¹ Ante, vi, 2 (1963), 226–52Google Scholar.

² London will seldom be mentioned. For although nominally a county, it was so unlike the others that it has never been regarded as comparable, and has never joined the County Councils' Association. Wales will be discussed briefly below.

³ II (1888), 542. Earlier (p. 249) it had criticized the Bill for not going far enough; for, as it now explained, it had felt that failure to carry the measure would severely damage the government.

⁴²⁶ Dec. 1886, i s and 20 Jan. 1888 (Salisbury Papers).

⁵ Similarly in West Sussex ‘many associated the idea of a county council with retired tradesmen or self-sufficient shop-keepers, whose motives for coining forward would be personal and selfish’ (County Council Magazine, 11, 323).

⁶ The Times, 11 April 1888–the speech was intended to reassure the Conservatives about the Local Government Bill.

⁷ Biographical Studies [of the Life and Political Character of Robert Third Marquess of Salisbury] (privately printed–Christ Church Library, Oxford), pp. 91 ff.

⁸²⁹ Jan., 6 and 9 Feb. 1887. Bath's views are the more interesting since he was himself a chairman of Quarter Sessions. He subsequently became chairman of Wiltshire County Council (1889–96), in which office he was succeeded by his Quarter Sessions vice-chairman Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice (1896-1906), and by the fifth marquess of Bath (1906-46).

⁹ County Council Magazine, II, 1.

¹⁰ The Times, 11 04 1888, p. 12Google Scholar.

¹¹ Biographical Studies, pp. 91 ff.

¹² Many politicians had toyed with a proposal to restrict county councils' expenditure to the proceeds of a 4s. rate (a limit far in excess of their actual expenditure)—see ante, vi, 2 (1963), 246 and noteGoogle Scholar.

¹³ II, 542.

¹⁴ County Council Magazine, 11, 270.

¹⁵ To Salisbury, 6 and 9 Feb. 1887.

¹⁶ B.M. Add. MS. 44252, fos. 122-4.

¹⁷ B.M. Add. MS. 43882, fo. 83.

¹⁸ To Dilke, 20 Jan. 1888 (copy in the Chamberlain Papers—JC 5/24/508). The Bill's details had not yet been announced.

¹⁹ The Times, 11 04 1888, p. 9Google Scholar.

²⁰ B.M. Add. MS. 44125, fo. 181.

²¹ Address on the Land Question (Birmingham, 1882), pp. 25 ffGoogle Scholar.

²² Mr Chamberlain's Speeches, ed. Boyd, C. W. (1914), 1, 159–60Google Scholar.

²³ Hansard, 4th series, XVIII (Nov. 1893), 42Google Scholar.

²⁴ Amphlett's Diary (Worcester College Library, Oxford), 1888, pp. 307Google Scholar, 290-1.

²⁵ The Times, 11 Jan. 1889, p. 10.

²⁶ Harrowby MSS., 3rd series, 49, no. 138 (7 March 1892).

²⁷ Ibid. no. 88 (31 Oct. 1888).

²⁸ Boston Guardian, 26 01 1889, p. 5Google Scholar.

²⁹ Hereford Journal, 29 12 1888, p. 7Google Scholar.

³⁰ Leicester Chronicle, 19 01 1889, p. 7Google Scholar.

³¹ , Amphlett'sDiary, 1888, pp. 246, 292Google Scholar.

³² Oxford Chronicle, 5 01 1889, p. 5Google Scholar.

³³ 16 March 1889, p. 5.

³⁴ Ibid. 26 Jan. 1889, p. 8.

³⁵ Local Government Chronicle, 1889, p. 158Google Scholar.

³⁶ Amphlett's Diary, 1889, p. 15Google Scholar.

³⁷ Quoted in the Hereford Journal, 26 01 1889, p. 6Google Scholar.

³⁸ Ross Gazette, 27 12 1888, p. 4Google Scholar.

