BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

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Liberal
Unionist member.*6
Despite efforts of the Conservatives to challenge the
predominance of the Liberal
party by importing some of its leading
members, introducing of Conservative clubs and associations,*? and
providing assistance from local
Habitations of the Primrose League,
Birmingham remained wedded to Chamberlainite politics.
Most rank and
file Liberal members in the borough and surrounding region joined
Chamberlain in his affiliation with the Conservatives in the aftermath
of Gladstone's proposal for Home Rule in 1886.
Liberal Unionists
generally dominated parliamentary constituencies within the borough
between 1886 and 1900.18 Given the political history of Birmingham,
Ladywood Habitation must be considered with respect to the Liberal
Unionist policies which were ascendant during the period under study.
The 1888 Roll of Habitations records ten associations in the
district of Birmingham.
These included one in the borough and three in
each of the Southern and Eastern Divisions, the last district of which
16
Marsh, The Discipline of Popular Government, pp. 136-36,
citing Salisbury's letter to Chamberlain, 16 August 1889, Joseph
Chamberlain Papers, JC11/30/10.
17
These included the Midland Conservative Club (1883), the
Midland Counties' Union of Conservative Associations (1886), and a host
of smaller organizations.
18
The East Division was solidly Conservative between 1886 and
1910. From 1886 until 1892, Unionist member for the district,
Matthews, served in Salisbury's Cabinet as Secretary of State for the
Home Office. A Conservative was returned to Edgbaston in the byelection
of 1898, marking its transition from a Liberal Unionist to a
Tory stronghold between 1886 and 1910. The remaining constituencies
for Birmingham: Bordesley, Central, North, South, and West returned
Liberal Unionists from 1886 until the First World War. F.W.S. Craig,
British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918 (New York: Macmillan
Press, 1974), pp. 69-75.