112-540: Middlesex County Council was the principal local government body in the administrative county of Middlesex from 1889 to 1965. The county council was created by the Local Government Act 1888 , which also removed the most populous part of the county to constitute the County of London . The county council consisted of elected councillors and co-opted county aldermen . The entire body of county councillors
224-556: A British constituency. Three weeks later, Salisbury delivered a speech at Scarborough, where he denied that "the word "black" necessarily implies any contemptuous denunciation: "Such a doctrine seems to be a scathing insult to a very large proportion of the human race... The people whom we have been fighting at Suakin , and whom we have happily conquered, are among the finest tribes in the world, and many of them are as black as my hat". Furthermore, "such candidatures are incongruous and unwise. The British House of Commons, with its traditions...
336-426: A county border, the entire district would be considered part of the county in which the larger part was. This condition was maintained with the expansion of urban districts and municipal boroughs . Towns that were split by historic borders and were unified in one administrative county include Banbury , Mossley , Tamworth , Todmorden . Urban districts to annexe areas in another counties include: Additionally,
448-468: A list of administrative counties: it was not until 1933 and the passing of a new Local Government Act that they were enumerated in the Act's schedule. Unlike the 1888 Act, the 1933 Act did not include county boroughs as administrative counties. In legislation and formal documents the suffix " shire " was generally not used: for example, Bedfordshire was referred to as "the administrative county of Bedford" and
560-669: A majority in England and Scotland, had no mandate for Home Rule and argued that because there was no referendum only the House of Lords could provide the necessary consultation with the nation on policies for organic change. The Lords defeated the second Home Rule Bill by 419 to 41 in September 1893, but Salisbury stopped them from opposing the Liberal Chancellor's death duties in 1894. In 1894 Salisbury also became president of
672-520: A majority, and, excepting a Liberal minority government (1892–95), to serve as prime minister from 1886 to 1902. Salisbury was back in office, although without a conservative majority; he depended on the Liberal Unionists, led by Lord Hartington . Maintaining the alliance forced Salisbury to make concessions in support of progressive legislation regarding Irish land purchases, education, and county councils. His nephew Arthur Balfour acquired
784-484: A minority administration from 1885 to 1886. In the November 1883 issue of National Review Salisbury wrote an article titled "Labourers' and Artisans' Dwellings" in which he argued that the poor conditions of working-class housing were injurious to morality and health. Salisbury said " Laissez-faire is an admirable doctrine but it must be applied on both sides", as Parliament had enacted new building projects (such as
896-885: A modern dukedom. Trouble arose with Portugal, which had overextended itself in building a colonial empire in Africa it could ill afford. There was a clash of colonial visions between Portugal (the " Pink Map ", produced by the Lisbon Geographic Society after Alexandre de Serpa Pinto 's, Hermenegildo Capelo 's and Roberto Ivens 's expeditions to Africa) and the British Empire ( Cecil Rhodes 's " Cape to Cairo Railway ") which came after years of diplomatic conflict about several African territories with Portugal and other powers. Portugal, financially hard-pressed, had to abandon several territories corresponding to today's Malawi , Zambia and Zimbabwe in favour of
1008-481: A parallel redistributionary measure was introduced as well. In a speech in the Lords, Salisbury claimed: "Now that the people have in no real sense been consulted, when they had, at the last General Election, no notion of what was coming upon them, I feel that we are bound, as guardians of their interests, to call upon the government to appeal to the people, and by the result of that appeal we will abide". The Lords rejected
1120-479: A pitch of greatness. I entreat honourable Gentlemen opposite not to believe that my feelings on this subject are dictated simply by my hostility on this particular measure, though I object to it most strongly, as the House is aware. But, even if I took a contrary view – if I deemed it to be most advantageous, I still should deeply regret that the position of the Executive should have been so degraded as it has been in
1232-548: A question of high importance "but when I am told that my ploughmen are capable citizens, it seems to me ridiculous to say that educated women are not just as capable. A good deal of the political battle of the future will be a conflict between religion and unbelief: & the women will in that controversy be on the right side". On 21 July, a large meeting for reform was held at Hyde Park . Salisbury said in The Times that "the employment of mobs as an instrument of public policy
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#17327734069441344-442: A set of weathercocks, delicately poised, warranted to indicate with unnerving accuracy every variation in public feeling". Secondly: "No one dreams of conducting national affairs with the principles which are prescribed to individuals. The meek and poor-spirited among nations are not to be blessed, and the common sense of Christendom has always prescribed for national policy principles diametrically opposed to those that are laid down in
1456-422: A sigh and stood up, saying "The Party is ruined!" Cranborne got up at the same time, with Peel remarking: "Lord Cranborne, do you hear what Lord Derby says?" Cranborne ignored this and the three resigning ministers left the room. Cranborne's resignation speech was met with loud cheers and Carnarvon observed that it was "moderate and in good taste – a sufficient justification for us who seceded and yet no disclosure of
1568-549: A strong reputation for resolute coercion in Ireland, and was promoted to leadership in the Commons in 1891. The Prime Minister proved adept at his handling of the press, as Sir Edward Walter Hamilton noted in his diary in 1887 he was: "the prime minister most accessible to the press. He is not prone to give information: but when he does, he gives it freely, & his information can always be relied on." Salisbury once again kept
