BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

161
the 152 reported in 1890. 61
One means by which the League sought to check its stagnating
enterprise was through organizational initiative. A never-ending
series of reforms, alterations, and adjustments were made between 1889
and 1901, although little substantive change occurred.
In 1889 the
Central Office and LGC headquarters moved to still larger quarters
located at 64 Victoria Street.
Within the next year the Chairman of
Grand Council was renamed Chancellor and the head office administrator,
formally referred to as Chancellor, was renamed Vice Chancellor.
District Agents were renamed Provincial Secretaries by 1891.62 As
stated earlier, their numbers declined significantly from a generous
allotment of twenty-two individuals in 1888 to a mere six in 1899.
Provincial Habitations, in theory the apex of the regional
power structure, were proposed in 1899.
The governing heads, the
Provincial Grand Masters, were to be annually appointed by the Grand
Council.
They were empowered to review local records and convene
annual meetings with representatives of County, Divisional, and local
associations.
They do not appear to have received much support at the
regional and local levels and consequently were not implemented.
However, regional representation was insured by the annual election at
61 Minutes of the Grand Council of the Primrose League, 5
December 1901. In 1901 Province Nine, the western region, encompassed
the counties Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall. LGC Executive
Committee Minutes, 29 April 1892; 2 March 1894; 6 November 1896.
Scottish Branch Minute Book, 11 January 1900; 9 April 1900; Fifteenth
Annual Report, February, 1901; Sixteenth Annual Report, December, 1901.
62
LGC Executive Committee Minutes, 5 April 1889. The
Primrose League Gazette, 19 April 1890, p. 2; 25 April 1891, p. 3.