Journal of Issue 31 / Summer 2001 / £3.00 Liberal DemocratHISTORY Man of principle Duncan Brack C. P. Trevelyan Biography Tony Little Plus Ça Change The politics of faction in the 1850s Terry McDonald A Political Man The political aspirations of William Taylor Haly Report From Midlothian to Direct Mail Campaigning in the 19th and 20th centuries Reviews Violet Bonham Carter Diaries Malcolm Baines and David Dutton Liberal Democrat History Group Issue 31: Summer 2001 Journal of Liberal Democrat History The Journal of Liberal Democrat History is published quarterly by the Liberal Democrat History Group. 3 Man of Principle ISSN 1463-6557 Editor: Duncan Brack The life and career of C. P. Trevelyan (1870–1958), minister in both Liberal and Assistant Editor: Alison Smith Labour governments; by Duncan Brack Reviews Editor: Sam Crooks 9 Plus Ça Change Patrons Professor Michael Freeden The politics of faction in the 1850s; Tony Little introduces a speech by John Bright Professor Earl Russell Professor John Vincent 12 A Political Man Editorial Board The political aspirations of William Taylor Haly, a perenially unsuccessful Liberal Dr Malcolm Baines; Roy Douglas; Dr Barry candidate in the 1850s; by Terry McDonald Doyle; Dr David Dutton; Professor David Gowland; Dr Richard Grayson; Dr Michael Hart; Peter Hellyer; Ian Hunter; Dr Robert Ingham; 16 Report: From Midlothian to Direct Dr J. Graham Jones; Tony Little; Professor Ian Machin; Dr Mark Pack; Dr John Powell; Iain Mail Sharpe; Professor Chris Wrigley Parliamentary and political campaigning in the 19th and 20th centuries; with Professor Michael Rush and Lord Tope; report by Neil Stockley Editorial/Correspondence Contributions to the Journal – letters, articles, and book reviews – are invited. The Journal is a 17 Letters to the Editor refereed publication; all articles submitted will be reviewed. Contributions should be sent to: John Meadowcroft; David Rebak; Malcolm Baines Duncan Brack (Editor) Flat 9, 6 Hopton Road, London SW16 2EQ 18 Reviews email: [email protected] All articles copyright © their authors. Mark Pottle (ed.): Champion Redoubtable: The Diaries and Letters of Violet Bonham Carter 1914–1945 , reviewed by Malcolm Baines Advertisements Mark Pottle (ed.): Daring to Hope: The Diaries and Letters of Violet Bonham Adverts are welcome; please contact the Editor Carter 1946 – 1969, reviewed by David Dutton for rates. Thomas Hennessey: Dividing Ireland: World War I and Partition, reviewed by Iain Sharpe Subscriptions/Membership An annual subscription to the Journal of Liberal J. Graham Jones: Lloyd George Papers at the National Library of Wales and Other Democrat History costs £10.00 (£5.00 unwaged Repositories, reviewed by Duncan Brack rate). This includes membership of the History Phillip E. Tetlock and Aaron Belkin (ed.): Counterfactual Thought Experiments in Group unless you inform us otherwise. 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Published by the Liberal Democrat History Group, For more information, including details of publications, back issues of the Journal, tape records of c/o Flat 9, 6 Hopton Road, London SW16 2EQ meetings and archive and other research sources, see our web site at: www.liberalhistory.org.ukwww.liberalhistory.org.uk. Printed by Kall-Kwik, Hon President: Earl Russell 426 Chiswick High Road, London W4 5TF Chair: Tony Little June 2001 2 Journal of Liberal Democrat History 31 Summer 2001 Biography C. P. Trevelyan is probably the only British politician of the twentieth century to have resigned from governments of two different political parties, each time on a matter of principle. Duncan Brack describes his career. ManMan ofof principleprinciple . P. Trevelyan is probably the only British poli to enjoy a distinguished career, Robert as a poet and Ctician of the twentieth century to have re- scholar, and George as a historian. Unsurprisingly signed from governments of two different political for such a brilliant family, Charles carried, and felt he parties, each time on a matter of principle. This fact carried, a particular burden of expectation as the gives a clue to his nature, which was idealistic, un- eldest son. He did not enjoy his father’s and brothers’ bending and outspoken often to the point of tact- academic excellence, either at Harrow, where the lessness. These characteristics inevitably limited his headmaster of his preparatory school had informed achievements in ministerial office, but he is notable his parents, to the dismay of his father, that ‘you may as one of the Liberal politicians who, departing his depend on our not expecting too much of him’,1 or erstwhile party as it began