LiberalHistoryToday
@libhistorytoday.bsky.social
Discussion and research on histories of the Lib Dems and predecessors, Liberal Party and SDP, and of Liberalism. Publish quarterly Journal of Liberal History. www.liberalhistory.org.uk.
#OTD 1812: Birth of Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne. In 1873, he was responsible for the Judicature Act, which reorganised the court system and established the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
November 27, 2025 at 9:43 AM
#OTD 1812: Birth of Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne. In 1873, he was responsible for the Judicature Act, which reorganised the court system and established the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
#OTD 1867: Lily Maxwell becomes the first woman to vote in a parliamentary election. She voted for Jacob Bright (a Liberal) in a by-election for the Manchester constituency. She had been put on the registers by mistake, thereby contributing to Bright's c.2,000 majority.🧵
November 26, 2025 at 2:49 PM
#OTD 1867: Lily Maxwell becomes the first woman to vote in a parliamentary election. She voted for Jacob Bright (a Liberal) in a by-election for the Manchester constituency. She had been put on the registers by mistake, thereby contributing to Bright's c.2,000 majority.🧵
#OTD 1981: Shirley Williams overturns a Conservative majority of 19,272 to win the Crosby by-election for the Liberal/SDP Alliance, securing 49% of the vote.
November 26, 2025 at 9:43 AM
#OTD 1981: Shirley Williams overturns a Conservative majority of 19,272 to win the Crosby by-election for the Liberal/SDP Alliance, securing 49% of the vote.
#OTD 1959: Birth of Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats 1999 - 2006. As leader, Kennedy carved out a distinctive position for the party, in particular opposing the Iraq War, which saw the party record its best result since 1923, winning 62 seats.
November 25, 2025 at 9:43 AM
#OTD 1959: Birth of Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats 1999 - 2006. As leader, Kennedy carved out a distinctive position for the party, in particular opposing the Iraq War, which saw the party record its best result since 1923, winning 62 seats.
#OTD 1885: Start of the 1885 General Election. The Liberals won the election, though not with an overall majority as Irish nationalists or Home Rulers won 85 of the 103 Irish seats, securing the balance of power in the HoC. Home rule would divide the Liberal Party.
November 24, 2025 at 2:49 PM
#OTD 1885: Start of the 1885 General Election. The Liberals won the election, though not with an overall majority as Irish nationalists or Home Rulers won 85 of the 103 Irish seats, securing the balance of power in the HoC. Home rule would divide the Liberal Party.
#OTD 1960: Happy birthday to Christine Jardine, Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West since 2017. She is currently the Lib Dem Spokesperson for the Cabinet Office, Women & Equalities and Scotland.
November 24, 2025 at 2:01 PM
#OTD 1960: Happy birthday to Christine Jardine, Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West since 2017. She is currently the Lib Dem Spokesperson for the Cabinet Office, Women & Equalities and Scotland.
#OTD 1897: Gladstone travels up to Dalmeny, the home of Lord Rosebery, to deliver a series of speeches that will become known as the Midlothian Campaign. At numerous stations between Liverpool and Edinburgh large crowds gathered to cheer Gladstone as he passed.🧵 1/2
November 24, 2025 at 9:43 AM
#OTD 1897: Gladstone travels up to Dalmeny, the home of Lord Rosebery, to deliver a series of speeches that will become known as the Midlothian Campaign. At numerous stations between Liverpool and Edinburgh large crowds gathered to cheer Gladstone as he passed.🧵 1/2
#OTD 1912: Thomas Taylor, a Bolton corn merchant and JP, holds the Bolton seat for the Liberals at a by-election with a 90% turnout. Taylor put his election down to 'the unalterable determination of the working people of Lancashire to have nothing to do with Tariff Reform'.
November 23, 2025 at 2:49 PM
#OTD 1912: Thomas Taylor, a Bolton corn merchant and JP, holds the Bolton seat for the Liberals at a by-election with a 90% turnout. Taylor put his election down to 'the unalterable determination of the working people of Lancashire to have nothing to do with Tariff Reform'.
