forcing an issue with the of site values. Even councils in interfere with actual taxation pro- House of Lords, but as a means overwhelmingly Conservative George’s posals in a Finance Bill (although of bringing land valuation and areas like Liverpool and Croy- the contrary was proved in ), small elements of land taxation don gave support. The proposal 1909 but nobody seriously disputed into the current year’s legislation, was promoted actively by Lib- their legal right to dispute a valu- in spite of the Lords’ certain dis- eral MPs. Private Members’ bills proposals ation bill. like for them. There were prece- in favour of the right of local were not In November ,  MPs dents for slipping measures which authorities to levy rates on the signed a Memorial urging that the Lords would be sure to dis- basis of site values were intro- designed the taxation of land values should like into a Finance Bill – notably duced by Liberal MPs, including appear in the next Budget, and in Gladstone’s repeal of the paper C. P. Trevelyan and Dr T. Macna- – as many the following year Chancellor of duties in , and Harcourt’s mara. In , and again in , the Exchequer Lloyd George did changes to the succession duties majorities were recorded for such have sug- what he could to comply with in . On both occasions, the bills, which secured the support gested – as their request. The  Budget Lords had decided that it was wise of a number of Conservatives. was bound to be important in to allow the distasteful proposals These bills were not allowed time a device any event, for a good deal more to pass. In , Lloyd George to proceed to their later stages, money was required in taxation. also had a powerful argument for but the widespread support they for forcing Old age pensions had just come the new measures which should attracted was undeniable. into operation, and the coun- appeal even to people who were an issue try was engaged in an expensive not wholly convinced of their with the naval arms race with Germany. merits. Most of the new taxes Liberals in office Lloyd George perceived this as he proposed would fall on other When the Liberals won their House of a good occasion for inserting items, such as increases in legacy huge victory at the general elec- the thin end of the wedge. The duties, income tax and taxes on tion of , early action in the Lords, but Scottish experience had shown liquor and tobacco. If all of these direction of land reform could that it was useless to introduce a things were to claim more tax reasonably be anticipated. There as a means separate valuation bill first, and money in order to meet a per- was still some pressure for ‘Three of bringing the idea of introducing valuation ceived national need, why should Acres’, even though Collings, proposals which would relate not land be exempt? like Chamberlain, had long been land valu- to the current year but to a future At first it looked as if the Lords a Conservative for all practical year’s taxation into the Finance would swallow the bitter pill; but, purposes. A Rural Smallholdings ation and Bill ‘would probably be regarded as time went on, there were signs Act was passed in  as a step as being outside the proper limits that they might refuse. Lloyd in that direction. It proved only small ele- of a Finance Bill by the Speaker George, always the opportunist, a very limited success, and the ments of of the House of Commons’. perceived the political advan- main attention of land reformers Lloyd George’s  Budget tages which might appear if they was centred on land value taxa- land taxa- proposed some small land taxes. did so. For a variety of reasons, tion. As Winston Churchill put There should be a tax of one (old) the government had been far- it, land reform – and under that tion into penny in the pound on the capi- ing badly in by-elections; then, in term he laid special emphasis on tal value of land, which – for the July , the Liberal candidate land value taxation – was ‘the the current first two years at any rate – would in the highly marginal constitu- most important and certainly the year’s leg- only be levied on mining royalties, ency of High Peak, who centred most fundamental part of con- ground rents and vacant land; and his campaign on the Budget, structive Liberal social policy’. islation. there should be a tax on the value emerged victorious. There were Many of the MPs were eager of the increment when land was other signs which suggested that land taxers. Nowhere was the later sold at a profit. These taxes the Budget was proving popular. cause more popular than in Scot- provided a decent pretext for a Lloyd George made a succession land. So why not use Scotland as general valuation. As the annual of speeches, notably at Limehouse a test case, certainly for SVR and Finance Bill wended its way at the end of July and at Newcas- perhaps for LVT? The natural way through the House of Commons, tle in early October, which caused of doing this was first to value all the proposed capital value tax was great fury in Conservative circles, land, and then, when the valua- halved, and a new lease reversion and helped goad the Lords into tion was complete, to impose a tax duty was introduced. The antici- rejecting the Budget. on that basis, whether for local or pated yield of the new land taxes That forced the general elec- for national purposes. Twice the was tiny, even in  values: the tion of January , where the Liberal government introduced Chancellor estimated it at a mere Liberals again won a majority legislation to value Scottish land, half-million pounds. – albeit a composite one on this and on each occasion the bill Thus Lloyd George’s  occasion, dependent on support was wrecked in the House of proposals were not designed – as from the Irish Nationalists and Lords. At that time it was widely many have suggested – as a device Labour. Although the Liberals

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 9 LAND TAXING AND THE LIBERALS,1879–1914 had lost ground, the fact that they of those Liberal MPs who were Whip, Percy llingworth, discuss- won at all was truly remarkable. not members of the administra- ing a meeting in Swindon. The Opposition had little doubt tion, were signatories. The Prime about the reason. A group of lead- Minister and the Chancellor were The land has caught on. Winston ing Unionists who carried out welcoming enough; but Lloyd found the same thing in Man- an inquest into the election all George explained to the Memo- chester. But we must not flag. decided that ‘in the English towns rialists that the valuation was The Tory press have evidently we were beaten by the land taxes expected to be complete ‘within received instructions from head- of the Budget’. One of the mem- five years from the passing of the quarters to talk Ulster to the bers added that defeat of the Mod- Budget’. Five whole years! On exclusion of land. If they suc- erates – that is, the Conservatives that estimate, the earliest moment ceed we are ‘beat’, and beat by – in the recent London County for the introduction of LVT superior generalship. Council election ‘was due to the would be the  Budget. same cause and … unless we are In , Liberal land tax- Reporting on the National Lib- prepared to indicate an intention ers provided considerable evi- eral Federation meeting in Leeds of dealing with this question we dence to show that their policy which Asquith addressed a month have no chance of winning the was popular in different kinds of later, lllingworth declared that ‘the towns back’. Such observations places. The agricultural constitu- Prime Minister’s speech last night bring out very sharply the impor- ency of North-West Norfolk was was I think the best I ever heard tance of the land question as a Liberal, but hardly looked safe. E. him make. “Land” went like hot political issue in urban areas. When G. Hemmerde, who laid particular cakes at the delegates’ meeting.’ Lloyd George’s Finance Bill passed emphasis on land reform, retained At the end of , there was the new House of Commons, the it in the by-election of May that reason for thinking that the gov- Lords let it through. So, to the year. The industrial constituency ernment was limbering up for a delight of land taxers, valuation of Holmfirth looked safer, but much broader land campaign, commenced. there was a strong challenge from which might culminate in a land- Labour. Sydney Arnold, another taxing Budget in , followed strong land taxer, held it for the by a general election at which the After the Budget Liberals in June. More spectacular land question in general, and land After the great Budget contro- was the Liberal victory at Hanley, taxing in particular, would be the versy, LVT, together with its local another industrial constituency, in dominant issue. government variant SVR, was the following month. The seat had the variety of land reform that been held by one of the ‘Lib-Lab’ attracted by far the most atten- miners who had defected to the War and after tion. Other measures, notably Labour Party, and had held it in In , however, the govern- legislation to encourage the pro- a straight fight with the Con- ment was forced to give its closest vision of Scottish smallholdings, servatives in both  general attention first to problems associ- were advanced, but these were ‘The Prime elections. A Liberal candidate, R. ated with Irish Home Rule – for small beer by comparison. And L. Outhwaite, appeared at the by- there was much reason to fear yet the land valuation which had Minister’s election. Outhwaite was a par- that Ulster would irrupt in civil been the most vital feature of the ticularly enthusiastic land taxer, violence – and eventually to the Budget took an inordinately long speech and centred his campaign on that war which Britain entered on th time. A compelling argument last night issue. Many observers expected August. With the arrival of war, was advanced much later which the Conservative to win on a split land valuation, and the controver- showed that the valuation pro- was I think vote, but Outhwaite was trium- sial legislation which was in the cedure adopted was vastly more phant, and the Labour defender pipeline, were suspended in the complex than was necessary, and the best I finished a bad third. putative interest of national unity. that the valuation could have been In the teeth of such dem- By the end of the war, every- conducted in much shorter time ever heard onstrations of the popularity of thing had changed. A few Liberals, – and, indeed, more accurately – if him make. land taxing, the process of valu- including the ardent land taxers procedures used by professional ation proceeded in its leisurely Trevelyan and Outhwaite, had valuers had been followed. “Land” way, and was still not complete opposed the war entirely. The bulk Eager land taxers began to when war came in . Public of the party was split to a grow- become restive. In May , went like attention was drawn largely to ing extent between what were a delegation of leading back- the question of Irish Home Rule, loosely called ‘Asquithians’ and benchers met Asquith and Lloyd hot cakes but late in  the Liberal gov- ‘Lloyd Georgeites’. The Labour George, to whom they presented at the del- ernment commenced a new land Party began to set its sights on a Memorial signed by  MPs, campaign. The response was most eventually becoming the govern- calling for speedier land taxing. All egates’ eager. ‘I have rarely addressed ment. Lloyd George was heading but one of the forty-two Labour such an enthusiastic audience’, a coalition government, in which MPs, and a substantial majority meeting.’ wrote Lloyd George to the Chief Conservatives formed the major

10 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 LAND TAXING AND THE LIBERALS,1879–1914 element. Such are the ironies of for a new and more radical land Land tax- that it is held explains why many politics that it was this coalition campaign, which would probably Liberals continue to see events which finally and formally aban- have led to land value taxation ers were of the late nineteenth and early doned the minuscule land taxes, being adopted as a major ele- twentieth centuries as highly rel- and the valuation as well. ment of the British fiscal system. scattered evant to contemporary politics, The real reason for the aban- So did the  war kill the land and to the mission of Liberalism donment is obvious enough. The question? In the most fundamen- in every in the present and the future. Conservative majority in the tal sense, neither that war nor political coalition, among whom landed any other event could possibly Roy Douglas, Emeritus Reader at interests were still very powerful, kill the land question. ‘Land’, in direction. the University of Surrey, was a Lib- feared that valuation would even- the classical economists’ sense of eral parliamentary candidate, and tually form the basis for the taxa- ‘natural resources’, is essential for is currently Chairman of the Land tion of land values. There were, all human activity, and the quan- Value Taxation Campaign. He is however, some ‘respectable’ argu- tity of land is limited. The allo- the author of several books, including ments as well. Land values (and, cation of land (or, more strictly, The History of the Liberal Party indeed, money values as well) of rights over land) is a vital and – (Sidgwick & Jackson, had changed greatly since . permanent problem for all gov- ) and a book on the land ques- The yield of the existing taxes ernments. But what did die was tion in British politics. was so small that it did not jus- the particular form that the land tify the cost of collecting them. In question took in . In most  John Bright Jr. and J. E. Thorold Rog- a sense, Lloyd George had been of the country, including most ers, Speeches by Richard Cobden (Lon- don: Macmillan, ), p. . hoist with his own petard, for he rural areas, powerful landown-  Nineteenth Century, October , p. had never viewed those taxes as of ers – whether ‘the Dukes’ whom . much use in themselves, but only Lloyd George lampooned or vil-  See E. P. Lawrence, Henry George in as a small step towards something lage squires – were no longer per- the British Isles (East Lansing, Mich.: much bigger. ceived as the great enemy. There Michigan State University Press, ). Land taxers were scattered in were a few exceptions to this, but  R.C.K. Ensor, England – every political direction. Some generally the economic, social (Oxford: Clarendon Press, ), p. were Asquithians, some were and political power of rural land- . Lloyd Georgeites. Some joined owners declined dramatically. In  Glasgow Herald,  November . the Labour Party. At least one urban areas, where the provision  Cambrian News, undated cutting See Lloyd George papers (Beaverbrook tried to set up a land taxing party of suitable housing was a running Library collection) A//. of his own. One very important problem throughout the twenti-  R. Spence Watson, The National Lib- land taxer, Winston Churchill, eth century, the point of blockage eral Federation  to  (London: T. eventually migrated to the Con- during the interwar years was not Fisher Unwin, ), passim. servatives. Even if the land taxers usually the exorbitant price of  Single Tax, October .  Land Values, March ; Liberal Mag- had stayed together, they could building land. azine, , pp. –. hardly have changed things much. More generally, the great villain  Land Values, April, July . For all but three of the inter-war was widely perceived by work-  Liberal Magazine, April , pp. – years, Conservatives and their ing people as being the ‘capitalist’ ; ibid. May , pp. –. allies dominated the scene. At employer. Until the  war, and  Ian Packer, Lloyd George, Liberalism and the Land (Woodbridge: Royal one point in , Labour’s Philip to a considerable extent in more Historical Society, ), pp. –. Snowden did manage to get the recent times, unemployment was  Liberal Magazine May , p. . valuation of land on to the statute the deepest worry. Liberal land  Lloyd George memo,  March . book; but almost immediately the taxers contended, and they still CAB //. Labour government fell, and was contend, that the root cause of  For a recent study of the Budget, see Packer, op. cit., pp. –. replaced by the National Gov- these troubles can be traced to the  Ms. ‘sent to JC, AJB, Lansdowne and ernment, which soon came under land question, and that the taxa- Wyndham’  March . Austen Conservative control. First the tion of land values would be of Chamberlain papers, University of valuation was put in a state of sus- major importance in the solution Birmingham Library, //. pended animation; but when the of many problems which, on their  Sir Edgar Harper, The Lloyd George Finance (–) Act : its errors land taxers, Liberal and Labour, face, do not appear to be related and how to correct them (International first withdrew from the govern- to it at all. These problems include Union for Land Value Taxation and ment and eventually went into unemployment, the alternation of Free Trade, ). formal opposition, the legislation booms and slumps, the continued  Lloyd George to lllingworth  was expunged altogether. prevalence of real poverty, rock- October , copy, Lloyd George papers C//. eting house prices, transport and  lllingworth to Lloyd George  communications and even many November , Lloyd George Unfinished business environmental issues. This is not papers C//. When war broke out in , the place to argue whether that  Packer, op. cit., pp. –. preparations were being made view is correct or not; but the fact

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 11 SIR EDWARD GREY’S GERMAN LOVE-CHILD

A little over a hundred years ago, on the small German island of Borkum in the North Sea off Emden, a boarding house was built. Some years later it was given the name ‘Constance’. The name was one result of an unusual family story, only recently uncovered following extensive The ‘Constance’ hen the Liberals cared little for politics and disliked research in Germany boarding house, came to office in London society. She remained in Borkum, in 1914. and England. It , thirty-year- their little cottage on the River old Sir Edward Itchen near Winchester during brings together a Grey (later the st the greater part of Sir Edward’s WViscount Grey of Fallodon, born time as a government minister. leading British Liberal on  April ) became a junior Dorothy did not like children and statesman, his brother, minister at the Foreign Office in did not wish to have any of her London. Already well known as own. Although married, Dorothy his sister, a surveyor’s a talented politician in his home refused to have a sexual relation- daughter, her mother, county of Northumberland, Grey ship with her husband, and has had become MP for Berwick- been described as ‘ultra-virginal’ her governess and upon-Tweed in . Gladstone, before her marriage. The union her piano teacher. the grand old man of the Liberal of Dorothy and Grey appears to Party, predicted a great future for a have been founded on a common Hans-Joachim young man with aristocratic con- love of nature which expressed Heller tells the story nections who had been educated itself in observation and conver- at Winchester and Balliol College, sation about the natural world. of Sir Edward Grey’s Oxford. They kept a diary devoted to German love-child. Grey’s wife Dorothy was a these observations. Edward Grey proud and hard woman who also wrote a book on fly-fishing.

12 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 SIR EDWARD GREY’S GERMAN LOVE-CHILD

Grey was not only a lover of ladies employed by the Slee fam- friends and relations should not nature but also a jolly, sociable and ily for many years as governess observe her developing preg- sporting man and so it is hardly and piano teacher. Their names nancy. She was accompanied by surprising that he was not satisfied were Miss Dorothea Thomas and Miss Thomas, a familiar figure by this ‘marriage blanc’ (to use the Miss Sophie List. At that time from her parents’ home. She had French term for such an arrange- they were both about thirty-five known Florence from child- ment). It was rumoured that he years old. hood and was her confidante. If had had love affairs in London. His First, a secret marriage cer- the birth took place in Germany absences from the Foreign Office emony was held in an unlicensed there was little chance that news were noted at the time. Thus he chapel in London. At the time of it would reach England. became acquainted with Florence it was not too difficult to find Florence’s child, named Dor- Annie Slee, seven years his junior. a man in holy orders with no cas Winifred Grey, was born on She was the daughter of a respect- benefice who would be pleased  March  in Bremen, home able auctioneer and surveyor, to augment his income with a town of Miss Sophie List, where Charles Edward Slee, who lived ‘marriage fee’. Charles Grey, the she knew a midwife. On the Ger- at Streatham on the southern bor- youngest brother of Edward, was man birth certificate of a girl ders of London. His estate agency, to be the sham husband of Flor- known as Winifred Grey, her par- Slee, Son & Carden, was in Hat- ence. He was twenty years old – ents are described as ‘The British ton Garden in the City. Founded four years younger than Florence Officer Charles Grey and his wife in , it is still there today. – and not yet of age. Charles was Florence Annie Slee, both of Lon- probably already planning to go don’. It is interesting that Flor- to Africa once he had completed ence Slee’s child was registered as A love-child is born his education, joining another a Grey and this may be evidence Sir Edward and Florence’s rela- Grey – Edward’s brother George of the intensity of Edward Grey’s tionship soon blossomed into – who was a successful colo- love for Florence. This registra- love, and after about a year she nial administrator. George must tion also meant that there was became pregnant. What were have been idolised by Charles. In no documentary evidence that they to do? Should Edward Grey , when he was then twenty- Charles Florence had had a child out of abandon his political career and four years old, George had vis- wedlock. his good reputation? Would Flor- ited Fallodon Hall and told tales Grey, the A few weeks after the delivery ence and their illegitimate child of big game hunting and African youngest Florence returned to London. The be thrown out by her family? exploration. little girl remained with Miss Tho- The pregnancy and the birth Witnesses to the marriage were brother of mas and Miss List in Germany. must be kept quiet; they would Florence’s mother Ellen Slee, not want their love-child to grow whose husband had recently died, Edward, up with the shame of bastardy and probably Miss Thomas. The Winifred Grey grows up hanging over his or her future. marriage was not legal because was to be It must have been hard for Flor- The two seem to have conceived the chapel was not licensed; it the sham ence to abandon her newborn a carefully considered plan, shared is not in the General Register daughter to guardians in a for- with few people inside their fami- Office indexes. Soon afterwards husband of eign country. She may have lies. The arrangement was carried Florence went to Germany for thought that this would be a out with the help of two German several months so that family Florence. temporary arrangement. Why did