to fall apart in the 1920s, at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read his- helped to give the rising Labour Party an ideological tory. His own feelings of inadequacy, coupled with a backbone it would otherwise have lacked. lack of conversational ability and gaucheness stem- Charles Philips Trevelyan was born in London on ming from a background in a household where, as 28 October 1870, the descendant of an old West his biographer described it, ‘declamation was the Country family. His grandfather, Charles Edward more usual form of communication’2 and politics Trevelyan, had risen through the ranks of the Indian the main topic, contributed to growing bouts of de- and home civil service to become a baronet, Assist- pression. In the end he was awarded a second-class ant Secretary to the Treasury and Governor of Ma- degree, which he regarded as a failure; as he wrote to dras; he also inherited the Wallington estate in his mother, ‘The very brightness of my prospects, as Northumberland from the main branch of the fam- the world would say, is a curse on me! What can it ily. In 1835 Sir Charles married Hanna, sister of the lead to but the repetition of the same miserable story historian Thomas Babington Macaulay, and had of inadequacy and inefficiency in the end?’3 It was three children, of whom George Otto was the only this highly developed sense of self-criticism, com- son. In 1865, having already established himself in bined with an upper middle-class background that the world of literature, George entered the House of stressed a responsibility and duty to serve those less Commons as Liberal MP for, successively, fortunate than himself, that nurtured Trevelyan’s ide- Tynemouth, the Scottish Border Burghs and Glas- alism, endless capacity for hard work, and tendency gow Bridgeton. He served as Chief Secretary for to intolerance. Ireland from 1882–84 (after Lord Frederick Following his father and grandfather, Trevelyan Cavendish was assassinated in the Phoenix Park had identified himself as a Liberal from his murders), as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster schooldays, and at Cambridge he became secretary from 1884–85, and as Secretary for Scotland from to the University Liberal Club. He left Cambridge 1885–86 and 1892–95. He might have risen even just in time for the 1892 election, and, his father’s higher, but fell out with Gladstone over Irish home seat being a safe one, canvassed successfully for rule, fighting (and losing) his seat in 1886 as a Liberal Charles Fenwick amongst the Northumbrian min- Unionist – although he returned to the party, and ers in Wansbeck. In October, at his parents’ sugges- the Commons, in 1887. tion, Trevelyan became private secretary to Lord In 1869 Sir George married Caroline, daughter of Houghton, the newly appointed Lord Lieutenant Robert Needham Philips, Liberal MP for Bury. of Ireland. Under-employed and ill at ease among They had three children, Charles Philips being fol- the aristocratic anti-home rulers in Dublin Castle, lowed by Robert Calverley (born 1872) and George he took himself off whenever possible to meet the Macaulay (born 1876). Each of Charles’ brothers was Irish people, and developed a deep-seated con- Journal of Liberal Democrat History 31 Summer 2001 3 tempt for the lack of official concern Samuel, who became a firm friend, with the interests of the majority of Trevelyan remained suspicious of so- the population. cialism, which he saw as essentially de- structive, and was convinced that the Liberal Party was the best vehicle for Into parliament the realisation of working-class aspira- On his return from Ireland in 1893, it tions. He also regarded himself as an was taken for granted by both Trevelyan Imperialist, although the term had a and his father that he would seek to en- different meaning then than its later ter the Commons, and in 1894 he was connotations of an aggressive and ex- selected to replace the retiring Radical pansionist foreign policy. Like many Liberal MP for North Lambeth, F. M. other Liberal Imperialists, Trevelyan re- Coldwells. He fought the 1895 election jected the Gladstonian approach of on a manifesto promising to ‘serve the non-interference in foreign affairs public’ and to ‘labour in the cause of along with its economic and social progress’ but succumbed to the swing to principles of laissez-faire and self-help; the Unionists, losing the seat to the Lib- he believed a strong Empire was the eral Unionist Henry Stanley (the former best foundation for a stronger society Trevelyan and family, c. 1910 explorer and finder of Livingstone). The and progressive social reform.