1680-500: A type of proportional representation , Cranborne argued that: "It was not of our atmosphere—it was not in accordance with our habits; it did not belong to us. They all knew that it could not pass. Whether that was creditable to the House or not was a question into which he would not inquire; but every Member of the House the moment he saw the scheme upon the Paper saw that it belonged to the class of impracticable things". On 2 August when
1792-656: A wealthy merchant and Member of Parliament who had bought large estates in Essex and Lancashire. Robert had a miserable childhood, with few friends, and filled his time with reading. He was bullied unmercifully at the schools he attended. In 1840, he went to Eton College , where he did well in French, German, Classics, and Theology, but left in 1845 because of intense bullying. His unhappy schooling shaped his pessimistic outlook on life and his negative views on democracy. He decided that most people were cowardly and cruel, and that
1904-539: Is a machine too peculiar and too delicate to be managed by any but those who have been born within these isles". Naoroji was elected for Finsbury in 1892 and Salisbury invited him to become a Governor of the Imperial Institute , which he accepted. In 1888, the New York Times published an article that was extremely critical of Lord Salisbury's remark. It included the following quotation, "Of course
2016-594: Is able to leave them. But whatever affection they may have had they are rapidly losing. The difference between now and thirty years ago when I entered the House of Commons is inconceivable". On 11 November, the Franchise Bill received its third reading in the Commons and it was due to get a second reading in the Lords. The day after at a meeting of Conservative leaders, Salisbury was outnumbered in his opposition to compromise. On 13 February, Salisbury rejected MacColl's idea that he should meet Gladstone, as he believed
2128-599: Is an almost insuperable obstacle to the action of any elevating or refining agencies". The Pall Mall Gazette argued that Salisbury had sailed into "the turbid waters of State Socialism"; the Manchester Guardian said his article was "State socialism pure and simple" and The Times claimed Salisbury was "in favour of state socialism". In July 1885 the Housing of the Working Classes Bill
2240-558: Is generally ranked in the upper tier of British prime ministers . Lord Robert Cecil was born at Hatfield House , the third son of the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury and Frances Mary, née Gascoyne. He was a patrilineal descendant of Lord Burghley and the 1st Earl of Salisbury , chief ministers of Elizabeth I . The family-owned vast rural estates in Hertfordshire and Dorset . This wealth increased sharply in 1821, when his father married his mother, Frances Mary Gascoyne, heiress of
2352-599: Is in his hands and that the present form which the question has now assumed has been long planned by him". They agreed to "a sort of offensive and defensive alliance on this question in the Cabinet" to "prevent the Cabinet adopting any very fatal course". Disraeli had "separate and confidential conversations...carried on with each member of the Cabinet from whom he anticipated opposition [which] had divided them and lulled their suspicions". That same night Cranborne spent three hours studying Baxter's statistics and wrote to Carnarvon
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#17327734069442464-481: Is likely to prove a sinister precedent". On 23 July at Sheffield, Salisbury said that the government "imagine that thirty thousand Radicals going to amuse themselves in London on a given day expresses the public opinion of the day...they appeal to the streets, they attempt legislation by picnic". Salisbury further claimed that Gladstone adopted reform as a "cry" to deflect attention from his foreign and economic policies at
2576-476: Is the point d'appui of diplomacy, just as much as a readiness to go to court is the starting point of a lawyer's letter. It is merely courting dishonour, and inviting humiliation for the men of peace to use the habitual language of the men of war". In 1866 Cecil, now known by the courtesy title Viscount Cranborne after the death of his brother, entered the third government of Lord Derby as Secretary of State for India . When in 1867 John Stuart Mill proposed
2688-464: Is worse than one infested by bugs. It's a pity you can't carry around a powder insecticide to get rid of vermin of that kind". In December 1856 Cecil began publishing articles for the Saturday Review , to which he contributed anonymously for the next nine years. From 1861 to 1864 he published 422 articles in it; in total the weekly published 608 of his articles. The Quarterly Review was
2800-568: The National Review for October, titled 'The Value of Redistribution: A Note on Electoral Statistics'. He claimed that the Conservatives "have no cause, for Party reasons, to dread enfranchisement coupled with a fair redistribution". Judging by the 1880 results, Salisbury asserted that the overall loss to the Conservatives of enfranchisement without redistribution would be 47 seats. Salisbury spoke throughout Scotland and claimed that
2912-533: The 1892 general election . The Liberals, however, lost the 1895 general election , and Salisbury for the third and last time became prime minister. He led Britain to victory in a bitter, controversial war against the Boers , and led the Unionists to another electoral victory in 1900 . He relinquished the premiership to his nephew Arthur Balfour in 1902 and died in 1903. He was the last prime minister to serve from
3024-517: The Bendigo goldfields in Australia, he claimed that "there is not half as much crime or insubordination as there would be in an English town of the same wealth and population". Ten thousand miners were policed by four men armed with carbines and, at Mount Alexander , 30,000 people were protected by 200 policemen, with over 30,000 ounces (850,000 g) of gold mined per week. He believed that there
