BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

In part this misconception has been reinforced by the limited coverage
given to the organization in the papers of prominent politicians, and,
indeed, the newspapers of the day.
Instead, public attention focused
on its pageantry, its grand, even farcical proceedings, obscuring the
underlying purpose and success achieved in nurturing the creation of a
popular conservative subculture, committed to the maintenance of the
Tory party.
In tracing the development of the Primrose League a number of
salient points emerged.
The League began as a extra-parliamentary,
political
Churchill.
interest group to further the interests of Randolph
It quickly evolved through Salisbury's careful maneuvers
and Churchill's apparent dilettantism into an organ loosely affiliated
with the Conservative party proper, overseen by the Prime Minister and
his Chief Agent, Middleton.
Its dramatic rise in membership coincided
with the party's efforts to establish an extensive popular base of
support in 1885-86.
Membership was sufficiently large by 1888 to
justify its designation as Britain's preeminent "mass" organization.
The Primrose League distinguished itself from all other
interest groups in nineteenth century Britain by the national character
and magnitude of its operations.
The organization reached its zenith
by 1888,
its operations extending to most of the parliamentary
Divisions in England, as well as many districts in both Wales and
Scotland.
A number of associations were also established in Ireland
and a few even extended as far as the British colonies.
By 1899,
however, the Roll of Habitations had declined by 11 percent over the
total
listed on the 1888 register and decreased a further 14 percent by