³⁹ Hereford Journal, 5 01 1889, p. 7Google Scholar.

⁴⁰ Ashby, M. K., Joseph Ashby of Tysoe (Cambridge, 1961), p. 113.Google Scholar See also Thompson, Flor a, Lark Rise to Candleford (Classics, World's ed.), pp. 229, 242Google Scholar.

⁴¹ The Rev. Stephenson, Dr, The Christian Citizen. A Sermon (1892), pp. 15–16Google Scholar.

⁴² See Appendix, Table 1.

⁴³ E.g. in the Wath division of the North Riding. As we shall see in the case of Hereford-shire, the press could overlook hostility to the magistrates; and it may commonly have been written off as political feeling—in the Parts of Holland the Liberals used the term ‘magisterial’ as a smear word.

⁴⁴ County Council Magazine, 1, 194; II, 131.

⁴⁵ Beverley Independent, 19 01 1889, p. 2Google Scholar.

⁴⁶ Moreover, many of the self-styled ‘labour’ candidates had only tenuous claims to the title—one was a Conservative, a Guardian, and the vice-chairman of the local Highway Board.

⁴⁷ See Appendix, Table 2.

⁴⁸ IV, 131; 11, 76; 11, 19s; 11, 261.

⁴⁹ , Amphlett'sDiary, 1890, p. 34Google Scholar.

⁵⁰ An exception is Westmoreland, of whose council tenant-farmers, business, and professional men combined accounted for little more than half a dozen.

⁵¹ Northumberland, Westmoreland, Notts., Rutland, Staffs., Salop, Herefordshire, Worcestershire (apart from Unionist victories near Birmingham), Bedfordshire (apart from Bedford itself), Bucks, (except occasionally in the north), Herts., Essex, Surrey, and West Sussex (with two exceptions).

⁵² Kesteven, Derbyshire, Warwickshire, Oxon., Hants., Devon, and probably Cornwall (whose council had an organized Liberal minority interested in such topics as Sunday Closing, Local Option, and—later—Education).

⁵³ The Parts of Holland, the West Riding, and Cumberland.

⁵⁴ Cheshire, Northants., Wilts., probably Lanes., and perhaps Somerset (where in the early 1900's the Liberals made an unsuccessful attempt to take over the council before joining the ‘moderate Progressives, who had hitherto directed’ its policy).

⁵⁵ Boston Guardian, 19 01 1889, p. 3Google Scholar; Carlisle Express and Examiner, 26 01, p. 2Google Scholar.

⁵⁶ Hereford Journal, 6 09 and 3 10 1888, p. 5Google Scholar. It did, however, express approval of the candidature of more than one moderate Liberal.

⁵⁷ Leicester Chronicle, 12 01 1889, p. 2Google Scholar.

⁵⁸ Leicester Journal, 4 01 1889Google Scholar. The Home Rule crisis had in fact driven Schnadhorst from Birmingham (whose parliamentary representation was now shared between Liberal Unionists and Conservatives). The National Liberal Federation (now transferred to London) seems to have played no part in the county council elections. And Liberal leaders were divided as to the propriety of introducing politics into them-Gladstone and Rosebery disapproved, while Trevelyan and John Morley warmly advocated this course.

⁵⁹ Liberals ought so to ‘colour the first council that when further duties…were placed upon it, they might be performed on liberal principles’ (quoted in , Amphlett'sDiary, 1888, 307)Google Scholar. The belief that County Councils would soon assume substantial further responsibilities was almost universal. It was not misplaced but it was misdirected; for these new responsibilities generally related to the provision of entirely new services, and not to those activities whose transfer had been widely anticipated, in particular:

(a) Some of the supervisory functions of the central government. A measure of devolution was attempted in 1889, but a Select Committee (chaired by Stansfeld) reported against it. For it was strongly opposed by the non-county boroughs (who disliked the prospect of increased county council interference), and it would not in practice have extended to county boroughs and therefore did not interest them. Moreover Whitehall viewed it with distaste, and put forward serious (but perhaps not insuperable) administrative difficulties.

