BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

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marked most dramatically in the death of General Gordon, and the threat
of Irish independence, all served to buttress a growing popular feeling
of conservatism within the country.
Salisbury was a representative par excellence of the
aristocratic resistance to forces making for change.
He was therefore
in many respects uniquely suited, if not by temperament, then by
outlook, to represent a people who looked to strong national leadership
as a means of staving off the dismemberment of the empire and the
displacement of Britain as the world's greatest power.
While many
individuals, groups, and institutions combined to provide a grass-roots
basis for this effort, none would prove more vigilant than the Primrose
League.
II
The League was the brainchild of Henry Drummond Wolff.
It was
reputedly inspired by the public tribute paid to the memory of Disraeli
on the second anniversary of his death, 19 April 1883. Participants,
including individuals of both sexes and members of the two Houses of
Parliament, gathered before a newly erected statue of Disraeli located
in Parliament Square.
There they met to recall the contributions made
by their departed statesman.
Most individuals attending were adorned
with primrose, said to be Disraeli's favorite flower.
Wolff, entering
the Commons' chamber later that afternoon, viewed the entire body of
Conservative M.P.'s wearing primroses in their buttonholes and
reportedly determined to form a Primrose League.