Research Catalog

Title

The Liberal Party in rural England, 1885-1910 : radicalism and community / Patricia Lynch.

Author

Lynch, Patricia (Patricia Christine)

Publication

Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2003.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

viii, 262 pages; 22 cm

Summary

"This book explores the relationship between the British Liberal party and the rural working-class voters enfranchised by the Third Reform Act of 1884. In contrast to many works that present urban voters as the primary agents of political change in nineteenth- and twentieth-century England, this study argues that an examination of the dynamics of popular rural politics is essential to a thorough understanding of political developments in the early years of mass enfranchisement. Prior to 1914, capturing a substantial portion of the rural vote was essential to any political party seeking to establish a strong Parliamentary majority; and the Liberal party, coming from a traditionally strong urban base, had to work particularly hard to meet the expectations of the new rural electorate." "The book shows that popular political culture in the English countryside was dominated by two important, and sometimes conflicting, traditions: on the one hand, a history of radical social protest, emphasizing attacks on the privileges of landowning elites, and on the other, a widespread concern for the harmony of the local community, coupled with a suspicion of unnecessary divisiveness. The attempt to appeal simultaneously to both of these facets of rural political culture helps to explain not only why the Liberals continued to launch rhetorical attacks on the landed aristocracy and to promote schemes of land reform long after one might have expected them to have switched to a more 'modern' emphasis on class politics, but also why the 'New Liberal' emphasis on the politics of community carried such broad electoral appeal at the beginning of the twentieth century. The book suggests, finally, that in focusing primarily on urban democratization, historians of this period may have exaggerated the role of class allegiances in shaping popular political opinion and underestimated the continuities between 'Old' and 'New' Liberalism."--Jacket.

Series Statement

Oxford historical monographs

Uniform Title

Oxford historical monographs

Subject

• Liberal Party (Great Britain) > History
• Liberal Party (Great Britain)
• Liberal Party
• 1837-1910
• Working class > Political activity > History. > Great Britain
• Politics and government
• Rural conditions
• Working class > Political activity
• Ländlicher Raum
• Liberal Party (Groot-Brittannië)
• Arbeidersklasse
• Platteland
• Politieke participatie
• Geschichte 1885-1910
• Great Britain > Politics and government > 1837-1901
• Great Britain > Politics and government > 1901-1910
• Great Britain > Rural conditions
• Great Britain
• Großbritannien

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [236]-248) and index.

Contents

1. The General Election of 1885 -- Popular radical traditions -- The radicalization of rural politics -- A counter-example: South Oxfordshire -- Moderate reactions to Liberal radicalization -- 2. Constituency Organization -- The development of rural party organizations -- Liberal organization in the three constituencies -- Explaining Liberal organizational weakness in rural areas -- 3. Local Government -- Anti-aristocratic Liberal campaigns for the first county councils -- Liberal opposition to anti-aristocratic campaigns -- Liberals and the lower-level councils -- Results -- App. Local government franchises, property qualifications, and methods of voting -- 4. Parliamentary Politics, 1886-1899 -- The eclipse of rural reform in national Liberal policy and the response of the rural electorate -- The agenda of popular politics in the counties: agricultural politics -- Popular politics in Oxfordshire and Essex -- Liberal politics in Holmfirth -- 5. Parliamentary Politics, 1899-1906 -- The war in South Africa -- The Liberal revival: imperial affairs -- Education -- Free trade -- 6. Liberal Government and the Rural Electorate, 1906-1910 -- National Liberal politics -- Explaining rural Liberal losses in 1910 -- The challenge of Labour -- App. 1. Parliamentary Election Results for the Three Constituencies -- App. 2. Categorization of English County Constituencies -- App. 3. Liberal Victories in Rural and Semi-Rural Constituencies.

ISBN

• 0199256217
• 9780199256211

LCCN

2002038191

OCLC

• ocm50761163
• 50761163
• SCSB-1292525

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library