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 13 SIR EDWARD GREY’S GERMAN LOVE-CHILD

they choose the small island of Borkum as a place to bring her up? Borkum is situated nearest to England and the same waves lap against English and German shores. Why was the child called Dorcas, which means ‘gazelle’ in Greek? Perhaps it might mean ‘Winifred, the little gazelle, jumped away from the large Eng- lish island to the tiny island of Borkum and surely will return’. This sad separation was almost inevitable, given the double standards of the day. The next year, in , the two ‘aunts’ – which is what Winifred called Miss Thomas and Miss List for the whole of her life – took lodgings on Borkum, a well- known seaside resort. They were able to live there, and to educate Winifred Grey, thanks to a good pension provided by her parents in England. Ten years later, in , Flor- ence must have become con- vinced that she was never going to get her child back. Edward Grey may also have been inter- ested in closing the door on his old love affair. Winifred’s two guardians on Borkum now received a single sum of several thousand gold marks from the Greys, enabling them to buy a boarding house built in about . They renamed the house ‘Constance’. The name honoured Constance Mary Grey, the sister of Sir Edward. She had helped to bring about a satisfactory solution to the problem of Edward and Florence’s child. Constance was then thirty-two years old; in later life she was a Justice of the Peace in Shropshire. The story of the true descent Far left, from of Winifred and the financing of top: Sir Edward Grey in 1894; his the house in Borkum remained sister, Constance a secret. Beyond her birth and Grey, in 1890; his baptism certificates there is no brother, Charles, further documentary evidence. in 1900. Several hints are dropped in old Left, from top: Florence Slee, letters from friends and relatives in about 1893; in Germany, but the two ‘aunts’ Dorcas Winifred never gave anything away. They Grey, in 1913; had promised to keep quiet, and Hans-Joachim they did. They let it be known that Heller, in 1989 (note the Edward Winifred was the child of a young Grey nose!) British officer who had gone to

14 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 SIR EDWARD GREY’S GERMAN LOVE-CHILD Africa with his wife. As a result the Grey’s old sham marriage with a substitute. her later years she was very glad parents could not bring up their The news must have been an of her four grandchildren. own child and they later died after love, Flor- extraordinary shock for a young contracting a tropical disease. woman. Charles Grey, Winifred’s ‘offi- ence Slee, Winifred never talked about An unlucky man cial’ father, spent his adult life, this journey and her English Sir Edward Grey’s affair with like his elder brother George, did not descent as long as she lived – Florence Slee remained a secret largely in Africa as an explorer remarry … hence my speculation as to what in both Germany and England. and administrator. He became really happened. Nor was she ever He was able to continue his polit- well known as a big game hunter. she died in again in contact with her relatives ical career untainted by scandal. About  he lost his left arm in London. When the First World Sir Edward became a very capa- after being attacked by a lion. 1957. On War began she was engaged as a ble Foreign Secretary, in office for Fearless and daring, he did not children’s nurse by the Bethanien an extraordinarily long time, from give up hunting and in  her death Christian Institution. Borkum had  to . Yet despite his best was killed by a wounded buffalo. certificate become a fortress out of bounds efforts he was not able to prevent George had already been killed to an Englishwoman, an enemy. the outbreak of the First World – by a lion – in . Both were she is For that reason, and because she War. Grey was honoured for his unmarried and without children. had other troubles with the police political achievements before his Miss Thomas and Miss List described over her nationality, in  Miss resignation in December . In had managed the boarding house Thomas adopted her. July  he had been made an ‘Constance’ since . They as a ‘spin- Winifred was of age and now earl, altered to a viscountcy at his brought up little Winifred as their ster’. able to decide things for herself. request. His monumental political own child – severely, but with The adoption by her ‘aunt’ was an memoirs, Twenty-five Years – loving hearts. She was treated as opportunity to break finally with , were published in both if she had come from one of the her disgraceful origins and the Great Britain and Germany. best families. Until Winifred went false statements on her birth and Grey was remarkably unlucky to school they only spoke Eng- baptism certificates. She became in his private life. To add to the lish to her. Once a year, in win- Winifred Thomas, a real German. misfortune of his illegitimate tertime, they visited London and In November  it became child and the early death of a the homes of Florence Slee and obvious that there would be no brother to whom he was deeply other friends, so Florence could seaside visitors for quite a while attached, his wife Dorothy died in see her child growing up in her and, as many women were now  after an accident with a dog early years. working, Winifred founded her cart. Fallodon Hall burned down own kindergarten at ‘Constance’. in April . His cottage in the In  she became part-owner Itchen valley also burned down. A good education of the house which she later Grey married again in , but Thanks to money from Eng- inherited from the ‘aunts’. Miss his wife Pamela died just six years land, Winifred got a good mid- List died in , Miss Thomas in later. In  his sight began to dle-class education. She went to . The house was sold in  fail and by  he was unable to the recently established private and the proceeds from its sale read; he was blind for the last ten school in Borkum until she was were eaten up by devaluation at years of his life. He died, ‘child- seventeen and had piano, violin the end of the Second World War. less’, in  at Fallodon Hall in and singing lessons. She went in The ‘aunts’ were keen to Northumberland, which had for sports at the Borkum Sports secure a husband for Winifred been rebuilt. Club. After that she was trained who was of noble birth or, at the Grey’s old love, Florence Slee, as a kindergarten teacher and very least, from a wealthy bour- did not remarry. Instead she spent leader at the Froebel College in geois background. They had no much of her life supervising the Magdeburg. Following her final success in this endeavour. In their household of her two brothers, examinations she took a post as a opinion, no one on Borkum was London estate agents. Florence governess in the family of a dis- suitable as a husband for Winifred; died in . On her death certifi- pensing chemist. indeed, they weren’t fit to tie her cate she is described as a ‘spinster’. When Winifred was twenty bootlaces. As a result, Winifred years old she went to London married late, in . Her groom Hans-Joachim Heller is the son of with Miss List, but on her return was Captain Rudolf Heller, head Winifred Heller. Born in , he all her friends were astonished of the military recreation home became a civil engineer, and retired that she did not report anything on Borkum. Soon afterwards they in ; he lives in Berlin. This arti- of her experiences there. What moved to Berlin, where Winifred cle is reprinted from Family Tree had happened? It seems most survived the Second World War Magazine (October ) with the likely that she had been told the with her two sons. kind permission of the editor and the truth about her unmarried Eng- Winifred Heller was widowed author. lish parents, their liaison and the in  and she died in . In

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 15 On  November  Edmund Robertson (–) won a seat in the House of Commons as Liberal MP for Dundee. He DUNDEE’S GRAND OLD MAN represented Dundee for twenty-three years, standing for re-election eight times and sitting in Parliament under seven different Prime Ministers through a period when there was much division among the Liberals in Dundee. He held the post of Civil Lord of the Admiralty from  to  in the government of Gladstone and then Rosebery and was Secretary to the Admiralty from  to , when Sir Henry Campbell- Bannerman was Prime Minister. Regrettably ill health forced his early retirement from the House of Commons in  and, following his elevation to the peerage as Lord Lochee of Gowrie, he served out the remaining three years of his life in the House of Lords. Anne Newman tells the story of his life.

16 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 DUNDEE’S GRAND OLD MAN

obertson was by all compulsory it ought to provide in higher education was remark- accounts a man of the means for it.’ able, exemplifying his dedication great talent, integ- Edmund Daniel Robertson to attaining knowledge at the rity and humility, as was born on  October  highest level. The philosopher his obituary in the in the schoolhouse at Kinnaird, John Stuart Mill recognised Rob- RDundee Year Book  exempli- Perthshire, where his father was ertson’s talent and gave his spe- fied: ‘this singularly gifted man the parish schoolmaster for over cial commendation in  that received no help from patron- thirty years. Edmund was the eld- Robertson be awarded the Rec- age … he owed everything to his est of the five children of Edmund torial Prize for the best essay on a own perseverance and energy’. (senior) and Ann Robertson, philosophical subject. He was remembered as a man both of whom lived all their lives Robertson won a scholarship of a very kindly and affectionate in Perthshire, Edmund senior to enter Lincoln College, Oxford nature, with a penetrating intel- being from a humble family from where he completed a second lect. Unfortunately, however, he Middle Dalguise in the Tay Val- BA, gained First Class Honours never cultivated the art of say- ley. Edmund Robertson received in Classical Moderations () ing less or more than he thought all of his elementary education and in Literae Humaniore (), and his plain speech and hatred from his father and it is said that won the Oxford University Inter- of self-advertisement and cir- it was here that he gained a solid national Law Prize (), and cumlocution ‘retarded his pro- ‘grounding in the Liberal princi- was elected a Fellow of Corpus motion.’ This article attempts to ples to which he adhered tena- Christi College (). In  reconstruct an image of Edmund ciously during his life’. Although he successfully competed for the Robertson, gleaned from news- Robertson was a self-made man Vinerian Law Scholarship, and paper reports of his speeches, and ‘he never forgot the debt which graduated with an MA in . to describe the man who earned he owed to his father’ and is the affectionate title of Dundee’s reputed, on the eve of entering ‘Grand Old Man’. Parliament, to have sent a letter to The barrister, the academic, a meeting of Liberals held in the the teacher Kinnaird school stating ‘I am glad Robertson went on to win a A village schoolboy with a you are going to meet in the old scholarship to Lincoln’s Inn, passion for education schoolroom, which to me is asso- delivering his obligatory Tancred When standing for election for ciated with so many profound student oration in Latin. He was the first time, Robertson’s passion emotions. My first instructor in called to the Bar as a barrister of for education and good humour Liberalism, and in everything else, Lincoln’s Inn in  and, select- were evident when he addressed was my father.’ ing the Northern Circuit for his the voters of the ‘Intellectual Edmund practice, he quickly gained a repu- Robertson, Lord Ward’ as he termed them. He Lochee of Gowrie tation as an excellent counsel and expressed his belief in free educa- (1885–1908) – The scholar eloquent speaker. He was exam- tion, emphasing how ‘one result from the Dundee The young man with a great pas- iner in English Constitutional of the education imparted under Year Book of sion for knowledge proceeded to History at London University, the Act had been the decrease 1911, reproduced St Andrew’s University where he –, and Public Examiner in courtesy of of juvenile crime’ and that as Dundee City matriculated in the – ses- Jurisprudence, Oxford, –. ‘the State had made education Archives. sion. Robertson’s achievement He was appointed Reader on Law

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 17 DUNDEE’S GRAND OLD MAN to the Council of Legal Educa- (formed in ) encountered ment for Counties’ with ‘enlarged tion, and became Joint Examiner many challenges. Dundee was powers’ to deal effectively with in Jurisprudence and Legal Con- in fact the largest constituency ‘the regulation of the liquor trade, stitutional History at the Univer- in Scotland at the time. On a the utilisation of vacant spaces, sity of London, and in Roman personal level, Robertson had to the reclamation of common lands, and International Law to the Inns overcome the considerable debate sanitary improvements and other of Court. He became a Profes- about the necessity or otherwise matters affecting the social well- sor of Roman Law at University of local candidates and he was being of the community.’ College, London for several years seen by some as ‘not truly local, a However, where the issue of the and of Common Law at the Inns carpetbagger’. However, the vot- disestablishment of the Church of of Court. In  St Andrew’s ers of Dundee soon learned that Scotland was concerned he was University conferred an LL D he had grown up and received his more circumspect. The standard upon Robertson in recognition early education in the area and radical line at the time was to of his academic achievements. He Robertson rose to the challenge favour disestablishment, but Rob- was appointed Queen’s Counsel and ‘charmed an audience of ertson (a moderate churchman) in  and made a Bencher of , at the Kinnaird Hall’ with seemed to avoid openly saying he Lincoln’s Inn in . His reputa- his outspoken profession of the was in favour. He assured the vot- tion as a barrister spread interna- Liberal faith and excellent ora- ers that ‘there was no man more tionally, and he became one of the tory skills. strongly opposed than he was to very few British barristers ever Support from John Leng (edi- the interference of the State in allowed to plead in an American tor of the Advertiser at the time any way with religious affairs’ and Court of Law. and later political colleague of that ‘disestablishment in Scotland Robertson’s academic achieve- Robertson’s) no doubt sealed was one which must be settled in ments were well known when he the Dundee approval. In fact the harmony with the wishes of the faced his Dundee constituents Advertiser reported that: ‘Mr Rob- Scottish people.’ (who were predominantly from ertson showed a disposition not Dundee in the late nineteenth working-class backgrounds) for only to march forward in the van century was a working man’s the first time. The Dundee Cou- of progress, but also such a grasp, a constituency, and foremost in rier and Argus assured its readers, knowledge, and capacity for deal- Edmund Robertson’s mind, as however, that their prospective ing with public questions that it he faced his first election, was his Member ‘though comparatively was delightful to listen to him. concern for the working class. He young’ had ‘business experience His speech, in fact, was a political was in favour of Board of Trade … sufficiently wide to correct education.’  The Advertiser also certificates of competency being that tendency to academic sub- assured the voters that Robert- granted to men in charge of steam tleties and that proneness to the son had a ‘thorough acquaintance engines and boilers and drivers of hair-splitting of the schools only with the theory and practice of locomotives and traction engines too often found characterising law’ and that he had recently rep- to protect the safety of the public. distinguished scholars and uni- resented local investment interests He was in favour of the establish- versity dons’. An active mem- in the American Courts when he ment of public Courts of Inquiry ber of the Reform Club (which acted as counsel for the Oregon- into the cause of sudden and acci- was founded by Liberals and ian Railway Company in  dental deaths in Scotland and for remained the party’s headquarters when the company was brought relatives of deceased persons to until the late s) Robertson before the High Courts of the have the ‘liberty to cross-exam- contributed regularly to the Daily United States. ine witnesses on the subject’. He News and expanded his growing Robertson’s address for the believed that shipwrecked seamen journalistic expertise by con-  election featured the reform should be paid their wages up tributing several articles on legal Robert- of the land laws, the adjustment until the time they were landed and constitutional subjects to the of taxation, the abolition of the back in the country; and he saw ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia son’s dis- game laws and temperance legis- the overwork of railway workers Britannica. He was also the author lation. Robertson (who belonged as ‘not only cruel but a source of of American Home Rule: A Sketch like of the to the radical section of the Lib- danger to the travelling public’. of the Political System in the United Tory party eral Party) saw himself as a serv- Robertson’s dislike of the Tory States published in . ant of his constituents and many party was greatly enjoyed by his was greatly of his addresses to the electors of prospective electors, especially as Dundee contain examples of his he entertained them with witti- The politician enjoyed firm undertaking to increase the cisms such as that: ‘He thought At the time that Edmund Robert- involvement of ordinary people the education of the Tory party son decided to enter the political by his pro- in decisions directly related to should be made free, and it cer- world, the population of Dun- spective their everyday lives. He believed tainly should be made com- dee was growing at an enormous in reform of local government to pulsory.’ However, this humour rate and the Liberal Association electors. ‘include representative govern- turned to anger when he spoke

18 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 DUNDEE’S GRAND OLD MAN of Tory landlords replacing dis- entered politics at a turbulent time. ‘Beer and Apparently considered ‘in the best senting farmers at the end of their Within a little over six months and most honourable sense of the leases with ‘Established Church- from his introduction to the polit- the Bible word … a favourite of the King’ men’. ‘Landlord terrorism’, as he ical world, he had again to face (Edward VII), he became a mem- termed it, operated ‘just as much the electors as the parliament that have been ber of the Privy Council in . in political elections as it would assembled on  January  was The election of  saw do in any election on church dissolved in June. wont in Edmund Robertson and John affairs’. His concern for the well- Irish Home Rule was the con- former Leng speaking passionately about being of the ordinary people was tentious issue for the election of the ‘maintenance of popular con- no better summarised than in , and both Robertson and times to trol over aristocratic influence his beliefs on higher education, Lacaita adhered to Gladstone’s and the destruction of class privi- where he dissented from the view conversion to a Home Rule play an leges’, and again the main issues that ‘it was a middle class affair policy, though there was a Liberal were Home Rule, complete reli- which might be left to the mid- split over the issue at this time. important gious equality and local control dle classes’. He believed that: ‘The Robertson wanted an Irish Par- part in Eng- of the liquor trade.  One of the question of higher education was liament to settle the Irish land journalists of the time went as far a matter of great importance to question and to be in control of lish poli- as to say that: the working classes, whose sons the police. would be deprived of the chance Robertson went on to win tics, but Beer and the Bible have been of appointments in the Civil his Dundee seat in the elections wont in former times to play an Service if the means of obtain- of  (twice – the second time not until important part in English poli- ing higher education were put unopposed when he contested this occa- tics, but not until this occasion beyond their reach.’ the seat on his appointment as a have they been seen in close alli- Although Robertson chose minister), ,  and . sion have ance in this part of the country, an academic route for his own When Lacaita resigned in , engaged side by side against the education he felt strongly about Sir John Leng combined with they been popular cause, and in support technological education, believ- Robertson to dominate Dundee of monopoly and privilege. The ing that: ‘It was essential that elections until  when Leng seen in ministers wished to preserve working men should be fully retired. Robertson again won the close alli- their kirks and stipends; the pub- instructed in the principles of election in , but this time licans were concerned about the sciences applicable to their with the moderate Labour candi- ance in this buttressing their whisky casks particular industries. This was date Alexander Wilkie. and retaining their licenses.  necessary, not as a gratuity to the part of the working classes, but as a means of It becomes apparent, when read- self-defence against growing for- The minister country, ing the speeches delivered by eign competition.’ During his time in parliament engaged Edmund Robertson to his Dun- With regard to land rights, Robertson gained a reputation dee electors, that he was a man of Robertson was very clear about for his effective rhetoric, espe- side by side considerable tolerance and sensi- ‘rights in land which the public cially on issues such as educa- tivity. In October  both Rob- possessed having, during the last tion in Scotland and reforms that against the ertson and Sir John Leng spoke at twenty, thirty, or forty years, been would improve the conditions of considerable length to their con- taken away’ and was strongly of working men. During his period popular stituents in a meeting held in the the opinion that ‘restitution of as Civil Lord of the Admiralty cause, and Gilfillan Memorial Hall. Robert- those rights should be obtained’, (under First Lord of the Admiralty, son opened his remarks with the emphasising that when there was Earl Spencer) Robertson worked in support observations that: ‘no prescription in regard to Royal tirelessly to shorten the hours of rights, he thought there should be the workmen in the Royal Dock- of monop- I never before saw a meeting no prescription in regard to the yards. He is said to have been the of ours graced by the presence rights of the people’. only critic at the Admiralty whom oly and of so many ladies … I attribute The November election of Lord Fisher could not domi- privilege.’ their presence in these large  saw , of the , nate. He was an ardent politician, numbers to the success of the registered voters for the con- keenly interested in every move newly founded Ladies’ Liberal stituency of Dundee record their of the political game. Direct and Association of Dundee. I am sure vote. At this time Dundee was a businesslike in all his ways, he was we all hope that that success may two-member constituency and very intolerant of circumlocution, be continued, and that under the the Liberals ran two candidates, and for this reason he is said not to energetic leadership of the ladies both of whom were elected. C. C. have been altogether persona grata who have taken command it Lacaita topped the poll with , to Mr Gladstone. On the other may go on and prosper, and be votes and Edmund Robertson hand, he is believed to have had a tower of strength to Liberalism ran a comfortable second with considerable influence with Sir in Dundee and district. , votes. But Robertson had Henry Campbell-Bannerman.

