BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

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Another prominent feature exhibited in the comparison of
officers listed in the two Rolls is the growing number of Habitations
headed exclusively or in the majority by woman.
In 1888 women oversaw
199 associations or 5.2 percent of the total. By 1899 this figure had
risen to 10.9 percent.
The numbers lend support to the growing public
perception of the League as a "women's organization," comprising female
canvassers serving the interests of the (male) Conservative party.28
If we examine the regional development of the Primrose League
in 1899 against that of 1888, some interesting results emerge
(Appendices H and I).
The East Anglia region decreased the most.
Cambridgeshire suffered the greatest decline in the number of
Habitations of all counties in this study, dropping from 21 to 7
between 1888 and 1899, a paltry 33 percent of its original level.
Suffolk and Norfolk also experienced significantly lower levels of
activity, respectively 67 and 72 percent of their previous standings.
Both had performed quite strongly on the 1888 Roll, accounting for some
3 percent of their total 1891 population figures.
While the Central
region underwent a more moderate decline
relative to East Anglia, nevertheless, it also lost significant ground.
Berkshire fared the best with 84.6 percent of its 1888 representation,
then set at 2.9 percent of its 1891 census.
Buckinghamshire and
Oxfordshire, however, declined to 70 percent of their original
standing, previously 5 and 3.4 percent, respectively, of their 1891
census.
28 A perception shared by Ostrogorski, Democracy and the
Organization of Political Parties, pp. 530, 534, 548-49, 561.