History Challenge & Journal

[richard]

Sh1t...

I've read about itand seen the picture somewhere tjis last week

[dtaai-maai]

history1.jpg (94.02 KiB) Viewed 463 times

Someone will probably have seen this, but in case you haven't - no googling!

What is it and where and when was it used?

It is indeed a ballot box, but it doesn't go back quite as far as the 11th century!

I need to know principally what is special about it, which is guessable if you know a little about the political history of the UK, which decade of which century, also guessable. The exact year and place can wait for later.

[Bristolian]

Ballot box from UK or England's first secret ballot.
When? Second half of 19th cenury?

[dtaai-maai]

Good enough, Bristolian - Pontefract 1872.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-31630588

[dtaai-maai]

Can you tell me - without Googling - from which 17th century political parties the modern day Conservative and Liberal parties evolved?

[Bristolian]

Conservatives - The Whigs?

[dtaai-maai]

Nope

[caller]

The Whigs?

I thought they were the Liberals?

Is 17th century right?

Edit - I assume the current coalition parties were all one and the same years ago, as I recall there was a grand defection from the Tories to join the whigs and become the Liberals. Probably not quite right?

[dtaai-maai]

Yes and yes - both started after the restoration, although they were probably not formalised under their original names until the 18th century.

The Conservatives' original name is much easier as it is still used today!

[caller]

Yes and yes - both started after the restoration, although they were probably not formalised under their original names until the 18th century.

The Conservatives' original name is much easier as it is still used today!

Did you see my edit?

Have to confess going back that far is beyond my knowledge and I'm dredging my memory for that!

Edit - yes, the Tory party. I meant that in my first post.

[dtaai-maai]

OK, the Tories and the Whigs. I think you're referring to Peel repealing the Corn Laws - he was leader of the Tory party (and PM), but could only do this with the support of the Whigs and against the wishes of most Tories (land owners). I think this resulted in a big split in the Tory party.

[dtaai-maai]

OK next question just for fun, as I doubt this is a candidate for a pub quiz question. I certainly didn't know it.

The terms 'Tories' and 'Whigs' are derived from insults. What do they mean? Feel free to google.

[caller]

I had the peelites in mind, but couldn't remember the details and had no idea of dates. That'll tech me to have done Govt. & Politics at school!

[dtaai-maai]

Edit - I assume the current coalition parties were all one and the same years ago, as I recall there was a grand defection from the Tories to join the whigs and become the Liberals. Probably not quite right?

I think I've caught up with the edits now - the answer appears to be:

Transition to Liberal Party

The Liberal Party (the term was first used officially in 1868 but had been used colloquially for decades beforehand) arose from a coalition of Whigs, free trade Tory followers of Robert Peel, and free trade Radicals, first created, tenuously under the Peelite Lord Aberdeen in 1852, and put together more permanently under the former Canningite Tory Lord Palmerston in 1859. Although the Whigs at first formed the most important part of the coalition, the Whiggish elements of the new party progressively lost influence during the long leadership of the Peelite William Ewart Gladstone, and many of the old Whig aristocrats broke from the party over the issue of Irish home rule in 1886 to help form the Liberal Unionist Party, which, in turn, would merge with the Conservative Party by 1912. The Unionist support for trade protection in the early twentieth century under Joseph Chamberlain (probably the least Whiggish character in the party) further alienated the more orthodox Whigs, however, and by the early twentieth century Whiggery was largely irrelevant and without a natural political home.

[richard]

Somewhere in this mix were the 'Peelites' and the radicals. I'm sure the Radicals were a part of liberalism that made them Liberal.