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 19 DUNDEE’S GRAND OLD MAN However, it would appear that He admit- South Africa, and must not be the new Liberal government under his tolerance did not extend to establishment of a hateful ascend- fellow Scot, Sir Henry Campbell- women having the vote. When ted that he ency of one race over another.’ Bannerman. Robertson spoke of facing the voters again in , Reform of the army was one his passion to have his Homestead both Leng and Robertson were was deeply of Robertson’s great passions. The Bill passed through Parliament. asked by the Dundee and Dis- war gave him the opportunity to This bill ‘proposed to declare that trict Women’s Liberal Association troubled convey his ideas at length to his a certain necessary minimum of a whether they were in favour of by knowing constituents, pointing out that working man’s household furni- women’s suffrage and of women the army was not administered as ture and effects should be sacred being returned as members of that he was a ‘business institution’ as the navy from the process of law, and not local governing boards. Whilst was. He believed the military liable to seizure or sale for any Leng was in favour on both bound to needed to become more scien- cause’. counts, Robertson stated that he tific. What most concerned him Free Trade was the main issue could not undertake to vote in vote for the was ‘the barrier by which we shut of the election and Robertson favour of any of the female suf- supplies out competent men from the appealed to Dundee to vote for frage bills yet introduced but he army’ which he saw as ‘the most those candidates who were ‘will- was in favour of women being necessary ignoble and vulgar that can be ing to support the only Govern- returned to public boards. devised, because it is the barrier ment that could make Free Trade The election of  was to bring of money’. The obstacle to army safe and kill Protection’. Much dominated by the South African reform, in Robertson’s opinion, was spoken about the national war, probably the most significant the war to lay in the belief of the Tory Gov- debt, which had increased mainly international incident during a speedy ernment which, ‘calmly admit- due to the war, and of the need Robertson’s time in Parliament. ted – in the House of Commons to reduce the burden of taxation. Both Leng and Robertson spoke conclusion. – that no young man could be When Robertson won his seat at length to their constituents an officer in a cavalry regiment for this last time he topped the about the war. Robertson unless he was in possession of a poll with the highest vote ever severely criticised the Tories for private income of at least £ a recorded in the city, , votes. hastening a war by ‘blundering year.’ The total number of voters who diplomacy’ and having soldiers The election of  also saw went to the poll was , out suffer because of ‘mismanage- Robertson supporting old-age of a total electorate of ,. ment at home’ including refus- pensions and the abolition of the When Campbell-Bannerman ing, at an early stage of the war, sale of alcoholic drink to chil- formed his new ministry Rob- mounted men offered by the dren. On the former, Robertson ertson was appointed Secretary to colonies, believing that mounted emphasised to his constituents the Admiralty; Lord Tweedmouth men were not needed in South that the old-age pension scheme was First Lord of the Admiralty. Africa. Soon after, the British must be ‘an all-round one, with- Robertson’s main ministerial role government learned that all the out discrimination of sex. The was to deal with naval business Boers were mounted. Robert- women must have it as well as in the Commons, which placed son characterised this mistake as the men.’ He also spoke about him at the heart of political con- ‘unparalleled imbecility’. desired changes to the Teach- troversy at a time when the UK’s He admitted that he was ers’ Superannuation Act, being foreign and economic policy was deeply troubled by knowing that of the opinion that the pensions still underpinned by the strength he was bound to vote for the sup- provided to existing teachers of the Royal Navy. He answered plies necessary to bring the war were inadequate and that women questions in the Commons on a to a speedy conclusion. However should have the option of retiring regular basis and was responsible he: ‘regarded war as the most hor- at the age of fifty-five. The Lib- for carrying the Navy Estimate rible calamity that could befall a eral team was again returned to through Parliament, for which he nation … he had seen with hor- parliament with Robertson poll- required all his legal skills to mas- ror the reports of speeches and ing , votes and his friend and ter a complex and intricate brief. of sermons exalting and magni- colleague Sir John Leng receiv- At the beginning of the twen- fying war … telling the people ing , votes. The total regis- tieth century there was consid- it brought out the nobler quali- tered electorate was , and, erable pressure to expand and ties of human nature … But he of these, , exercised their modernise the British navy, a pro- considered that the invasion of franchise. gramme which was commenced British territory left him no alter- by Sir John Fisher (First Sea Lord) native but to defend the territory in . Pride of place in Fish- …’ and ‘there could be no result Return to power er’s plan went to the construction but the restoration of British par- In January  Edmund Rob- of Dreadnought battleships, which amountcy … He wanted a set- ertson, Dundee’s Grand Old were far superior to the best ves- tlement that would reconcile the Man, again came before his con- sels of the UK’s acknowledged devotion and loyalty of all races in stituents seeking to be part of the competitors, France, Germany,

20 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 DUNDEE’S GRAND OLD MAN

Russia and the US. Ships of this belief in a strong navy to his con- and there were at this time sort were not cheap. The gov- stituents: , officers, men and boys ernment’s expenditure on the from ‘dockyard boys to Admi- navy increased from £. mil- If they [the Conservative Gov- rals’ undergoing education of lion in / to £ million in ernment] maintained a proper one form or another. Robertson /, and expenditure on the policy and civility as part of emphasised that the Admiralty army also increased over the same their national manners, he did had to deal with ‘a great many period. not see why the army should of what were called social prob- The Dreadnought programme be increased beyond its present lems’ associated with the , also inspired a European arms size. With a predominant navy dockyard workers (both skilled race, which suggested that fur- they need care very little what and unskilled). He explained how ther heavy expenditure would be the size of other armies was, and he and Lord Tweedmouth had required in future years to ensure with a predominant navy they ‘divided the dockyard between that the ‘two-power standard’ was could make all other armies them’ and they ‘allowed every maintained. Since the s, the helpless. trade and every section of a trade UK had explicitly aimed to main- to send representatives to them to tain a naval capacity superior to In moving the Navy Estimate in state their grievances.’ the combined strength of any two , however, he came across Robertson also addressed his other navies in the world – which as a thorough anti-imperial- constituents about the establish- in practice meant the navies of ist, trumpeting a reduction in ment of the two-power stand- France and Germany. Unless spending, although acknowl- ard. He stated his conviction that, international diplomacy could edging that increased spending although the necessary work somehow restrain the construc- would be required in future unless to maintain the navy must be tion programmes commenced in France and Germany decided to undertaken, he sought to ‘appeal those countries as a result of the accept the UK’s superiority and to other nations to agree to limit Fisher reforms, significant extra slow their own naval expansion armaments, which were a terrible military expenditure would be programmes. Changes to the burden to the industry and a terri- required. This would have to be deployment of the UK’s naval ble reproach to the civilisation of financed from increased taxa- forces, so that fewer ships were civilised countries’. He expressed tion, or a reallocation of existing at sea, were also controversial. his deep sadness that the Hague expenditure commitments. The The significance of the debate Conference, on which Camp- second of these options jarred was indicated by the intervention bell-Bannerman had pinned his with the Liberals’ commitment to of the Prime Minister, forced to hopes, had failed in this respect increased social expenditure; the explain whether he agreed with and he saw this as a ‘great blow to first was also politically difficult, the maintenance of the two- the progress of civilisation’. as David Lloyd George, in par- power standard, as commonly But dissension in the audience ticular, was to find out. understood, and the Leader of the from suffragette hecklers exem- On top of these difficulties, Opposition. Some Liberals backed plified the beginning of a new era naval policy sat on the fault line Robertson to the hilt; others, in politics, one in which Rob- in the Liberal Party between the such as Sir Charles Dilke, struck a In moving ertson was not to participate. He imperialists, who were generally noticeably more cautious note. was definite in his objection to in support of a large Navy and Robertson was not to come the Navy women being granted the right commitments abroad, and those back to speak to his loyal sup- to vote but his objection seemed who preferred to see military porters in Dundee for two years, Estimate to be a procedural one, in that expenditure reined in and foreign his work as Parliamentary Secre- in 1907, the issue of female suffrage could entanglements avoided. The  tary to the Admiralty taking up not be considered until a political Anglo-French treaty suggested all his time. When he spoke on  he came party had raised it. He advised the to some, including Campbell- November  at the Gilfillan suffragettes in the meantime to Bannerman, that the two-power Hall, the reception was no more across as do the best they could to educate standard might no longer be nec- than cordial though there was public opinion. essary, and that naval expendi- some sympathy for the arduous a thorough Sadly, the evening came to ture could be reduced; but it was responsibility he had experienced anti-impe- a close with a vote of no confi- the perfect issue with which the through his work at the Admiralty dence in Mr Robertson being Conservative opposition could and the effect of the workload on rialist, moved by Miss Annot Wilkie, make mischief and divide the his health. However, his rheto- a suffragette, who was possibly Liberal Party. ric was still excellent as he spoke trumpeting related to the city’s other MP. Robertson was pitched into about the nature of his work. She declared that ‘the question this maelstrom of conflicting The Admiralty, he explained, a reduction of female suffrage was deep and diplomatic, strategic and politi- was responsible for about , in spend- serious, but Mr Robertson had cal pressures. In  he had officers and men on active serv- treated it as if he had no heart and expressed a fairly conventional ice (not including the reservists), ing. no feeling’. The motion of no

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 21 DUNDEE’S GRAND OLD MAN confidence was carried. Two days from the Liberals in Dundee Did he sac- taking the name Gowrie from the later, Edmund spoke probably for inviting him to be their candidate, beautiful Carse of Gowrie where the last time as the Member for as the sitting member was about rifice his he was born, and his dedication Dundee. This time Miss Wilkie to be elevated to the House of to the improvement of the work- used as part of her argument the Lords. After thinking about it for position in ing man’s life was represented by fact that women in Australia had a week or so Churchill decided to Lochee, an area of the city he had the right to vote (granted in  accept the offer. the House served for twenty-three years. in South Australia). Was Robertson asked by the of Com- It was ironic that Robertson The Daily News summed up Whips to stand down in order should end his political career Edmund Robertson, the politi- to accommodate the return of mons for in the ‘House of Landlords’ as cian as: Churchill? Why was Robertson he often termed it. However, suddenly elevated to the Lords? Churchill, it was a sign of the humility he One of the chief successes of this The truth behind Robertson’s possessed that he never used his Liberal Ministry. No man on the departure from Dundee may the rising title, continuing to be referred to Treasury Bench, not even Mr never be known. His work in the star of the as Edmund Robertson. On his Asquith, answers questions in a Admiralty had taxed his health retirement he wrote a letter to more effective and business-like and his style in managing the Liberal the people of Dundee; while manner. When he speaks for his Navy had not been the subject justly claiming that he had ‘stood Department of the Admiralty of universal praise. The Morning Party? faithfully by the Liberal princi- (which includes the dockyards) Post’s opinion on Mr Robertson ples to which Dundee has ever in debate, he is always clear, sen- being made a peer was that his: been attached’ he acknowledged sible, and cogent … Mr Robert- the debt he owed them for giv- son troubles himself very little Elevation to the House of Lords ing him his career in the House about form. He is downright to has caused considerable surprise of Commons and humbly recog- the verge of bluntness, and plain- in the Navy but we may assume nised that ‘my success from first spoken to the verge of cynicism. that the title of Baron has been to last has been mainly due to the He has no Parliamentary tricks. conferred for services to his cheerful and determined energy He treats the House of Com- party since the late Parliamen- of the working men’. mons as he would treat any other tary Secretary to the Admiralty Robertson made only one audience of intelligent and edu- is not known to have advanced speech in the Lords, on  cated men, the students of the our naval efficiency. November , defending the Inns of Court, or the electors of naval policy that he had admin- Dundee. The solemn plausibili- But did he sacrifice his posi- istered. After that, it seems, ill- ties of the world, as Burke calls tion in the House of Commons health took its hold. Dundee’s them, have little or no influence for the rising star of the Liberal Grand Old Man died at Canter- over Mr Robertson. There is no Party? The sentiments expressed bury on  September  and red tape about him, and no non- in the letter Robertson sent on is buried in Holywell Cemetery, sense of any kind. his resignation to the President of Oxford. the Dundee Liberal Association sum up the great sadness he must Thus ended a romance of real have experienced on what was to life, in which the studious reader Reward: a seat in the House be the end of his political career: discerns the irresistible power of Lords of merit and legitimate ambi- On  April , the Dundee My long political connection tion. From humble life rich in Liberal Association met to dis- with Dundee comes to an end. high ideal Edmund Robertson cuss the political situation cre- How well I remember its begin- toiled successfully to reach lofty ated by the sudden resignation ning; how greatly I rejoiced in positions in the service of the of Edmund Robertson from the its continuance; how deeply I nation. Ministry on his elevation to the lament its termination no words peerage. The meeting was unani- of mine can adequately tell. mous in expressing gratitude Anne Newman is a descendent of for Robertson’s service. At the Although Churchill polled , Edmund Robertson’s family; her great same meeting when discussion fewer votes than Robertson had grandmother was his cousin. She was turned to selecting someone to in , he returned to Parlia- a member of the Australian Demo- succeed Robertson, a voice was ment, and to the continuance of crats for many years and was a sen- heard to call ‘Winston Church- his remarkable ministerial career. ior lecturer in Special Education and ill’. In April , Churchill had The title that Robertson took Literacy at the Australian Catholic stood for the seat of Manchester (Lord Lochee of Gowrie) was in University in Melbourne; she now Exchange and was unsuccessful. some ways indicative of the man. pursues her new career as an artist. Immediately after the result was His love of the beauty of the Anne would also like to thank Rob- declared he received a telegram countryside was symbolised in ert Ingham, Biographies Editor of the

22 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 DUNDEE’S GRAND OLD MAN

Journal, for suggesting the idea  Dundee Courier and Argus,  Sep-  Dundee Evening Telegraph,  Sep-  Ibid.,  November . for the article and for his advice tember . tember .  Daily News, January , quoted and patience.  Dundee Advertiser,  November  Ibid. in The People’s Journal,  Sep- .  Dundee Advertiser,  September tember .  A splinter party, the Liberal .  The People’s Journal,  April  Jackson, J.M. (ed.), Third Statis- Unionists (who wanted Ireland  Ibid.,  October . . tical Account of Scotland: City of to remain a part of Britain), led  Ibid.,  January .  Patterson, Tony, A Seat for Life Dundee, . by Joe Chamberlain was formed.  Dundee Advertiser,  January (Dundee, Scotland: David Win-  The Pelican Record, Oxford Uni-  Dundee Advertiser,  September . ter & Son, ). versity, , pp. –. .  Ibid.,  January .  Morning Post,  April ,  Ibid.  The Pelican Record, Oxford Uni-  The Millstone: British naval policy Times  April .  The Dundee Advertiser, . versity, , pp. –. in the Mediterranean, –  The People’s Journal,  April  Ibid.,  October   Dundee Year Book, . by Geoffrey Miller is an excel- .  Dundee Year Book, .  Dundee Advertiser, July . lent reference on this topic. The  Dundee Year Book, .  Ibid.  Ibid. entire text can be read at www.  The People’s Journal,  April  Dundee Courier and Argus,   Ibid.,  October . manorhouse.clara.net/book/ . November .  The People’s Journal,  Septem- index.htm  Hansard,  November , cc.  Ibid.,  September . ber .  Dundee Advertiser,  October –.  Dundee Advertiser,  September  Dundee Evening Telegraph,  Sep- .  Dundee Year Book, . . tember .  Hansard,  March , cc. –  Ibid.,  September .  Dundee Advertiser,  October  for the whole debate.  Ibid.,  October . .  Dundee Advertiser,  November  Ibid., for all quotes above.  Ibid.,  September . .

RESEARCH IN PROGRESS If you can help any of the individuals listed below with sources, contacts, or any other information — or if you know anyone who can — please pass on details to them. Details of other research projects in progress should be sent to the Editor (see page 3) for inclusion here.

Aneurin Williams and Liberal internationalism and pacificism, Political life and times of Josiah Wedgwood MP. Study of the 1900–22. A study of this radical and pacificist MP (Plymouth 1910; political life of this radical MP, hoping to shed light on the question North West Durham/Consett 1914–22) who was actively involved in of why the Labour Party replaced the Liberals as the primary popular League of Nations Movement, Armenian nationalism, international representatives of radicalism in the 1920s. Paul Mulvey, 112 Richmond co-operation, pro-Boer etc. Any information relating to him and Avenue, London N1 0LS; [email protected]. location of any papers/correspondence welcome. Barry Dackombe. 32 Recruitment of Liberals into the Conservative Party, 1906–1935. Ashburnham Road, Ampthill, Beds, MK45 2RH; [email protected]. Aims to suggest reasons for defections of individuals and develop an Cornish Methodism and Cornish political identity, 1918–1960s. understanding of changes in electoral alignment. Sources include Researching the relationship through oral history. Kayleigh Milden, personal papers and newspapers; suggestions about how to get hold of Institute of Cornish Studies, Hayne Corfe Centre, Sunningdale, Truro TR1 the papers of more obscure Liberal defectors welcome. Cllr Nick Cott, 1a 3ND; [email protected]. Henry Street, Gosforth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE3 1DQ; N.M.Cott@ncl. ac.uk. Letters of Richard Cobden (1804–65). Knowledge of the whereabouts of any letters written by Cobden in private hands, SDP in Central Essex. Contact with anyone who had dealings with autograph collections, and obscure locations in the UK and abroad for a the area, and in particular as many former SDP members of the complete edition of his letters. Dr A. Howe, Department of International area as possible, with a view to asking them to take part in a short History, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A questionnaire. Official documents from merger onwards regarding the 2AE; [email protected]. (For further details of the Cobden Letters demise of the local SDP branches and integration with the Liberals Project, see www.lse.ac.uk/collections/cobdenLetters/). would also be appreciated. Elizabeth Wood, The Seasons, Park Wood, Doddinghurst, Brentwood, Essex CM15 0SN; [email protected]. Liberal foreign policy in the 1930s. Focussing particularly on Liberal anti-appeasers. Michael Kelly, 12 Collinbridge Road, Whitewell, Student radicalism at Warwick University. Particulary the files affair Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim BT36 7SN; [email protected]. in 1970. Interested in talking to anybody who has information about Liberal Students at Warwick in the period 1965-70 and their role in Liberal Party and the wartime coalition 1940–45. Sources, campus politics. Ian Bradshaw, History Department, University of particularly on Sinclair as Air Minister, and on Harcourt Johnstone, Warwick, CV4 7AL; [email protected] Dingle Foot, Lord Sherwood and Sir Geoffrey Maunder (Sinclair’s PPS) particularly welcome. Ian Hunter, 9 Defoe Avenue, Kew, Richmond TW9 Welsh Liberal Tradition – A History of the Liberal Party in Wales 4DL; [email protected]. 1868–2003. Research spans thirteen decades of Liberal history in Wales but concentrates on the post-1966 formation of the Welsh Liberal policy towards Austria-Hungary, 1905–16. Andrew Gardner, Federal Party. Any memories and information concerning the post- 17 Upper Ramsey Walk, Canonbury, London N1 2RP; agardner@ssees. 1966 era or even before welcomed. The research is to be published ac.uk. in book form by Welsh Academic Press. Dr Russell Deacon, Centre for Liberals and the local government of London 1919–39. Chris Humanities, University of Wales Institute Cardiff, Cyncoed Campus, Fox, 173 Worplesdon Road, Guildford GU2 6XD; christopher. Cardiff CF23 6XD; [email protected]. [email protected].

