BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

6
A third scholar, Martin Pugh of Newcastle University in
England, is currently engaged in writing another study of the Primrose
League.
His work promises to provide us with a study of its
development from the 1880's through the 1920's.
It will draw on a
variety of historical manuscripts and recent publications which link
the Primrose League to the actions of the Conservative party, the
National Union, and the efforts of women to extend their political
influence.9
While my dissertation is bound to intersect with the themes
developed by other historians, there seemed little point in providing
still another generalized study of the Primrose League.
Instead, I
have sought to explore areas which, by and large, have not been
addressed by examining the organizational means by which the Primrose
League developed a mass political base for conservatism.
I have chosen
an approximately twenty year period beginning with the 1880's and
ending with the death of Queen Victoria in 1901.
These years are the
most crucial
in the formation and development of the League and in the
transformation of the Tory party from minority representation to the
preeminent political force in Britain.
The Edwardian era marked the wanning influence of the Primrose
League as an "independent" extra-parliamentary institution. Although
its numbers continued to grow on paper, its vitality had been ebbing
since the mid-1890's.
A host of smaller, diverse organizations sprang
9 My assessment of Martin Pugh's work is based on my
conversation with him in the summer of 1982 and winter of 1983-84; his
lecture given at Cambridge in February, 1984; and the draft outline of
his proposed book, a copy of which he kindly gave me.