3136-469: The Church of England which was "at variance with the fundamental principles of our constitution". He would oppose "any such tampering with our representative system as shall disturb the reciprocal powers on which the stability of our constitution rests". In 1867, after his brother Eustace complained of being addressed by constituents in a hotel, Cecil responded: "A hotel infested by influential constituents
3248-634: The Holborn by-election for the Unionists, beating the Liberal Lord Compton . Bruce had won the seat with a smaller majority than Francis Duncan had for the Unionists in 1885. Salisbury explained this by saying in a speech in Edinburgh on 30 November: "But then Colonel Duncan was opposed to a black man, and, however great the progress of mankind has been, and however far we have advanced in overcoming prejudices, I doubt if we have yet got to
3360-464: The House of Lords throughout the entirety of their premiership. Historians agree that Salisbury was a strong and effective leader in foreign affairs, with a wide grasp of the issues. Paul Smith characterises his personality as "deeply neurotic, depressive, agitated, introverted, fearful of change and loss of control, and self-effacing but capable of extraordinary competitiveness." A representative of
3472-434: The Local Government Act 1888 ( 51 & 52 Vict. c. 41), which established an elected county council for each area. Some geographically large historic counties were divided into several administrative counties, each with its own county council. The administrative counties operated until 1974, when they were replaced by a system of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties under the Local Government Act 1972 . In 1888
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3584-481: The Niger Delta by Consul George Annesley and his soldiers but took no action against Annesley, who was "quietly pensioned off." In the aftermath of the general election of 1892 , Balfour and Chamberlain wished to pursue a programme of social reform, which Salisbury believed would alienate "a good many people who have always been with us" and that "these social questions are destined to break up our party". When
3696-534: The Oxford Union , serving as its secretary and treasurer. In 1853, he was elected a prize fellow of All Souls College, Oxford . In April 1850, he joined Lincoln's Inn , but did not enjoy law. His doctor advised him to travel for his health, and so, from July 1851 to May 1853, Cecil travelled through Cape Colony , Australia, including Tasmania , and New Zealand. He disliked the Boers and wrote that free institutions and self-government could not be granted to
3808-668: The Sermon on the Mount ". Thirdly: "The assemblies that meet in Westminster have no jurisdiction over the affairs of other nations. Neither they nor the Executive, except in plain defiance of international law, can interfere [in the internal affairs of other countries]... It is not a dignified position for a Great Power to occupy, to be pointed out as the busybody of Christendom". Finally, Britain should not threaten other countries unless prepared to back this up by force: "A willingness to fight
3920-468: The Thames Embankment ) which had displaced working-class people and was responsible for "packing the people tighter": "...thousands of families have only a single room to dwell in, where they sleep and eat, multiply, and die... It is difficult to exaggerate the misery which such conditions of life must cause, or the impulse they must give to vice. The depression of body and mind which they create
4032-409: The 1931 election, and this led to the formation of a Middlesex Municipal Association "representative of all anti-Socialist members". The association was supported by the various Conservative Party organisations of the county although it was not officially affiliated to the party, and controlled the council until 1946. In 1946, Labour took control of the county council for the first time. Following this,
4144-525: The Bill "bristled with precautions, guarantees and securities" had been stripped of these. He attacked Disraeli by pointing out how he had campaigned against the Liberal Bill in 1866 yet the next year introduced a Bill more extensive than the one rejected. In the peroration, Cranborne said: I desire to protest, in the most earnest language which I am capable of using, against the political morality on which
4256-587: The Bill and Parliament was prorogued for ten weeks. Writing to Canon Malcolm MacColl , Salisbury believed that Gladstone's proposals for reform without redistribution would mean "the absolute effacement of the Conservative Party. It would not have reappeared as a political force for thirty years. This conviction...greatly simplified for me the computation of risks". At a meeting of the Carlton Club on 15 July, Salisbury announced his plan for making
4368-623: The Cabinet adopting Disraeli's proposal to bring in a Bill in a week's time. On 28 February a meeting of the Carlton Club took place, with a majority of the 150 Conservative MPs present supporting Derby and Disraeli. At the Cabinet meeting on 2 March, Cranborne, Carnarvon and General Peel were pleaded with for two hours not to resign, but when Cranborne "announced his intention of resigning...Peel and Carnarvon, with evident reluctance, followed his example". Lord John Manners observed that Cranborne "remained unmoveable". Derby closed his red box with
4480-749: The Cape Colony because the Boers outnumbered the British three-to-one, and "it will simply be delivering us over bound hand and foot into the power of the Dutch, who hate us as much as a conquered people can hate their conquerors". He found the Native South Africans "a fine set of men – whose language bears traces of a very high former civilisation", similar to Italian. They were "an intellectual race, with great firmness and fixedness of will" but "horribly immoral" because they lacked theism. At
4592-580: The Commons debated the Orissa famine in India, Cranborne spoke out against experts, political economy, and the government of Bengal. Utilising the Blue Books , Cranborne criticised officials for "walking in a dream... in superb unconsciousness, believing that what had been must be, and that as long as they did nothing absolutely wrong, and they did not displease their immediate superiors, they had fulfilled all
