Chapter 7 - Lord Liverpool

Question 1

Why was the Queen’s affair bad for the government?

Answer 1

Tarnished Liverpool’s reputation, increased government’s unpopularity and roused popular demonstrations for the Queen which threatened constitutional stability

Question 2

What was Lord Liverpool’s real name?

Answer 2

Robert Jenkinson

Question 3

When was Huskisson appointed President of the Board of Trade?

Answer 3

1823

Question 4

How and when did Huskisson die?

Answer 4

He fell in front of a train at the opening of the Liverpool-Manchester railway in 1830

Question 5

What were the years George Canning first served as foreign secretary?

Answer 5

1807-09

Question 6

When was Canning appointed Foreign Secretary for the second time?

Answer 6

1822

Question 7

How long was Canning Prime Minister for in 1827?

Answer 7

5 months

Question 8

Why did Canning spend some time in the political wilderness?

Answer 8

He was irritated by the overlap of his role with Secretary for War Lord Castlereagh (who he though was incompetent) and their quarrel turned into a duel

Question 9

When did Liverpool become Prime Minister?

Answer 9

May 1812

Question 10

In what years was Peel first Home Secretary?

Answer 10

1822-27

Question 11

In what years was Peel Home Secretary for his second spell?

Answer 11

1828-30

Question 12

Was Liverpool the Prince Regent’s first choice for PM?

Answer 12

No, but several attempts to appoint a Whig failed so he had to settle on Liverpool

Question 13

Who was Liverpool’s first Lord Chancellor?

Answer 13

Lord Eldon, a reactionary Tory

Question 14

Who was Liverpool’s first Chancellor of the Exchequer?

Answer 14

Nicholas Vansittart

Question 15

Who was Liverpool’s first President of the Board of Trade?

Answer 15

JF Robinson

Question 16

Why couldn’t Liverpool include Canning in his first cabinet?

Answer 16

Because Lord Castlereagh, who Canning refused to work with, was Foreign Secretary

Question 17

How was Liverpool regarded by historians?

Answer 17

An uninspiring but morally sound and conscientious character who was a ‘safe pair of hands’

Question 18

What skill helped Liverpool overcome the strongly differing views in his cabinet?

Answer 18

He was a skilled mediator

Question 19

Why did Liverpool’s government ministers who sat in the House of Commons struggle?

Answer 19

They were outmatched in debating skills by a group of radicals and Whigs

Question 20

What was Liverpool caught between during the first period of his prime ministry?

Answer 20

The declining system of patronage and a new, disciplined party machinery

Question 21

Why was Liverpool fortunate in terms of government during the first period of his prime ministry?

Answer 21

The opposition lacked unity and leadership

Question 22

When did the ‘Queen’s affair’ occur?

Answer 22

1820

Question 23

What was the ‘Queen’s affair?’

Answer 23

An attempt by George IV to divorce his wife, Caroline of Brunswick, then exclude her from the throne when he came to power

Question 24

How many sinecure offices did Lord Liverpool get rid of between 1815 and 1822?

Answer 24

~1800

Question 25

Why was the popularity of the monarchy low in 1820?

Answer 25

Queen's affair, extravagant behaviour and lax moral standards of George IV, who was seen as profligate and deserving of the contempt of his subjects

Question 26

Who resigned during the Queen's affair due to how the Queen was treated?

Answer 26

George Canning

Question 27

What event in 1820 helped boost the popularity of Liverpool's government?

Answer 27

Cato Street conspiracy

Question 28

Who acted as an agent provocateur during the Cato Street conspiracy and how?

Answer 28

George Edwards, by suggesting the murders

Question 29

What did the members of the Cato Street conspiracy plan to do?

Answer 29

Kill all the members of the cabinet at a dinner, then parade the heads of Lords Sidmouth and Castlereagh on spikes around the slums of London

Question 30

When did Lord Castlereagh commit suicide?

Answer 30

August 1822

Question 31

How many United Irishmen were there in 1798?

Answer 31

117,000

Question 32

When did Liverpool's 'new look' cabinet begin to emerge?

Answer 32

1821-1823

Question 33

Who became Foreign Secretary in 1822 after the suicide of Castlereagh?