(6) The control of such important local questions as:

elementary education-transferred in 1902;

allotments-insufficient powers given to County Councils in 1892, adequate compulsory purchase powers not accorded till 1908;

the Poor Law-transferred in 1929;

and, more vaguely, such matters as housing and planning, which came only very gradually into the ambit of local government.

⁶⁰ Edgcumbe, E. R. Pearce, Party Politics in the County Council (1888)Google Scholar.

⁶¹ 11, 318–19. The programme comprised:

the abolition of aldermen; the extension to County Council elections of the laws against corrupt practices; the defrayment of councillors’ travelling expenses;

the concession to the County Council of compulsory purchase powers for housing, of powers to protect the public in all questions of rights of way, and of sole control of the police and of licensing;

the reconsideration of the principle of the rating of mansions; the readjustment of offices and salaries, and the abolition of the obligation to compensate existing staff on discharge; the exercise of the greatest economy in all questions.

⁶² 12 Jan. 1889.

⁶³ Leicester Advertiser, 12 01 1889, p. 6Google Scholar.

⁶⁴ 5 Jan. 1889.

⁶⁵ Hereford Journal, 19 01 1889, p. 6Google Scholar.

⁶⁶ A reference to the difficulties of securing Conservative support for the sitting Libera l Unionist member of Parliament for West Staffordshire.

⁶⁷ Harrowby MSS., 3rd series, 49, no. 187.

⁶⁸ Hereford Journal, 20 10 1888, R. 5Google Scholar.

⁶⁹ He had undoubtedly enjoyed the support of Birmingham Radical platform speakers; but in the middle of the contest he was thanked for organizing Primrose League soirées.

⁷⁰ Hereford Journal, 2 02 1889, p. 3Google Scholar.

⁷¹ See my article in Past and Present, xxvi (1963), 89Google Scholar. Both prophecies were to some exten t fulfilled, for the farmers triumphantly returned Duckham to Parliament in 1880, but he had difficulty in getting back in 1885 and did not stand thereafter. The County Council immediately elected him an alderman, and he ultimately became a Justice of the Peace.

⁷² Hereford Journal, 6 01 1889, p. 8Google Scholar. County Councils met before vesting date as Provisional Councils to elect aldermen.

⁷³ Ibid. 2 Feb., p. 5. The editorial comment shows how completely the press might misunderstand the situation-it censures what it takes to be the council's Conservative majority for not selecting aldermen along party lines.

⁷⁴ ‘A Junior Conservative’, in the Leicester Advertiser, 5 01 1889Google Scholar.

⁷⁵ Admittedly under heckling candidates were led to make such promises as outdoor relief, work for the unemployed, allotments, and free education, their economy pose notwithstanding (County Council Magazine, 1, 97). And there were a few candidates like the one who shocked Walter Long by stating ‘openly… that they intended to spend more money and add to the rates’ (The Times, 12 01 1889, p. 12)Google Scholar. But such an approach was most uncommon.

⁷⁶ Bromsgrove Mercury, 20 10 1888Google Scholar.

⁷⁷ Boston Guardian, 12 01 1889Google Scholar.

⁷⁸ County Council Magazine, 11, 139-40.

⁷⁹ Jan. 1889, p. 8.

⁸⁰ Hereford Journal, 6 10 1888, p. 5Google Scholar.

⁸¹ , Amphlett'sDiary, 1888, p. 235Google Scholar.

⁸² Carlisle Express and Examiner, 12 01 1889, p. 6Google Scholar; 19 Jan., pp. 6-7; 26 Jan., p. 6. Lawson himself was defeated by a brewer.

⁸³ Local Government Chronicle (1889), pp. 92 and 97Google Scholar.

⁸⁴ County Council Magazine, II, 260.

⁸⁵ Beverley Independent, 19 01 1889, p. 3Google Scholar. The County Council Magazine also states that a number of North Riding contests turned on the licensing question (1, 258), but the newspapers I have seen do not give this impression.

