David Cannadine
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206262
- eISBN:
- 9780191677052
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206262.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Political History
Winston Churchill was in many ways a quintessential patrician. Throughout his life, he regarded the Duke of Marlborough as the head of his family, and as the bearer of the greatest name in the land. ...
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Winston Churchill was in many ways a quintessential patrician. Throughout his life, he regarded the Duke of Marlborough as the head of his family, and as the bearer of the greatest name in the land. And it was in Bladon churchyard, within sight of his ancestral palace, that he was buried, beside his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, and Jennie, his mother. At the outset of his career, Churchill certainly benefited from the patronage and support of his ducal relatives and noble connections. But in the much longer perspective of his ninety-year lifetime, the balance tilted markedly the other way. Despite his own reverential feelings towards them, too many of Churchill's ancestors and relatives were tainted by unstable temperament, unsound judgement, financial profligacy, and rhetorical (and also alcoholic) excess. And these were also the very defects of character that censorious contemporaries detected in Churchill himself. In explaining his ‘failure’ in the years before 1940, the political consequences of this genealogically precarious reputation should not be ignored.Less
Winston Churchill was in many ways a quintessential patrician. Throughout his life, he regarded the Duke of Marlborough as the head of his family, and as the bearer of the greatest name in the land. And it was in Bladon churchyard, within sight of his ancestral palace, that he was buried, beside his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, and Jennie, his mother. At the outset of his career, Churchill certainly benefited from the patronage and support of his ducal relatives and noble connections. But in the much longer perspective of his ninety-year lifetime, the balance tilted markedly the other way. Despite his own reverential feelings towards them, too many of Churchill's ancestors and relatives were tainted by unstable temperament, unsound judgement, financial profligacy, and rhetorical (and also alcoholic) excess. And these were also the very defects of character that censorious contemporaries detected in Churchill himself. In explaining his ‘failure’ in the years before 1940, the political consequences of this genealogically precarious reputation should not be ignored.
Angus Hawkins
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- June 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198728481
- eISBN:
- 9780191795336
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198728481.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Political History
After 1867 the Reform settlement was modified further by electoral legislation, the 1872 Ballot Act ending public voting, while national political parties exerted greater control in constituencies. ...
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After 1867 the Reform settlement was modified further by electoral legislation, the 1872 Ballot Act ending public voting, while national political parties exerted greater control in constituencies. The Conservative Central Office, National Union of Conservative and Constitutional Associations, and Liberal Central Association carried this process forward. The titanic clash between Gladstone and Disraeli symbolized confrontation between the Liberal and Conservative parties. The duration of governments became aligned with general elections. Tighter discipline was established over Commons voting of MPs. By the 1880s parliamentary parties were expected to speak and vote as a bloc. Westminster’s function in passing ministerial legislation came to the fore. The careers of Joseph Chamberlain and Lord Randolph Churchill illustrated opportunities for ambitious politicians to exploit extra-parliamentary organization in applying pressure on party leaderships. Programme politics became adopted. So ‘parliamentary government’ gave way to a national party system in which sovereignty became vested in electoral opinion.Less
After 1867 the Reform settlement was modified further by electoral legislation, the 1872 Ballot Act ending public voting, while national political parties exerted greater control in constituencies. The Conservative Central Office, National Union of Conservative and Constitutional Associations, and Liberal Central Association carried this process forward. The titanic clash between Gladstone and Disraeli symbolized confrontation between the Liberal and Conservative parties. The duration of governments became aligned with general elections. Tighter discipline was established over Commons voting of MPs. By the 1880s parliamentary parties were expected to speak and vote as a bloc. Westminster’s function in passing ministerial legislation came to the fore. The careers of Joseph Chamberlain and Lord Randolph Churchill illustrated opportunities for ambitious politicians to exploit extra-parliamentary organization in applying pressure on party leaderships. Programme politics became adopted. So ‘parliamentary government’ gave way to a national party system in which sovereignty became vested in electoral opinion.