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 23 FRANCES STEVENSON, LLOYD GEORGE AND THE SURREY – SUSSEX DIMENSION Ian Ivatt looks at avid Lloyd George convictions, and these acted as an (–) was the unusual complement to Lloyd David Lloyd George first native Welsh- George’s strict lifelong Baptist ide- and Frances Stevenson’s man to achieve als, yet later blended with his own inclusion in the brand of free-thinking attitudes. connections in DBritish Cabinet and to go on to Whilst the relationship was stormy, Surrey and Sussex. be Prime Minister. As a young even bittersweet, and became politician, he was mainly associ- effectively a sham marriage, it nev- The two of them ated with the Radical movement ertheless lasted nearly fifty-three nurtured friendships in Wales, nationalism, and non- years, despite them being essen- conformism. His parents, William tially estranged after . in the southern and Elizabeth (Betsy) George, Lloyd George’s relationship both keen Baptists, briefly resided with Wales was somewhat ambiva- counties, undertook in the lower-middle-class suburb lent. He retained his Welsh par- house purchases of Chorlton, Manchester, and it liamentary seat throughout his was during this period that David career but, as he moved upwards in and appreciated the Lloyd George was born. William the political world, claiming, when tranquillity of the Lloyd George was headmaster of appropriate, that his rise was that a Manchester elementary school of the ‘cottage-bred man’, he spent region’s golf courses. but quickly turned to farming a decreasing amount of his time in The main British and was to die when young David the Principality. The icon of Welsh was only a year old. The family identity seems in practice to have proposals for the post- returned firstly to Pembroke- preferred to view his homeland war peace treaty at shire, and then to Llanystumdwy from afar and to spend much of his in North Wales where Betsy’s time in Southern England, in par- Versailles were drafted brother and mother lived. ticular Sussex or the Sussex–Sur- by Lloyd George Lloyd George later married rey borderlands. Margaret (née Owen) in  His connections with Sus- and the War Cabinet after a three-year courtship, sex seem to have been nurtured although her parents had some just before and during the First at Danny House, in doubt about his suitability. Mar- World War. Brighton was viewed Sussex. garet herself had deep Methodist as an excellent retreat, and nearby

24 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 FRANCES STEVENSON, LLOYD GEORGE AND THE SURREY – SUSSEX DIMENSION

Lewes Golf Course had signifi- October ; during his entire David Lloyd at Hassocks endeavouring to cant appeal. He had close friends premiership, he was depend- George in shake off a severe cold. Meanwhile and political allies such as Stuart ent on Conservative Party sup- 1916; Frances Lloyd George was in Paris with his Stevenson in Rendel, Sir George Riddell and port. The pinnacle of his time in her office in French and Italian prime ministe- Sir Albert Stern, who had houses coalition was the peace-making Whitehall. rial counterparts to prepare armi- in the county, but we can also per- after the First World War and the stice and peace terms. ceive that an affection for the area earlier treaty planning meetings, The Danny House archives developed in parallel with a shift in especially the decisive treaty dis- reveal that Lloyd George was at his political career, which saw him cussions in October , organ- Danny several times during the move close to the political centre ised at a sixteenth-century manor Great War and, when there, invari- and eventually lead the coalition house in Sussex. ably climbed the challenging government, and with a significant As the hostilities progressed nearby hill at Wolstenbury. Once, move in his private life as Frances into the second part of , when doing so, he inadvertently Stevenson (–) became much thought was given to the let Cabinet papers fall from his firmly ensconced as his mistress. eventual treaty terms. In July of pocket. A faithful secretary was Notorious for his flirtations and that year, Lloyd George’s affluent despatched to retrieve them safely. affairs, Lloyd George’s love life friend and confidante, Sir George An inspection of the visitors’ from early  was mainly con- Riddell (proprietor of the News book reveals that even earlier, on fined to Frances, formerly a school of the World newspaper), leased the  July , Lloyd George was teacher and later secretary. By some Elizabethan mansion at Danny, in at Danny, again with Riddell, coincidence, Frances had actually Hassocks (now in West Sussex) and also with Imperial War Cabi- been at school with Lloyd George’s from the Campions, a family of net members, both military and daughter, Mair, who tragically died the Tory local gentry. A. J. P. Tay- political: Jan Smuts, Viscount Mil- (of a burst appendix) in , to lor, in his book My Darling Pussy, ner, Admiral Wemyss, Sir Henry his lasting grief. The secrecy of the provides an interesting insight Wilson, and Cabinet Secretary affair was vital, to avoid scandal, into the undoubted deep fond- Hankey. Interestingly enough and they both accepted this – with ness between Lloyd George and his wife Margaret and daughter Frances enduring two if not three his secretary, Frances Stevenson, Megan were also present on that abortions. by reproducing key personal let- day – with Frances Stevenson! Lloyd George became Prime ters that have survived. Frances On the wall of the Great Hall Minister in December , and was not always present at Danny, at Danny, which now displays his term of office lasted until but in October  she remained portraits of the high and mighty

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 25 FRANCES STEVENSON, LLOYD GEORGE AND THE SURREY–SUSSEX DIMENSION from past ages, there is a com- Lloyd Earlier, in , there were home there, naming it ‘Bron y memorative plaque recording other letters, which Lloyd De’, which means ‘breast of the the vital meeting of the Imperial George George knew about, from a south’. The Surrey village of Churt War Cabinet on  October , Captain Hugh Owen, with is on the edge of Sussex, as well as including such eminent persons as built a more than hints about marriage bordering on nearby Hampshire. Lloyd George himself, Churchill, to Frances. On  October  They both eagerly set about cul- Bonar Law, Balfour, Wemyss and beauti- Frances wrote in her diary: ‘I tivating the fields for vegetables, Hankey, plus Kerr and Lord Read- ful home cannot marry Owen. I have told planting orchards (Lloyd George ing (Rufus Isaacs). him so.’ Owen in turn wrote to had a great fondness for soft fruit), Thus, the main British propos- there, nam- Frances ( October) accepting growing tomatoes in greenhouses, als for the peace treaty at Versailles the finality of the situation. keeping cows and pigs, even bees, were drafted by Lloyd George ing it ‘Bron Before the Great War, Lloyd with Ann Parry, Lloyd George’s and the War Cabinet at Danny George had cultivated a friendship Welsh Secretary, doubling up as House in Sussex. The final details y De’, which with Stuart Rendel (–) bee-keeper. were promptly cabled to Presi- means a former Liberal Member of Par- Frances bought land adjourn- dent Woodrow Wilson for his seal liament for Montgomeryshire ing the Bron y De estate, which of approval. Later, in March , ‘breast of (–). Like Lloyd George, she farmed until Lloyd George’s Lloyd George attended the peace Rendel had not been born in death in . Meanwhile in conference itself in Paris, and the south’. Wales, but at Plymouth in Devon. – Frances built nearby Frances, who went with him, was Rendel, far from being poor, had ‘Avalon’ for herself where her treated generally as his unofficial acquired property in Clarendon daughter Jennifer, who was born spouse. Terrace, Kemp Town, Brighton in , resided. It would appear Amidst a resurfacing of the (he also had a house near Guild- that Lloyd George never visited Irish troubles, Lloyd George ford and a villa in Cannes) and he Avalon but Frances stayed there formed a separate friendship with readily placed his Sussex home particularly on the occasions Major Stern (later Sir Albert Stern, at Lloyd George’s disposal as an when Margaret and Megan came –) who had the use of his escape from his government busi- to Bron y De. Otherwise, when brother’s property, a superbly beau- ness. This was accepted with great not at school Jennifer travelled the tiful house, with splendid views, as joy. Lloyd George had, before one mile to Bron y De to see her the name might suggest, at High- that, tended to spend weekends mother and Lloyd George, whom down in Worthing, Sussex. Both in a suite at the Royal Albion she undoubtedly believed was, at Lloyd George and Frances spent Hotel, in Brighton. Lloyd George the very least, her stepfather. Jen- weekends there; apparently, Major might scoff at public schools and nifer called Lloyd George ‘Taid’ Stern had a reputation for being universities but he swiftly des- (Grandfather) from an early age, an excellent entertainer. He was patched young Olwen, one of although she knew perfectly well also involved in tank design and his five children (born ), off he was not her grandfather – but was, accordingly, an important man to the exclusive Roedean School, Lloyd George was aged sixty-six in the military. Frances Stevenson near Brighton. The Personal Papers when Jennifer was born, so this dutifully records their meetings of Lord Rendel provide a clue to subterfuge seemed fitting. with Stern in her well-maintained Lloyd George’s wife’s attitudes During the summer holidays, diaries – including a comment to this friendship: it was through before the Second World War, that there was even some talk of these weekends at Brighton that Frances rented ‘Grassmead’ – a her marrying Stern, by then, in ‘my husband’s health was saved house in Felpham, near Bognor , promoted to Colonel. She from breaking point when he Regis in Sussex, with a private writes on  April , refer- piloted the  Budget through road running down to the sea – for ring to Stern, ‘I like him, though the House’. two or three weeks each year. Jen- he has an unlovable side, but he is By , Lloyd George was nifer is sure Lloyd George never most kind and considerate.’ Later, looking for a Home Counties base, came to Felpham, but Margaret, in , one of Stern’s friends with excellent rural views, nearer the cook, and Rose, the maid, ventured to ask why Frances did London. Frances came to the res- came over from Avalon, with the not marry him, only to receive cue and recommended a house boy John Brook, Elizabeth (Liz- the half-reproach: ‘one excellent and fifty acres (later purchasing zie) May Morris and her mother, reason is that he has never asked a further  surrounding acres, ‘Auntie Elsie’. Certainly, Frances me’. Frances equally and correctly including farms) in Churt, Surrey. wrote to Lloyd George from Fel- knew that Stern was very much The property was chosen because pham from , and the  aware of her relationship with Frances favoured the south-facing Kelly’s Directory shows the resident Lloyd George. Nevertheless, she views and Lloyd George promptly of the house in First Avenue, Sum- was astute enough to realise that authorised her to buy it. Later it merley Estate, Felpham as a Miss Stern would leap at the chance of was discovered that the ‘perfect’ Stevenson. Later, in , Frances marrying her, should she give even house actually faced north but purchased a bungalow on the same the slightest encouragement. Lloyd George built a beautiful estate at Felpham, but this was let

26 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 FRANCES STEVENSON, LLOYD GEORGE AND THE SURREY–SUSSEX DIMENSION out for a very small sum and sold men and supposedly other men’s firm of solicitors, Lloyd George and to the tenant after the end of the wives, he still retained popular George, was founded in that year. war. Curiously enough, whilst appeal and was nominally true to  Additionally Lloyd George was rec- ommended to a masseuse, a Mrs Frances’s parents were both born his nonconformist Liberal ideals. Walden, who specialised in improved outside England, they, neverthe- Lady Margaret Lloyd George died circulation techniques, who lived less, retired, firstly to Bexhill, then in , leaving Lloyd George to there. Source: National Library of Wales, to Bognor, and later to Worthing, make the patient Frances his sec- MS E – (re. Frederick all in Sussex. ond wife. They were married at Edward Guest, MP for Dorset East). The Bedford and Royal Albion Hotels Leaving aside the political Guildford Registry Office on  were, furthermore, of great attraction. aspects that were common to both October  – Frances’ sister  A. J. P. Taylor, My Darling Pussy (Lon- of them – although Frances had Muriel acted as a witness, as did don: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, ). ‘modern’ views and was mildly Lloyd George’s long-suffering pri-  Frances Stevenson, Lloyd George, a supportive of the earlier suffra- vate secretary, A. J. Sylvester (also Diary by Frances Stevenson (London: Hutchinson, ), p. .  gists – Lloyd George and Frances best man) – not that far from the  Ibid., p. . Stevenson also had a shared inter- Sussex border.  F. E. Hamer (ed.), The Personal Papers est in golf. Frances’s diaries reveal Lloyd George was laid to rest in of Lord Rendel (London: Ernest Benn, golfing days with herself, Lloyd Wales on his death in , and on ), p. . George, and a combination of Sir her death in  Frances’s ashes  Colin Cross, in The Liberals in Power –, p. , also refers to Lloyd George Riddell, Sir Philip Sassoon, stayed at Churt, Surrey. In life they George drafting the final text of or Lloyd George’s eldest daughter, were together for many years, yet the Budget during a weekend in Olwen (by now Mrs Carey Evans), in death they were not united. Brighton. with a secretary or two to make Even so, the legacy of the great  Burnt down after Lloyd George’s up any appropriate foursome. man lingered on in Churt – where death and renamed ‘Churt Place’.  After the necessary property altera- Generally courses at Walton Heath during his life he was revered as a tions and improvements, young Megan or St George’s Hill, both in Surrey, fair employer of local labour. Close Lloyd George (born ) was ‘chap- were favoured and Lloyd George by at Wormley, Frances’s daugh- eroned’ by Lady Mond, but Megan greatly encouraged Frances in the ter Jennifer Longford still resides, was not especially happy. Lord Alfred Mond helped propel Lloyd George to skills of the game. and she still remembers her Sus- the premiership in . Additionally, as a separate event, sex childhood holidays with her  Jennifer was, in all probability, the Frances’s diaries refer to ‘Cuckoo’ mother and friends with treasured daughter of Frances Stevenson and Bellville, a well-known name in affection. Jennifer has speculated Colonel Thomas Tweed, Lloyd Mayfair who had a high-class that if there had been no (Great) George’s political adviser from .  Lloyd George was, additionally, in dress shop. Both Lloyd George War, Lloyd George might well favour of votes for women, but not and Frances, together with invited have become a great reforming necessarily how some females sought members of high society, includ- prime minister, bringing in meas- to achieve this. He was certainly not ing the King of Spain and the ures that had to wait many more amused when the suffragettes, in their Prince of Wales, attended a party years. If so he may well have con- campaign for female franchise, blew of hers on one occasion, although ceivably chosen to spend even up part of the small house earmarked for his use at Walton Heath. the previous weekend was a much more time relaxing from govern- quieter affair at Bellville’s country ment pressures in his favoured cottage retreat at Herstmonceux, Brighton. Bibliography also in Sussex. Where necessary, Lloyd George was ‘at home’ with Ian Ivatt is undertaking a thesis Colin Cross, The Liberals in Power, 1905–14 (Barrie & Rockliff, 1963) the affluent – particularly where through the Open University on the such attachments helped his polit- subject of Edwardian Liberal politics A. J. P Taylor (ed.), Lloyd George – a Diary by Frances ical and welfare aspirations. in Sussex, Portsmouth and the Isle of Stevenson (Hutchinson, 1971) On the political front, Lloyd Wight. He would like to acknowledge Peter Rowland, Lloyd George (Barrie & Jenkins, 1975) George attained the premiership, the kind assistance of Ivan Graham F. E. Hamer (ed.), The Personal Papers of Lord Rendel although his coalition government (Archivist, Danny House, Hassocks, (Ernest Benn, 1931) collapsed in the autumn of  Sussex); A. W. Purdue (Open Uni- Frances Lloyd George, The Years that are Past due to a Conservative volte-face. versity); Jennifer Longford (daughter (Hutchinson, 1967) Lloyd George resigned and was of Frances Stevenson); Ruth Nixon never to hold government office (Jennifer Longford’s daughter); Olivia A. J. P. Taylor (ed.), My Darling Pussy (Weidenfeld & again. He remained, nevertheless, Cotton (historian and writer, Churt, Nicolson, 1975) a key yet solitary political figure Surrey); and Ian Dean (of Felpham, Don M. Creigier, Bounder from Wales (University of – still much respected and even Bognor Regis, Sussex). Missouri Press, 1976) feared. Despite his narrow escape John Grigg, The Young Lloyd George (Eyre Methuen, 1973)   was a significant point in his from the pre-war Marconi share John Grigg, Lloyd George, The People’s Champion involvement, the alleged sales of life. Additionally he won the nomi- nation for the Liberal candidature of 1902–11 (Eyre Methuen, 1978) titles and honours and previous Caernarvon Boroughs, and the family personal dalliances with money Ian Packer, Lloyd George (Macmillan, 1998)

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 27 All political parties require backroom engineers who do the donkey-work of political organisation, without enjoying public recognition or the opportunity for political advancement. Raymond Jones was an outstanding and loyal servant of the Liberal Party during its days of decline from a party of government to little more than a parliamentary pressure group. A lifelong Liberal, Jones held senior positions within the party from the height of its success in  until his retirement in . A constituency organiser, election agent and parliamentary candidate, he passed through the party’s central finance organisation in the s to become Secretary to the Liberal Central Association (the support organisation for the Chief Whip and Parliamentary Party) in the s and s and in his last year become Chairman of the National Liberal Club. In this article his daughter, Brenda Tillotson, recalls her father and his involvement in the Liberal Party during its long decline in the first half of the twentieth century. Written with Ian Hunter. AT THE HEART OF THE PARTY

aymond Victor Jones main ‘Jones and Sons’ shop at the problem that plagued him for the was born on  June top of Redcliffe Hill. He excelled rest of his life. , in the family as a student and chorister but, On  September  he house at  Broad although he matriculated from married Mary Beatrice Poole, Quay, Bristol. He school, he did not attend univer- also of Bristol, in a quiet, informal Rwas the third of seven children sity. He did, however, maintain ceremony, overshadowed by the to Alfred Edmund and Mary a powerful tenor singing and outbreak of the First World War. Ann Jones. Raymond’s father speaking voice throughout his It was a very happy marriage and owned three ‘Jones and Sons’ life, and enjoyed public speaking, produced one child, Brenda, in furniture shops. The family was conversation, reading aloud, and . As she remembers: Nonconformist Baptist, Lib- telling yarns and jokes. His edu- eral and teetotal. Ironically, his cation gave him an understand- My father was a Nonconform- grandfather, James Jones, worked ing of the established Church ist churchman and a strong as the accountant for George’s of England which, combined supporter of the Temperance Brewery in Bristol, but this was with his thorough knowledge Movement throughout his life. never discussed by his abstemi- of Nonconformist church his- As well as abstaining from alco- ous descendants. The family had tory, gave him a broad view of hol, he never smoked, gambled or voted Liberal since the formation Christian doctrine and the social went to the races. He kept to a of the party in the mid-nine- Lloyd structure of his day. Despite his vegetarian diet with the addition teenth century – though prior George strong views, he was tolerant of of fish, poultry and eggs, which to the Ballot Act of , which the lifestyle of others – his belief was meant to limit the precipita- allowed secret ballots, Ray- once in freedom of choice reigning tion of the migraine attacks. As an mond’s grandfather had required supreme. occasional supplement to his diet police protection before he dared dubbed him On leaving school Jones my father was fortunate enough record his Liberal vote. joined his father in the furniture to receive, during the shooting Raymond Jones was a pupil ‘the loyall- business, and he was apprenticed season, birds from Scotland, and at St Mary Redcliffe School, a est of the to the clock and watch trade. He at Christmas a large hamper from Church of England grammar gave up the latter due to the onset Fortnum and Mason – both sent school, situated opposite the loyal’. of severe migraine headaches, a by Sir Archibald Sinclair (future

