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38-526: In the short run it proved a political liability. Liberals won the 1892 United Kingdom general election but failed to enact the Newcastle Programme. They were on the losing side in the 1895 United Kingdom general election and remained out of power until their landslide win in the 1906 United Kingdom general election . The Newcastle Programme was important for two reasons; first, it gave the Liberal party

76-602: A Radical agenda on which to fight the next general election and second, the detailed 'shopping list' of policies it adopted was innovatory in British politics, setting a precedent for modern political parties. Today ordinary members of all major political parties participate in policy development and the parties present the electorate with a programme or manifesto for government, agreed or endorsed in some way by their members. The Liberal Party's leading pioneer of organised campaigning had been Joseph Chamberlain . In 1885, he put forward

114-716: A government under Hartington, who now declined the premiership for the third time. Instead the Liberal Unionist George Goschen accepted the Exchequer in Churchill's place. Having succeeded as Duke of Devonshire in 1891 he entered the House of Lords where, in 1893, he formally moved for the rejection of the Second Home Rule Bill . Devonshire eventually joined Salisbury's third government in 1895 as Lord President of

152-618: A high-profile government inquiry later discovered the letters to be forgeries. In 1890, the divorce of Katharine O'Shea , which identified Parnell as Mrs O'Shea's lover, split the Irish party and scandalised nonconformist Liberals. The split in the Irish Home Rule party in 1890 weakened the likelihood of a successful Home Rule Bill. At the 1891 meeting of the NLF in Newcastle upon Tyne Gladstone reaffirmed

190-427: The 1895 general election ushering in ten years of Tory government. The Radical policy inheritance of the Newcastle Programme would have to wait for the reforming governments of Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith before being cashed in. 1892 United Kingdom general election Marquess of Salisbury Conservative William Ewart Gladstone Liberal The 1892 United Kingdom general election

228-576: The Conservative -dominated House of Lords . According to one historian of the Liberal Party, the Conservative leader Lord Salisbury justified their rejection of the Liberal measures including, crucially, Home Rule, on the basis that the Liberal victory in 1892 had rested on the votes of 150 electors in eight constituencies collected by offering many different policy bribes. Of the Newcastle Programme,

266-520: The Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry from 1855 to 1873, and was honorary colonel of the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the Derbyshire Regiment from 1871 and of the 2nd Sussex Artillery Volunteers from 1887. Hartington took great pains to parade his interest in horseracing, so as to cultivate an image of not being entirely obsessed by politics. For many years, the courtesan Catherine Walters ("Skittles")

304-554: The First Home Rule Bill became the leader of the Liberal Unionists. After the general election of 1886 Hartington declined to become Prime Minister, preferring instead to hold the balance of power in the House of Commons and give support from the back benches to the second Conservative government of Lord Salisbury. Early in 1887, after the resignation of Lord Randolph Churchill , Salisbury offered to step down and serve in

342-658: The murder of his younger brother Lord Frederick Cavendish in Phoenix Park . After being elected in December 1885 for the newly created Rossendale Division of Lancashire , he broke with Gladstone altogether. He declined to serve in Gladstone's third government , formed after Gladstone came out in favour of Irish Home Rule (unlike Joseph Chamberlain, who accepted the Local Government Board but then resigned), and after opposing

380-716: The Admiralty and Under-Secretary of State for War under Palmerston and Earl Russell. In the 1868 general election he lost his seat; having refused the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland , he was made Postmaster-General , without a seat in the Cabinet. The next year he re-entered the Commons, having been returned for Radnor . In 1870 Hartington reluctantly accepted the post of Chief Secretary for Ireland in Gladstone's first government . In 1875 –

418-614: The Council , and from March 1900 was also President of the Board of Education . Devonshire was not asked to become Prime Minister when Lord Salisbury retired in favour of his nephew Arthur Balfour in 1902. He resigned from the government in 1903, and from the Liberal Unionist Association the following spring, in protest at Joseph Chamberlain 's Tariff Reform scheme. Devonshire said of Chamberlain's proposals: I venture to express

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456-559: The Duke can be found at the junction of Whitehall and Horse Guards Avenue in London , and also on the Western Lawns at Eastbourne. Upon receiving news of the Duke's death, the House of Lords took the unprecedented step of adjourning in his honour. Margot Asquith said the Duke of Devonshire "was a man whose like we shall never see again; he stood by himself and could have come from no country in

494-497: The House of Lords, and the removal of duties on basic foods. This programme would later be disowned by the party leadership following the Liberal defeat in the 1895 election. Lord Hartington Spencer Compton Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire , KG , GCVO , PC , PC (Ire) , FRS (23 July 1833 – 24 March 1908), styled Lord Cavendish of Keighley between 1834 and 1858 and Marquess of Hartington between 1858 and 1891,

532-517: The Irish Nationalist vote held up well. As the Liberals did not have a majority on their own, Salisbury refused to resign on hearing the election results and waited to be defeated in a vote of no confidence on 11 August. Gladstone formed a minority government dependent on Irish Nationalist support. The Liberals had engaged in failed attempts at reunification between 1886 and 1887. Gladstone however

