BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

at hand, a deeper understanding of the character and influence of
League activities can be obtained.
Relatively few sources are available for ascertaining the
socioeconomic character of the membership.
The three associations
examined in detail
include the Brent Primrose League Club, located in
Hanwell, an outlying suburb of London, and two rural Habitations,
Melbury and Garstang, situated, respectively, in Dorset and
Lancashire.2
They have been selected because of the general
strength of
the Conservative party in these counties during the years under study,
the geographical diversity of the areas in which the associations were
situated, and the large number of members affiliated with the
Habitations represented in the three regions.
No other demographic and political-geographical
study exists
regarding either the popular membership of the Primrose League or the
Conservative party as a whole during this period.
The most relevant
source available is Henry Pelling's Social Geography of British
2
"The Brent Primrose League Club," PRO BT31 3540/21610.
Melbury Habitation Register, 1886-1893, Dorset County Record Office,
D124/Box 343. Garstang Habitation Registrar, 1897-1909, Lancashire
County Record Office, DDF2. Other registers include those for
Hardwicke and Coin Valley Habitations in Gloucestershire, three for
Whitehaven Habitation located in Cumberland, and the Knights' and
Dames' Register for Huddersfield Habitation in West Riding, Yorkshire.
Hardwicke Habitation Register, Gloucester Public Library, JF11.47. No
date is provided, although the Habitation continued to be listed on the
national Rolls as late as the 1904. The 1904 Roll of Habitations, p.
64. Coin Valley Habitation Register, 1885-88 Gloucester Record Office,
D1070/viii,6. Whitehaven Habitation Registers, 1893-97; 1898-1901;
1902; Cumbria Record Office, DL0NS. Huddersfield Habitation Knights'
and Dames' Register, 1896-1900, Kirklees District Archives, DD/RE/165.