28 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 AT THE HEART OF THE PARTY

leader of the party between  Medical problems prevented Raymond Jones honours for the benefit of his and ). Jones from joining up during as a young man; personal campaign fund. the First World War. The govern- in 1928, with Jones moved from his post in a very young Jones took an active part in the ment struggled to cope with the Brenda; and in Bristol to take responsibility for  election, which resulted demands of what became a more middle age. the Liberal Associations of the in a landslide victory for the protracted war than the country four Leicester constituencies, Liberal Party, and he became a had ever experienced, and this and by  he was appointed ward secretary in his local area conflict prompted the decline of Secretary to the Liberal organisa- of Bristol. This was a time of the Liberal Party. Jones’ war work tion embracing the twelve Bir- great social reform when, under related to voluntary recruiting, mingham constituencies. This Prime Ministers Campbell-Ban- war aims, war savings, and man- was a much tougher challenge nerman (–) and Asquith aging the local distribution of than either Bristol or Leicester, (–), the authority of the potatoes. In addition, he ran the as Birmingham was the former House of Commons was estab- cashier and shipping departments stronghold of the Chamberlainite lished and the foundations of of the Pool Board Petroleum Liberal Unionists. It was, in , the welfare state were laid. As Supplies Company. a strongly pro-coalition Conserv- a passionate believer in social The party was deeply divided ative city with very few Liberal reform, Jones became profes- during the war, as Asquith activists or credible constituency sionally involved with politics, entered a coalition with the organisations. and in  became assistant to Conservatives in . In  By the early s those H. F. Lane in the constituencies Lloyd George replaced Asquith industrial areas such as Bristol of South and West Bristol. After as Prime Minister, and, in the and Leicester that had been Lib- nine months he became agent to  general election, Asquith eral strongholds had now fallen Sir Charles Hobhouse, MP for lost his seat. Jones had much in to Labour, and it was difficult to East Bristol, who was Chancellor common with Lloyd George, as predict which parts of the coun- of the Duchy of Lancaster from they were both from middle- try could be counted on for  to , and Postmaster class, Nonconformist families, Liberal support, apart from rural General from  to . Jones but Jones would have disap- Wales. The prominence of the stayed as his agent until . proved of Lloyd George selling right-wing and new left-wing

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 29 AT THE HEART OF THE PARTY parties sidelined the divided Lib- ‘He the minority Labour govern- Liberal Nationals who uncondi- erals into third place, and after the ment depended on Lloyd George tionally supported the coalition.  election many supporters grabbed and Liberal support in order to As an eight year old, Brenda defected. Churchill went to the achieve progress on unemploy- gained some experience of the Conservatives and many former father, who ment and electoral reform. In the poverty and poor housing that Liberal ministers joined the election, the Conservative and blighted parts of Britain. Before Labour ranks. In  Jones was called a Labour parties won seats in their the  election, she accompa- promoted to the finance depart- cab and now traditional heartland areas, nied her parents to South West ment at Liberal Headquarters. but the Liberal vote was spread Bethnal Green, Sir Percy Harris’ Jones stood as the Liberal can- wrote the evenly across the country and constituency from  to . didate for Mitcham, Surrey, in did not convert to seats under the ‘Lady Harris, my mother and I the  general election. Party first page first-past-the-post electoral sys- stamped and stuffed envelopes leader, Lloyd George, with cam- tem – a situation which still per- for hours … One afternoon for a paign funds left over from the sale of the sists today. change I was taken door-to-door of peerages, had set about reinvig- speech as After his defeat by Meller, canvassing in the poorest part of orating the party with new ideas. Jones was appointed Secretary of town and was shocked at what The unemployment issue domi- they raced the Liberal Free Trade Association. I saw – the dank, dismal build- nated the campaign, inspired by In  he moved his family to a ings of a London slum.’ Brenda economist J. M. Keynes, who to their three-bedroom detached house also remembers the tramps who was one of Lloyd George’s main in Edgware, Middlesex. ‘Father roamed the country knocking advisers. For the first time, Key- venue. loved “do it yourself” projects, on doors seeking a free meal and nes advocated the use of public Father con- best of all he loved gardening. He who at night could be seen curled money to alleviate unemploy- was a very warm, loving father up in newspapers on London’s ment, thereby boosting national tinued to and husband. He taught me to park benches. income. Jones made impassioned set goals, make decisions, never to The election of  saw a speeches broadcast from a van as write the be afraid of being in the minor- further erosion of Liberal seats, it drove round the streets of Mit- ity, and to prepare for meetings,’ when the party won just twenty- cham. He spoke of: speech off remembers Brenda. one. Sir Archibald Sinclair took stage. As He took an active part in his over from Samuel as party leader. The total inability of the Con- local community, attending the He and his colleagues supported servatives to deal with unem- he com- Presbyterian Church where he Churchill in warning of the dan- ployment. This failure is a was an Elder. Like his father and gers posed by Nazi Germany, and tragedy, which is reflected in pleted each grandfather before him he was a in arguing for the need to uphold hundreds of thousands of homes Freemason, belonging to a Tem- the League of Nations and for today. Men and women, healthy page he perance Lodge. He was a found- rearmament. When Churchill and strong are unable, though passed it ing member of the Edgware Rate became Prime Minister in , willing, to find work. More than Payers’ Association, which lob- the Liberal Party joined the coa- a million of these awake every over to Sir bied Hendon Borough Council lition government, with Sinclair morning to face a day of hope- and was instrumental in obtaining appointed Secretary of State for less seeking, and as each night Archibald.’ local improvements such as walk- Air until the end of the war. Soon comes round they close their ways under the Watford bypass. after Sinclair took over at the Air eyes upon another day of dark The financial crisis of  Ministry he was invited to speak despair. We Liberals say to both touched the lives of everyone. at a meeting. Brenda remembers: of these parties … Conservative The Jones family furniture busi- and Labour … ‘Enough of this ness was no exception, and the Archie, being busy in his new dallying! If you can do noth- shops that Jones managed even- role, hadn’t prepared a speech. ing yourselves, then make room tually went out of business in the He grabbed father, who called for those who can and will face mid-s. As a result of the crisis, a cab and wrote the first page this problem with courage and in  Prime Minister Macdon- of the speech as they raced to determination.’ ald formed an emergency coali- their venue. Father continued to tion with the Conservatives and write the speech off stage. As he Although the Liberals won over Liberals and called another elec- completed each page he passed five million votes they won only tion. The Liberals split three ways: it over to Sir Archibald. All went fifty-nine seats, and in Mitcham Liberal Nationals (Simonites), without a hitch. Father wrote Jones took third place, with the Liberals (Samuelites) and Lloyd well, fast and easily. He looked Conservative candidate, R. J. George’s Independent Liberals. upon this small challenge with Meller, winning the seat. The As a lifelong supporter of free great amusement.  election marks the point trade, Jones supported Sir Herbert when the Liberal Party became Samuel’s official Liberals, and vig- Jones admired Sinclair and always permanently identified as a third orously opposed Sir John Simon’s enjoyed working for him. party by the electorate, although

30 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 AT THE HEART OF THE PARTY

During the – era to prospective Liberal candidates porter would take care of him for of Conservative government and newly elected members. His a few hours. appeasement, Jones limited his close friend, Major General Wulff Harcourt (‘Crinks’) John- vacations and worked long hours, Grey, a much decorated veteran of stone was frequently mentioned particularly supporting the many the First World War, with whom in conversation, Brenda recalls. refugees who approached the he lunched every week during ‘Father probably worked for him Liberal Party. It was at this time the war, had a son, George, who on a daily basis during the coa- that Jones met Dr Peres, an inter- stood for the Liberal Party in lition government.’ Johnstone national lawyer appointed by . Jones became something of was elected MP for Middles- Jan Masaryk, the Czech ambas- a mentor to George Grey when brough West in , and served sador to London, to negotiate he entered the House (becom- as Secretary to the Department with the British government on ing its youngest member) as MP of Overseas Trade in the coali- behalf of Czechoslovakia. ‘Peres for Berwick-upon-Tweed. Jones tion government. ‘I don’t remem- approached the Liberal Party for assisted Grey with his maiden ber him referring to Harcourt as help,’ recalls Brenda. ‘It must have speech, and advised him on party “Crinks”. This may or may not been devastating to fail in this policy, parliamentary protocol have social significance. They mission.’ and how to nurse a constituency. shared similar political views and As an ardent supporter of free ‘Father, and I believe the party as enjoyed each other’s company, trade, in  he compiled and a whole, thought George Grey despite vastly different tastes, life- edited a hard-cover booklet,  had the potential to become a style and backgrounds.’ For some Flashlights on Trade – an important national leader,’ said Brenda. ‘As years Jones was prospective Lib- reference at a time when arma- an MP he was exempt from mili- eral candidate for South Shields, ment profiteers were in evidence tary service, but chose to fight. Johnstone’s previous constituency, and war was looming. Sources for Regrettably Captain George and spent considerable time nurs- the booklet included the work of Grey was killed in Normandy ing it. However, in  he found Sir Herbert Samuel, Sir Norman just a few days after D Day, a deep a replacement candidate so that Hill and Alfred Beesly. sorrow for his family, my father he could commit himself solely Jones was appointed Secretary and the Liberal Party.’ In the by- to his work in London. of the Liberal Central Association election following his death, Sir During  Jones escorted in , a post which he held for W. H. Beveridge was elected MP William Beveridge to meetings ten years until his retirement. This for Berwick-upon-Tweed. Raymond Jones in on the ‘Construction of a Mod- Liberal Party HQ, included the role of Chief Agent, Party work continued at the Gayfere Street, ern Welfare State’ which Bev- and, with his extensive knowledge Club. ‘I’m sure many important Westminster. eridge chaired. Jones listened to of electoral law, he hosted semi- plans and decisions were made nars at the National Liberal Club over lunch, or sitting in a quiet for party agents and travelled the lounge,’ recalls Brenda. ‘Unless length and breadth of the country Father had a specific engagement once an election was called. he lunched with six to eight In  Jones was invited to friends at the large round table join the newly formed Ministry of near the entrance to the dining Information that was established room where conversation and to monitor the media during the jokes were enjoyed.’ Although he conflict. He moved his office to was much loved by many, there the Ministry, but returned to the were a few who were a target for headquarters of the Liberal Par- Jones’s outspoken opinions and liamentary Party at Gayfere Street quick temper, not least the club in Westminster after a short time. chef who would occasionally He worked closely with the Chief serve a rare delicacy only available Whip, members of the press and, on the black market. Jones had no during the wartime coalition gov- time for illegal trading and would ernment, his counterparts in the insist that the offending ingredi- Conservative and Labour parties. ent be removed from the menu He volunteered for air raid duty immediately. on the roof of the National Lib- Jones suffered from migraine eral Club where he extinguished attacks throughout his life and fires from incendiary bombs. during an attack would retreat to Jones devoted considerable his room at the Club. On occa- time and effort to understand- sion a migraine would render ing the procedures and protocol him unable to speak so he carried of the House of Commons and the address of the Club on a card became a much valued adviser to show to taxi drivers. The club

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 31 AT THE HEART OF THE PARTY the discussions at these meetings, Raymond having been invited to do work once dubbed him ‘the loyallest of but he was not directly involved. for the BBC and also considering the loyal’. He also served on the  Elec- Jones was opening a chain of coffee shops in toral Machinery Committee, London. In August , however, After her father’s death and, sadly, chaired by the Registrar-General, a pas- he suffered a coronary thrombo- that of her mother a year later, Brenda Sir Sylvanus Vivian. Issues such as sis and died on the Isle of Wight Jones (now Tillotson) left England to electoral boundaries, registration sionately while on holiday with his family work in Canada, the United States of voters and proportional rep- commit- celebrating Brenda’s twenty-first and South Africa as a physiothera- resentation were discussed and birthday. pist. She settled in Vancouver, British Jones was an invaluable contribu- ted Liberal Raymond Jones was a passion- Columbia. Throughout her career she tor with his in-depth knowledge ately committed Liberal through- found that the lessons learned at her of electoral law and first-hand throughout out his life and, although he was father’s knee were invaluable. She is experience of constituency work angered by injustice, he never now retired and lives with her hus- during elections. his life and, became depressed or despondent. band near Vancouver. Ian Hunter is Jones took an active part in the although The publication of the Beveridge the editor of Winston & Archie: life of the National Liberal Club Report and the formation of the The Letters of Winston Churchill and served on the executive that he was United Nations gave him much and Archibald Sinclair (Politicos, dealt with the Club’s manage- hope for the future. Lloyd George forthcoming, ). ment and business arrangements. angered by He became Chairman in . He invited distinguished politi- injustice, cians and foreign dignitaries as he never luncheon speakers. Brenda joined her father at some key events fol- became More on Lib Dem voting in the House of lowing the end of the war. As well as the Victory in Europe Thanks- depressed Commons giving Service at St Paul’s Cathe- Philip Cowley and Mark Stuart (Nottingham University) dral, she attended the opening or session of the General Assembly despond- of United Nations in London. n our earlier article in Journal the first session of this Parlia- ‘It was the second day and Mr ent. of Liberal History  (Summer ment, to  per cent in the sec- Trygve Lie had taken the chair I) tracking Liberal Demo- ond session, and reaching  per – another day of excitement and crat voting in the Commons cent between –. Liberal hope for the future, though the between  and , we Democrat MPs are now there- failure of the League of Nations showed that the party had shifted fore more than twice as likely to was still in our minds,’ she said. from being almost indistinguish- vote with the Conservatives as After the war there seemed to able from Labour in terms of its they were at the beginning of the be a national shift in political mood voting to having become a bona  Parliament. towards the left, and the Liberal fide party of opposition. Analysis These overall figures con- Party hoped to benefit, especially of the last full session’s vot- tinue to mask some differences since Beveridge had been elected ing data (ending in November between the different types of as a Liberal MP in . However ) shows that that trend has votes. The Lib Dems are more the Labour Party routed the other continued: out of the  Com- supportive of the government parties, leaving the Liberals with mons whipped votes in which over the principle of legislation just twelve seats, all rural. Clem- Lib Dem MPs participated, the than over its details – although ent Davies was elected temporary party’s MPs voted against the even here, there has been a chairman of the Liberal MPs and, government in  ( per cent). noticeable drop in their levels of when the expected by-election to They voted with the government support. The third session saw the re-elect Sinclair did not material- in just  divisions ( per cent). Lib Dems back the government ise, Davies continued to lead the (There were also  Lib Dem in  per cent of votes on the party for another eleven unre- free votes, and three occasions principle of government legisla- markable years. when the Lib Dem frontbench tion (voting with them on either Jones retired as Secretary of line was to abstain.) second or third reading). Where the Liberal Central Association The party’s tendency to vote they really get stuck in, though, on  June . On  July he with the Conservatives has now is over the fine print – voting was entertained to dinner at the been growing steadily year on against Labour in more than four House of Commons by seventeen year: from  per cent in the first out of every five votes on the of his closest colleagues in the session of the  Parliament, detail of government legislation. party. Viscount Samuel and Clem- to  per cent in the second,  More information on this and ent Davies gave speeches. He had per cent in the third,  per cent related issues can be found at the made plans for his retirement, in the fourth, to  per cent in website www.revolts.co.uk.

32 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 meeting resembled one of those fabled ALC meetings on ‘How we LETTERS won Abercromby’. If the legacy of Liverpool Lib- Liberalism in the 1920s of the party in the interwar and erals is to be looked at seriously it Larry Iles’s letter on my article early post- period. needs to begin well before . ‘Spectacular Victories’ (Journal The Journal will be exploring The role of dedicated Liberals of Liberal History ) adds some some of these questions further who kept the party alive in the interesting facts and reflections in a special issue on ‘Liberals of s, such as Warwick Haggart, about Charles Masterman’s win the Right?’ to be published later Beryl Hands and Russell Dyson in Rusholme in . However, this year. – not to mention that splendidly I would question his comment Jaime Reynolds eccentric Liverpool Young Lib- about Masterman’s defeat in eral, Len Bennett, who used to . It is highly doubtful if sport a conference badge giving Colonel Tweed or anyone else Hair in history his identity as the ‘Kabaka of could have saved Masterman Many thanks for issue ; as Runcorn’ – needs evaluating. from defeat in that disastrous always, a very interesting read. The curious survival of Lib- general election for the Liber- However just to show I can ‘out- eral ‘institutes’ such as the Gar- als. Larry Iles suggests that, by anorak’ the very best … moyle and the Kildonan which demonising local Labour sup- The article on ‘The Flawed provided meeting facilities was porters as ‘communistic’, Mas- Strategy of the SDP’ had a another factor, as was the exist- terman alienated ‘many local picture on the second page ence of the broader Merseyside Christian socialist vicars (who) captioned as being at the forma- Liberal presence thanks to the refused to support him … pre- tion of the SDP. I beg to differ. munificence of Graham White, ferring Labour’s William Paul’. I strongly believe it was taken at the former Liberal MP for Birk- In Masterman’s defence it should the  spring conference in enhead, who funded a head- be noted that Paul was in fact a Bath to celebrate the fifth anni- quarters in Hamilton Square in Communist Party member and versary of the SDP launch. I was that borough, and a full-time for this reason stood as a Com- at the conference, so I am certain Liberal agent, Alf Hayes, all of munist in , having been I am correct. which also aided the election of refused official Labour endorse- Apart from my knowledge Councillor (later Lord) Gruff ment. Why local vicars should that that is the case, there are two Evans. have rallied to him rather than strong clues. First, Bill Rodg- It would also be interesting to Masterman is hard to fathom. ers’ hairstyle changed from the know more of how Cyril Carr Andrew Hudson’s letter rather long slicked-back style at engineered a straight fight with about Prime Minister Portillo and the launch to the shorter, more the Conservatives in – I hope I Other Things that Never Hap- contemporary, style that is shown recall it correctly – a by-elec- pened in the same issue refers to on the picture in around . tion in Church Ward which led my chapter in that book (pub- Second, David Owen had little to him becoming, together with lished under the pseudonym or no grey hair and his parting Joe Wilmington, one of the first James Parry), commenting that was much less pronounced at the Liberal councillors in the city I ‘ignored the strength of social time of the launch. By the time in . Liberalism, which was by no of the fifth anniversary – as the The complete eclipse of means restricted to New Lib- picture shows – his parting was If the the Conservative Party as a eralism and the Lloyd George quite pronounced and he had a legacy of municipal force in Liverpool era’. It was certainly not my fair amount of grey hair. is mentioned in passing in the intention to suggest that it was. Tim Hill Liverpool report but deserves much more In fact – as the chapter states analysis. How could a party clearly – the long association of Liberals which controlled the city coun- British Liberalism with social Liberalism in Liverpool cil as recently as  disappear liberalism is not in doubt. But The Journal of Liberal History has is to be completely from that council? Is I do think that the economic established a justified reputation looked at there, for instance, a connection liberal current in the party for academic excellence based on with the rapid decline of anti- after  has been seriously the quality of its contents. Given seriously Roman Catholic working-class neglected in Liberal historiogra- this background, the report of the Conservative support, seen at its phy. I was trying in the chapter Group’s fringe meeting on ‘Liber- it needs most blatant in the election of to challenge this orthodoxy and als in Liverpool – Their Legacy’ ‘Protestant Party’ councillors in to suggest that the direction of (in issue ) was particularly to begin wards such as St Domingo and modern centre-left Liberalism disappointing. Contemporary well before Netherfield, and which virtually from the s was not a simple history is certainly important, ended with local government linear development of the ideas but the report suggests that the 1968. reorganisation in ?

