BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

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by clerks and secretaries in the office of a candidate.
These duties
might include filling out forms, mailing notices out to prospective
voters, and maintaining general records.
On election day they might,
in effect, run the office, leaving the agent free to supervise general
operations.!0
The importance of Habitation members were amply demonstrated
during the General Election of 1900 in the Sleaford and Hammersmith
Divisions located, respectively, in Lincolnshire and London.
In the
case of the former, seventy-one out of the seventy-four members of
Henry Chaplin's Central Office Committee were drawn from the Boultham,
Hartsholme (Ellison) Habitation.
Female members from Victoria and
Shepherd's Bush Habitations in Hammersmith addressed twenty-six
thousand envelopes and filled out thirteen thousand polling cards for
William Bull.
Both Conservatives were successfully returned to
parliament. 11
Members also assisted through their participation in the
Cycling Corps associated with the Habitations.
They performed a number
of vital services as couriers, including dispatching messages from the
polling booths to the agent and maintaining a watchful eye on electionday
proceedings.
If reports indicated a low voter turnout in certain
Wards, the agent might ask Knights and Dames to provide additional
carriages and offer assistance in these districts in order to ensure
10 The Primrose League Gazette, 1 May 1895, p. 6; 1 August
1895, pp. 8-13; 1 September 1895, pp. 4-9; 1 November 1900, pp. 4-7; 1
December 1900, pp. 4-6; 1 January 1901, p. 5.
11
Ibid., 1 November 1900, pp. 4, 6.