#OTD 1926: The Press Association announces that the Daily Chronicle newspaper will no longer be owned by David Lloyd George. The United Newspapers group to which it belongs is being taken over by a consortium headed by Lord Reading (Liberal peer and former Viceroy of India).🧵
November 23, 2025 at 9:43 AM
#OTD 1926: The Press Association announces that the Daily Chronicle newspaper will no longer be owned by David Lloyd George. The United Newspapers group to which it belongs is being taken over by a consortium headed by Lord Reading (Liberal peer and former Viceroy of India).🧵
#OTD 1956: Death of Rhys Hopkin Morris, Liberal MP for Cardiganshire 1923-32 and Carmarthen 1945-56. Morris fought Cardiganshire in 1922 as a supporter of Asquith, narrowly losing to the Lloyd George Liberal Ernest Evans.🧵
November 22, 2025 at 11:14 PM
#OTD 1956: Death of Rhys Hopkin Morris, Liberal MP for Cardiganshire 1923-32 and Carmarthen 1945-56. Morris fought Cardiganshire in 1922 as a supporter of Asquith, narrowly losing to the Lloyd George Liberal Ernest Evans.🧵
#OTD 1903: Death of Charles Hayne Seale-Hayne, Liberal MP for Ashburton, Devon 1885-1903 and Paymaster General in the Liberal administrations of WE Gladstone and Lord Rosebery from 1892-95. The subsequent by-election was won for the Liberals by Harry Eve with a larger majority.
November 22, 2025 at 11:12 PM
#OTD 1903: Death of Charles Hayne Seale-Hayne, Liberal MP for Ashburton, Devon 1885-1903 and Paymaster General in the Liberal administrations of WE Gladstone and Lord Rosebery from 1892-95. The subsequent by-election was won for the Liberals by Harry Eve with a larger majority.
#OTD 1979: Roy Jenkins delivers his Dimbleby Lecture 'Home Thoughts from Abroad' on the BBC. He criticised the false choices, see-saw politics and broken promises of the two-party system and called for electoral reform and a strengthening of the 'radical centre'. 🧵 1/2
November 22, 2025 at 11:11 PM
#OTD 1979: Roy Jenkins delivers his Dimbleby Lecture 'Home Thoughts from Abroad' on the BBC. He criticised the false choices, see-saw politics and broken promises of the two-party system and called for electoral reform and a strengthening of the 'radical centre'. 🧵 1/2
#OTD 1903: Death of Charles Hayne Seale-Hayne, Liberal MP for Ashburton, Devon 1885-1903 and Paymaster General in the Liberal administrations of W.E. Gladstone and Lord Rosebery from 1892-95. The subsequent by-election was won for the Liberals by Harry Eve.
November 21, 2025 at 2:49 PM
#OTD 1903: Death of Charles Hayne Seale-Hayne, Liberal MP for Ashburton, Devon 1885-1903 and Paymaster General in the Liberal administrations of W.E. Gladstone and Lord Rosebery from 1892-95. The subsequent by-election was won for the Liberals by Harry Eve.
#OTD 1956: Death of Rhys Hopkin Morris, Liberal MP for Cardiganshire 1923-32 and Carmarthen 1945-56. In 1945, he gained one of the few seats Labour lost in their landslide election and held the seat until his death.
November 21, 2025 at 11:00 AM
#OTD 1956: Death of Rhys Hopkin Morris, Liberal MP for Cardiganshire 1923-32 and Carmarthen 1945-56. In 1945, he gained one of the few seats Labour lost in their landslide election and held the seat until his death.
#OTD 1979: Roy Jenkins delivers his Dimbleby Lecture 'Home Thoughts from Abroad' on the BBC. He criticised the false choices, see-saw politics and broken promises of the two-party system and called for electoral reform and a strengthening of the 'radical centre'. 🧵
November 21, 2025 at 9:43 AM
#OTD 1979: Roy Jenkins delivers his Dimbleby Lecture 'Home Thoughts from Abroad' on the BBC. He criticised the false choices, see-saw politics and broken promises of the two-party system and called for electoral reform and a strengthening of the 'radical centre'. 🧵
#OTD 1863: Death of James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, colonial administration and Liberal cabinet minister. As Governor General of Canada (1847-54) where he presided over the first moves towards self-government in the province.
November 20, 2025 at 2:49 PM
#OTD 1863: Death of James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, colonial administration and Liberal cabinet minister. As Governor General of Canada (1847-54) where he presided over the first moves towards self-government in the province.
#OTD 1933 Death of Augustine Birrell, Liberal MP for West Fife 1889-1900 and Bristol North 1906-18. Birrell served as Campbell Bannerman’s President of the Board of Education, piloting the 1906 Education Bill through the Commons only to have it rejected by the House of Lords. 🧵
November 20, 2025 at 11:30 AM
#OTD 1933 Death of Augustine Birrell, Liberal MP for West Fife 1889-1900 and Bristol North 1906-18. Birrell served as Campbell Bannerman’s President of the Board of Education, piloting the 1906 Education Bill through the Commons only to have it rejected by the House of Lords. 🧵
#OTD 1997: Following his victory in the 1997 general election being declared void, Mark Oaten wins Winchester for the second time in one year, with 68% of the vote, a 26% increase from the original result. Oaten's majority rose from 2 to 21,556.