570-421: The Newcastle Programme which he describes as 'a capacious ragbag... weak on theme'. According to Jenkins, Gladstone had neither the time nor energy to oppose the NLF programme and decided to swallow it whole just to ensure the party remained wedded to Home Rule as its principal policy. Gladstone's endorsement of the Newcastle Programme had one important outcome. A few weeks later, on 25 November, Lord Hartington ,

608-536: The Radical Programme, unauthorised by the party leadership, as an election manifesto for using the constructive power of the state but Liberal leader William Ewart Gladstone subverted Chamberlain's efforts, co-opting the NLF for mainstream Liberalism. By adopting Home Rule for Ireland as his banner, Gladstone trumped the Radical Programme, driving Chamberlain out of the party to form the Liberal Unionists . In

646-556: The government's principal achievements were employers' liability , parish councils and William Vernon Harcourt 's 1894 budget, which introduced graduated death duties . Gladstone resigned as prime minister in 1894 and was replaced with Lord Rosebery who poured scorn on the Newcastle Programme as the 'flyblown phylacteries of obsolete policies'. When the government's efforts to bring in temperance reform and Welsh disestablishment also failed, Rosebery's disunited cabinet were almost anxious for an excuse to resign. The Conservatives won

684-567: The government, hoping that Devonshire would remain for the sake of balance, but the latter eventually resigned under pressure from Charles Thomson Ritchie and from his wife, who still hoped that he might lead a government including leading Liberals. But in the autumn of 1907 his health gave way, and grave symptoms of cardiac weakness necessitated his abstaining from public effort and spending the winter abroad. He died, rather suddenly of pneumonia in his home after falling ill on his vacation to Cannes, on 24 March 1908. He served part-time as captain in

722-524: The great schism of 1886 over Home Rule, the NLF deserted Chamberlain to remain loyal to Gladstone. Between 1886 and 1891, Home Rule dominated Liberal policy debates but two events damaged their Irish allies. In 1887, The Times published letters, implicating Charles Stewart Parnell , the Irish Home Rule party leader, in the Phoenix Park murders of a government minister and a civil servant, although

760-585: The imminent catastrophe, Hartington persuaded Gladstone to send troops for the relief of Khartoum which arrived two days too late. A considerable number of the Conservative party long held him chiefly responsible for the "betrayal of Gordon". His lethargic manner, apart from his position as war minister, helped to associate him in their minds with a disaster which emphasized the fact that the government acted "too late"; but Gladstone and Lord Granville were no less responsible than he. Hartington became increasingly uneasy with Gladstone's Irish policies, especially after

798-605: The leader of the Liberal Unionist Party , announced that there was no longer any hope of re-union with the Gladstonian Liberals . The Liberal Party won the 1892 election, but its majority relied on Irish Nationalist support, and the results were far from the sort of endorsement from the electorate that Gladstone hoped. The new government was unable to enact much of the Newcastle Programme, even those parts that Gladstone approved, because of implacable opposition from

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836-737: The opinion that [Chamberlain] will find among the projects and plans which he will be called upon to discuss none containing a more Socialistic principle than that which is embodied in his own scheme, which, whether it can properly be described as a scheme of protection or not, is certainly a scheme under which the State is to undertake to regulate the course of commerce and of industry, and tell us where we are to buy, where we are to sell, what commodities we are to manufacture at home, and what we may continue, if we think right, to import from other countries. Balfour, trying to juggle different factions, had allowed both Chamberlain and Free Trade supporters to resign from

874-467: The policies, which were crowded onto the omnibus, may be divided into three main areas: rural, religious and electoral reform. On 2 October 1891, Gladstone spoke to the NLF and for the first time, a Liberal Party leader had lent support to a programme proposed by the party's grass roots. However, one historian has argued that the Radicals inside the Liberal Party lacked the leadership to ensure their programme

912-513: The primacy of Home Rule, but associated it with reforms on the mainland by adopting various proposals of the NLF Council, in particular: land reform; reform of the Lords; shorter parliaments; district and parish councils; registration reform and abolition of plural voting ; local veto on drink sales; employers' liability for workers' accidents; Scottish and Welsh disestablishment . The Newcastle programme

950-555: The special mission to Russia for Alexander II 's accession, Lord Cavendish of Keighley (as he was styled at the time) entered Parliament in the 1857 general election , when he was returned for North Lancashire as a Liberal (his title "Lord Hartington", by which he became known in 1858, was a courtesy title ; as he was not a peer in his own right he was eligible to sit in the Commons until he succeeded his father as Duke of Devonshire in 1891). Between 1863 and 1874, Lord Hartington held various Government posts, including Civil Lord of

988-425: The whig belief in the duty of political leadership, afforced by the intellectual notions characteristic of well-educated, propertied early to mid-Victorian Liberals: a confidence that the application of free trade, rational public administration, scientific enquiry, and a patriotic defence policy would promote Britain's international greatness—in which he strongly believed—and her economic and social progress...he became

