Assess the reasons why the Whigs became the

Liberals between the years 1946-1965.

Although many think that the Liberal Party was officially formed in
1859 after the Willis’s Rooms meetings, purely as an opposition to
Derby’s Conservative government and while this may be true, there
is plenty of evidence to suggest that the Whig party had strong
Liberal ideologies already inside and outside parliament long before
this time and in fact it was a slow and gradual change that saw the
Whig party mature into what became known as the Liberals. During
the late 1830’s and early 1840’s the Whigs were certainly a
weakened political force. They had lost their majorities in both
England and Wales, as well as much of their public support
(especially in rural areas where the Tories were completely
dominant due to their land-owner background). And now found
themselves heavily reliant on backing from more radical and liberal
parties, primarily in the form of Scottish and Irish MP’s in order to
match the Tories.
Because of this reliance, most notably from 1846 onwards, although
they were still known as the Whigs in parliament, the party with
Russell as leader began to adopt policies that were definitely more
“Liberal” and therefore began attracting new and increased support
from many different areas of the UK. This was a crucial factor in the
forming of the Liberal Party, as without this support there would
have been little need or any means to form a new political
organisation. One of the most important of these policies was the
Whigs’ belief that everyone was entitled to their own religious
liberties. The more radical non-conformists of the time (especially
those living in the Celtic fringe) were pressing for the abolition of
Church rates, ‘voluntaryism’, and they were firmly against the
establishment of the Anglican church in areas such as Ireland where
Catholicism was the religion that the majority of the population
followed. As a result these Catholics on the Celtic Fringe, and indeed
anywhere in Britain, decided to side with the Whigs who seemed
more sympathetic towards their cause and religion, especially
compared to the Tories, who opposed the Catholic Church and were
fervently Anglican and against non-Conformism. And considering
that the religious census of 1851 revealed that half of the active
church attendance was made up by non-Anglicans (non-
Conformists) this was a considerable new source of support for the
Whig Party.

The Whigs were also gaining much support from other social groups
such as the middle classes at the time, who were becoming far
more politically active thanks largely to legislation decreed by the
Whigs. Under Whig leadership the Reform Act of 1832 was passed
which enfranchised the £10 householder, while the Municipal
corporations act of 1835 and the “Poor Law” (which helped stop
discriminated towards non-Conformists as well as providing a reform
on the country’s poverty relief system) were also approved.
Consequently it is not surprising that these people saw the Whigs,
despite the nature of their undoubtedly aristocratic ancestry, to be
their natural allies in Parliament. They believed that the Whigs
would not only bring in new progressive domestic legislations
through their policies, but they would also be able to maintain the
prosperity and successes that came with them. In addition, the Whig
leader, Viscount Palmerston, was very popular with the general
public. He had won great favour with them after his public sympathy
towards the 1848 revolutionaries, and also after he was defeated in
parliament over a foreign policy in 1858 (Conspiracy to Murder Bill)
he immediately called a general election and subsequently won it.
Another issue that was incredibly important for the middle classes
was that of free trade, as it was free trade that crucially gave the
middle classes their prosperity. Throughout the period, the Whigs
had maintained their stance on free trade and even though Russell’s
Whig government had an extremely small majority and had even
collapsed in 1851, it fared extremely well in terms of enforcing their
free trade principals. Some examples of legislation passed under
Russell by the Whigs that held to the idea of free trade were the
Sugar Act in 1848 and the repealing of the Navigation Laws in 1849.

Nevertheless despite these new reform acts brought in by the

Whigs, there were still a large number of middle class radicals who
felt that the actions taken by the Whigs needed to be extended
further, and had it been easier for them to form their own party they
most likely would have done so. To put it simply, the Whig party was
still in no way sufficiently “Liberal” in their eyes. For example, they
wanted not just toleration of non-conformists but complete equality,
as well as a further development on the reform act and greater tariff
reductions, all of which are very Liberal policies.

The fact that these radicals were unable to unify together into a
single party is crucial in the development of the Liberal Party as if
they had British politics could well have entered into a new three
party system, with a new radically “Liberal” party joining the Whigs
and the Tories. They were however, simply far too diverse a group
to be united under one leader. Although the vast majority held very
similar views about issues such as free trade, when it came to other
political matters such as foreign policy, opinions differed greatly.
Some of them, like Roebuck, were huge supporters of Palmerston’s
foreign policy, whereas others such as Cobden and Bright were
essentially pacifists and were therefore hugely critical of
Palmerston’s “Gunboat Diplomacy”. Because of their disunity, many
of these radicals began slowly to attach themselves to the Whigs
and the emerging Liberal party as they saw them effectively as a
compromise.

The late 1850s and early 1860s were undoubtedly a key period in
terms of the emergence of a clear liberal party as they began to
merge into a single political force. Thanks to Gladstone (whose
popularity was increasing at an alarming rate, especially with the
middle classes and the new “skilled working classes”) free trade
policies continued, such as major tariff reductions and the lowering
of income taxes. He himself was becoming far more liberal
politically (although starting his career as fervently Conservative);
certainly more so than Palmerston, who was still somewhat wary of
reforms a large-scale level (And had been described by many as a
Conservative in a Whig’s body). It was he, Gladstone, who, using the
advanced technology of the modern day railway, travelled across
the country stirring up support for his party incredibly effectively.
And as a result it seemed most likely that he we would be the leader
of a new Liberal party, were it to legitimately form.

I would argue that Palmerstone’s death in 1865 was not a key

reason to the formation of the Liberal party, but nevertheless it did
allow for Gladstone to become the sole leader of what was seen as a
coherent Liberal party. Once Palmerston had died, Gladstone was
free to implement his more liberal approach to politics and therefore
could efficiently lead the newly created Liberal party.

However in my opinion the most important reason in the formation

of the Liberal party was the effect that strong social and economic
factors of C19th Britain had. Although they were important, it is
naïve to suggest that the formation of the Liberals was brought
about solely by the decision making of those select inside
Westminster. These social and economic factors played a critical
role in bringing about the formation of the party. Because of new
innovations such as the growth of the middle class press thanks to
the new railway system, the removal of tariffs allowing free trade
and the repeal of newspaper taxes. Thanks to the repeal of
newspaper taxes and the technological advances in the railway
system the spread of news and information rose to an
unprecedented level. Many of the new provincial newspapers such
as the “Leeds Mercury” were run and edited by Liberal MP’s (in this
case, Edward Baines) or people with Liberal ideologies. Because of
this there was great pressure in the country for a “progressive”
party who met the needs of the non-aristocratic classes who were
starting to hold increasing political weight. A party not focused on
the extreme left or right, a party such as the Liberals. Single and
multi-issue pressure groups such as National Education League
(campaigning for free secular education) also played an equally
important part. The majority of these pressure groups were well
organised and had a large number of members as well.

Therefore it is impossible to claim that the demands of “the people”

placed on government by new newspapers and pressure groups and
other factors didn’t influence the decision-making inside
Westminster. Therefore I would argue that although the decisions
made by those in Westminster were important in emergence of the
Liberal party from what were formerly the Whigs, it was the social
and economic conditions that forced the Whigs to reform their own
party and join with more radical politicians to suit a changing
Britain, thus creating the Liberal Party.