University of Huddersfield Repository Perks, R.B. The new Liberalism and the challenge of Labour in the West Riding of Yorkshire 1885-1914 with special reference to Huddersfield Original Citation Perks, R.B. (1985) The new Liberalism and the challenge of Labour in the West Riding of Yorkshire 1885-1914 with special reference to Huddersfield. Doctoral thesis, Huddersfield Polytechnic. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/4598/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ 343 VOI_UP1 E TWO CHAPTER FIVE WAR, LIBERALISM AND LABOUR REVIVAL, 1899-1905 1. The Khaki Election and the Impact of the Boer War in Huddersfield, 1899-1902 345 2. Conservatism Versus Liberalism: Local Politics and National Issues, 1902-5 . 362 3. The Revival of LaLuuI: .lotadlism and the Conversion of the Trades Council, 1900-1905 382 4. Some Conclusions 406 Abstract "The New Liberalism and the Challenge of Labour in the West Riding of Yorkshire 1885 - 1914, with special reference to Huddersfield" Robert B. Perks This thesis contributes substantially to a debate that has long been a preoccupation of historians surrounding the timing, under- lying reasons for, and inevitability (or otherwise) of the Labour Party's replacement of Liberalism as the main opponent to the Conservative Party. The context for examining the extent and potential of Labour's challenge to Liberalism before 1914 and the presence of any form of 'progressive' or 'new' Liberalism, has seen a shift away from national politics to local parliamentary and municipal politics. This study, by highlighting Huddersfield, complements and extends work already carried out on Leeds, Bradford and Colne Valley. Through a close analysis of the local and regional press, election results, personal papers, party records, pamphlets and trade union records, in conjunction with secondary sources, the emergence and nature of the Labour movement's challenge to a Liberalism dominated by a Nonconformist textile manufacturer elite, is examined. Trade unionism's central role in the establishment of the Huddersfield Labour Union in 1891 is evident. So too is the belated conversion of the Huddersfield Trades Council to independent parliamentary labour representation which, when combined with a religious, ethical form of Socialism around 1906, posed so serious a threat to established Liberalism that only opportune party re-organisation, an undemocratic franchise, and bitter divisions within the Labour movement, could save it. Initially, however, Labour successes had more often been at the expense of the Huddersfield Conservative Party rather than Liberalism, and the whole nature and organisation of Conservatism in the towr is analysed. Nevertheless, even amidst its parliamentary victories of 1906 and 1910 Huddersfield Liberalism was, through its continued intransigence towards working-class concerns and its espousal of out- dated issues, which had diminishing relevance to a nascent class-based electorate, increasingly less viable both electorally and intellectually. This vas epitomised by its loss of control of the municipality in 1913: a result of a revived Conservatism and a more mature Labour challenge. 344 Introduction We have reached a point in the progress of reform where Liberalism is dumb. The conflict of the people's interests with those of the commercial classes has paralysed it ... The people are asking for bread. Twelve millions of them are hungering for it, and the Liberal leaders continue to offer a stone. 1 The years 1899 to 1905 constitute a major formative period in Huddersfield politics which saw the revival of Labour as a viable political alternative to Liberalism after nearly a decade of inactivity and lack of success. The Boer War which dominated the closing years of Victorian England has been described as causing "a bitterness in British politics without parallel since the great Reform Bill and never equalled since except in 1914 during the Ulster rebellion," 2 and its impact on Huddersfield politics will be assessed. Ultimately Liberalism in the town was able to remain predominant despite a jingoistic fervour personified by the Conservative Party's champion, Colonel E.H. Carlile, who ushered in a period of Liberal municipal decline. Secondly, the causes of, and the events leading up to, the Conservative debacle of 1906 will be examined to illustrate how far the Huddersfield Liberal Party was strengthened by the issues of education and tariff reform which had such an influence in reviving the national party. Finally, it will be an underlying objective to analyse how Labour was able to revive so effectively in Huddersfield by 1906 that it was able to gain five municipal seats in only two years and increase its share of the poll 345 in the 1906 general election by nearly a quarter, forcing the Conservative candidate into third place. It will be argued that much of the credit for this must be attributed to the conversion of the Trades Council to the cause of independent labour representation in 1903. 