BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

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Elections 3
which provides a detailed examination of the strengths and
weakness of the political
parties in Britain between 1885 and 1910
based on their electoral performance achieved in the local
constituencies measured as a function of their geo-political
region.
Social Geography of British Elections has been utilized
in this chapter
as a principal reference, providing a means by which to identify
political behavior of constituencies in which local Habitations were
situated.
The overall membership figures provided by the 1888 Roll of
Habitations suggest that, even allowing for varying regional,
political, and social
influences, the League managed to obtain a fairly
significant foothold in most English counties. The organization gained
the greatest strength in traditionally Conservative areas, particularly
where local party officials were prepared to utilize its influence. At
a time when the Conservative party was in the process of transforming
itself from a minority representation to the preeminent political party
of Britain, it seems significant that the League was seeking to
establish itself in regions which were traditionally viewed as citadels
of Liberalism.
Thus inroads were made in Wales, Scotland, Yorkshire,
and the North of England. These efforts had a limited impact, confined
in many instances to local
pockets of Conservative strength.
Nevertheless, they served as a declaration of the intent of the League
to recruit, and even convert, regions deemed centers of Gladstonianism.
In this sense the Primrose League, like its Grand Master, Salisbury,
3
Henry Pelling, Social Geography of British Elections 1885­
1910 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1967).