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 33 LETTERS

Another curious episode and Conservative councillors department’ into ‘an engine of in Liverpool Liberal history and the anti-Jones portion of the radical reform’. concerns a deselected Labour Liberal group! How did this come The second reason for Dick councillor, Bill Smythe, who won about? How significant was Cyril Taverne’s fulsome assessment was Childwall ward for the Liberals in Carr’s declining health in the Jenkins’ record as Chancellor of  though still a member of the whole episode? the Exchequer. He went to the Labour Party. Peter Kilfoyle MP, Finally, if there is to be a resid- Treasury after the disastrous  in his excellent book on the city, ual ‘How we won Abercromby’ devaluation and slowly but surely Left Behind, recounts how Smythe style to such a meeting, then, masterminded an economic became Liberal group leader and from an historical point of view, recovery – and is generally recog- leader of the council whilst still we also need to know ‘Why we nised as one of the best post-war being a Labour Party member lost Abercomby’. Chancellors. Still, aspects of his – after being voted for by Labour Michael Meadowcroft stewardship have been criticised in recent years, most notably by Edmund Dell in The Chancel- lors (). Dick Taverne agreed with Dell that Jenkins delayed taking some tough decisions for too long, for example in acting to reduce demand. But he argued REPORT that Dell’s analysis of Jenkins’  budget – that, tough as it was, the measures may still have been too lax – was only made with Roy Jenkins – Reformer, Visionary, the benefit of hindsight. Simi- larly, Taverne mounted a robust Statesman defence of Jenkins’ handling of the sterling balances, arguing that, Fringe meeting report, September 2004, Bournemouth, ultimately, it succeeded. with Dick Taverne, Shirley Williams and Peter Riddell But the meeting was no dry discussion of Roy Jenkins’ many Report by Neil Stockley accomplishments, important as they were. The speakers went n the Sunday night of ‘responsible for its most impor- to some lengths to explain the autumn conference a tant achievements’. By the late personal gifts that made Jenkins Ostanding-room-only s, he was widely seen as such an important political fig- audience, including Dame Jen- the ‘dominant force’ in Harold Jenkins ure. Dick Taverne said that his nifer Jenkins, gathered to hear Wilson’s Cabinet. The first rea- mastery in debate, grasp of his three distinguished guests reflect son was the big list of reforms had taken subject and excellent judgement, on the life and career of the late that Jenkins was responsible for along with his influence over Lord Jenkins of Hillhead. The introducing during his time as over the events and his work as a writer on events had made him one meeting was held to mark the Home Secretary. His roles in Home publication of a new collec- enabling the passage of private of the most outstanding figures tion of essays, edited by Andrew members’ bills to liberalise the Office and of modern political history. In Adonis and Keith Thomas, Roy law on abortion and to decrimi- describing his mastery of the Jenkins: A Retrospective (Oxford nalise homosexual practices turned House of Commons, Taverne University Press, ). The between consenting adults are gave as examples two important speakers were Lord (Dick) Tav- well documented. So are his it from milestones in Jenkins’ ministe- rial life. The first was his skilful, erne, who served under Jenkins work to set in train the Race a ‘heart- as a junior minister at the Home Relations Act and the relaxation incisive reply to the Conservative Office and the Treasury, Baroness of theatre censorship. Taverne breaking front bench in the Commons Shirley Williams, a co-founder also pointed out that Jenkins debate that followed the escape of the Social Democratic Party passed comprehensive, progres- depart- from prison of George Blake. (SDP), and the veteran political sive criminal justice legislation The second was his speech laying journalist Peter Riddell. and drove reforms to improve ment’ into out the tough Budget of , which imposed the largest tax Dick Taverne argued that the ability of the police to bring ‘an engine Jenkins had been ‘the most crime under control. Shirley increases this country had ever significant member’ of the dis- Williams agreed that Jenkins had of radical seen. This time Taverne quoted appointing – Labour taken over the Home Office and with approval the judgement government and that he was turned it from a ‘heartbreaking reform’. of Edmund Dell: ‘Never has

34 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 REPORT

he mastered ‘the broad themes, looming, we clearly do not live the broad sweeps’ of politics and in the age of Jenkins. still managed to achieve a great The first reason is obvious: deal. He contrasted Jenkins to unlike Margaret Thatcher, he the current Chancellor, Gordon never became Prime Minister, Brown, who was ‘obsessed with let alone the leader of a purpose- the detail of policy’. Riddell ful administration that stayed in said that it was Jenkins’ grasp of office for a long time. But if he the ‘broad historical sweep’ that was so gifted, why did Jenkins linked his roles as a biographer never get to the very top? The and a politician. question is most relevant to his But Riddell also pointed out time as a leading Labour politi- that, in terms of the broad sweep cian, when he had two serious of politics, Jenkins was not ‘a chances to take the top job. Tav- mould breaker’ in the way that erne recounted how, as Wilson Margaret Thatcher had been floundered in , a coterie of and in so doing, brought out Labour MPs plotted to mount a the central paradoxes of Jenkins’ putsch that would install Jenkins career. On social reform, Europe as Prime Minister. But, he said, and the future of centre-left ‘Roy called them off’ because, politics, Jenkins was indeed a he believed, Jenkins thought it visionary. As Home Secretary and would be ‘dishonourable’ to try to – although the meeting did not topple the Prime Minister who really get to it – President of the had appointed him; he consist- European Commission, Jenkins ently supported him in Cabinet achieved a great deal. If he was over some very difficult issues. not a perfect Chancellor, he was A second opportunity came the pain been inflicted with greater certainly a successful and master- following year, after Wilson was elegance’. ful one, who made the very best forced to make a humiliating Shirley Williams acknowl- of a grim inheritance. But the retreat over the reforms to indus- edged that Jenkins was a great so-called Keynesian approach trial relations law set out in the orator with a brilliant command to economic management – to White Paper, In Place of Strife. But of language, whose contributions which he closely subscribed Taverne explained that Jenkins were lightened by his wit and – unravelled not long after he had supported the proposals and use of anecdotes. But she paid left the Treasury in . After believed that it would be oppor- more attention to the depth and  the Conservatives ruled for tunistic to use their failure as a breadth of his political vision. eighteen years and Mrs Thatch- basis for mounting a challenge. She contrasted Jenkins with his er’s government turned the old All of this reflects very well on old friend and rival Tony Cros- political consensus on economic Jenkins as a man. land who, despite being the main policy on its head and brought in There were other, more per- philosopher of post-war demo- a new economic orthodoxy. Nei- sonal reasons why he did not cratic socialism, had not devised ther John Major nor his Labour become leader of the Labour the reformist agenda that Jenkins successors have tried to alter its Party or Prime Minister. For pioneered at the Home Office. fundamental tenets. example, Jenkins was often por- For instance, Crosland’s seminal In other areas that were cen- trayed as too aloof, too grand work The Future of Socialism said tral to Jenkins’ political vision, and as something of a bon viveur nothing about issues around race the picture seems similarly bleak. who did not take his political and gender equality, which are More than thirty years after he work as seriously as he might. now ‘part of the meat and drink led the Labour rebellion on join- There was a suspicion that of being a Liberal Democrat’. ing the EEC, Britain still does Jenkins had enjoyed something Williams believed that the attain- not play a full role in Europe. of an easy life and, therefore, ment of social reform was all part Even if his main social reforms expected political fortune to of a ‘learning process’ for the pro- are part of the fabric of national somehow fall into his lap. Here, gressive forces in British politics life – and some have been the speakers vividly and affec- that had been ‘led by Roy’. extended further – the Home tionately brought to life some Peter Riddell argued that it Office under Michael Howard, of the tremendous personal was his grasp of the big picture Jack Straw and David Blunkett qualities that may not have been that made Jenkins so successful as has hardly been an engine of so apparent to most of his col- a minister. Riddell believed that liberal reform. In the wake of leagues – particularly in the rather than being a policy wonk, Belmarsh and with ID cards Labour Party – and the public;

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 35 REPORT when they started to emerge, Shirley Wil- and parliamentarian during the party in the early s, some it was too late. Dick Taverne s and early s, Shirley ten years before the SDP was recalled how, as a young MP, he liams was Williams showed just as clearly formed. Shirley Williams recalled got to know Jenkins and entered that as leader of the SDP in how from  to  she had a wide circle of devoted friends. surely right –, he did not find the served in the last Wilson Cabinet ‘No friend could ever say he let Commons a very happy place with Jenkins, who was a reluc- them down,’ he said. Peter Rid- when she to be. Jenkins was simply not tant, recidivist Home Secretary. dell also said that Jenkins was said that used to being interrupted and to He had submitted to the Cabinet very kind to younger people. suffering the brutal heckling of proposals to hold a Speaker’s Shirley Williams suggested the Liberal Denis Skinner and others. She Conference on three important that the apparent remoteness also argued that he was damaged constitutional reforms: electoral was really a kind of shyness and Democrats by the growing and changing reform for the House of Com- that when he contested the role of television because ‘his mons, a human rights bill and  Warrington by-election are ‘Roy’s thinking was too deep’ to be freedom of information legisla- for the SDP, Jenkins reached legacy’. easily condensed in ten-second tion. All three were resound- out to people in a way that he soundbites: whereas Jenkins was ingly rejected. Thirty years later, never had before. ‘There was suited to the ‘age of words’, we proportional representation is no side to him,’ she insisted. lived in ‘the age of images’. Wil- used at a number of levels of She also paid a generous tribute liams was surely correct that this government, there is a Human to the ‘astonishing self-disci- demonstrated the ‘shallowness Rights Act and, now, a Freedom pline’ that he brought to all his of our politics’, but the hard of Information Act. All were a work, including as a writer and truth was that his political style long time coming and Shirley author. Perhaps, however, he was was simply not suited to a more Williams was clear that ‘they all not single-minded or ruthless populist era. started with Roy’. enough to be Prime Minister. More fundamentally, Peter It could be added, however, Indeed, Shirley Williams was Riddell questioned whether, for that we still await electoral clear that Jenkins was never all his mastery of the broad sweep reform for Westminster (which dominated by his own politi- of politics and history, Jenkins Jenkins made a valiant attempt cal ambition. She believed that had really understood the extent to achieve in ), the broader he really coveted the Foreign of what was happening in British purposes behind the Human Office rather than Number Ten. politics during the s. Riddell Rights Act are in grave danger Peter Riddell took us back to did not spell it out, but he was and Labour’s FOI Act is, to quote Jenkins’ successful candidacy for presumably referring to the rise Shirley Williams, ‘castrated’. In the SDP in the crucial Glasgow of more materialist, consumerist these areas, and in others, such Hillhead by-election of . As and, indeed, individualist values as Europe, Jenkins left important the nascent party’s star started to within the electorate as a whole business for others to finish. wane, victory in the cold, wet and the slow acceptance – how- The speakers did not com- and difficult campaign was by no ever grudging – of a more bitter ment on it in detail, but it was means assured. But Jenkins knew political medicine and a greater his  Dimbleby Lecture that he had to fight to win and Rid- demand for tough leadership. started the chain of events that dell reminded us that he did so Riddell believed that Dr David led to the formation of the SDP. with great vigour. Owen did recognise how politics It was also the party’s philosophi- The second reason we do was changing around him – but cal foundation and much of it has not live in the Age of Jenkins the SDP was still promising a stood the test of time, both as a is the failure of the SDP to ‘better yesterday’ or, at heart, critique of the Thatcher and now break the mould of politics trying to create a better Labour of the Blair administration, and as and, more importantly, for the Party. a statement of the shared politi- Labour Party to modernise This is not to suggest that cal credo of modern liberals and itself quickly enough. Margaret the meeting saw Jenkins as, to genuine social democrats. Shirley Thatcher became the political quote Harold Wilson’s former Williams was surely right when giant of the late twentieth cen- spin doctor Joe Haines, ‘a gifted she said that the Liberal Demo- tury and repainted the political failure’. Far from it. We heard crats are ‘Roy’s legacy’. landscape. Nobody could seri- how, in many important respects, ously suggest that any of this, Jenkins was way ahead of his The Journal will be publishing a full or even the fate of the SDP, was time. Dick Taverne reminded review of Andrew Adonis and Keith Jenkins’ fault. Still, the meeting us that as early as  he was Thomas, Roy Jenkins: A Retro- touched on some uncomfort- campaigning for Britain to play spective in issue  (autumn ). able realities. If Lord Taverne a full part in Europe. Similarly, vividly captured the essence of Jenkins had contemplated start- Jenkins’ superiority as a debater ing a new social democratic

36 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 Adrian Slade talks to the Liberal Democrat leader in the Lords, Tom McNally. THE PRO WITH PROVEN POLITICAL EFFECTIVENESS

n  he was a compara- of the radical Liberal coin, occa- Tom McNally What Liberal Democrats tively late convert from sionally clashing vigorously with outside the House sometimes forget is that, apart Labour to the newly trum- the more grassroots members of of Lords. from the party’s three famous peted SDP. He even stayed the party. ex-Secretaries of State – Roy in the Labour Party long And yet the sheer political Jenkins, Shirley Williams and Ienough to vote for Denis Hea- effectiveness of Tom McNally Bill Rodgers – Tom McNally has ley as Deputy Leader. Of the over a period of more than thirty been closer to the real levers of two SDP leaders he felt more at years has now seen him move power at Westminster than any home with David Owen than into the role previously occu- other active member of the party. with Roy Jenkins, although he pied by Roy Jenkins, Bill Rodg- It was he who, in  at the was no acolyte to any member ers and Shirley Williams – that of age of just twenty-six, became of the original ‘Gang of Four’. leader of the Liberal Democrats International Secretary of the When Liberal/SDP merger came in the House of Lords – with the Labour Party, a job in which he under discussion, unlike his then almost full support of his peers continued for five years. It was he party leader, he supported the and certainly without having to whom Jim Callaghan picked out concept, but for many Liberals stand for election. It is a remark- in the early s to work in his at the time he was never their able achievement for a man office as his speech-writer and favourite Social Democrat, and in who, for all his outward affabil- one of his international advis- the nearly seventeen years of the ity and sense of fun, has not had ers, and he followed Callaghan Liberal Democrats’ existence he a smooth political or personal back into government in  has often chosen to cast himself, life and is very much his own when Callaghan became Foreign almost deliberately, as the obverse person. Secretary and de facto deputy to

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 37 THE PRO WITH PROVEN POLITICAL EFFECTIVENESS Harold Wilson after Roy Jenkins’ been a tragedy for democracy I accept did not want to adopt me, and departure to the European Com- and for government if Labour at the other end of the line the mission in Brussels. McNally had fallen solely on the bank- that there party was supporting policies that travelled everywhere with Cal- ers’ ramp of the IMF crisis. In I could never have supported. I laghan, including Vietnam, the my view, that period of the pact was more cannot tell you what being in the Middle East and the Soviet was a period of very good gov- Labour Party was like at the time. I Union, meeting political names ernment. I accept that there was in the pact felt I had no firm ground to stand of now distant legend, such as more in it for Labour than there for Labour on. But I was not a natural Social Andrei Gromyko of the Soviet was for the Liberals, but that was Democrat. It took me six months Union. partly because, unlike the Liberal than there after the Limehouse Declaration In  for the first time he Democrats today, the Liberals to make a move to talk to Bill also met Paddy Ashdown, when did not have the policy-making was for the Rodgers. I remember him saying Ashdown was notionally work- machinery to push their ideas. that he didn’t know what would ing as the ‘librarian’ at the Geneva Jim wanted to give them more. Liberals, happen to the SDP, but either it peace talks. ‘A dodgy cover for I think both sides can feel genu- but that would succeed and replace the a trained killer, if ever there was inely proud of what they did in Labour Party or the Labour Party one!’ comments McNally, but steadying the ship at a time when was partly itself would reform.’ the friendship that began to form people were talking about Britain You get the feeling that McNal- then later led to him becoming becoming “ungovernable”.’ because, ly’s move was more one of despair close adviser, speech-writer and Life in Downing Street obvi- than of positive conviction. ‘I a necessary purveyor of jokes to ously suited the political animal unlike the wasn’t a particularly active mem- Paddy Ashdown for the eleven that Tom McNally accepts he Liberal ber of the SDP. I was uneasy with years of his leadership. has always been. ‘My father was a some aspects of it, for instance its In , when Callaghan process worker for ICI, an active Democrats top-down nature. Nor, although I moved into  Downing Street, trade unionist and a Labour Party admired him, was I a particular fan so did Tom McNally – to run supporter. He never ran for office today, the of Roy Jenkins. I was more a sup- his Political Office – and he but he loved talking politics and, porter of Owen. I even opposed remained there until Labour’s as I was the youngest of my fam- Liberals a move for merger after the  defeat in , witnessing the full ily by fourteen years, he had did not election. I believe that Owen’s impact of the IMF crisis and the more time to do that with me. performance between  and subsequent Lib-Lab Pact that kept The first election I was involved have the  was one of the most brilliant Callaghan’s government in power. with was North Fylde in , individual political performances I It was a time that helped to for- when I was sixteen. Labour was policy-mak- have ever seen.’ mulate many of his views about the only political home for me McNally himself was not the future of British politics. in those days, although one of ing machin- closely involved with the internal ‘Jim Callaghan and I got to my closest friends at grammar ery to push workings of the Alliance between know each other very well,’ he school was Chris Walmsley. We  and . ‘I was going says. ‘He was always extremely used to exchange provocative their ideas. through a lot of difficulties in my kind to subordinates but he could Labour–Liberal correspondence personal life at the time. I had left be very difficult and very tough with each other in the Blackpool Jim wanted Labour, both my parents had died, with people who were as big or Evening Gazette.’ I had lost my seat, my marriage bigger than him. I remember the After three years at Univer- to give was breaking up and I was drink- meeting with Gromyko in Mos- sity College London, where he them more. ing too much. I needed to sort cow. It was supposed to last an read Economics & Social His- myself out. My first real re-entry hour and went on for four. Gro- tory and was heavily involved into mainstream politics was in myko was playing very hard ball in student politics and debat-  when Alec McGivan asked but Jim matched him minute for ing at every level, including the me to be Rosie Barnes’s minder minute and it was quite some- National Union of Students, Tom in the Greenwich by-election thing to watch these grizzled McNally applied for jobs with [won by her for the SDP–Liberal old pros battling it out with each the TUC, the Labour Party and Alliance]. That was also the time I other.’ the Fabian Society. In  it was first met my now wife Juliet. She ‘I was an enthusiastic sup- Bill Rodgers who offered him his worked in David Steel’s office.’ porter of the Lib-Lab Pact. I liked first political position, as Assistant Unlike Owen, the result of David Steel from the moment General Secretary of the Fabian the  election convinced him that I first met him, and so did Society. that merger was the best way to Jim,’ he says. ‘The saddest thing Surprisingly he did not stand combine in one political force is that, in all those discussions, for election to parliament until both the Liberal campaigning nobody ever thought that the best , when he won Stockport organisation on the ground that outcome of the pact could have for Labour. ‘That was not a happy the SDP had never had and the been to put it to the country as a time,’ he says. ‘There had always SDP’s more formal and less ‘anar- working coalition. It would have been a vicious faction locally that chic’ approach to policy-making,

38 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 THE PRO WITH PROVEN POLITICAL EFFECTIVENESS which he believed had been the Liberal Party’s failing. ‘The SDP undoubtedly had been the cata- lyst for change in the Labour Party, but that change had already begun under Kinnock and Brian Gould in , and the Alliance had fallen back by ten points. We had to think afresh. The departure of Owen was sad in that we lost some good people but many of them have come back.’ He believes that the greatest difficulties in the early days of the merger had their roots in old SDP paranoia about controlling the party from the top and the Liberal Party’s natural, ‘anarchic’, again, inclination to want to do the opposite. ‘But as new people have joined who were neither one nor I am not the other before, that problem has enamoured diminished significantly,’ he says – although some might say that of market on bodies like the Federal Execu- tive it is he who sometimes keeps econom- the flame burning, if more slowly than in the past. ics. In fact, Tom McNally does not claim in those to be a Liberal but he believes that philosophically he is much terms I am more liberal than perhaps he is given credit for: ‘ For example, possibly I am not enamoured of market economics. In fact, in those terms what Tony I am possibly what Tony Greaves Greaves closer and more permanent links alternative to another century would call a social liberal. Tony with the Labour Party. His first of predominantly Conservative Blair has got the political roots of would call response was to remind me that, rule was very attractive and I a box of watercress whereas mine when Charles Kennedy became fully supported Paddy in explor- go back to my background. I feel a social leader, it was Tom McNally who ing what was on offer. I think he no empathy at all with what this was one of the first to call for an had a right to do that. Whether government is now trying to do liberal. end to the Joint Cabinet Com- or not Paddy would ever have with civil liberties and human Tony Blair mittee and for a distancing from got support for what he wanted rights. I feel extremely comfort- Labour, but he admitted his ear- to do is another matter, but we able with the way the party is has got lier support, suggesting it was on mustn’t run away from the reality holding its nerve on these issues, practical grounds. ‘I don’t think of these things. And, if you look sticking out against an authori- the politi- any of us thought there was going at what did actually happen, the tarian state and being equally to be a Labour landslide and a Cook–Maclennan committee on consistent in its commitment to cal roots hung parliament was quite a pos- constitutional reform certainly Europe and internationalism. I of a box of sibility. I felt that we should be had a considerable influence on can honestly say that I feel more prepared for that.’ Labour’s subsequent devolution comfortable in the stance of the watercress So his support was only in the legislation. I am in politics to get party today than I have felt at any case of a hung parliament and not results and with that report we time in thirty years of politics.’ whereas in any eventuality, as some Liberal showed what was possible.’ This forthright endorsement Democrats apparently favoured? To make sure I understand of today’s independent party mine go ‘I don’t think that was ever really that his own thinking has now prompted me to remind him that back to on but I never say never. When changed, McNally adds: ‘Where perhaps he had felt rather differ- Roy and Blair were talking about Charles is right, of course, is that, ently in  when he had been my back- healing the hundred-year rift if there were to be a hung parlia- one of the stronger supporters on the centre left, I thought an ment after the next election, we of Paddy Ashdown’s ‘project’ for ground.