1. The Khaki Election and the Impact of the Boer War in Huddersfield, 1899-1902 The 1900 general election in Huddersfield was probably the least significant of those elections with which this study is concerned for variety of reasons. In particular the absence of a Labour candidate and the quiescence of both the ILP and the Trade Council during the election itself reflected the depth to which Labour had sunk. Thus the two-cornered election tended merely to confirm Liberalism's strength in the borough by seeing a reversion to pre-1895 voting patterns while illustrating that Conservativism in the constituency polled better on issues unrelated to foreign policy. The Boer War provided the focus for a showdown of conflicting attitudes within the national Liberal Party towards Imperialism, which had surfaced since the passing of Gladstone and had been exemplified by the leadership struggle. 3 By the time of the 1900 election the party had split into three distinct sections: the Liberal Imperialist 'right' headed by Rosebery, Asquith, Grey, Haldane and Perks4; the Pro-Boer 'left' including Morley, Lloyd George, Labouchere, Lawson, Channing and H.J. Wilson5 ; and the majority 'centre' loyal to Henry Campbell-Bannerman. Yet, as Richard Price has observed, 346 "It was more than just a disagreement about war. It was a fundamental dispute as to the very nature of Liberalism". 6 The Pro-Boers argued that the expensive assertion of Britain's might against a handful of Boer farmers was unnecessary, immoral and unjust: sacrificing Liberal individualism on the altar of Chamberlain's economic ambitions in the Transvaal. The Liberal Imperialists, for their part, believed that their unique formula of "patriotism and social welfare was the most viable course developed for the Liberal party leadership to steer between the Scylla of Labour and the Charybdis of Unionism."7 Ultimately, however, the split never resulted in outright schism itself a tribute to Campbell-Bannerman's powers of conciliation and his stress on unity despite his personal tendency to gravitate towards the pro-Boer wing. 8 It was, moreover, a result of the reluctance of Lord Rosebery, or indeed Morley, openly to force a breakaway. 9 Amongst the membership of the Huddersfield Liberal Association there was little evidence of the overt divisions which were dogging the national party and nothing to suggest that Liberal Imperialism boasted any adherents amongst the local party leadership. 10However, there did emerge subtly differing shades of opinion on the war. Broadly, the HLA and Sir James Woodhouse supported Campbell-Bannerman's stance on the war. Woodhouse had voted with his leader in the crucial parliamentary divisions on the war and had supported the Stanhope motion of 19 October 1899 which expressed "strong disapproval of the conduct of the negotiations with the Government of the Transvaal which have involved us in hostilities." 11 347 Nevertheless, The Times, both before and after the 1900 election, described him as a 'wobbler 112 while the Huddersfield Chronicle claimed that Woodhouse was a Liberal Imperialist. 13 Such assessments were, however, largely conjecture, in the latter case based solely on his presence at the departure of a Volunteer force for South Africa; and it is fairly clear from his speeches that, like 'CB', he was fully prepared to support the war's prosecution to a successful conclusion but reserved the right to criticise the government incompetence which had led to the war in the first place 14 and the methods subsequently employed in winning the war. 15 The HLA itself was more reticent in expressing its views on the war but similarly backed Campbell-Bannerman. In fact the Transvaal crisis was not debated by the Association until 29 September 1899 and it was only as late as 6 October that a standard resolution of condemnation was passed. 16This was, moreover, partially a result of pressure from the local Liberal press which had its strong Radical tradition to uphold. 17For example, commenting on a letter in the Bradford Observer concerning the silence of local Liberal leaders generally on the war, the Examiner noted wryly that "Bradford is not the only centre in which speaking out has been left to unofficial Liberals.