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A LIFE of SIR JOHN ELDON GORST CASS SERIES: BRITISH POLITICS and SOCIETY Series Editor: Peter Catterall ISSN: 1467-1441

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A LIFE of SIR JOHN ELDON GORST CASS SERIES: BRITISH POLITICS and SOCIETY Series Editor: Peter Catterall ISSN: 1467-1441 A LIFE OF SIR JOHN ELDON GORST CASS SERIES: BRITISH POLITICS AND SOCIETY Series Editor: Peter Catterall ISSN: 1467-1441 Social change impacts not just upon voting behaviour and party identity but also the formulation of policy. But how do social changes and political developments interact? Which shapes which? Reflecting a belief that social and political structures cannot be understood either in isolation from each other or from the historical processes which form them, this series will examine the forces that have shaped British society. Cross-disciplinary approaches will be encouraged. In the process, the series will aim to make a contribution to existing fields, such as politics, sociology and media studies, as well as opening out new and hitherto neglected fields such as management history. Peter Catterall (ed.), The Making of Channel 4 Brock Millman, Managing Domestic Dissent in First World War Britain Peter Catterall, Wolfram Kaiser and Ulrike Walton-Jordan (eds), Reforming the Constitution: Debates in Twenty-Century Britain Brock Millman, Pessimism and British War Policy, 1916-1918 Adrian Smith and Dilwyn Porter (eds), Amateurs and Professionals in Post-war British Sport Archie Hunter, A Life of Sir John Eldon Gorst: Disraeli's Awkward Dis.ciple Harry Defries, Conservative Party Attitudes to Jews, 1900-1950 A LIFE OF SIR JOHN ELDON GORST Disraeli's Awkward Disciple Archie Hunter I~ ~~o~~~;n~~~up LONDON AND NEW YORK First published in 2001 by FRANK CASS PUBLISHERS Published 2013 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New Yark, NY, 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2001 A. Hunter British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Hunter, Archie, 1929- A life of Sir John Eldon Gorst: Disraeli's awkward disciple / Archie Hunter. p. cm. - (CASS series-British politics and society, ISSN 1467-1441) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. 1. Gorst, John Eldon, Sir 1835-1916. 2. Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield, 1804-1881-Friends and associates. 3. Great Britain-Politics and government-1837-1901. 4. Politicians-Great Britain-Biography. 5. British-New Zealand- Biography. I. Title II. Series. DA565.G47 H86 2001 941.081'092aB-dc21 2001028288 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hunter, Archie, 1929- A life of Sir John Eldon Gorst: Disraeli's awkward disciple. - (Cass series. British politics and society) 1. Gorst, Sir John Eldon, 1835-1916 2. Politicians - Great Britain - biography 3. Great Britain - Politics and government -19th century 1. Title 941'.081'092 ISBN 13: 978-0-714-65180-4 (hbk) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or trallsmitted ill allY form or by any means, eiec/rollic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otizerwise, without the prior written permission of the publisizer of this book. Dedicated to the descendants of John and Mary Gorst This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Illustrations viii Foreword by Brian Walden ix Series Editor's Preface xii Preface and Acknowledgements xiv List of Abbreviations xviii Maps xix 1 ~~h 1 2 Mutiny on the Red Jacket 9 3 The Maori King Movement 19 4 On Government Service 36 5 Expulsion from the Waikato 50 6 The Lure of Politics 62 7 Summoned by Disraeli 80 8 Back in Parliament 92 9 The Mysterious Death of Charles Bravo 108 10 Enter Lord Randolph Churchill 119 11 The Fourth Party: Heyday 133 12 The Fourth Party: Bid for Power 145 13 Interlude in India 157 14 Exit the Fourth Party 167 15 Ministerial Office at Last 179 16 The Manipur Massacre and Lord Salisbury's Rebuke 187 17 Social Reformer 199 18 Education: The Confusion 213 19 Education: Remedies and People 225 20 The Children's Champion 245 21 Return to New Zealand 264 22 Fighting Preston 272 23 Epilogue 279 Bibliography 289 Sources 293 Index 295 Illustrations Between pages 140 and 141 1. Winckley Square, Preston. 2. The grammar school, Preston. 3. The Red Jacket clipper ship. 4. John Eldon Gorst (hereafter JEG), c. 1863. 5. Wiremu Tamihana. 6. Rewi Maniapoto. 7. Right Revd Bishop Selwyn. 8. Sir George Grey. 9. A. J. Balfour. 10. Benjamin Disraeli. 11. Randolph Churchill. 12. Royal Commission on Labour (with JEG standing up). 13. JEG as Minister of Education. 14. Jack Gorst. 15. Harold Gorst. 16. Hylda Hunter (nee Gorst). 17. Edith Sykes (nee Gorst). 18. Eva Gorst. 19. Gwendolen Herbert (nee Gorst). 20. JEG with General William Booth of the Salvation Army, c. 1903. 21. JEG in 1899. 22. JEG with Maori friends, 1906. 23. JEG with Eva in Maori canoe, 1906. 