Aristocratic Whig Politics in Early-Victorian Yorkshire: Lord Morpeth and His World
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ARISTOCRATIC WHIG POLITICS IN EARLY-VICTORIAN YORKSHIRE: LORD MORPETH AND HIS WORLD David Christopher Gent Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of York Department of History 2010 ABSTRACT This thesis explores the provincial life of George W. F. Howard (1802-64), 7th Earl of Carlisle, better known as the early-Victorian Whig aristocrat and politician Lord Morpeth. It challenges accounts which have presented Whiggery as metropolitan in ethos, by demonstrating that Morpeth strongly engaged with the county of Yorkshire as a politician, philanthropist and landlord. It provides the first dedicated account of how Whiggery operated, and was perceived, in a provincial setting. An introduction summarises the current historiography on the Whigs, and establishes the rationale behind the study. Chapter One details the pivotal influence of Morpeth’s Christian faith on his thought. It suggests that his religious values shaped both his non- political and political actions, ensuring a correlation between them. Chapters Two and Four are concerned with Morpeth’s career as M.P. for Yorkshire (1830-32) and the West Riding (1832-41, 1846-48). They suggest that Morpeth played a key role in building an alliance between the region’s liberals and Whiggery, based around the idea that the Whigs would offer political, economic and ecclesiastical reforms. However, they show how this alliance gradually splintered, partly owing to differences between the Whigs and some of the region’s nonconformist liberals over issues of Church and State and the Whigs’ social reform policies. Chapter Three details Morpeth’s activities as a philanthropist in the county. It suggests that this maintained his links to his supporters, shaped his views on social questions, and enhanced his political reputation. Chapter Five explores his relationship with Castle Howard, his Yorkshire estate. It demonstrates his attachment to the house and integration into local society, his involvement in promoting agricultural and infrastructural improvement in the district, and his concern to improve the moral, physical and spiritual welfare of his tenants. Both chapters show the links between Morpeth’s provincial life and his career as a statesman. i CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vi AUTHOR’S DECLARATION viii INTRODUCTION - 1 The Historiographical Context 4 Of Sources and Methods 24 Chapter Breakdown 30 CHAPTER ONE: THE MIND OF MORPETH: WHIGGERY AND BELIEF 35 The Importance of Being Earnest: Selflessness and Disinterestedness 43 ‘A Growing Likeness to the Supreme Being’: The Incarnation and Progress 55 A ‘Common Chorus of Praise’: Social Harmony and Liberal Anglicanism 61 Summary: Faith and Geographical Orientation 68 CHAPTER TWO: LORD MORPETH AND YORKSHIRE POLITICS, 1830-1841 71 Origins of a Provincial Career: The Yorkshire Campaign of 1830 74 Whiggery Ascendant: Morpeth and Parliamentary Reform in Yorkshire 83 ‘The Pride of Yorkshire’: Morpeth as M.P. for the West Riding 91 The Problem of Dissent 105 Whiggery Assailed: Conservative and Radical Opposition, 1830-1837 110 Whiggery Defeated: West Riding Politics 1837-1841 134 ii Summary 148 CHAPTER THREE: LORD MORPETH AS A PHILANTHROPIST 153 ‘That Kindly and Considerate Spirit’: Morpeth as a Philanthropist 154 Morpeth, Whiggery and the ‘Condition of England’ Problem 167 Philanthropy, Politics and Public Image 179 Summary 186 CHAPTER FOUR: LORD MORPETH AND WEST RIDING POLITICS, 1841-1848 187 Free Trader: Morpeth and the Anti-Corn Law League 189 ‘Split to Shivers’: West Riding Politics and the Education Controversy 200 ‘A Sort of Olympian Divinity’: Morpeth and Public Health 220 Free Trade to the Rescue? The West Riding Election of 1847 and After 227 Summary 232 CHAPTER FIVE: WHIGGERY, IMPROVEMENT AND CASTLE HOWARD 235 ‘Very delicious to me’: Morpeth and Castle Howard 236 Morpeth and Estate Management 246 ‘Scruples in my mind’: Duty and Estate Life 258 Moral and Social Improvement at Castle Howard 262 Summary 277 CONCLUSION 279 iii APPENDICES One: An Analysis of Location Data from Lord Morpeth’s Diary 289 Two: Lord Morpeth’s Election Results in Yorkshire, 1830-1847 290 Three: West Riding Constituencies Before and After the 1832 Reform Act 292 Four: A List of Institutions Patronised by Lord Morpeth 294 Five: Biographical Details of West Riding Urban Liberal Leaders 296 BIBLIOGRAPHY 301 iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS One: Portrait of Lord Morpeth (1854) 33 Two: A Conservative Election Poster, 1835 150 Three: Conservative Propaganda from the 1835 Election 151 Four: Morpeth’s West Riding Testimonial Casket 152 Five: Castle Howard 234 Six: The Atlas Fountain and Parterre at Castle Howard 241 Seven: Lord Morpeth and Cricket 245 Eight: The Castle Howard Railway Station 255 Nine: The Church of St. John the Evangelist, Welburn 266 Ten: Castle Howard Juvenile Reformatory School 272 Eleven: The Carlisle Memorial Column 278 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Collaborative