Tory Travails and Collegiate Confusion: The Oxford University Election of 1722*

In terms of the unreformed franchise operative in the early 18th century, the University of Oxford made up an unusual parliamentary constituency. Here it was the votes of non-resident members that could be decisive to the outcome if the seat was contested. In late Stuart and early Hanoverian Oxford, Tories were almost certain to be returned but, in the general election of 1722, the Tory vote was split between rival candidates offering a possible opening for Oxford Whigs. This essay considers the varieties of electoral behaviour inside the university at this time of exceptional political flux nationally, how the candidates confronted the practical problem of getting ‘outvoters’ into Oxford, and the extent to which the heads of the colleges could rely on a sufficiently stable corporate identity to have their resident members vote in an approved way. The 1722 general election again raised questions as to who exactly was entitled to vote in a university constituancy, how much illegal voting was going on, and whether it was in a candidate's best interests either to connive or draw attention to it. The eventual choices made by the Oxford electorate would signal where the university stood in the wider political picture of the early 1720s, how far it – and the varieties of toryism it contained – was prepared to endorse the legitimacy of the new Hanoverian order.     

The British Parliamentary Labour Party and the Government of Ireland Act 1920

Immediately after the First World War the British Labour Party was forced to reconsider its relationship with an increasingly militant Irish nationalism. This reassessment occurred at the same time as it was becoming a major political and electoral force in post‐war Britain. The political imperative from the party's perspective was to portray itself as a responsible, moderate and patriotic alternative governing party. Thus it was fearful of the potential negative impact of too close an association with, and perceived sympathy for, extreme Irish nationalism. This explains the party's often bewildering changes in policy on Ireland at various party conferences in 1919 and 1920, ranging from support for home rule to federalism throughout the United Kingdom to ‘dominion home rule’ as part of a wider evolving British Commonwealth to adopting outright ‘ self‐determination’ for a completely independent Ireland outside both United Kingdom and empire. On one aspect of its Irish policy, however, the party was adamant and united – its opposition to the partition of Ireland, which was the fundamental principle of Lloyd George's Government of Ireland Bill of 1920 which established Northern Ireland. Curiously, that aspect of Labour's Irish policy was never discussed in the party at large. All the running was made by the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) in the house of commons in 1920. The PLP's outright opposition to the bill acted as balm throughout the wider party, binding together the confusing, and often contradictory, positions promulgated on the long‐term constitutional future of Ireland and its relationship with Britain.     

The Members of the House of Lords and the Hanoverian Succession

This essay examines what happened in August and September 1714, from the death of Queen Anne on 1 August to the swearing-in of the new privy council on 1 October, specifically from the perspective of the membership of the house of lords. It confirms that most members were present in London during this period and active in parliament, the privy council, the regency, and politics generally. Very few were absent without a good reason.     

The pens of the defeated: John Hewitt,Sam Thompson and the Northern Ireland Labour Party

Telescoping the political lives and work of Sam Thompson and John Hewitt, this article demonstrates the importance of the Labour movement on both Belfast-born Protestant writers and how this inculcated a socialist conviction quite separate and antagonistic to Ulster unionism. Referencing Thompson's unpublished, largely unknown plays as well as newspapers and his trio of performed works, the article illuminates his public impact as well as the significance of the play Over the Bridge (1960). Hewitt's early political activities and regionalist outlook are explored, as is the controversy surrounding his 1957 move to Coventry. The underestimated importance of a class perspective within Northern Protestantism is addressed, the article arguing that questions of national identity are secondary to the writers' class and internationalist politics. With continuing resonance, literature and writing itself are shown as intrinsic to the Northern Ireland Labour Party, with which both were associated, fuelling resistance to both unionism and Irish nationalism.     

Managers and Agents: Conservative Party Organisation in the 1850s*

During the 1850s in the wake of the calamitous Peelite split, Britain's Conservative Party struggled to rebuild its numbers in the house of commons. The structure of the party's electoral organisation is well known‐parliamentary leaders, election managers such as Sir William Jolliffe and Philip Rose, plus local constituency based agents. Jolliffe's and Rose's 1859 election notebooks help understand this, but they also reveal serious gaps in the Conservatives' information networks. This article delineates the electoral activities of Sir John Yarde Buller (first Baron Churston) and his ally Samuel Triscott, who supplemented the spasmodic flow of information from small boroughs in at least two counties. Mid‐level or second‐tier managers, to whom no attention has previously been given, assisted the Conservatives in their gradual electoral recovery. Their roles also suggest that the party's organization may have been more complex than previously believed.     

Dwight L. Moody in Southern Ireland: Modern Evangelical Revivalism,the Protestant Minority,and the Conversion of Catholic Ireland*

Dwight Lyman Moody (1837–1899) established the blueprint for modern evangelical revivalism. He targeted a broad audience and so avoided contentious points of theology and local political issues. The result was that how Moody was interpreted by those who heard him is often more revealing than the content of his addresses. Moody's three evangelistic campaigns in southern Ireland (1874, 1882–1883, 1892) offer a suggestive case study of how his brand of modern revivalism was accepted and challenged in a particular context. His first tour was significant because it was the first time he had worked in a location with a Catholic majority; his second and third missions took place against a background of political unrest associated with the growing demand for Irish “Home Rule”. This article examines the effect of Moody's brand of modern revivalism on unity amongst southern Ireland's protestant minority. It also investigates the impact of Moody's missions on Catholic Ireland, and the extent to which he was able to transcend religio-political divisions. It demonstrates that Moody promoted evangelical unity yet generated friendly criticism as well as opposition from Protestants, and that the efforts to convert Catholic Ireland that he stimulated provoked a variety of responses that ranged from tolerance to outright hostility.     

The Ulster Unionist Party and the U. S. Role in the Northern Ireland Peace Process, 1994–2000

Since the beginning of the "Troubles," Ulster unionists generally have viewed American involvement in Northern Ireland as biased towards nationalists and "unwanted interference" in their internal affairs. Yet despite vehement condemnations, unionists made virtually no attempt to counteract Irish-American perceptions or to explain unionism to U. S. audiences. But from 1994 onwards, mainly in response to the expanding involvement of the Clinton administration in the peace process, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) launched a sustained effort to engage the White House and get its views across in America. While some of these UUP initiatives got nowhere, others achieved a considerable degree of success, particularly the effort to convey unionist perspectives to the heart of White House policymaking.     

The Candidates of the Liberal Unionist Party, 1886–1912*

Historians have hitherto based discussion of the electoral performance of the Liberal Unionist Party on incomplete data regarding the candidates of the party, as published sources, including F.W.S. Craig's British Parliamentary Election Results, 1885–1918, the standard reference work, include a number of cases where the party label of a Unionist candidate (either Liberal Unionist or Conservative) is uncertain or incorrect. Utilising a wide range of primary and secondary sources, this article resolves a number of these cases, and thus creates the most accurate list of Liberal Unionist candidates available. The creation of this list allows for accurate analysis of the party's history, and the article makes some preliminary observations based on the data presented. Among these observations are that the Liberal Unionists comprised a consistent percentage of the overall Unionist Party in the house of commons, that the number of seats contested by Liberal Unionists remained steady through the January 1910 election, and that existing interpretations of the electoral pact between the Liberal Unionists and Conservatives may be flawed.     

穿越爱尔兰 流动的风景

葱郁的森林和湛蓝的湖泊,纯种马背上的田园牧歌和顶级高尔夫球场,旖旎的花园和浪漫的古堡,对于奢华人士来说,爱尔兰是一个绮丽的天堂,在这个绿色环抱的翡翠之岛更能体验自驾随风的乐趣。