Iain Mclean and Alistair McMillan
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199258208
- eISBN:
- 9780191603334
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199258201.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
This chapter examines the unravelling of the Union between 1800 and 1886. The UK of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1800, and the Union flag then took on its modern design, with crosses to ...
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This chapter examines the unravelling of the Union between 1800 and 1886. The UK of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1800, and the Union flag then took on its modern design, with crosses to represent England, Scotland, and Ireland (but not Wales). However, the Irish Union was never accepted in the way the Scottish Union was. The unravelling of the Union began seriously in 1886.Less
This chapter examines the unravelling of the Union between 1800 and 1886. The UK of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1800, and the Union flag then took on its modern design, with crosses to represent England, Scotland, and Ireland (but not Wales). However, the Irish Union was never accepted in the way the Scottish Union was. The unravelling of the Union began seriously in 1886.
Iain Mclean and Alistair McMillan
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199258208
- eISBN:
- 9780191603334
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199258201.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
This chapter analyses what is now called the West Lothian Question (WLQ) after its persistent poser Tam Dalyell MP (formerly for West Lothian). The WLQ asks: Given partial devolution, why can an MP ...
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This chapter analyses what is now called the West Lothian Question (WLQ) after its persistent poser Tam Dalyell MP (formerly for West Lothian). The WLQ asks: Given partial devolution, why can an MP for a devolved territory become involved in devolved matters in England, but not in his own constituency? It has been said that ‘the WLQ is not really a question: every time it is answered, Tam just waits for a bit and then asks it again’. But that merely shows what a persistently nagging question it has been since long before Tam Dalyell. In fact, it was sufficient (although not necessary) to bring down both of Gladstone’s Home Rule Bills (1886 and 1893). The chapter shows how problematic all the proposed solutions are, especially when dealing with divided government where one UK-wide party controls a territory and the other controls the UK government. However, if devolution is to be stable, the governments and parties will have to live with the WLQ. New conventions for cohabitation will arise, and the UK and devolved party systems may diverge, even if party labels do not. The UK electorate treats everything except UK General Elections as second-order.Less
This chapter analyses what is now called the West Lothian Question (WLQ) after its persistent poser Tam Dalyell MP (formerly for West Lothian). The WLQ asks: Given partial devolution, why can an MP for a devolved territory become involved in devolved matters in England, but not in his own constituency? It has been said that ‘the WLQ is not really a question: every time it is answered, Tam just waits for a bit and then asks it again’. But that merely shows what a persistently nagging question it has been since long before Tam Dalyell. In fact, it was sufficient (although not necessary) to bring down both of Gladstone’s Home Rule Bills (1886 and 1893). The chapter shows how problematic all the proposed solutions are, especially when dealing with divided government where one UK-wide party controls a territory and the other controls the UK government. However, if devolution is to be stable, the governments and parties will have to live with the WLQ. New conventions for cohabitation will arise, and the UK and devolved party systems may diverge, even if party labels do not. The UK electorate treats everything except UK General Elections as second-order.
James Kirby
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780197265871
- eISBN:
- 9780191772030
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265871.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
One of the most striking features of E. A. Freeman’s life and thought is the contrast between the young Tractarian student of architecture and the mature liberal, even radical, historian. This essay ...
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One of the most striking features of E. A. Freeman’s life and thought is the contrast between the young Tractarian student of architecture and the mature liberal, even radical, historian. This essay explains that the transition from the one to the other was not a process of sudden conversion or rupture, but rather a natural development. To understand the crucial years c.1846–50, when Freeman’s thought was most in ferment, a number of his early, hitherto unidentified, publications have been tracked down, including his earliest published study of the Norman Conquest. From these sources, among others, it has been possible to reconstruct how his early medievalism and anti-Erastianism evolved into a general commitment to liberty, democracy, and republicanism, without repudiating the High Anglicanism of his youth. Though apparently idiosyncratic, this intellectual development was shared to some extent by a number of prominent Victorian liberals, not least Gladstone himself.Less
One of the most striking features of E. A. Freeman’s life and thought is the contrast between the young Tractarian student of architecture and the mature liberal, even radical, historian. This essay explains that the transition from the one to the other was not a process of sudden conversion or rupture, but rather a natural development. To understand the crucial years c.1846–50, when Freeman’s thought was most in ferment, a number of his early, hitherto unidentified, publications have been tracked down, including his earliest published study of the Norman Conquest. From these sources, among others, it has been possible to reconstruct how his early medievalism and anti-Erastianism evolved into a general commitment to liberty, democracy, and republicanism, without repudiating the High Anglicanism of his youth. Though apparently idiosyncratic, this intellectual development was shared to some extent by a number of prominent Victorian liberals, not least Gladstone himself.