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4704-477: The Conservative Party contested elections to the county council, winning control in 1949 and holding it at the 1952 and 1955 elections. In 1958 Labour regained control. At the elections held in 1961, the Conservatives were returned to power. These were to be the final elections to the county council: under the London Government Act 1963 the elections due in 1964 were cancelled, with the elections to
4816-534: The Courts of Quarter Sessions . Additionally there was a County of London which covered the area today known as Inner London . The Isle of Wight was previously administered as part of Hampshire but became its own administrative county in 1890. In 1894 a uniform two-tier system was established outside the county boroughs and London, with subdivisions of the administrative counties called urban districts , rural districts and municipal boroughs . The structure
4928-597: The Empire. In 1889 Salisbury set up the London County Council and then in 1890 allowed it to build houses. However, he came to regret this, saying in November 1894 that the LCC, "is the place where collectivist and socialistic experiments are tried. It is the place where a new revolutionary spirit finds its instruments and collects its arms". Salisbury caused controversy in 1888 after Gainsford Bruce had won
5040-493: The Liberal Sir Charles Dilke dominated discussions as they had both closely studied in detail the effects of reform on the constituencies. After one of the last meetings on 26 November, Gladstone told his secretary that "Lord Salisbury, who seems to monopolise all the say on his side, has no respect for tradition. As compared with him, Mr Gladstone declares he is himself quite a Conservative. They got rid of
5152-547: The Liberal Reform Bill of the previous year: "But if I assented to this scheme, now that I know what its effect will be, I could not look in the face those whom last year I urged to resist Mr Gladstone. I am convinced that it will, if passed, be the ruin of the Conservative party". When Cranborne entered the Cabinet meeting on 25 February "with reams of paper in his hands" he began by reading statistics but
5264-536: The Liberals and Irish Nationalists (which were a majority in the new Parliament) successfully voted against the government, Salisbury resigned the premiership on 12 August. His private secretary at the Foreign Office wrote that Salisbury "shewed indecent joy at his release". Salisbury—in an article in November for the National Review entitled 'Constitutional revision'—said that the new government, lacking
5376-622: The Lords. Salisbury responded by agreeing only if the Franchise Bill came second. The Carlton Club met to discuss the situation, with Salisbury's daughter writing: The three arch-funkers Cairns , Richmond and Carnarvon cried out declaring that he would accept no compromise at all as it was absurd to imagine the Government conceding it. When the discussion was at its height (very high) enter Arthur [Balfour] with explicit declamation dictated by GOM in Hartington's handwriting yielding
5488-678: The Mediterranean, where British interests had been involved for a century. It was now especially important to protect the Suez Canal and the sea lanes to India and Asia. He ended Britain's isolation through the Mediterranean Agreements (March and December 1887) with Italy and Austria-Hungary . He saw the need for maintaining control of the seas and passed the Naval Defence Act 1889 , which facilitated
5600-470: The Northamptonshire council as the "county council of Northampton". In the case of Lancashire and Cheshire the councils were officially the "county council of the palatine county". Shropshire was always officially entitled the "county of Salop". The right of Berkshire to be described as a "royal county" was recognised by the monarch in 1958. On 1 April 1959 the administrative county of Southampton
5712-429: The administrative counties had a number of exclaves . During the 1890s most of these were eliminated, with parishes being exchanged between counties. The boundaries of Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Wiltshire contained numerous enclaves and exclaves, and were realigned in 1931. Throughout the next century, debates took place about what should be done about local government in respect of the increasing urbanisation of
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#17327734069445824-425: The administrative counties were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 and replaced with the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England . Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury , ( / ˈ ɡ æ s k ɔɪ n ˈ s ɪ s əl / ; 3 February 1830 – 22 August 1903), known as Lord Salisbury ,
5936-447: The boroughs" due to the new majority of the working-class electorate. Cranborne wanted to send his resignation to Derby along with the statistics but Cranborne agreed to Carnarvon's suggestion that as a Cabinet member he had a right to call a Cabinet meeting. It was planned for the next day, 25 February. Cranborne wrote to Derby that he had discovered that Disraeli's plan would "throw the small boroughs almost, and many of them entirely, into
6048-576: The boundary question, minority representation, grouping and the Irish difficulty. The question was reduced to... for or against single member constituencies". The Reform Bill laid down that the majority of the 670 constituencies were to be roughly equal in size and return one member; those between 50,000 and 165,000 kept the two-member representation and those over 165,000 and all the counties were split up into single-member constituencies. This franchise existed until 1918 . Salisbury became prime minister of
6160-505: The breakaway Liberal Unionists , winning the subsequent 1886 general election . His biggest achievement in this term was obtaining the majority of the new territory in Africa during the Scramble for Africa , avoiding a war or serious confrontation with the other powers. He remained as prime minister until Gladstone's Liberals formed a government with the support of the Irish nationalists at