1026-418: The world but England. He had the figure and appearance of an artisan, with the brevity of a peasant, the courtesy of a king and the noisy sense of humour of a Falstaff . He gave a great, wheezy guffaw at all the right things and was possessed of endless wisdom. He was perfectly disengaged from himself, fearlessly truthful and without pettiness of any kind". Historian Jonathan Parry claimed that "He inherited

1064-478: The year following Liberal defeat at a general election — he succeeded William Ewart Gladstone as Leader of the Liberal opposition in the House of Commons, after the other serious contender, W. E. Forster , had indicated that he was not interested in the post. The following year, however, Gladstone returned to active political life in the campaign against Turkey's Bulgarian Atrocities . The relative political fortunes of Gladstone and Hartington fluctuated – Gladstone

1102-422: Was "too easy-going and too little of a party man." He held some passions, but he rarely displayed them regarding the most controversial issues of the day. Devonshire was the eldest son of William Cavendish, 2nd Earl of Burlington , who succeeded his cousin as Duke of Devonshire in 1858, and Lady Blanche Cavendish (née Howard). Lord Frederick Cavendish and Lord Edward Cavendish were his younger brothers. He

1140-676: Was a British statesman. He has the distinction of having held leading positions in three political parties: leading the Liberal Party , the Liberal Unionist Party and the Conservative Party in either the House of Commons or the House of Lords . After 1886 he increasingly voted with the Conservatives. He declined to become prime minister on three occasions, because the circumstances were never right. Historian and politician Roy Jenkins said he

1178-626: Was able to retain control of much of the Liberal party machinery, particularly the National Liberal Federation . Gladstone used the annual NLF meetings as a platform to consolidate various Liberal causes, particularly the Newcastle meeting of 1891, which gave its name to the radical Newcastle Programme . This programme placed Irish Home Rule first, followed by Welsh and Scottish disestablishment, reduction in factory work hours, free education, electoral reform, land reform, reform or abolition of

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1216-530: Was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge , where he graduated as MA in 1854, having taken a Second in the Mathematical Tripos . He later was made honorary LLD in 1862, and as DCL at Oxford University in 1878. In later life he continued his interests in education as Chancellor of his old university from 1892, and of Manchester University from 1907 until his death. He was Lord Rector of Edinburgh University from 1877 to 1880. After joining

1254-501: Was held from 4 to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives , led by Lord Salisbury again win the greatest number of seats, but no longer a majority as William Ewart Gladstone 's Liberals won 80 more seats than in the 1886 general election . The Liberal Unionists who had previously supported the Conservative government saw their vote and seat numbers go down. Despite being split between Parnellite and anti-Parnellite factions,

1292-548: Was his mistress. He was married at Christ Church, Mayfair , on 16 August 1892, at the age of 59, to Louisa Frederica Augusta von Alten , widow of the late William Drogo Montagu, 7th Duke of Manchester . Upon his death, he was succeeded by his nephew Victor Cavendish . He died of pneumonia at the Chatsworth House in Derbyshire and was interred on 28 March 1908 at St Peter's Churchyard, Edensor , Derbyshire . A statue of

1330-563: Was instrumental in persuading Gladstone to send General Gordon on a mission to evacuate the Sudan. Despite the repeated objections of consul-general in Egypt Sir Evelyn Baring , the indomitable Gordon was finally sent to Khartoum, where he did exactly the opposite of what he was sent to do, resulting in the siege of the city by the Mahdi and the final massacre of Gordon and 20,000 Arabs. Before

1368-910: Was not popular at the time of Benjamin Disraeli 's triumph at the Congress of Berlin, but the Midlothian Campaigns of 1879–80 marked him out as the Liberals' foremost public campaigner. In 1880, after Disraeli's government lost the general election, Hartington was invited by the Queen to form a government, but declined – as did the Earl Granville , Liberal Leader in the House of Lords – after Gladstone made it clear that he would not serve under anybody else. Hartington chose instead to serve in Gladstone's second government as Secretary of State for India (1880–1882) and Secretary of State for War (1882–1885). In 1884 he

1406-561: Was to be the solution to these dilemmas, a manifesto for British government. Each year the National Liberal Federation met for debate in what may be seen as the forerunner of today's political party conferences. The NLF developed a process by which it passed an omnibus resolution incorporating all the policies that had been agreed in debate. In the autumn of 1891, the Federation met in Newcastle upon Tyne. In addition to Home Rule,

1444-627: Was truly implemented. Michael Bentley suggests that while Gladstone and the Liberal leadership was obliged to listen to the opinion of such a significant section of the party, they were able to slide along without making firm commitments and to pick and choose from the 'rag-bag' of policies that made up the Newcastle Programme, prioritising those they wanted and forgetting those they disliked. One of Gladstone's biographers also supports this assessment. Roy Jenkins asserts that Gladstone's only real interest now lay in Irish Home Rule, but he allowed John Morley and William Vernon Harcourt to cobble together

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