Iain McLean
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198295297
- eISBN:
- 9780191599873
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198295294.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
A case study of the great Victorian electoral realignment. Corrects existing claims about landslide elections, and tabulates the bias and responsiveness of the UK electoral system from 1868 to 1918. ...
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A case study of the great Victorian electoral realignment. Corrects existing claims about landslide elections, and tabulates the bias and responsiveness of the UK electoral system from 1868 to 1918. Examines the opportunities and problems for politicians in two‐dimensional space. A new account of the reasons for Gladstone's failure to achieve Home Rule for Ireland in 1886 and 1893 is offered, as is a solution to the puzzle of why politicians whose interest lay in widening the franchise after 1900, especially by introducing women's suffrage, failed to do so.Less
A case study of the great Victorian electoral realignment. Corrects existing claims about landslide elections, and tabulates the bias and responsiveness of the UK electoral system from 1868 to 1918. Examines the opportunities and problems for politicians in two‐dimensional space. A new account of the reasons for Gladstone's failure to achieve Home Rule for Ireland in 1886 and 1893 is offered, as is a solution to the puzzle of why politicians whose interest lay in widening the franchise after 1900, especially by introducing women's suffrage, failed to do so.
Anthony King
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199576982
- eISBN:
- 9780191702235
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199576982.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
Devolution was the first thing in mind of the Liberal leaders between 1886 and 1914 which caused the presence of a home rule for Ireland — ‘John Bull’s other island’. A majority of Liberals thought ...
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Devolution was the first thing in mind of the Liberal leaders between 1886 and 1914 which caused the presence of a home rule for Ireland — ‘John Bull’s other island’. A majority of Liberals thought that there was a need to devolve. They also thought that home rule was a good idea. They feared that, unless Ireland were granted home rule, the government of the United Kingdom (UK) would be able to govern Ireland only by means of force. More positively, W. E. Gladstone and his successors believed that the granting of home rule would reconcile the people of Ireland to its remaining part of the UK.Less
Devolution was the first thing in mind of the Liberal leaders between 1886 and 1914 which caused the presence of a home rule for Ireland — ‘John Bull’s other island’. A majority of Liberals thought that there was a need to devolve. They also thought that home rule was a good idea. They feared that, unless Ireland were granted home rule, the government of the United Kingdom (UK) would be able to govern Ireland only by means of force. More positively, W. E. Gladstone and his successors believed that the granting of home rule would reconcile the people of Ireland to its remaining part of the UK.
David Bebbington
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780853239253
- eISBN:
- 9781846313202
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853239253.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
Through the years the scholarship on Gladstone has fallen into several categories. This introductory chapter reviews that literature to provide a context for the papers in this volume. First, there ...
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Through the years the scholarship on Gladstone has fallen into several categories. This introductory chapter reviews that literature to provide a context for the papers in this volume. First, there was the material published by those who wished to keep the statesman's memory green. Pride of place must go to the three–volume biography composed by Gladstone's former cabinet colleague, John Morley. The culmination of the tradition of works celebrating Gladstone's legacy came with Gladstone and the Irish Nation (1938), by J. L. Hammond, a special correspondent of the Manchester Guardian. Much recent study has focused on understanding Gladstone's position on major questions rather than taking issue with it. Others have looked at the chief influences on his career.Less
Through the years the scholarship on Gladstone has fallen into several categories. This introductory chapter reviews that literature to provide a context for the papers in this volume. First, there was the material published by those who wished to keep the statesman's memory green. Pride of place must go to the three–volume biography composed by Gladstone's former cabinet colleague, John Morley. The culmination of the tradition of works celebrating Gladstone's legacy came with Gladstone and the Irish Nation (1938), by J. L. Hammond, a special correspondent of the Manchester Guardian. Much recent study has focused on understanding Gladstone's position on major questions rather than taking issue with it. Others have looked at the chief influences on his career.
David Bebbington and Roger Swift (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780853239253
- eISBN:
- 9781846313202
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/UPO9781846313202
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
W. E. Gladstone towers over the politics of the nineteenth century. He is known for his policies of financial rectitude, his campaigns to settle the Irish question, and his championship of the rights ...