6272-528: The council did not use political labels, among the aldermen elected were members of the parliamentary Conservative Party . From 1919, the scarcely political composition of the council was challenged by the election of members of the Labour Party . The 1922 and 1925 elections were, for the most part, not run on party lines. In 1928, the majority of the council were described as "Moderate", with Labour forming an opposition. Labour continued to make advances at
6384-457: The counties and the county boroughs. When a county borough expanded into territory of a county that was not the one it came from, maps sometimes showed this as an increase in size of the county which the county borough was associated with. Monmouthshire , not shown on the map, was reckoned for some legal purposes among the English counties for most of this period. The 1888 Act did not contain
6496-463: The country. Proposals to expand or change county boroughs or to create larger urban counties were discussed, but nothing happened until 1963, when legislation was passed to come into effect in 1965. The County of London was abolished, and replaced by Greater London , a sui generis council area, taking the three of the surrounding county boroughs, more of Surrey and Kent , parts of Essex and Hertfordshire and consuming nearly all of Middlesex –
6608-413: The creation and extension of county boroughs and the elimination of outlying exclaves and other anomalies. As urbanisation increased, and suburbs were built on a scale not seen before, the urban areas surrounding various towns and cities started to cross traditional county borders. The Local Government Act 1888 ( 51 & 52 Vict. c. 41) provided that in the case that an urban sanitary district crossed
6720-437: The day after that although Baxter was right overall in claiming that 30% of £10 ratepayers who qualified for the vote would not register, it would be untrue in relation to the smaller boroughs where the register is kept up to date. Cranborne also wrote to Derby arguing that he should adopt 10 shillings rather than Disraeli's 20 shillings for the qualification of the payers of direct taxation: "Now above 10 shillings you won't get in
6832-716: The death of his father, he inherited the Marquessate of Salisbury , thereby becoming a member of the House of Lords . In addition to the titles, he inherited 20,000 acres with 13,000 of these in Hertfordshire. In 1869 he was elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society . Between 1868 and 1871, he was chairman of the Great Eastern Railway , which
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#17327734069446944-407: The duties of their station". These officials worshipped political economy "as a sort of 'fetish'... [they] seemed to have forgotten utterly that human life was short, and that man did not subsist without food beyond a few days". Three-quarters of a million people had died because officials had chosen "to run the risk of losing the lives than to run the risk of wasting the money". Cranborne's speech
7056-408: The foreign office (from January 1887), and his diplomacy continued to display a high level of skill, avoiding the extremes of Gladstone on the left and Disraeli on the right. His policy rejected entangling alliances–which at the time and ever since has been called " splendid isolation ". He was successful in negotiating differences over colonial claims with France and others. The major problems were in
7168-432: The foreign policy of Lord John Russell , claiming he was "always being willing to sacrifice anything for peace... colleagues, principles, pledges... a portentous mixture of bounce and baseness... dauntless to the weak, timid and cringing to the strong". The lessons to be learnt from Russell's foreign policy, Salisbury believed, were that he should not listen to the opposition or the press otherwise "we are to be governed... by
7280-535: The foremost conservative journal of the age and of the twenty-six issues published between spring 1860 and summer 1866, Cecil had anonymous articles in all but three of them. He also wrote lead articles for the Tory daily newspaper the Standard . In 1859 Cecil was a founding co-editor of Bentley's Quarterly Review , with John Douglas Cook and Rev. William Scott ; but it closed after four issues. Salisbury criticised
7392-759: The forty years to 1961. The chart of this rise, which tapered off, shows that by 1951 Middlesex formed part of the London conurbation, and in 1965 the council was abolished on the creation of the Greater London Council . All but four electoral divisions of the council's closing 87 became part of the brand-new Greater London ; the rest were transferred to Surrey as to the two parts of Staines plus Sunbury-on-Thames , or to Hertfordshire as to Potters Bar . These were three urban districts. Administrative counties of England Administrative counties were subnational divisions of England used for local government from 1889 to 1974. They were created by
7504-466: The franchise would affect subsequent elections. Cranborne found that Baxter had not taken into account the different types of boroughs in the totals of new voters. In small boroughs under 20,000 the "fancy franchises" for direct taxpayers and dual voters would be less than the new working-class voters in each seat. The same day he met Carnarvon and they both studied the figures, coming to the same result each time: "A complete revolution would be effected in
7616-495: The frequent changes in policy in the Cabinet". Disraeli introduced his Bill on 18 March and it would extend the suffrage to all rate-paying householders of two years' residence, dual voting for graduates or those of a learned profession, or those with £50 in government funds or in the Bank of England or a savings bank. These "fancy franchises", as Cranborne had foreseen, did not survive the Bill's course through Parliament; dual voting
7728-490: The government had no mandate for reform when it had not appealed to the people. Gladstone offered wavering Conservatives a compromise a little short of enfranchisement and redistribution, and after the Queen unsuccessfully attempted to persuade Salisbury to compromise, he wrote to Rev. James Baker on 30 October: "Politics stand alone among human pursuits in this characteristic, that no one is conscious of liking them – and no one
