1859-1886
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A torrent of gin and beer: the election defeat in 1874
In January 1874, the Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone, approached Queen Victoria to dissolve parliament, surprising both the opposition and his own party. In his election manifesto, Gladstone promised to reduce local taxes, to cut taxes on consumer products and to repeal the income tax. When the campaign was over, the Liberal landslide of 1868…
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Gladstone’s first government
After an apprenticeship in government under the Conservative Robert Peel, Gladstone served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Aberdeen’s coalition and Palmerston’s Government of 1859-1865. His energy, administrative and oratorical skills marked him as the Liberal Party’s future leader.
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William Ewart Gladstone, 1809-1898
As Roy Jenkins concluded in his masterly biography, ‘Mr Gladstone was almost as much the epitome of the Victorian age as the great Queen herself’. He was the political giant of his lifetime and even at the end of the twentieth century the principles and aspirations he brought to public life are still inherent in the…
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John Stuart Mill’s ‘On Liberty’ 150 years later
An analysis of the most well-known work of the greatest of the Victorian Liberal philosophers, published 150 years ago this year, and an assessment of its relevance to 2009.
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David and Maggie
Diaries and correspondence files are used to examine the courtship between David Lloyd George and Margaret Owen between 1884 and their marriage in 1888.
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A Liberal in power
Review of Roy Jenkins, Asquith (Collins, 1964).
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Sir Edward Watkin and the Liberal cause in the nineteenth century
The life of Liberal MP Edward Watkin, the last of the railway kings.
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An intractable problem? Gladstone and Irish home rule
1880 – 1886: Gladstone’s efforts to achieve Home Rule for Ireland.
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How did the Empire strike back?
The impact of imperialism on democracy and liberalism in Britrain 1865-1920.