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W. E. Gladstone towers over the politics of the nineteenth century. He is known for his policies of financial rectitude, his campaigns to settle the Irish question, and his championship of the rights of small nations. He remains the only British Prime Minister to have served for four separate terms. In 1998, an international conference at Chester College brought together Gladstone scholars to mark the centenary of his death, and many of the papers presented on that occasion are published in this volume. Covering the whole of the statesman's long political life from the first Reform Act to the last decade of the nineteenth century, they range over topics as diverse as parliamentary reform and free trade, Gladstone's English Nonconformist supporters, and his Irish Unionist opponents. The collection forms a tribute, appreciative but critical, to the Grand Old Man of British politics.Less
W. E. Gladstone towers over the politics of the nineteenth century. He is known for his policies of financial rectitude, his campaigns to settle the Irish question, and his championship of the rights of small nations. He remains the only British Prime Minister to have served for four separate terms. In 1998, an international conference at Chester College brought together Gladstone scholars to mark the centenary of his death, and many of the papers presented on that occasion are published in this volume. Covering the whole of the statesman's long political life from the first Reform Act to the last decade of the nineteenth century, they range over topics as diverse as parliamentary reform and free trade, Gladstone's English Nonconformist supporters, and his Irish Unionist opponents. The collection forms a tribute, appreciative but critical, to the Grand Old Man of British politics.
David Brooks
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780853239253
- eISBN:
- 9781846313202
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853239253.003.0012
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
This chapter examines Gladstone's fourth administration. The fourth administration indicated significant weaknesses in Liberalism, which was evident not least in the differences of emphasis that ...
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This chapter examines Gladstone's fourth administration. The fourth administration indicated significant weaknesses in Liberalism, which was evident not least in the differences of emphasis that divided an octogenarian leader from many of his colleagues and followers. On the other hand, the fourth ministry also underlined Liberalism's strengths. Gladstone himself still proved an inspirational presence in parliamentary terms in 1893, and his last government had a unique record in that, unlike its predecessors, it remained undefeated in the House of Commons. Against all the odds, it survived from mid–August 1892 until Gladstone's resignation in early March 1894, at which point the leadership of the Liberal party in effect skipped two generations.Less
This chapter examines Gladstone's fourth administration. The fourth administration indicated significant weaknesses in Liberalism, which was evident not least in the differences of emphasis that divided an octogenarian leader from many of his colleagues and followers. On the other hand, the fourth ministry also underlined Liberalism's strengths. Gladstone himself still proved an inspirational presence in parliamentary terms in 1893, and his last government had a unique record in that, unlike its predecessors, it remained undefeated in the House of Commons. Against all the odds, it survived from mid–August 1892 until Gladstone's resignation in early March 1894, at which point the leadership of the Liberal party in effect skipped two generations.
Emily Jones
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198799429
- eISBN:
- 9780191839665
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198799429.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Political History
This chapter centres on the debates over Home Rule between 1886 and 1893, when the issue exploded onto the British political scene. It examines the Gladstonian argument for Home Rule with reference ...
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This chapter centres on the debates over Home Rule between 1886 and 1893, when the issue exploded onto the British political scene. It examines the Gladstonian argument for Home Rule with reference to Burke, as well as the subsequent Liberal Unionist response. Both sides made significant intellectual bids for Burke’s mantle: the Gladstonians sought to establish voluntary political ties (‘the union of hearts’) between Britain and Ireland in an array of parliamentary speeches, periodical articles, edited books, and popular pamphlet literature. The Liberal Unionists looked to Burke’s wider work to show their adherence to the Liberal tradition. The Home Rule debates re-imagined Burke as a proto-Liberal Unionist, agreeable to and allied with Conservatives. The ‘spirit of Burke’ was, therefore, eventually seen to be embodied best of all in the Liberal Unionists who resurrected an anti-Jacobin vocabulary and styled themselves as Old Whigs defending the constitution.Less
This chapter centres on the debates over Home Rule between 1886 and 1893, when the issue exploded onto the British political scene. It examines the Gladstonian argument for Home Rule with reference to Burke, as well as the subsequent Liberal Unionist response. Both sides made significant intellectual bids for Burke’s mantle: the Gladstonians sought to establish voluntary political ties (‘the union of hearts’) between Britain and Ireland in an array of parliamentary speeches, periodical articles, edited books, and popular pamphlet literature. The Liberal Unionists looked to Burke’s wider work to show their adherence to the Liberal tradition. The Home Rule debates re-imagined Burke as a proto-Liberal Unionist, agreeable to and allied with Conservatives. The ‘spirit of Burke’ was, therefore, eventually seen to be embodied best of all in the Liberal Unionists who resurrected an anti-Jacobin vocabulary and styled themselves as Old Whigs defending the constitution.
Alison Milbank
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- November 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198824466
- eISBN:
- 9780191863257
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198824466.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
The theological dimension to Bram Stoker’s work is totally neglected and yet, like Maturin, Stoker can be shown to be seeking a mediation between Catholic and Protestant, and Irish and English, with ...