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 39 THE PRO WITH PROVEN POLITICAL EFFECTIVENESS could not sustain Blair in office We should closely with colleagues in the and the Liberal Party’s success of because the people would have Commons to put clear markers in February . ‘Don’t forget that spoken decisively.’ be making the key policy-making areas but in votes we fell back in ,  McNally speaks highly of also making themselves available and , and that it was only the Charles Kennedy as a leader and sure that, to help campaigning in the coun- clever targeting of Chris Rennard communicator but you sense try. Within the House he will and others that gave us our extra that his greatest loyalty may have whatever want, among other issues, to con- seats. I think the opportunity is been to Paddy Ashdown. Out of may be tinue to harass the government now there to win the campaign. very difficult beginnings after the about its links with the media. To Charles at his best is one the best merger he believes that Ashdown thrown at illustrate his point he says: ‘Nor- campaigners and communicators ‘did lots of good things’ for the man Lamb has a question down in British politics, particularly party, perhaps including explor- us about, asking the Prime Minister who on television, and I think you ing ‘the project’. has been entertained in Downing only have to look at the parlia- Since the mid-s Tom for exam- Street recently and, do you know, mentary party as a whole to see McNally has spent a number of ple, being they won’t tell him.’ that we don’t need to prepare for years working in the lobbying He wants to see further reform government: we are ready for it. end of some of London’s larger “soft on of the Lords included in the For example, people like Vince PR firms, and in the past his con- manifestos of all the parties and Cable are more than a match for nections have occasionally led crime”, we believes that, as a starting point Gordon Brown, and of course in him into controversy. However he for the longer term, almost any Menzies Campbell we have the is less involved now and is free to maintain element of election to the Lords Foreign Secretary that Blair has concentrate fully on his new job our com- would be better than the current always wished he had.’ as leader in the House of Lords, a appointed House, and he pleads That’s a pretty reassuring House he first entered as a peer mitment for party flexibility in making endorsement from the party’s in . sure that some reform takes place. longest-running pro. Commenting on the Lords, to human In conclusion we talked about he says: ‘We are and should be party prospects, which he believes A shorter version of this interview a revisory chamber. I see abso- rights and are better than at any time since appeared in Liberal Democrat lutely no role for a veto on leg- civil liber- the first Alliance election of  News in November . islation but we should retain strong powers to delay and force ties. reconsideration if necessary. I am not against frustrating govern- ment in that sense. The screams of Labour ministers when we do frustrate them are proof that we are doing our job. The problem of these massive majorities deliv- REVIEWS ered in the Commons is that, unless there is some check and balance, we will have what Hail- Why bother with the Liberals again? sham described as an elective dictatorship. The powers we now David Dutton: A History of the Liberal Party in the have were given to us four or five years ago and, until they change Twentieth Century (Palgrave, 2004) them, we should use them to Reviewed by Matt Cole improve legislation and limit the powers of the executive.’ ‘As far as Liberal Democrats are orgen S. Rasmussen’s semi- what benefit there is to be gained concerned, we should be mak- nal study of the Liberal Party from revisiting debates that have ing sure that, whatever may be Jpublished in the s been so thoroughly researched thrown at us about, for example, opened with a passage headed and rehearsed in the years since being “soft on crime”, we main- ‘Why bother with the Liber- Rasmussen’s work; for example, tain our commitment to human als?’, in which the author sought since  over a dozen substan- rights and civil liberties. We may to justify his dilation upon such tial monographs and readers on be misrepresented occasionally an apparently insignificant and the Liberal Party have been pub- but for a steady, solid, firm voice neglected topic. Curiously, David lished – the result of an attraction it is worth the risk.’ Dutton’s much-awaited history to the subject which Dutton says In the run-up to the gen- of the party opens in a similar ‘might fairly be deemed exces- eral election he wants to see the way, but for very different rea- sive’. The question this time Liberal Democrat peers working sons. Now the question is one of might perhaps be ‘Why bother

40 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 REVIEWS with the Liberals again?’ – and of the inner workings of the with this book Dutton provides party; yet the cognoscenti will an answer to this question that is keep a bookmark in the notes to as full and effective as could be check some sources. expected by his most demanding Secondly, this is a proper his- reader, or the willing non-spe- tory of the party, rather than a cialist. tale of its glory or a report of its Dutton has set himself the impact upon other institutions, task of drawing together the so that the periods of its poor- findings of the historians and est fortunes are not passed over social scientists involved in the either out of embarrassment or debate of the last forty years for want of easily accessible evi- – and the seventy since Dan- dence. The wilderness years of gerfield’s Strange Death of Liberal the s are, as they should be, England. In doing so, he begins chronicled and investigated with by declaring that the debate at least the same endeavour as the has been unduly partisan, too glory days of the Edwardian era. dominated by rhetoric and This is reflected in the classifica- pre-cooked conclusions, and tion of the phases of the party’s its protagonists have been too development: , ,  unwilling to accept the force and  are ditched as mile- of some of the evidence ranged stones in favour of ,  against them. He warns from and . the outset that the truth is likely So does Dutton succeed in to lie somewhere between the plotting a more reasoned path familiar theories of the party’s than those of his predecessors decline. ‘The debate’, Dutton through the battlefield of Liberal says, ‘has sometimes been con- history? This is a substantial and ducted with a predictability of important challenge, and it is in misjudgements and vanities in argument and an absolutism of the analysis of his subject matter the s, but it seems that for analysis which have not helped that Dutton’s greatest strengths, Dutton the killer episodes for historical understanding.’ He and also some remaining ques- the Liberal Party were the out- also observes that he can review tions, lie. In brief, Dutton’s analy- flow – rather than simply the the debate from the vantage sis is cogent but understated, and initial substance – of the wartime point of a revival in Liberal perhaps, in some ways, even Asquith–Lloyd George split. In fortunes to a level more favour- incomplete. Whilst the social and this analysis, Dutton shows a able than any witnessed since economic explanation of the subtlety lacking in some earlier Dangerfield’s time. The story, party’s decline sets the parameters studies, notably showing the he rightly says, will be brought within which Liberal achieve- ‘kaleidoscopic’ variations in the right up to date. ments must be considered, the Liberal factions of the inter-war The first strength of Dutton’s latitude within these seems period. For example, how did work is his handling of the evi- considerable. At the outbreak of the alliance of the radical Lloyd dence base. In no other title on World War One, for instance, George with the Conservatives, the history of the Liberal Party Liberalism was ‘a varied, but gen- and then his sympathy for the is such a varied body of research erally robust, political force – but General Strike and buttressing brought together so succinctly. one that was beset by more than of Labour, on each occasion This includes other major pub- its fair share of problems’ (these, attacked by his Liberal detractors, lished studies, general histories such as the failure to nominate demonstrate ideological fault and biographical titles, but Dut- working-class candidates and the lines in the Liberal Party? Rather, ton also makes use of unpub- terms of the Trade Union Act of they reflected the personal nature lished theses, his own research, , were partly self-inflicted). of the embittered dispute. and a number of more occasional The fatal damage was done This approach will probably articles including (needless to by a twenty-year ‘civil war’, leave Labour historians feeling say) half a dozen from the Jour- Asquith’s decision to support less than fully recognised, and nal of Liberal History. These are Labour’s first administration, Dutton’s general stress upon orchestrated with a style which is which ‘smacked of the fatal leadership and parliamentary (or necessarily economical, yet loses “wait and see” style’, and the at least upper-level extra-par- neither its attention to relevant effects of descent into third- liamentary) affairs will confirm detail nor its sense of momen- party status with its inevitable their suspicions. Yet it is hardly tum. The general reader will not consequences in the British elec- reassuring for Liberal sympathis- need too much prior knowledge toral system. There were further ers either, for the party is, for

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 41 REVIEWS the remainder of the century, Dutton played the limited hand they had Dutton devotes most of his Con- depicted largely as the helpless better than was acknowledged at clusion to an assessment of the victim of circumstance: in the makes the time: the s, for instance, Liberal Democrats’ current posi- s there was a ‘two-pronged did not simply, as Dutton sug- tion rather than to the search for pincer assault launched by its magnifi- gests, ‘witness Liberalism moving a single theme in their past. Dut- political opponents’; in the distinctly to the right’ under the ton’s place in the debate emerges s the Liberal Nationals were cent work influence of Churchill and the slowly, but it would be too harsh seduced away by the Conserva- of illumi- Liberal Nationals, but a rational to use of him Robert Frost’s tives; in the Second World War strategy for survival in the definition of a Liberal as ‘a man ‘it is doubtful whether the party nating the pressing circumstances Dutton too good-natured to take his derived any long-term advantage himself describes so well. Many own side in an argument’; he is from its occupation of office’; Liberals’ Liberals, of course, remained at worst measured, possibly cau- in the s it was squeezed by profoundly anti-Tory, which is tious in his expression of his case. Butskellism; and even the sub- decline, part of why the pressure never Perhaps he is right, and we are sequent revival was built upon but paid off. so deafened to the heavy-metal ‘a purely negative response to This is something of a selec- sound of partisanship in Liberal one or both of the two leading accounts tive account, since Dutton history that we struggle to hear parties … Psephologists have acknowledges in places the the more elaborate melodies of identified a relatively small “core” for their ‘continuity of Liberal principles’, reasoned, even balanced, argu- Liberal vote … and a far larger the role of ‘key figures … who ment. Certainly, this will justly be “sympathy” vote.’ There were revival by managed to convince at least listened to for a long time. no real achievements to show a series of themselves that the Liberal cause for the Lib-Lab Pact, and whilst was not lost’, and the shrewd Matt Cole is a research student in the Liberal Democrats position misjudge- electoral tactics of  and . the Modern History Department themselves to the left of Labour, It is the very mixed nature of at the University of Birmingham, their voters and target seats are ments on Dutton’s explanation which is examining Liberal Party identity primarily composed of disillu- frustrating to a reader seeking during the post-war period. sioned Tories. the parts patterns, and it is interesting that This pessimism struggles to of their explain the gradual nature of the Liberal recovery, which as opponents Dutton acknowledges, saw the party in  gain ‘its best par- which ‘Nothing talked of, thought of, dreamt of, liamentary tally since , and but Reform’ the first time ever that the party is now had increased its vote after a full- becom- Edward Pearce: Reform! The Fight for the 1832 Reform term Labour government.’ Dut- ton makes magnificent work of ing too Act (London: Pimlico, 2004) illuminating the Liberals’ decline, but accounts for their revival by extended Reviewed by Dr Kathryn Rix a series of misjudgements on the to be cred- parts of their opponents which othing talked of, thought it redrew the electoral map is now becoming too extended ible alone. of, dreamt of, but through the extensive redistribu- to be credible alone: the Con- NReform. Every creature tion of seats, removing ‘rotten servatives could have killed the ‘that one meets asks, What is said boroughs’ and giving representa- Liberals off in the s but did now? How will it go? What is the tion to growing industrial towns not, and the Grimond myth last news? What do you think? such as Leeds, Manchester and sustained them in the s; And so it is from morning till Birmingham for the first time; the main parties polarised and night, in the streets, in the clubs, and it extended the franchise to a gave them space in the s and in private houses.’ Charles larger, albeit still limited, number and s, and although the Greville’s diary entry for  March of voters. It was a measure which Ashdown–Blair Project of the  recorded the excitement took a tortuous fifteen months to s brought short-term results, generated by the Whig Gov- pass, and Edward Pearce’s Reform! and awaits a fuller retrospective ernment’s introduction into the The Fight for the  Reform Act assessment, ‘it remains question- Commons of the measure that provides a vivid and engaging able whether even a fully com- was eventually to become the account of the events of this mitted Blair could have taken his  or ‘Great’ Reform Act. This period. party with him.’ Underplayed in legislative landmark in the evolu- Pearce sets the scene with a all of this – though by no means tion of the modern British polit- chapter outlining some of the entirely missing – is a recognition ical system had two key elements: defects of the pre- system: that Liberal leaders and activists

42 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 REVIEWS the control of seats by aristocratic  to quieter moments such The omission of Lord John patrons, or by borough-mongers as the second reading of the Russell from those deemed who sold them to the highest government’s second Reform worthy of a biographical sketch bidder; the limited extent of the Bill in the Commons, which will seem particularly odd to franchise; the survival of rotten Pearce deftly summarises as ‘not historians of the Liberal Party, boroughs such as Old Sarum much more than an exercise in given that he was responsible for with a mere seven electors; the statutory grumbling, a limp- introducing the Reform Bill into over-representation of areas such ing jog around a required track the Commons, and had been as Cornwall, contrasted with the with none of the racecourse a proponent of Reform since under-representation of northern buzz attending the contest of the the s. Little more than two industrial towns such as Oldham. first bill’ (p. ). He emphasises pages are devoted to the Cabi- His depiction of ‘the old system’ the extensive use which MPs net’s framing of the initial bill, a is enlivened by examples from made of historical precedents process which Pearce describes contemporary fiction, including in framing their arguments, and as ‘haphazard’ (p. ). This may the Eatanswill election from The he is careful to give credence to well be a fair assessment, but Pickwick Papers alongside extracts the reasoning behind the anti- he could usefully have devoted from less well-known works. Reform case, and to illustrate more space to consideration of The chapter on the demise of the diversity of opinions among how the measure was shaped not Wellington’s Tory ministry – the both pro- and anti-Reformers. simply by expediency, but also by Duke having personally pledged It is perhaps because Pearce is a long-standing and principled to resist Reform – adeptly con- so adept at conveying the mood commitment to Reform on the veys the fluidity of party politics of the nineteenth-century leg- part of Whigs such as Grey and during this period. islators that the more recent Russell. The bulk of Pearce’s account historical and cultural allusions Pearce’s account of the debates is devoted to a detailed descrip- with which his text is peppered on the Reform Act shows these tion of the key events of the – ranging from Franklin D. Roo- leading individuals in action: Reform crisis: the heated debates sevelt to The Hitchhiker’s Guide Grey, the reforming aristocrat, following the introduction of to the Galaxy – tend to jar. There endeavouring to win over the the new Whig ministry’s first may, however, be some readers Lords; Wellington, determined Reform Bill; the passing of its who find that such references to resist popular pressure; Lord second reading in the Commons lend additional colour to the Chancellor Brougham, ‘clever, with a majority of just one vote; narrative. explosive, devious’ (p. ), a the general election of ; The author’s parliamentary skilful debater (allegedly with the Lords’ rejection of Reform sketch-writing skills also show and the ensuing riots in Bristol, in his depiction of the personali- Nottingham and elsewhere; Wil- ties involved in the debates on liam IV’s prevarication on the Reform. He begins with a series question of creating additional of potted biographies of ‘the peers to force the bill through cast’: on the Whig side, Lords the Lords; the (temporary) res- Althorp and Durham, Earl Grey ignation of the Whig ministry; and Henry Brougham; on the and finally a mass exodus of Tory Tory side, Wellington, Robert peers from the Lords when they Peel, John Wilson Croker and realised that they could obstruct Sir Edward Knatchbull; and rep- Reform no longer. Although resenting popular politics, the Pearce provides an extremely radical Henry Hunt and Thomas lucid and coherent narrative, the Attwood, leader of the Bir- addition of a chronology would mingham Political Union. These be a useful aid to the reader in entertaining pen portraits give a understanding this complex good sense of the characters of sequence of events. some of the leading protagonists, As befits a former parliamen- although in some cases – both tary sketch-writer, Pearce puts in these biographies and later in the debates in the Commons the book – Pearce is tempted to and the Lords centre stage, with include rather too many asides, extensive quotations from Han- which tend to detract from the sard throughout. He skilfully main flow of the narrative, all the evokes the atmosphere of the more so when encumbered with debating chamber, from dramatic unfortunate typographical errors events such as William IV’s hasty such as the reference to Dickens’s arrival to dissolve Parliament in Bleak Horse (p. ).

