BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

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politics.
Although it adopted the motor car as a means of canvassing
and conveying voters to the polls in the early 1900's, 4
the new method
of transportation merely underscored the increasing discontinuity of
utilizing pseudomedieval points of reference in the modern
technological society Britain was becoming.
The relative decline of the League was indicated by the
proliferation of extra-parliamentary organizations vying for public
support.
Associations begun in the late 1890's and early 1900's, such
as the Navy League (1894) and the League of the Empire (1901), though
smaller in their size and scope than the Primrose League, continued to
exert a growing influence.
Several new political groups were also
formed in response to the Liberal and Labor coalition which came to
victory in 1906.
These included the Middle Class Defense League
(1906), the Junior Imperial League (1906), and the Anti-Socialist Union
(1908).
Perhaps the greatest indication of the diminished role accorded
the Primrose League was the enormous popularity accorded the Boy
Scouts, which attracted over 200,000 members by 1909.
Although the
Juvenile Branches affiliated with Habitations constituted the largest
growing segment of the Primrose League between 1900 and 1914, they
proved no match for the enthusiasms accorded scouting.
Only 53
Juvenile Branches were formed by 1909; a total of 234 by 1913.
In the
face of this competition, the Primrose League sought to minimize its
4
Minutes of the Grand Council of the Primrose League, 8
October 1903. Ibid., 20 July 1905; 19 March 1908; 24 June 1909; 6
January 1910; 3 November 1910.