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Liberalism in Devon and Cornwall, 1910–1931: ‘the old-time religion’*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Michael Dawson
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Abstract

Liberalism in Devon and Cornwall before 1914 pursued a traditional ‘democratic’ rhetoric based on a class division which associated the Liberal party with ‘the people’ and Unionism with a privileged aristocracy. The ‘new Liberalism’ and social reform were unimportant. In the 1920s, the Gladstonian trinity of peace, retrenchment and free trade comprised easily the most common theme in Liberal candidates’ speeches. The Gladstonian tradition remained central to Liberalism because it accurately reflected the preoccupations of the party's core supporters in the region. There was apparently no belief amongst Liberals that the party's policies after 1918 were out-dated and irrelevant; their view is supported by an analysis of the 1923, 1924 and 1929 contests and their results.

Throughout the period, Liberal candidates were as ready and able as their opponents to use the coarser arts of electioneering. Liberalism was not wedded to a restricted Edwardian electorate with a relatively high level of political intelligence. The argument that it was is contradicted by contemporary accounts that the electorate of the 1920s was more thoughtful and less susceptible to emotional appeals than were pre-war voters.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , June 1995 , pp. 425 - 437
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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References

1 Hymn heard at a chapel in mid-Cornwall in the 1930s and which the author, Jack Clemo, had not encountered for ten years – ‘it had been expelled from the Methodist hymn-book as Conference realized the need of being progressive’. Clemo, J. R., Confession of a rebel (London, 1949). PP. 106–7.Google Scholar

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4 The Liberal share of the vote in straight fights with Unionists or Conservatives was 51·8 per cent (Jan. 1910), 50·3 per cent (Dec. 1910), 49·1 per cent (1922), 53·4 per cent (1923) and 47·2 per cent (1924). The figures for post-war elections are for county divisions only.

5 See Western Times, 15, 12 and 17 Jan. 1910 (Tiverton, South Molton and Honiton).

6 For example, see the remarks of the Liberal candidates for Torquay, St Austell, Tavistock and Camborne on what their victories signified, Western Daily Mercury, 25 and 28 Jan. 1910.

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