24. Castle Combe Manor House, Wilts. Foreword Everybody who takes a serious interest in nineteenth-century British politics has heard of Sir John Eldon Gorst. He established Conservative Central Office in 1870 and became the Conservative Party's principal agent. Disraeli approved Gorst's appointment for which the latter was, in modern parlance, 'head-hunted'. It was a crucial moment in the history of the Party, because Gorst did a superb job and it is not too much to claim that many aspects of the modern Conservative Party stem directly from his reforms and initiatives. Though the broad country acres could be left to the reliable Tory squirearchy, urban Toryism gained its successes as a result of Gorst's foresight. So much is known and so much is universally conceded. Yet, strangely enough, little else is now remembered about this remarkable man. Reading this striking biography of Gorst, by his descendant Archie Hunter, I repeatedly broke off in order to rebuke myself for having forgotten an illuminating fact about politics that Gorst's life illustrates. Eventually, I faced the fact that my memory was not unusually fallible on the subject. I had never known in the first place what Archie Hunter so carefully explains. Like others who pride themselves on their grasp of mid- and late-Victorian history there were alarming gaps in my knowledge. There can surely be no better recommendation of any biography than that it is packed with new information that encourages fresh thinking. It may be objected that since Gorst was not a Prime Minister, or party leader, learning a lot more about his life can hardly have all that much impact on either our judgement or imagination. This is a gross error, perhaps derived from the modern cult of celebrity. The idea that the intellectual contribution of former generations is best assessed by discovering which of them occupied important offices is a view so wide of the mark as to be obviously wrong directly it is openly stated. Gorst was a much wiser and more far-sighted man than many who held high office. His career demonstrates how different was the Conservative Party then to what it has subsequently become. The first difference is often mentioned, but the second, of even greater importance, is rarely stressed. These days the Conservative Party depends little upon the Duke and the Marquis. In Gorst's time the aristocratic domination of the Party was very apparent. Disraeli himself, though his own origins x A Life of Sir John Eldon Gorst owed nothing to, and his outlook but a mere acquaintance with, the nobility's attitudes, found it prudent to surround himself, in and out of office, with a disproportionate number of peers. Such a climate did not help Gorst's political advancement. He was a classic example of the gifts of the educated middle classes. That such gifts were often undervalued was an inevitable by-product of arrangements that bestowed favours so easily and casually upon aristocratic background. What is very infrequently commented upon is that the Victorian Conservative Party had a much less close commitment to capitalism, or what is now usually called the free-enterprise system, than was the case in the twentieth century. Naturally that does not mean that Victorian Tories were, in any sense, socialistic, or sought any dramatic change in the social or economic order. It is more that their assumptions did not run so strongly in the belief that they were involved in a struggle of ideologies between capitalism and socialism. Such an intense ideological battle was the essence of the twentieth century rather than of the nineteenth. Men like Gorst had no particular qualms about a measure of state intervention, because it did not occur to them that using the power of the state to rectify wrongs implied any danger to capitalism. So, imaginative Tories like Gorst were very interested in what was called 'the condition of the people'. Throughout his adult life Gorst showed a touching concern for the poor. He was ever willing to sacrifice time and money to help society's unfortunates. Nor was his help bounded only by the bounds of charity. An intensely practical man, he sponsored, or suggested, a whole range of ideas for improving the lot of the majority. His quite unselfconscious belief that the resources of a powerful country ought to be tapped for the benefit of the many may strike the modern ear as almost simplistic. Did Gorst have no fear of the over-weening power of the state, nor dread of the endless intrusion of the bureaucracy into everyday life? The answer is that he belonged to a more confident age and judged that good could be done without ever exceeding the limits of common sense and moderation. Though Gorst was something of a British pioneer in matters of social welfare, for he had been impressed by what Germany did for workers in terms of health, accident, persistent illness and old age pensions, I feel that perhaps his greatest social contribution was in the sphere of education.
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