⁸⁶ An apparent exception was the Brampton (Cumberland) Total Abstinence Society's success in keeping out a spirit merchant. But the candidate it supported was not interested in licensing, and would go no further than Sunday Closing.

⁸⁷ 1889, p. 94.

⁸⁸¹² 12 Jan. 1889, p. 2.

⁸⁹ 19 Jan. 1889, p. 8.

⁹⁰ Leicester Advertiser, 12 01 1889, p. 6Google Scholar.

⁹¹ County Council Magazine, 11, 323-4.

⁹² Hanham, H. J., Elections and Party Management. Politics in the Time of Disraeli and Gladstone (1959), p. 179Google Scholar.

⁹³ County Council Magazine, 1, 189, 217-19, 289-95. It is through such vivid reports that Welsh developments must chiefly have influenced English.

⁹⁴ County Council Magazine, 1, 217-18.

⁹⁵ Jubilee of County Councils, Merioneth, p. 66. For example it passed a resolution in favour of a Welsh National Council (The Times, 22 10 1889, p. 12)Google Scholar.

⁹⁶ , Amphlett'sDiary, 23 01 1892Google Scholar —the counties mentioned were Cardigan and Glamorgan.

⁹⁷ To Balfour, 6 Feb. 1889. There had been a ‘Progressive’ victory in London.

⁹⁸ To Salisbury, 2 Feb. 1889; 17 Nov. and 25 Dec. 1888.

⁹⁹ My account will be taken from Amphlett's Diary and the newspaper cuttings it contains. The Diary has an index, and I shall therefore give the references only of stray quotations.

¹⁰⁰ , Amphlett'sDiary, 1891, p. 60Google Scholar; 1892, p. 164.

¹⁰¹ An instance of his thoughtfulness was his distribution of chocolate to sustain Amphlett (a very hungry man) since there was no adjournment for lunch.

¹⁰² The device of a rigged selection committee was also used in Herefordshire, but it provoked too much opposition, and committees had instead to be elected by secret ballot to avoid factional intrigues (Hereford Journal, 16 02 and 2 03 1889)Google Scholar.

¹⁰³ , Amphlett'sDiary, 1891, p. 74bGoogle Scholar.

¹⁰⁴ Jubilee of County Councils, Worcestershire, p. 69.

¹⁰⁵ , Amphlett'sDiary, 1892, p. 345Google Scholar.

¹⁰⁶ Ibid. 1890, p. 123 a.

¹⁰⁷ Ibid. 1891, p. 255.

¹⁰⁸ Ibid. 1889, p. 169.

¹⁰⁹ Staffordshire Advertiser, 16 02 1895Google Scholar.

¹¹⁰ Staffordshire was not alone in curtailing speeches—one council even restricted them to five minutes.

¹¹¹ Harrowby MSS., 3rd series, 49, fos. 458 ff.

¹¹² Thus the chairman of Quarter Sessions often remarked that he could never have filled the post a quarter as well.

¹¹³ Harrowby MSS., 3rd series, 49, fos. 458 ff. It is an interesting commentary on the independence of Local Government that the construction of this asylum (which accounted for over two-thirds of Staffordshire's building expenditure between 1892 and 1895) had been forced on the county by the central government (Staffordshire Advertiser, 16 02 1895)Google Scholar. Similarly it seems that in 1867 the Wiltshire Quarter Sessions only really controlled £10,574 out of their total annual expenditure of £36,669 (Victoria County History, Wilts., v, 261-2).

¹¹⁴ County Council Magazine, I, 330-1; iv, 131; 11, 2; in, 227. Admittedly Lord Carnarvon (an opponent of the Local Government Act) considered that even though the majority of the Hampshire Council were magistrates and the ‘outsiders’ behaved well, the old spirit of Quarter Sessions had gone and ‘the popular and almost democratic influence is curiously visible’ (Sir Hardinge, Arthur, Life of Henry Edward Molyneux Herbert, Fourth Earl of Carnarvon, Oxford, 1925, III, 298 ff.)Google Scholar. But, by this time, he was old and ill.