7840-416: The government introduce a Seats (or Redistribution) Bill in the Commons whilst at the same time delaying a Franchise Bill in the Lords. The unspoken implication being that Salisbury would relinquish the party leadership if his plan was not supported. Although there was some dissent, Salisbury carried the party with him. Salisbury wrote to Lady John Manners on 14 June that he did not regard female suffrage as
7952-409: The government of Alec Douglas-Home fell). Salisbury became the leader of the Conservative members of the House of Lords, though the overall leadership of the party was not formally allocated. So he struggled with the Commons leader Sir Stafford Northcote , a struggle in which Salisbury eventually emerged as the leading figure. Historian Richard Shannon argues that while Salisbury presided over one of
8064-462: The government of Benjamin Disraeli , and Britain's Ambassador Plenipotentiary at the 1876 Constantinople Conference . Salisbury gradually developed a good relationship with Disraeli, whom he had previously disliked and mistrusted. During a Cabinet meeting on 7 March 1878, a discussion arose over whether to occupy Mytilene . Lord Derby recorded in his diary that "[o]f all present Salisbury by far
8176-564: The government, led by the Tory prime minister Lord Salisbury established county councils throughout England and Wales , covering areas known as administrative counties . Many larger towns and cities were given the status of county borough , with similar powers and independent of county council control. Under the Act, each county borough was an "administrative county of itself". Cambridgeshire , Lincolnshire , Northamptonshire , Suffolk , Sussex , and Yorkshire were split up for administrative purposes, following historical divisions used by
8288-535: The hands of the voter whose qualification is less than £10. I do not think that such a proceeding is for the interest of the country. I am sure that it is not in accordance with the hopes which those of us who took an active part in resisting Mr Gladstone's Bill last year in those whom we induced to vote for us". The Conservative boroughs with populations less than 25,000 (a majority of the boroughs in Parliament) would be very much worse off under Disraeli's scheme than
8400-464: The landed aristocracy, he held the reactionary credo, "Whatever happens will be for the worse, and therefore it is in our interest that as little should happen as possible." Searle says that instead of seeing his party's victory in 1886 as a harbinger of a new and more popular Conservatism, Salisbury longed to return to the stability of the past, when his party's main function was to restrain what he saw as demagogic liberalism and democratic excess. He
8512-413: The large mass of the £20 householders. At 20 shillings I fear you won't get more than 150,000 double voters, instead of the 270,000 on which we counted. And I fear this will tell horribly on the small and middle-sized boroughs". On 23 February Cranborne protested in Cabinet and the next day analysed Baxter's figures using census returns and other statistics to determine how Disraeli's planned extension of
8624-419: The longest periods of Tory dominance, he misinterpreted and mishandled his election successes. Salisbury's blindness to the middle class and reliance on the aristocracy prevented the Conservatives from becoming a majority party. In 1884 Gladstone introduced a Reform Bill which would extend the suffrage to two million rural workers. Salisbury and Northcote agreed that any Reform Bill would be supported only if
8736-528: The manoeuvres of this year have been based. If you borrow your political ethics from the ethics of the political adventurer, you may depend upon it the whole of your representative institutions will crumble beneath your feet. It is only because of that mutual trust in each other by which we ought to be animated, it is only because we believe that expressions and convictions expressed, and promises made, will be followed by deeds, that we are enabled to carry on this party Government which has led this country to so high
8848-403: The meeting would be found out and that Gladstone had no genuine desire to negotiate. On 17 November, it was reported in the newspapers that if the Conservatives gave "adequate assurance" that the Franchise Bill would pass the Lords before Christmas the government would ensure that a parallel Seats Bill would receive its second reading in the Commons as the Franchise Bill went into committee stage in
8960-434: The mid-1860s, Cranborne worked hard to master electoral statistics until he became an expert. When the Liberal Reform Bill was being debated in 1866, Cranborne studied the census returns to see how each clause in the Bill would affect the electoral prospects in each seat. Cranborne did not expect Disraeli's conversion to reform, however. When the Cabinet met on 16 February 1867, Disraeli voiced his support for some extension of
9072-517: The mob would run roughshod over sensitive individuals. In December 1847, he went to Christ Church, Oxford , where he received an honorary fourth class in Mathematics, conferred by nobleman's privilege due to ill health. Whilst at Oxford, he found the Oxford movement or "Tractarianism" to be an intoxicating force, and had an intense religious experience that shaped his life. He was involved in
9184-440: The most eager for action: he talked of our sliding into a position of contempt: of our being humiliated etc." At the Cabinet meeting the next day, Derby recorded that Lord John Manners objected to occupying the city "on the ground of right. Salisbury treated scruples of this kind with marked contempt, saying, truly enough, that if our ancestors had cared for the rights of other people, the British empire would not have been made. He
9296-475: The next election. He claimed that the House of Lords was protecting the British constitution: "I do not care whether it is an hereditary chamber or any other – to see that the representative chamber does not alter the tenure of its own power so as to give a perpetual lease of that power to the party in predominance at the moment". On 25 July at a reform meeting in Leicester consisting of 40,000 people, Salisbury
9408-462: The parsees are not black men, but the purest Aryan type in existence, with an average complexion fairer than Lord Salisbury's; but even if they were ebony hued it would be grotesque and foolish for a Prime Minister of England [ sic ] to insult them in such a wanton fashion as this." Documents in the Foreign Office archives revealed that Salisbury was made aware of a rape in 1891 and other atrocities carried out against women and children in