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 43 REVIEWS the assistance of mulled port on ‘When the the  Reform Act, or a roll- ‘they had accomplished a very one occasion). However, Pearce call of the constituencies dis- great good’ (p. ), it is clear also considers the contribution people are franchised and created. Pearce’s that his account fits in with more that less well-known figures analysis of the impact of the Act recent work which has tended to made to the debates. He cites to clamorous amounts to less than a page. He reassert the significance of  great effect the speech of John fails to mention key innovations in the face of earlier efforts to Hawkins, a Whig backbencher, for Reform, such as the creation of an elec- downplay its impact. Neverthe- dismissing the arguments of they tell toral register, which had a crucial less, for those wanting a readable ‘that class of protagonists … impact on the future develop- account of the events surround- who always entertain a sincere us that we ment of party organisation. He ing the passage of the  conviction at any given moment also ignores other elements of the Reform Act, Pearce’s work still that the present is not the right ought not Act which have attracted more has much to commend it. moment for the discussion of recent interest from historians, this question, and they arrive at to concede notably the issue of ‘gender’, Dr Kathryn Rix is a Junior such conviction by this ingenious such a with the  Act being the first Research Fellow in History at dilemma. When the people are legislation to define the franchise Christ’s College, Cambridge, and is clamorous for Reform, they tell measure as specifically male. Those wish- currently working on a study of the us that we ought not to concede ing to understand points such professional Liberal and Conservative such a measure to the demands to the as the distinction between the agents in the late nineteenth century. of popular turbulence; and when potwalloper and the scot-and-lot the people are silent, that silence demands franchises (which Pearce con-  See for example Anna Clark, ‘Gen- is proof of indifference and flates into one category) or the der, class and the constitution: fran- of popular chise reform in England, –’, therefore the measure need not finer implications of the Chan- in James Vernon (ed.), Re-reading be passed’ (p. ). turbulence; dos clause (entirely absent from the Constitution: New narratives in the While Pearce focuses prima- this study, although the source political history of England’s long nine- rily on Westminster, the extra- and when of some controversy among aca- teenth century (Cambridge University parliamentary activities of what demic historians) will also not Press, ), pp. –. the peo-  See, for example, Derek Beales, ‘The Hawkins termed ‘the people’ and find much help here. Nor does Electorate Before and After : what others referred to as ‘the ple are Pearce engage with any of the The right to vote, and the oppor- populace’ or, less sympatheti- secondary literature on the Act, tunity’, Parliamentary History, : cally, ‘the mob’, are given their silent, that although ending as he does with (), pp. –. place in his account. Pearce’s eye Sydney Smith’s declaration that for a telling detail – the rough- silence is sharpening of their swords by the Birmingham garrison (so as to proof of inflict more serious wounds on indiffer- would-be rioters), the request for The double Duchess and a violently fifty copies of the Birmingham ence and moderate man Political Union’s rule-book (so that similar organisations could therefore Henry Vane: Affair Of State: A Biography of the 8th Duke be set up elsewhere to campaign for Reform) – means that the the meas- and Duchess of Devonshire (Peter Owen Publishers, relatively limited attention he ure need 2004) gives to popular politics is none- theless effective in conveying the not be Reviewed by Tony Little mood of the time. His citations from Charles Greville’s diary are passed’. he th Duke of Devonshire a career as a British political particularly revealing, and indi- embodied late Whig poli- hostess, with a beauty that won cate that the forthcoming pub- tics; he led the Liberal Party her the hand of two dukes. Yet, lication of an abridged version T for five years and served in both outside the circle of historians of of Greville’s diaries (edited by Liberal and Conservative gov- the nineteenth century, they are Pearce) will be a fertile source for ernments. The Duke was only largely forgotten. historians of this period. man to be offered the premier- In , the twenty-year-old Such are the strengths of ship three times, without taking Louise married Viscount Man- this lively and interesting work. the office, and Henry Vane argues deville, who succeeded as Duke Whether it greatly advances he deserved a fourth chance at of Manchester in . Despite historical knowledge on the sub- the opening of the twentieth their rank, the Manchesters were ject is another question. This is century. Louise van Alten was not among the richest in the certainly not the book for those from one of the oldest Hanove- land. The Duke does not appear wanting detailed statistics on the rian noble families and fashioned to have had strong political number of voters enfranchised by

44 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 REVIEWS ambitions, unlike his wife who, After the  general election, Vane argues, set out to establish he moved the motion of no a Tory salon to rival the Peelites’ confidence enabling Palmerston Lady Waldegrave and the Whig to displace Lord Derby’s govern- establishments of Ladies Suther- ment. He was appointed a junior land and Palmerston. The social Lord of the Admiralty, and in occasions managed by these February  became Secretary leading hostesses were critical of State for War in Russell’s gov- in building party cohesion and ernment, entering the Cabinet facilitating political plotting. at thirty-four. In Gladstone’s first Lady Palmerston’s successes can government he introduced the be contrasted with the social secret ballot and nationalised ineptitude of Lady Russell as an the telegraphs. After Gladstone’s important factor in the ultimate defeat in  and resignation in victory of Lord Palmerston over , Hartington led the Liberals Lord John Russell. in the Commons but was unable Having wangled a promise out to resist Gladstone’s comeback, in of Lord Derby over a flirtatious , despite the Queen’s efforts glass of champagne, the Duchess to make Hartington prime min- of Manchester was appointed as ister. In Gladstone’s fractious Mistress of the Robes under the second government, he served Tory leader’s minority govern- loyally in several roles but these ment of . Despite initial suc- were secondary to his leadership cesses at Court, she was snubbed of the Whig faction in the jos- when invitations were issued tling with Chamberlain for the for the wedding of the Prince expected succession to the Grand of Wales in . Vane attributes Old Man. this to Queen Victoria becoming Hartington’s stubborn antago- aware of and resenting the uncon- nism to Gladstone’s Home Rule eral landslide of . Vane argues ventional manner in which she proposals in  broke up the that Devonshire, not Balfour, acquired her household appoint- Liberal Party, with Hartington should have succeeded Salisbury ment. But is it possible that the leading the Liberal Unionists in and would have been more effec- Queen disapproved of another alliance with Salisbury’s Tories. tive in restraining Chamberlain’s facet of her ‘fast’ lifestyle – an Both in  and , Salisbury outburst. affair with Lord Cowper? tried to persuade Hartington to Hartington had known the Spencer Compton Cavend- take the premiership, a step he Duchess of Manchester from ish was born in  and, when felt would have left him a pris- the late s and Vane suggests his father became Duke of Dev- oner of the Tories. In , when they became lovers around . onshire in , he assumed the hope of the Liberal Unionists Despite being excluded from the courtesy title of Lord Hartington rejoining the Liberal Party had Prince of Wales’ wedding, the until he in turn became Duke in faded, the Duke of Devonshire Duchess became an established . Hartington gained an MA served under Salisbury and, on member of the somewhat dis- from Trinity College, Cambridge, Salisbury’s retirement, in Bal- solute Marlborough House set in  and for a few years led the four’s government. that surrounded the heir to the usual life of a young man of high In the creation of the Lib- throne. Hartington’s love of good social position, hunting a good eral Unionists, Hartington had food, hunting and horse racing deal and serving as an officer in co-operated surprisingly well ensconced him in the same circle. the militia. Between  and with Chamberlain, the radical The affair between the two was  he notoriously conducted who had once attacked him as widely known but they abided an affair with Catherine ‘Skittles’ ‘Rip Van Winkle’, an allusion to carefully by the conventions of Walters, six years his junior, who Hartington’s slothful habits as the time. Both seem to have been shared his love for country sports. well as an attack on his suppos- on good terms with the Duke of While never likely to lead to a edly retrograde politics. But in Manchester, perhaps helped by suitable marriage, this must be , Chamberlain proposed to his reputed fondness for alcohol, considered a serious episode in substitute Imperial Preference something that Vane only hints at. the life of both parties and Vane for Free Trade. Balfour’s convo- Indeed at one stage Hartington has gone to some effort investi- luted mishandling of this crisis contemplated making a three- gate his somewhat babyish cor- concluded with the resignations some with the Manchesters for respondence with her. of both Chamberlain and Dev- an overseas tour. In , Hartington was onshire, ending the Duke’s career Although the Victorian elected for North Lancashire. and paving the way for the Lib- world shared our obsession with

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 45 REVIEWS celebrities, the press was more Goschen on their own, which is a disap- return to the social means that careful to wait for the incontro- pointment as the Duchess in par- the issues are over-simplified, vertible evidence of court cases once ticular appears to be a character particularly in the way that he before indulging in the pleasures whose political influence should feels obliged to take the Duke’s of prurience. Hartington’s discre- described be further investigated. side in all the quarrels which tion allowed his public career to More importantly, the signifi- divided the statesmen of the Vic- continue untarnished by scandal. Hartington cance of the Duke of Devonshire torian and Edwardian periods. Louise married her second duke as ‘a mod- is essentially political. Outside For readers of the Journal that in , after the death of her politics, what did he accomplish? must be frustrating, and a chal- first husband and Hartington’s erate man, If he had been only a hunting, lenge for a historian to bring us a father. Once officially established shooting and fishing duke who balanced life of one of the finest as a couple, Louise was able to a violently restored the family fortunes, we of the last generation of Whigs. entertain on a grand scale at would no doubt be pleased that Devonshire House in London moderate we can still enjoy the treasures of Tony Little is Chair of the Liberal and at Chatsworth, most spec- man’. Chatsworth and the pleasures of Democrat History Group. tacularly during the celebrations Eastbourne but nothing more. for the Queen’s silver jubilee in Consequently Vane cannot stick  Patrick Jackson, Last of The Whigs: . The age of the salon had to his intentions; politics keeps Political Biography of Lord Hartington, Later Eighth Duke of Devonshire (– passed but Louise was thought surfacing. But his concern to ) (Fairleigh Dickinson, ). to have helped push Hartington in a conservative direction and to have kept him engaged in politics despite his distaste for the infighting. So why is Hartington so neglected? Gruff, offhand, ARCHIVES unpunctual, careless of his per- sonal appearance, though with a nice line in self-deprecatory humour, his public persona was The Beveridge archives at the LSE Library too austere to command adula- by Sue Donnelly tion rather than just respect. Gos- chen once described Hartington as ‘a moderate man, a violently illiam Henry Beveridge a period often described as a sec- moderate man’ but it is the charis- was born in  and ond foundation of the School. matic personalities like Gladstone Weducated at Char- It was a period of tremendous or the men of exceptional ideas terhouse and Balliol College, growth, and Beveridge’s direc- like Chamberlain who command Oxford. He was Sub-warden of torship was responsible for the attention from posterity rather Toynbee Hall between  and School’s recognition during the than the safe pair of hands and the , before becoming a leader s as one of the world’s leading ‘might-have-been’ premiers. writer for the Morning Post from social science centres. He was a In addition, Hartington has , where he wrote on social central figure in the sheltering of not been fortunate in his biog- problems. He joined the civil the ‘refugee scholars’ displaced by raphies. The two-volume tomb- service in  and entered the Nazi oppression in the s; the stone by Bernard Holland was Board of Trade. He was the Direc- Academic Assistance Council was published too close to his death tor of Labour Exchanges –, established as a result of his initia- to allow a full approach to his and he was a leading authority on tive. He resigned the directorship private life. The only modern unemployment and social secu- in , taking up the Mastership life, prior to Vane’s, was, self-con- rity, authoring Unemployment: a of University College, Oxford sciously, a political life only. In Problem of Industry in  (revised before joining the government contrast, Henry Vane has clearly ), a pioneering study of the in . In  he became the concentrated on the social life. labour market’s complexity. He Liberal MP for Berwick-upon- While we must be grateful that helped draw up the  Labour Tweed, and after the loss of his this redresses the balance, it has Exchanges Act and part ii of the seat in  he served as a Liberal its own disadvantages. Judg-  National Insurance Act, the peer in the House of Lords. ing from the way in which latter introducing unemployment His most famous contribu- Vane drags in most of the social insurance for two and a quarter tion to society is the Beveridge embarrassments that surrounded million workers in the heavy Report (officially, the Report on the Prince of Wales, there is industries. Social Insurance and Allied Services) insufficient material on the Dev- In , he became Director of of , the basis of the – onshires for their lives to stand the London School of Economics, Labour government’s legislative

46 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 ARCHIVES programme for social reform. diaries, –, –, cerning labour exchanges Arthur Herbert Drum- Beveridge saw full employ- –,  and ; in Ireland, –, and mond Ramsay Steel- ment as the pivot of the engagement diaries, Ghent, Belgium, –, Maitland, Chairman of social welfare programme he –; material relat- and various memoranda Governors, –; expressed in the report, and ing to grants and degrees, on the working of labour memoranda and cor- Full Employment in a Free Soci- –, notably honor- exchanges, –; respondence mainly ety () expressed how this ary degrees, the KCB material concerning the relating to LSE prizes and goal might be gained. Alterna- and his barony; papers unemployment insurance scholarships, –; tive measures for achieving it concerning household scheme, –, includ- Director’s reports, included Keynesian-style fiscal affairs, –; personal ing memoranda and –; lecture notes regulation, direct control of financial papers, such as drafts, reports, statistics, and texts of speeches, manpower, and state control personal account ledger, committee minutes, press –; programmes, of the means of production. –, income tax cuttings and Beveridge’s –; correspondence The impetus behind Bev- papers, –, corre- notes about unemploy- relating to his resignation eridge’s thinking was social spondence, bills, receipts ment insurance by indus- from LSE, –; cor- justice, and the creation of an and insurance papers, tries and casual labour; respondence and papers ideal new society after the war. –; photographs working notes and cor- concerning his role as a He believed that the discovery of family and friends, respondence for Insur- member of the Senate of of objective socio-economic –. ance for All and Everything the University of London, laws could solve the problems • Correspondence, – (Daily News, London, –, notably papers of society. He was critical of , including Bev- ); Ministry of Labour relating to the purchase shortcomings in social legisla- eridge family letters and reports, notes and memo- of the Bloomsbury site, tion after , and his Vol- letters to and from friends randa on unemployment –. untary Action () defended and colleagues. insurance, –; Gov- • Papers relating to Bev- the role of the private sector • Papers relating to unem- ernment Acts, reports and eridge’s post as Master in the provision of social wel- ployment and labour publications on unem- of University College, fare. In later years Beveridge exchanges, –, ployment, –. Oxford University, devoted himself to a history notably material of the • Papers relating to Bev- –, including cor- of prices, the first volume Mansion House Unem- eridge’s work during respondence and reports of which, Prices and Wages in ployed Fund, –, World War One, –, concerning the National England from the Twelfth to the the London Unemployed including material relat- Institute of Economic Nineteenth Century, had been Fund, –, and the ing to the Ministry of and Social Research, the published in . He was Central (Unemployed) Munitions, –, such Institute of Statistics, and elected a Fellow of the British Body for London, as correspondence, mem- Nuffield College. Academy in . –; correspondence, oranda and reports on • Material relating to poli- notes and statistics con- manpower problems, and tics, –, including cerning unemployment memoranda concerning correspondence, speeches, Scope and content of the insurance and labour the history and activities press cuttings, and reports collection exchanges in Germany, of the Ministry; papers of created whilst MP for Personal papers of William , and Britain, ; the Manpower Distribu- Berwick-upon-Tweed, Henry Beveridge, st Baron notice and syllabus of tion Board, ; mate- –; papers concern- Beveridge of Tuggal, and his lectures by Beveridge rial relating to post-war ing the general election family, []–, compris- on ‘The economics of reconstruction, including of , mainly compris- ing the following. unemployment’, ; schemes for demobilisa- ing pamphlets, election • Family and personal material relating to the tion, and papers relating addresses, press cuttings papers, –, publication of Unemploy- to the post-war prospects and correspondence from including genealogical ment: a Problem of Industry of trades and industries; candidates, constituents, material; correspond- (Longmans and Co, correspondence, minutes, and the Berwick Divi- ence, books and royalty London ), –, memoranda and reports sion Liberal Association; statements relating to notably correspondence created by the Ministry Beveridge’s speech notes the work of Beveridge’s with Longmans, royalty of Food, –, on and Hansard extracts from parents, Annette Susan- payments, reviews, and subjects including food parliamentary debates nah and Henry Bev- notes and drafts relating rationing, family budgets, in the House of Lords, eridge, –; papers to later editions; papers and the staffing of the –, on subjects concerning Beveridge’s relating to his work at the Ministry. mainly related to wel- education, –; Board of Trade, –, • Material collated dur- fare, unemployment, and personal ephemera including correspond- ing Beveridge’s time as economics; papers con- including birthday cards, ence and memoranda Director of the London cerning the Liberal Party programmes, academic concerning juvenile School of Economics, Organisation, –, notes, and invitations, employment, –, –, notably cor- including correspond- []–; personal reports and speeches con- respondence with Sir ence with the LPO and

Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 47 A Liberal Democrat History Group fringe meeting LIBERALS AND ORGANISED LABOUR The loss of the support of organised labour during the late Victorian and Edwardian period was a key factor in the decline of the Liberal Party as an electoral force. Once this confidence in the party was gone, the Liberals never got it back and trade union and labour issues have never since had the highest priority in Liberal politics. Our speakers will examine why and how organised labour broke away from supporting the Liberal Party, and its impact on the Liberal vote.

Speakers: David Powell (Head of the History Programme, York St John College; author of British Politics and the Labour Question, 1868–1990) and Keith Laybourn (Professor of History, Huddersfield University; author of Liberalism and the Rise of Labour, 1890–1918). Chair: Alan Sherwell (chair, Liberal Democrat policy working group on employment and trade unions).

8.00pm Friday 4th March 2005 Charter Suite, Moat House Hotel, Harrogate Please note that due to increased conference security, only those with conference photo-badges will be able to attend. For those only wishing to attend fringe meetings, registration is free, but is limited to Liberal Democrat party members; and please allow time to register and pick up your badge at the Conference Centre in Harrogate.

other Liberal organisa- Research Trust, the Fed- Enquiry, ; report of tria), Canada, the USA, tions. eral Union, One World the Interdepartmental Germany, France, India, • Material concerning Trust, the Parliamentary Committee on Social Spain, Scandinavia, the other interests and activi- Group for World Govern- Insurance and Allied Netherlands, Australia, ties of Beveridge, – ment, the World Parlia- Services (Beveridge New Zealand, Belgium, , notably papers relating ment Association, and Report), –; report Switzerland, and Italy, to the health services, the United Nations; cor- on Social Insurance, , mainly comprising corre- pensions, and old age; respondence and other –; report of the spondence, diaries, lecture New Towns, including papers relating to broad- Broadcasting Committee, notes, press cuttings and material on the Peterlee casting and television. . photographs. Development Corpora- • Papers created during the • Material relating to • Press cuttings, –, tion and the Newton writing of reports, – publications, –, including Morning Post Aycliffe Development , including the report including manuscripts leaders written by Bev- Corporation; traffic and of the Royal Commis- of books, pamphlets and eridge, –, and preservation problems sion on the Coal Industry, articles, correspondence cuttings concerning his in Oxford; population –; the report of the with publishers, royalty death. and fertility, including Unemployment Insur- statements, working • Miscellaneous material, articles, pamphlets and ance Statutory Commit- notes, research papers including inventories of correspondence; weather tee, –; the report and memoranda; reviews, papers in the Beveridge periodicity; world gov- of the Sub-Committee letters to the press and collection. ernment and peace aims, of Committee of Impe- obituaries, –; texts To gain access to the col- –, including min- rial Defence on Food of lectures, speeches and lection, please contact utes and correspondence Rationing, –; broadcasts, –. the Archives Division,  of the Crusade for World report of the Manpower • Papers concerning work- Portugal Street, London, Government, Britain in Survey, , and Com- ing visits abroad, –, WCA HD,   ; Europe Ltd, the Euro- mittee on Skilled Men in to Austria (the Inter- [email protected]. pean–Atlantic Group, the the Services, ; report Allied Commission on Federal Educational and of the Fuel Rationing Relief of German Aus-