BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

are those counties with figures in excess of 15,000.
Devonshire, Derbyshire, Somerset, Sussex, and Norfolk.
They included
Based on
similar assessments, counties with notably poor representation include
Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, Herefordshire, and
Westmorland in England as well as virtually the entire region of Wales
(excluding Denbighshire and Glamorganshire) and county Monmouthshire.
However when League membership is measured relative to
population as given in the 1891 census returns (Appendix G), a
different picture emerges.
The densely inhabited counties of
Lancashire, Yorkshire, and London do not appear nearly so active,
accounting for, respectively, only 1.4, 1, and .6 percent of their
populations.
Conversely, a number of counties previously cited for
their low membership managed to reverse their relative standing. For
example Herefordshire and Westmorland obtained a strong 4 and 4.8
percent following, respectively, of their population.
The census figures, however, must be applied with some degree
of caution, particularly in counties where both population figures and
overall League representation were low.
This applies especially to
regions like Wales where efforts to make inroads into Liberal
strongholds might easily be exaggerated because of the small
numbers
involved.
In the case of the Welsh counties, a strong "national"
identity combined with a tradition of favoring dissenting religious
beliefs and a decided preference for the Liberal party were factors
which tended to minimize the significance of Primrose League
representation in the region.