BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

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shattering consequence, but suggestive of the League's need to be
constantly in motion.
This tendency became more striking in some
respects in the subsequent two decades as membership declined relative
to the dynamic 1880's and the League therefore found itself resorting
to increasingly more dramatic organizational
initiatives in
compensation and in hopes of stimulating further growth.
This dynamic
process of development is amply demonstrated in the formation of
District Agents.
The General
Purposes Committee proposed in August the creation
of eight District Agents, each assigned to a large geographical region.
All told the areas covered accounted for most of England and Wales.
The agents were responsible for supervising Divisions and local
Habitations within the assigned territories.14
The District Agent was a transitional
figure, part lecturer and
proselytiser of League principles, part "party agent," concerned with
maintaining the vitality of the Primrose machine.
The position was
conceived in response to the poor performance and reception given
Central Office lecturers, who failed to attract the support and
enthusiasm of local Habitations, causing financial losses.
In large
measure this was due to the amateurish quality of speakers hired and
the assumption that the Habitations must be a self-supporting
enterprise.15
14
Ibid., 20 August 1886.
15
Minutes of the Grand Council of the Primrose League, 20
August 1886. Letter to the editor signed, "A Delegate to Grand
Habitation," England, 21 May 1887, p. 14.