BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

Ill
activities brought about by the election can be gauged by the fact that
during the ensuing nine-and-one-half months only 365,000 more leaflets
were produced.54
The new-found role of the Primrose League as handmaiden to the
Conservative party was emphasized by a member of the Grand Council,
Lord Harris, in a confidential letter to Lord Randolph Churchill dated
the twenty-ninth of October, 1886.
In writing to Churchill, Harris
expressed concern regarding the intentions of the LGC and two of its
most prominent members, the Duchess of Marlborough and Lady Randolph
Churchill, in focusing on political issues to the detriment of social
and philanthropic concerns.
The fact is, my dear Randolph, your child has not
outgrown its strength, it is strong not to say
headstrong, and it has developed a decided tendency to
work in the very field from wh [sic] the Ladies G.C.
say it must be excluded. The Habitations in many ways
are working benevolently and philanthropically & I
think, whatever was the original intention of the
founders, it is a desirable direction, & that we should
be shortsighted [sic] to attempt to check this
tendency. Look at it practically: where is the P.L. to
work in a district already possessing a sound & active
Conservative Assocn, [sic] not in registration except
in the way of aid, not always by holding meetings: the
people are sick of politics just now; but there are a
hundred little ways in wh [sic] [the Primrose League
can assist] by . . . reminding the people that the
Conservative Party does not assume a friendly demeanour
only at election time.55
Lord Harris concluded by asking Lord Randolph Churchill to
intervene on behalf of the Grand Council and its supreme authority over
54 LGC Executive Committee Minutes, 24 May 1887.
55 Lord Harris to Lord Randolph Churchill, 29 October 1886;
Churchill Papers, RCHL xvi/1939.