Keith Laybourn - Liberalism and the Rise of Labour 1890-1918

Volume 24

KEITH LAYBOURN AND
JACK REYNOLDS

First published in 1984 by Croom Helm Ltd

This edition first published in 2019

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1984 K. Laybourn and J. Reynolds

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-138-32435-0 (Set)

ISBN: 978-0-429-43443-3 (Set) (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-34070-1 (Volume 24) (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-429-44050-2 (Volume 24) (ebk)

Publishers Note

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer

The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

KEITH LAYBOURN & JACK REYNOLDS

CROOM HELM

London & Sydney

ST. MARTINS PRESS

New York

1984 K. Laybourn and J. Reynolds

Croom Helm Ltd, Provident House, Burrell Row,

Beckenham, Kent BR3 1AT

Croom Helm Australia Pty Ltd, First Floor, 139 King Street,

Sydney, NSW 2001, Australia

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Laybourn, Keith

Liberalism & the rise of Labour 18901918.

1. Labour Party Great Britain History

2. West Yorkshire Politics and government

I. Title$II. Reynolds, Jack

324.24107094281$JN1129.L3

ISBN 0-7099-1651-5

All rights reserved, For information write:

St. Martins Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010

First Published in the United States of America in 1984

Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 83-40700

ISBN 0-312-48342-2

Printed and bound in Great Britain

Map of the West Yorkshire Constituencies 18851918

The Membership of Engineering Unions in Yorkshire between the 1860s and the 1890s

Labour Unions/ILP branches in West Yorkshire, 18915

Trades Councils in the West Yorkshire Textile District up to 1895

The Membership of the West Yorkshire ILP organisations in the 1890s

The Municipal Successes of the ILP in Four West Yorkshire textile towns, 18911900

The Number of ILP Representatives in West Yorkshire, 18911900

West Yorkshire Parliamentary Contests fought by the ILP, 18925

The Parliamentary Representatives of West Yorkshire, 18911900

West Yorkshire Parliamentary Contests fought by the ILP, 18925

West Yorkshire Trades Council affiliated to the Labour Representation Committee

Local Labour Representation Committee in West Yorkshire

The Number of Votes and the Proportion of Votes received by the leading political parties of West Yorkshire at general elections, 18851910

The Number of Municipal Representatives returned for Labour in Four West Yorkshire Towns and Cities, 19006

The Number of Labour Representatives on Local Political Bodies in West Yorkshire, 19006

The Municipal Balance of Power in Bradford, Leeds and Huddersfield, 19006

Municipal Representatives in Four West Yorkshire Municipalities, 190614

The Number of Local Representatives on Local Political Bodies in West Yorkshire, 190614

The Liberal-Conservative Pact in Bradford, 190613

The Municipal Balance of Power in Bradford, Leeds and Huddersfield, 190613

Parliamentary By-Elections in West Yorkshire at which Labour candidates were involved

We have two main purposes in writing this book. The first is to explain why West Yorkshire should have produced a flourishing Labour movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The second is to question the view that the Labour Party simply emerged as a viable party during the First World War by stepping into the political vacuum created by the split within Liberal ranks. We feel that the evidence of Labours growth before 1914 particularly in securing trade-union support from the 1890s onwards and in rapidly increasing its local political successes after 1909 suggests that the First World War was less significant to Labours political rise in West Yorkshire than it might have been nationally, or in other regions of the country.

It is amazing, given the importance of the West Yorkshire textile area in the embryonic growth of the Independent Labour Party and the Labour Party, that there has not, until now, been a detailed published account of the West Yorkshire Labour movement. Most accounts have, hitherto, concentrated upon the famous national events which occurred in West Yorkshire the Inaugural Conference of the National ILP at Bradford in 1893 being the most famous and not attempted to explain the complexity of a region in which the ILP caught on in some areas, such as Bradford and Halifax, but failed to sustain much of an impact in other areas, such as Huddersfield and Keighley. Only recently has detailed research been undertaken to examine the political record of Labour and Liberalism in the various industrial constituencies of West Yorkshire and much of this remains to be published. Therefore, this book is an attempt to fill the gap. Of course, in a book of a couple of hundred pages it is impossible to offer a detailed study of all the 22 constituencies and 23 seats which we take as the West Yorkshire area. Indeed in a good proportion of these constituencies there is comparatively little to report, and the evidence of pre-war Labour growth is sketchy. For this reason, whilst we have attempted to do justice to the whole West Yorkshire area we have inevitably had to concentrate upon the areas of greatest Labour activity, such as Bradford, Halifax, Leeds, Keighley and Huddersfield, whilst recognising the significant developments which were occurring in the surrounding districts.

As research into the early Labour Party and the Liberal Party continues so new evidence and perspectives will appear. In the meantime we offer our assessment of the main features of Labour history in West Yorkshire. Whilst future research may qualify our findings, we hope to have provided a suggestive guide through the quagmire of early Labour politics in West Yorkshire.