1859-1886
Earl Granville (Granville George Leveson Gower), 1815-1891
For more than thirty years, at the height of its strength in the country, Lord Granville led the Victorian Liberal Party in the House of Lords, where it was in a perpetual minority. His diplomatic skills contributed significantly to its legislative achievements and to preserving the unity of a party always threatening to splinter. Granville…
Earl of Rosebery (Archibald Philip Primrose), 1847-1929
Rosebery is perhaps the least well-known of the Liberal Prime Ministers, having the misfortune to serve in the office for only a short period, immediately after the extended career of the charismatic Gladstone. He had a difficult relationship with the radicals of his parliamentary party, not because of his social policy attitudes (he was a…
Marquess of Hartington (Duke of Devonshire), 1833-1908
The birth of the modern Liberal Party in 1859 brought together three disparate elements, Whigs, Peelites and Radicals. Hartington, as he was known for most of his political life, epitomised the Whig contribution to government – rich, aristocratic but driven by noblesse oblige to take public office. When he broke with Gladstone in the 1880s it…
Lord John Russell (Earl Russell), 1792-1878
The leading Liberal politician from the mid-1830s to the mid-1850s, Russell was twice Prime Minister; he was associated particularly with the issues of parliamentary, educational and Irish reform. He was a Foxite Whig who updated Fox’s attitudes to make them more relevant to the second quarter of the nineteenth century, and added to them a…
I blame Sir Edward Grey
Review of John Charmley, Splendid Isolation? Britain and the Balance of Power 1874-1914 (Hodder & Stoughton, 1999).
Radical failure
Review of Miles Taylor, The Decline of British Radicalism 1847-1860 (Oxford University Press, 1995).
‘There are things stronger than parliamentary majorities
Review of Alan O’Day, Irish Home Rule 1867-1921 (Manchester University Press, 1998).
The Hawarden Kite
The techniques of spin-doctoring were well known to Victorian politicians. This article considers a notable case of press management which went wrong. Or did it?
Gladstone and Liverpool: MP for South Lancashire, 1865-68
At a crucial stage in his career, Gladstone represented the area of his birth. This article links Liverpool’s reaction to electoral reform and Gladstone’s popularity.