Doctoral Award Scheme, as part of a collaboration between Castle Howard and the Department of History at the University of York. Besides the work presented here, the project resulted in an exhibition on the life of Lord Morpeth at Castle Howard, co- curated by the author, which ran from September to December 2009. I would like to thank the A.H.R.C. and the Hon. Simon Howard for supporting what was a tremendously exciting and personally rewarding venture. My supervisor, Miles Taylor, gave invaluable advice and encouragement throughout. I must particularly thank him for continuing his engagement with my work despite his move to a busy new post in faraway London halfway through the project. Allen Warren similarly provided much intellectual stimulation alongside an unfailing enthusiasm for the project. Christopher Ridgway, the curator of Castle Howard, went above and beyond the call of duty in responding to my work. Alison Brisby responded to my many requests to view material in the Castle Howard archives with endless good humour. Both Chris and Alison patiently guided me through the processes of producing an exhibition, and were a pleasure to work alongside. I have benefited from the help of staff at archive repositories throughout the country. I am, however, particularly indebted to those of York Minster Library and the Borthwick Institute for Archives in York, who helped me access their peerless collections of Yorkshire material. A number of historians have generously offered their knowledge and shared their own research. Particular thanks go to Simon Morgan, Philip Salmon, Matthew McCormack, Helen Weinstein, Des Konopka, Sarah Richardson, Annie Tindley, Hannah Greig, Ruth Larsen, Jon Finch and Ted Royle. I am also grateful to Chris Price and David Howell, who sparked my interest in political history whilst I was an undergraduate. The postgraduate community at York was a constant source of support and advice. Barbara Gribling, Sue Major, Adam Morton and Janette Martin all helpfully responded vi to my work at various stages. My gratitude goes to them all for their kindness. I must particularly thank Adam for heroically reading the whole of the thesis in draft form. My final thanks go to my family, to whom this thesis is dedicated. My parents nurtured my love of history as a child by indulging my requests to be taken to innumerable historic sites, and have been constantly supportive of my academic interests. My fiancée Katherine alone knows what she has added, not just to this thesis, but to my life. Although she does not yet technically come under the ‘family’ category, I have been sustained every day first in the hope, and then in the anticipation, that she soon will be. vii AUTHOR’S DECLARATION Parts of this thesis have been presented before. Some aspects of Chapter One were presented in a different and much earlier form to the ‘Victorian Ethics’ conference at Leeds Trinity and All Saints College in March 2008. This working paper was subsequently published as David Gent, “Scruples in my Mind: Ethics, Conscience and Duty in the Life of Lord Morpeth’ in Nathan Uglow (ed.), Victorian Ethics: Leeds Working Papers in Victorian Studies, 10 (2008), 38-49. Chapters Two and Four were delivered in condensed and draft form to the ‘British History, 1815-1945’ seminar at the Institute of Historical Research in March 2009. An argument about the importance of the idea of ‘character’ to contemporary perceptions of Morpeth, which runs through the whole thesis, was trialled at the ‘Languages of Politics’ conference at Durham in April 2009. Chapter Five is based on an article submitted in 2009 to the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, and presented in oral form at a special seminar on Lord Morpeth at Castle Howard in October 2009. This was itself a reworking of a paper presented at the Modern British History conference in Glasgow in June 2008. viii ARISTOCRATIC WHIG POLITICS IN EARLY-VICTORIAN YORKSHIRE: LORD MORPETH AND HIS WORLD INTRODUCTION October 21st 1861 was a festive day in Leeds, as over five thousand people gathered in the town centre. They were there to greet George William Frederick Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle (1802-1864), the Whig aristocrat and politician better known as Lord Morpeth.1 Morpeth, the subject of this thesis, was in the middle of a busy day. At one o‟clock he had arrived at Leeds train station, where he was welcomed by the Mayor. He proceeded to oversee the opening of the new Leeds Hospital for Women and Children, wearing - as the Leeds Mercury gushingly reported - „the blue riband of a Knight of the Order of the Garter‟. He was then whisked off to outside the Town Hall, where he distributed prizes and inspected the town‟s Volunteer Corps. Having been cheered by the assembled multitude, he moved inside the Hall. The Town Council presented him with an address recognising his „public services… as a statesman and philanthropist‟. To mark the occasion they had laid on all the trappings of civic pomp, including an orchestra which duly struck up the national anthem.