November 20, 2025 at 9:43 AM
#OTD 1997: Following his victory in the 1997 general election being declared void, Mark Oaten wins Winchester for the second time in one year, with 68% of the vote, a 26% increase from the original result. Oaten's majority rose from 2 to 21,556.
#OTD 1870: Birth of Walter Runciman. He became MP for Oldham in 1899, defeating Winston Churchill, and joined Asquith's cabinet in 1908. Prior to the Munich Agreement, PM Neville Chamberlain sent him to Czechoslovakia to try and accommodate the demands of the Sudeten Germans.
November 19, 2025 at 9:43 AM
#OTD 1870: Birth of Walter Runciman. He became MP for Oldham in 1899, defeating Winston Churchill, and joined Asquith's cabinet in 1908. Prior to the Munich Agreement, PM Neville Chamberlain sent him to Czechoslovakia to try and accommodate the demands of the Sudeten Germans.
#OTD 1893: Death of Robert Grosvenor, 1st Baron Ebury, Whig MP for Shaftesbury 1822-26, Chester 1826-47 and Liberal MP for Middlesex 1847-57. He was an educational and social reformer but broke with Gladstone over Home Rule, being the oldest peer to vote against the issue.
November 18, 2025 at 2:49 PM
#OTD 1893: Death of Robert Grosvenor, 1st Baron Ebury, Whig MP for Shaftesbury 1822-26, Chester 1826-47 and Liberal MP for Middlesex 1847-57. He was an educational and social reformer but broke with Gladstone over Home Rule, being the oldest peer to vote against the issue.
#OTD 1910: The dissolution of Parliament for the 2nd time in a year is announced. The dissolution was announced for Nov 28th. Parts of the current budget would be proceeded with and the government announced that, if elected, it proposed to pay MPs in the next session.
November 18, 2025 at 9:43 AM
#OTD 1910: The dissolution of Parliament for the 2nd time in a year is announced. The dissolution was announced for Nov 28th. Parts of the current budget would be proceeded with and the government announced that, if elected, it proposed to pay MPs in the next session.
#OTD 1927: Death of Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman, journalist and Liberal politician. A keen social reformer, Masterman's writings, including From the Abyss and the Condition of England, influenced New Liberal thinking.🧵
November 17, 2025 at 2:49 PM
#OTD 1927: Death of Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman, journalist and Liberal politician. A keen social reformer, Masterman's writings, including From the Abyss and the Condition of England, influenced New Liberal thinking.🧵
#OTD 1960: Death of William Wedgwood Benn, 1st Viscount Stansgate and father of Tony Benn. He was elected Liberal MP for St Georges, Tower Hamlets in 1906; the youngest MP in the House of Commons. He served as a government whip between 1910 and 1915.
November 17, 2025 at 11:30 AM
#OTD 1960: Death of William Wedgwood Benn, 1st Viscount Stansgate and father of Tony Benn. He was elected Liberal MP for St Georges, Tower Hamlets in 1906; the youngest MP in the House of Commons. He served as a government whip between 1910 and 1915.
#OTD 1915: The victor of the Heywood by-election, Albert Illingworth, takes his seat in the House of Commons. Illingworth later went on to serve as Postmaster General in Lloyd George's coalition cabinet from 1916 to 1921, when he was raised to the peerage.
November 17, 2025 at 9:43 AM
#OTD 1915: The victor of the Heywood by-election, Albert Illingworth, takes his seat in the House of Commons. Illingworth later went on to serve as Postmaster General in Lloyd George's coalition cabinet from 1916 to 1921, when he was raised to the peerage.
#OTD 2021: Helen Morgan wins the North Shropshire by-election for the Liberal Democrats. She won a majority of 5,925 on a swing of 34.2%, the 8th largest swing in UK by-election history. She was also the first non-Conservative elected for the constituency since 1904.
November 16, 2025 at 2:49 PM
#OTD 2021: Helen Morgan wins the North Shropshire by-election for the Liberal Democrats. She won a majority of 5,925 on a swing of 34.2%, the 8th largest swing in UK by-election history. She was also the first non-Conservative elected for the constituency since 1904.