9520-402: The point entirely. Tableau and triumph along the line for the "stiff" policy which had obtained terms which the funkers had not dared hope for. My father's prevailing sentiment is one of complete wonder...we have got all and more than we demanded. Despite the controversy which had raged, the meetings of leading Liberals and Conservatives on reform at Downing Street were amicable. Salisbury and
9632-459: The point where a British constituency will elect a black man to represent them.... I am speaking roughly and using language in its colloquial sense, because I imagine the colour is not exactly black, but at all events, he was a man of another race." The "black man" was Dadabhai Naoroji , an Indian Parsi . Salisbury's comments were criticised by the Queen and by Liberals who believed that Salisbury had suggested that only white Britons could represent
9744-452: The present session: I should deeply regret to find that the House of Commons has applauded a policy of legerdemain ; and I should, above all things, regret that this great gift to the people – if gift you think – should have been purchased at the cost of a political betrayal which has no parallel in our Parliamentary annals, which strikes at the root of all that mutual confidence which is the very soul of our party Government, and on which only
9856-400: The progress of any great legislative movement, or destroy those high arguments which are derived from the noblest principles of philanthropy and religion". The Bill ultimately passed and came into effect on 14 August 1885. Although unable to accomplish much due to his lack of a parliamentary majority, the split of the Liberals over Irish Home Rule in 1886 enabled him to return to power with
9968-418: The reigning monarch on advice from their retiring predecessor, and no process was in place to deal with leadership succession in case either the leadership became vacant while the party was in opposition, or the outgoing leader died without designating a successor, situations which both arose from the death of Disraeli (a formal leadership election system would not be adopted by the party until 1964, shortly after
10080-509: The remaining parts being ceded to Surrey and Hertfordshire. Some other changes took place, such as the Soke of Peterborough and Huntingdonshire being merged into Huntingdon and Peterborough , and the merger of the original Cambridgeshire with the Isle of Ely to form Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely . The map shows the counties and county boroughs just prior to their abolition in 1974. In 1974
10192-565: The shadow Greater London Council being held instead. The chairman of the county council chaired its meetings and also represented it in a ceremonial manner, in a similar fashion to the mayor of a borough . Twenty-nine people served as chairmen over the council's existence. Middlesex County Council's main responsibilities were: The principal officers of the county council over its 76 year existence were: The number of homes in Middlesex, an area static in size, rose from 236,266 to 665,347 in
10304-582: The spending of an extra £20 million on the Royal Navy over the following four years. This was the biggest ever expansion of the navy in peacetime: ten new battleships , thirty-eight new cruisers , eighteen new torpedo boats and four new fast gunboats . Traditionally (since the Battle of Trafalgar ) Britain had possessed a navy one-third larger than their nearest naval rival but now the Royal Navy
10416-479: The strength and freedom of our representative institutions can be sustained. In his article for the October Quarterly Review , entitled 'The Conservative Surrender', Cranborne criticised Derby because he had "obtained the votes which placed him in office on the faith of opinions which, to keep office, he immediately repudiated...He made up his mind to desert these opinions at the very moment he
10528-413: The suffrage, providing statistics amassed by Robert Dudley Baxter , showing that 330,000 people would be given the vote and all except 60,000 would be granted extra votes. Cranborne studied Baxter's statistics and on 21 February he met Lord Carnarvon , who wrote in his diary: "He is firmly convinced now that Disraeli has played us false, that he is attempting to hustle us into his measure, that Lord Derby
10640-486: The territory and population of administrative counties was reduced by the increasing numbers of county boroughs , and extensions thereof. This was recognised as a problem, and the process of creation and enlargement of such boroughs was made more difficult by the Local Government (County Boroughs and Adjustments) Act 1926 . By June 1970 25% of the population were within the county boroughs. On creation, many of
10752-515: The white man". A Maori chief offered Cecil 5 acres (2 ha) near Auckland , which he declined. Cecil entered the House of Commons as a Conservative on 22 August 1853 , as MP for Stamford in Lincolnshire. He retained this seat until he succeeded to his father's peerages in 1868 and it was not contested during his time as its representative. In his election address, he opposed secular education and " ultramontane " interference with
10864-552: Was "generally far more civility than I should be likely to find in the good town of Hatfield " and claimed that was due to "the government was that of the Queen, not of the mob; from above, not from below. Holding from a supposed right (whether real or not, no matter)" and from "the People the source of all legitimate power," Cecil said of the Māori of New Zealand: "The natives seem when they have converted to make much better Christians than
10976-741: Was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen years. He was also Foreign Secretary before and during most of his tenure. He avoided international alignments or alliances, maintaining the policy of " splendid isolation ". Lord Robert Cecil, later known as Lord Salisbury, was first elected to the House of Commons in 1854 and served as Secretary of State for India in Lord Derby 's Conservative government 1866–1867. In 1874, under Disraeli , Salisbury returned as Secretary of State for India, and, in 1878,