¹¹⁵ County Council Magazine, II, 143. In the same spirit Dorrington also suggested, as an alternative to a County Councils Union, that the chairmen of County Councils should join the existing association of chairmen of Quarter Sessions (ibid. 11, 191).

¹¹⁶ Jubilee of County Councils, Gloucestershire, p. 79.

¹¹⁷ County Council Magazine, III, 99–107 (written in 02 1890)Google Scholar.

¹¹⁸ This was quite an important question: it seems that the chairman of the Parts of Holland Quarter Sessions had misappropriated a local charity (Boston Guardian, 19 01 1889)Google Scholar.

¹¹⁹ County Council Magazine, 1, 332–3.

¹²⁰ Local Government Chronicle (1892), pp. 305, 311Google Scholar.

¹²¹ , Amphlett'sDiary, 1888, pp. 366–7Google Scholar; 1892, p. 192.

¹²² p. 66.

¹²³ MS. history of the County Council, written and shown to me by Mr H. M. Walton, County Archivist.

¹²⁴ County Council Magazine, II, 298 n.

¹²⁵ Ibid. IV, 335. The Acts were particularly ill-administered in Wales.

¹²⁶ Ensor, R. C. K., England, 1870-1914 (Oxford, 1936), pp. 319–20Google Scholar.

¹²⁷ It thus falsified the calculations of men like Dorrington. For the Standing Joint Committees received no new responsibilities, the County Councils (as most of them thought) all too many—hence perpetual complaints of central government interference and the burden this laid on the rates. Shropshire provides an illustration of the growth of County Councils: in 1889 its staff numbered five; in 1917 it had to eject the Borough Council staff from Shire-hall; in the 1930's the County Offices were greatly extended, and in 1939 the staff numbered 326 (Jubilee of County Councils, Salop, p. 88); the comparable figure for today (1962) is 640, and the offices are about to be rebuilt.

¹²⁸ On this whole question, see Lee, J. M., Social Leaders and Public Persons, a Study of County Government in Cheshire since 1888 (Oxford, 1963), passim and esp. p. 5:Google Scholar ‘The first phase [of the transformation of local political leadership] was marked [in the late-nineteenth century] by the introduction of [practising] businessmen and industrialists into the county magistracy… Candidates for election at thefirstcounty council elections in 1889 were drawn from the new county society created by the fusion of landed and business interests. Such men may conveniently be described as “social leaders”…those who possessed sufficient social standing… time, and… money to participate in the work of local authorities or voluntary societies. The second phase was marked by the vast increase in the number of duties [imposed on local authorities]… particularly after the Education Act of 1902 and the Local Government Act of 1929, and by the need for professional experts in administration. Technical improvements and industrial reorganization removed social leaders from the public service, and their functions were gradually taken over by full-time officials and those who were willing to accept office for its own sake…not because of their social standing, but because of the connexions they had established with various local interest groups and political parties.’ Most counties have probably travelled the same road as Cheshire, but many with a considerable time-lag. (Cheshire was also somewhat unusual in that party-political feeling did not die down after the first elections, perhaps because the Council was so evenly divided.)

¹²⁹ E.g. ‘Not many years ago it was a virtue “to stem the tide of democracy”. We are all Democrats now and rush with pride to own it’ (after-dinner speech, 1894—Harrowby MSS., 3rd series, 49, no. 293).

¹³⁰ Tucker, D. R., Quarter Sessions Government (unpublished thesis for the University of Exeter)Google Scholar.

¹³¹ , Amphlett'sDiary, 1888, p. 235Google Scholar. The first county council elections did cost some £131,800 (The Times, 9 10 1889, p. 4)Google Scholar, but no subsequent elections can have approached this figure.