BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

membership, the League achieved its greatest success in rural and
relatively affluent suburban communities.
As Shaw noted in his address
to Ladywood Habitation in 1887,
As yet they had little more than touched the fringe of
the working classes, and seeing how numerous and
powerful these classes were every effort ought to be
made to penetrate their ranks, not only for the benefit
of the party to which the Primrose League was attached,
but for the benefit of the working classes them­
selves. 28
Huddersfield Habitation was greatly influenced by the
Radicalism of the West Riding region.
The minority status ascribed to
Conservatives in the area tended to promote a strong sense of
solidarity between party, association, and League, a phenomenon also
observable in the borough of Birmingham.
Unlike Birmingham, however,
the Liberal Unionists did not appear to play a major role in the
surrounding region, although a national Liberal Unionist conference was
sponsored in 1889 featuring some of the more prominent political
figures.^^
quality of lives, pointing to the Workmen's Compensation Act (1897) as
well as steps taken toward restricting child labor and introducing an
eight hour day. Whitehaven Habitation Minutes, 11 October 1895; 3
October 1894; 2 February 1898; 12 April 1901. The Ladywood Primrose
Magazine featured an article on the long tradition of enlightened
legislation sponsored by Tories, dating back to the 1833 bill proposed
by the Earl of Shaftesbury to limit the number of hours children
labored in the factories. August, 1887, p. 59.
28 Ladywood Primrose Magazine, July, 1887, p. 49.
29 They included Chamberlain, the Earl of Selbourne, John
Bright, and local notable, Sir J.W. Ramsden, Ramsden Estate Papers,
Kirklees District Archives, DD/RA/21/9.