11088-598: Was appointed foreign secretary, and played a leading part in the Congress of Berlin . After Disraeli's death in 1881, Salisbury emerged as the Conservative leader in the House of Lords, with Sir Stafford Northcote leading the party in the Commons. He succeeded William Ewart Gladstone as prime minister in June 1885, and held the office until January 1886. When Gladstone came out in favour of Home Rule for Ireland later that year, Salisbury opposed him and formed an alliance with
11200-489: Was being raised to power as their champion". Also, the annals of modern parliamentary history could find no parallel for Disraeli's betrayal; historians would have to look "to the days when Sunderland directed the Council, and accepted the favours of James when he was negotiating the invasion of William ". Disraeli responded in a speech that Cranborne was "a very clever man who has made a very great mistake". In 1868, on
11312-473: Was burnt in effigy and a banner quoted Shakespeare's Henry VI : "Old Salisbury – shame to thy silver hair, Thou mad misleader". On 9 August in Manchester, over 100,000 came to hear Salisbury speak. On 30 September at Glasgow, he said: "We wish that the franchise should pass but that before you make new voters you should determine the constitution in which they are to vote". Salisbury published an article in
11424-605: Was complete once the County of London was divided into metropolitan boroughs in 1900. Most exclaves of counties were eliminated under the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 , but in 1894 county councils were given the power to adjust county boundaries, and most of the remaining anomalies were removed in the next few years. For example, the Measham area of Derbyshire was transferred to Leicestershire in 1897. The map shows
11536-601: Was dropped in March, the compound householder vote in April; and the residential qualification was reduced in May. In the end the county franchise was granted to householders rated at £12 annually. On 15 July the third reading of the Bill took place and Cranborne spoke first, in a speech which his biographer Andrew Roberts has called "possibly the greatest oration of a career full of powerful parliamentary speeches". Cranborne observed how
11648-490: Was elected every three years. Aldermen were additional members, there being a ratio of one alderman to three councillors. Aldermen had a six-year term of office, and one half of their number were elected by the councillors immediately after the triennial elections. The first elections were held in January 1889. The first meeting of the "provisional" county council was held on 14 February 1889 at Westminster Town Hall . Although
11760-458: Was interrupted to be told of the proposal by Lord Stanley that they should agree to a £6 borough rating franchise instead of the full household suffrage, and a £20 county franchise rather than £50. The Cabinet agreed to Stanley's proposal. The meeting was so contentious that a minister who was late initially thought they were debating the suspension of habeas corpus . The next day another Cabinet meeting took place, with Cranborne saying little and
11872-480: Was introduced by the Home Secretary, R. A. Cross in the Commons and Salisbury in the Lords. When Lord Wemyss criticised the Bill as "strangling the spirit of independence and the self-reliance of the people, and destroying the moral fibre of our race in the anaconda coils of state socialism", Salisbury responded: "Do not imagine that by merely affixing to it the reproach of Socialism you can seriously affect
11984-551: Was more vehement than any one for going on. In the end the project was dropped..." In 1878, Salisbury became foreign secretary in time to help lead Britain to "peace with honour" at the Congress of Berlin . For this, he was rewarded with the Order of the Garter along with Disraeli. Following Disraeli's death in 1881, the Conservatives entered a period of turmoil. The party's previous leaders had all been appointed as prime minister by
12096-414: Was received with "an enthusiastic, hearty cheer from both sides of the House" and Mill crossed the floor of the Commons to congratulate him on it. The famine left Cranborne with a lifelong suspicion of experts and in the photograph albums at his home covering the years 1866–67 there are two images of skeletal Indian children amongst the family pictures. When parliamentary reform came to prominence again in
12208-449: Was renamed as Hampshire. This system was the basis of the ceremonial counties used for Lieutenancy – except that Cambridgeshire, Hampshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Suffolk and Sussex were not split for Lieutenancy. (Yorkshire, however, was). The table lists the area and population of each administrative county at the censuses of 1891 and 1961. Several county councils had administrative headquarters outside of their area. This
12320-467: Was set to the two-power standard ; that it would be maintained "to a standard of strength equivalent to that of the combined forces of the next two biggest navies in the world". This was aimed at France and Russia . Salisbury was offered a dukedom by Queen Victoria in 1886 and 1892, but declined both offers, citing the prohibitive cost of the lifestyle dukes were expected to maintain and stating that he would rather have an ancient marquessate than
12432-673: Was then experiencing losses. During his tenure, the company was taken out of Chancery , and paid out a small dividend on its ordinary shares. From 1868 he was Honorary Colonel of the Hertfordshire Militia , which became the 4th (Militia) Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment , in 1881, and which was commanded in South Africa during the Second Boer War by his eldest son. Salisbury returned to government in 1874, serving once again as Secretary of State for India in
12544-429: Was usually because the traditional county town was a county borough. The headquarters of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire county councils were moved from the county boroughs to locations within their respective administrative counties. The boundaries of the administrative counties changed considerably over time. The reasons for this were threefold: the growth of towns on either side of an existing boundary,
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