Liberal Imperialists

The Liberal Imperialists were a faction within the British Liberal Party in the late 1890s and early 1900s, united by views regarding the policy toward the British Empire. They supported the Second Boer War which a majority of Liberals opposed, and wanted the Empire ruled on a more benevolent basis. The most prominent members were R. B. Haldane, H. H. Asquith, Sir Edward Grey and Lord Rosebery.[1] The group adopted a formal identity under the title "The Imperial Liberal Council", the inaugural meeting of which was held on 10 April 1900 at the Westminster Palace Hotel.[2] That meeting was chaired by Robert William Perks. Stephen Koss described Perks`s role in the group as: "It was not Rosebery who recruited Perks as first-lieutenant, but Perks who recruited Rosebery as captain".[3] In his 1979 paper, Thomas Boyle identified the numerical strength of the Imperialists among the Liberal Party`s representation in the House of Commons as being 51 out of a total 189 immediately prior to the 1900 general election; 53 out of a total 184 immediately after that general election; and 76 out of a total 213 at the time of the 1905 dissolution of Parliament.[4]

  1. ^ H. C. G. Matthew, The Liberal Imperialists. The Ideas and Politics of a Post-Gladstonian Élite (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973), p. viii.
  2. ^ Hart, Heber L. (April 1901). "The Imperial Liberal Council". The New Liberal Review. 1 (3): 383–391.
  3. ^ Koss, Stephen (1975). "Wesleyanism and Empire". The Historical Journal. 18 (1): 105–118.
  4. ^ Boyle, T. (May 1979). "The Liberal Imperialists, 1892-1906". Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research. 52 (125): 53–54.