BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

Lady Dorothy Nevill, her daughter, Meresia, and Mrs. Hardman, wife to
78
the editor of The Morning Post.
The participation of Lady Northcote
and Mrs. Akers-Douglas also helped to encourage the participation of
many of Britain's most prominently placed women devoted to the support
of the Conservative cause. 6 *
An Executive Committee was formed and membership quickly opened
up to rank and file "Ladies" contributing one guinea annually to the
LGC and additional entrance and annual dues allocated to Grand Council
which totaled five shillings.62
The participation of the Duchess of
Marlborough, Lady Churchill, and Lady Georgiana Curzon in the 1885
elections of Lord Randolph Churchill
undoubtedly influenced many women
to make their way indirectly into the political arena through the
auspices of the Primrose League.
The General Elections of 1885 and 1886 in effect served as
baptism by fire, initiating the Primrose Dames, and in particular the
LGC, in the art of political canvassing and conveyancing thus paving
the way for their eventual dominance of the grass-roots politics
associated with the Primrose League.
Lord Randolph Churchill was to
pay tribute to the contribution of the Dames as early as the Annual
Grand Habitation in April, 1885, suggesting that their "powers of
political persuasion . . . [were] likely to be greater than those of
the knights."63
61
LGC Executive Committee Minutes, 2 March 1885; 16 May 1885;
6 June 1885; 9 July 1885.
62
Ibid., 2 March 1885; 12 May 1885.
63 Minutes of the Grand Council of the Primrose League, 25
April 1885.