BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

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marked most noticeably in the rising sectors of the middle class, the
establishment of medallions by the Primrose League brought the process
still further down the social scale and potentially within the reach of
any enterprising individual.
It enabled the buying of honors through
relatively minimal sacrifice and income to persons wishing to emulate
the social manners and traditions of those situated above them. With
the increasing numbers of titled aristocracy joining another advantage
was conferred: the perceived opportunity for social betterment and by
implication, affiliation with one's social superiors.
has been a revelation to me on the baser side of human nature.
Lady Gwendolen Cecil, Life of Robert Marquis of Salisbury, vol. 3, p.
142.
By 1890 demand for honors had grown to such an extent that
Salisbury characterized the decade as exhibiting an unparalleled "rage
for distinction." Marsh, The Discipline of Popular Government, p. 192;
citing Salisbury's comment to Sir Henry Ponsonby, 23 March 1890, Royal
Archives L7/64. Two years later in drawing up an enhanced honors list
following the Conservative party's defeat in the General Election,
Salisbury grumbled to Lord John Manners,
I think if Dante had known all we know, he would have
created another inferno, worse than all the others, in
which unhappy sinners should be condemned eternally to
the task of distributing two honours among a hundred
people so as to satisfy them all.
Taylor, Lord Salisbury, p. 147.
Salisbury complained bitterly of the task which befell him,
managing whenever possible to relegate the burden to a few trusted
subordinates. Nevertheless, he realized it was an essential part of
oiling the party machinery. To this end, he took every conceivable
opportunity, relying, not only on annual New Year's and Royal Birthday
honors, but also on the 1887 and 1897 Royal Jubilee distinctions to
reward party faithful, meritorious civil servants, and distinguished
individuals in the arts and sciences. The political disbursements had
increased to such an extent after 1895 that he himself commented
extravagantly of "so many knights and baronets as to justify the saying
you cannot throw a stone at a dog without hitting a knight in London."
Marsh, The Discipline of Popular Government; citing J.M. Maclean,
Recollections of Westminster and India (Manchester, 1902), p. 126.