BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

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existing institutions by means of a growing reliance on the methods of
modern organization, the Primrose League was able, with some degree of
success, to forestall the loss of traditional values.
By 1888 the League, if not a finished product, closely
resembled its mature structure of the subsequent decade.
The Central
Office had become a semiprofessional
source of support for the
Conservative party, employing a permanent office staff.
Heading up its
paid work force was the [Vice] Chancellor, responsible for overall
League operations. Under his supervision a Political Secretary managed
the political
efforts, chief among these the direction of regional
organizers named "District Agents" or Provincial
Secretaries as they
came to be called in the 1890's.
A Registrar, Deputy Assistant
Registrar, and several clerks, whose numbers expanded and contracted to
meet the immediate needs of the Council, assisted in general
management.
At the dignitary and executive levels, the organization had
also matured.
Salisbury and Northcote were designated honorific Grand
Masters, supreme heads of the Primrose League, in the fall of 1885.
They held the position jointly until
Northcote, subsequently raised to
the peerage under the name of Lord Iddesleigh, died in January of 1887.
Salisbury then assumed sole leadership, occupying the post for the
remainder of his life.
The office of Vice Grand Master was created in
1895, A.J. Balfour holding the title for the remaining years under
study.