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The theological dimension to Bram Stoker’s work is totally neglected and yet, like Maturin, Stoker can be shown to be seeking a mediation between Catholic and Protestant, and Irish and English, with The Snake’s Pass an allegory of this proto-ecumenism. The influence of the Anglican idea of the via media, central to Victorian theology, is traced in his work, and compared with the influence of Walt Whitman’s model of comradeship and nation. In particular, F. D. Maurice’s inclusive ecclesiology is at work in Dracula, where the vampire acts as an Antichrist whose economy of substitutionary sacrifice is opposed by a union of Protestant word (diaries, typing) and Catholic sacramentals (Eucharistic host, etc.) and acts of mutual self-sacrifice and reciprocity such as the blood-transfusions. Maurice’s questioning of eternal damnation and Gladstone’s idea of immortal life as a gift are also important in a novel that aims to redeem even Dracula himself.Less
The theological dimension to Bram Stoker’s work is totally neglected and yet, like Maturin, Stoker can be shown to be seeking a mediation between Catholic and Protestant, and Irish and English, with The Snake’s Pass an allegory of this proto-ecumenism. The influence of the Anglican idea of the via media, central to Victorian theology, is traced in his work, and compared with the influence of Walt Whitman’s model of comradeship and nation. In particular, F. D. Maurice’s inclusive ecclesiology is at work in Dracula, where the vampire acts as an Antichrist whose economy of substitutionary sacrifice is opposed by a union of Protestant word (diaries, typing) and Catholic sacramentals (Eucharistic host, etc.) and acts of mutual self-sacrifice and reciprocity such as the blood-transfusions. Maurice’s questioning of eternal damnation and Gladstone’s idea of immortal life as a gift are also important in a novel that aims to redeem even Dracula himself.
Emily Jones
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198799429
- eISBN:
- 9780191839665
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198799429.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Political History
Between 1830 and 1914 in Britain a dramatic modification of the reputation of Edmund Burke (1730–97) occurred. Burke, an Irishman and Whig politician, is now most commonly known as the ‘founder of ...
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Between 1830 and 1914 in Britain a dramatic modification of the reputation of Edmund Burke (1730–97) occurred. Burke, an Irishman and Whig politician, is now most commonly known as the ‘founder of modern conservatism’—an intellectual tradition which is also deeply connected to the identity of the British Conservative Party. The idea of ‘Burkean conservatism’—a political philosophy which upholds ‘the authority of tradition’, the organic, historic conception of society, and the necessity of order, religion, and property—has been incredibly influential in international academic analysis and in the wider political world. This is an intellectual construct of high significance, but its origins have not yet been understood. This book demonstrates that the transformation of Burke into the ‘founder of conservatism’ was in fact part of wider developments in British political, intellectual, and cultural history in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Drawing from a wide range of sources, including political texts, parliamentary speeches, histories, biographies, and educational curricula, this volume shows how and why Burke’s reputation was transformed over a formative period of British history. It bridges the significant gap between the history of political thought as conventionally understood and the history of the making of political traditions. By 1914, it is demonstrated that Burke had been firmly established as a ‘conservative’ political philosopher and was admired and utilized by political Conservatives in Britain who identified themselves as his intellectual heirs. This was one essential component of a conscious re-working of C/conservatism which is still at work today.Less
Between 1830 and 1914 in Britain a dramatic modification of the reputation of Edmund Burke (1730–97) occurred. Burke, an Irishman and Whig politician, is now most commonly known as the ‘founder of modern conservatism’—an intellectual tradition which is also deeply connected to the identity of the British Conservative Party. The idea of ‘Burkean conservatism’—a political philosophy which upholds ‘the authority of tradition’, the organic, historic conception of society, and the necessity of order, religion, and property—has been incredibly influential in international academic analysis and in the wider political world. This is an intellectual construct of high significance, but its origins have not yet been understood. This book demonstrates that the transformation of Burke into the ‘founder of conservatism’ was in fact part of wider developments in British political, intellectual, and cultural history in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Drawing from a wide range of sources, including political texts, parliamentary speeches, histories, biographies, and educational curricula, this volume shows how and why Burke’s reputation was transformed over a formative period of British history. It bridges the significant gap between the history of political thought as conventionally understood and the history of the making of political traditions. By 1914, it is demonstrated that Burke had been firmly established as a ‘conservative’ political philosopher and was admired and utilized by political Conservatives in Britain who identified themselves as his intellectual heirs. This was one essential component of a conscious re-working of C/conservatism which is still at work today.