Answer 33

Canning

Question 34

Apart from Canning, who else came into the cabinet from 1821 to 1823?

Answer 34

Wellington, Peel and Huskisson

Question 35

What group of Whigs did Liverpool's government win over?

Answer 35

The Grenville Whigs

Question 36

When and why did Liverpool's government end?

Answer 36

1827 after he suffered a stroke

Question 37

When did Liverpool die?

Answer 37

1828

Question 38

How did the policies of Liverpool's government change after the cabinet reshuffle?

Answer 38

They shifted from being more reactionary to more reforming

Question 39

When were the Corn Laws first introduced?

Answer 39

1815

Question 40

When in the 1810s was income tax repealed?

Answer 40

1816

Question 41

When was the Truck Act introduced?

Answer 41

1819

Question 42

When were the Relief Acts and Toleration Act introduced?

Answer 42

1819

Question 43

When were the Six Acts introduced?

Answer 43

1819

Question 44

When was the Factory Act introduced under Liverpool?

Answer 44

1819

Question 45

When did the Bank of England return to cash payments under Liverpool?

Answer 45

1819

Question 46

When was the penal code reformed and the Combination act repealed under Liverpool?

Answer 46

1824

Question 47

When was the Amending Act?

Answer 47

1825

Question 48

What did the 1815 Corn Law do?

Answer 48

Stipulated that no foreign corn could be imported until the price of British corn reached 80 shillings a quarter

Question 49

What was the passing of the 1815 Corn Law seen as and why?

Answer 49

The dominant landed interest in Parliament protecting themselves, because the landowning classes dominated the House of Commons and the House of Lords

Question 50

Why were the Corn Laws introduced and what problems were there in the British corn market from 1813-15?

Answer 50

In 1813 there was a bumper harvest which caused falling prices, and in 1814 a poor harvest which caused an import of foreign corn. After the war cheap foreign corn flooded the British market due to the lifting of the blockade, so the landed classes wanted protection from foreign competition

Question 51

What did the 1815 Corn Law push up the price of?

Answer 51

Bread

Question 52

What public protest did the Corn Laws cause?

Answer 52

Huge public outcry, petitions to parliament and serious rioting

Question 53

Apart from the working classes, who else was unhappy about the corn laws?

Answer 53

Powerful commercial and industrial interests, who complained that they'd have to raise wages and curtail further investment and expansion into new markets

Question 54

Why did small farmers struggle in spite of the corn laws?

Answer 54

Corn prices were high, but never as high as during the war, and poor harvests continued to interfere with profits

Question 55

What was the price of wheat in March 1815?

Answer 55

71 shillings 6 pence

Question 56

What was the price of wheat in March 1816?

Answer 56

52 shillings 10 pence

Question 57

Why was income tax abolished in 1816?

Answer 57

MPs successfully argued that it was only a wartime measure

Question 58

What resulted from the repeal of the income tax in 1816?

Answer 58

The government raising indirect taxes on commodities such as candles, beer, sugar and salt

Question 59

What did the government do in 1816 which upset the rural poor?

Answer 59

Tightened the Game Laws

Question 60

When and why was habeas corpus suspended under Liverpool?

Answer 60

1817 after an attack on the Prince Regent's coach

Question 61

What did the Six Acts do?

Answer 61

Outlawed unofficial military training, seditious meetings and seditious libel Introduced stamp duties on newspapers so the working class couldn't afford them Sped up judicial process in courts Gave magistrates special powers to conduct weapons searches in homes

Question 62

What did the Relief Acts and Toleration Act do?

Answer 62

Permitted greater religious freedom

Question 63

What did Liverpool's Poor Employment Act of 1817 do?

Answer 63

Made money available for local corporations to develop public works

Question 64

What did the Truck Act do?

Answer 64

Attempted to curtail the practice of paying wages in kind

Question 65

What did the 1819 Factory Act do?

Answer 65

Stopped kids under 9 working in cotton factories, restricted working hours for youngsters to 12 hours a day, caused resentment among factory owners

Question 66

Who was instrumental in the repeal of the Combination Acts?

Answer 66

The skilled artisan class, led by Francis Place

Question 67

What did the 1825 Amending Act do?

Answer 67

Obstructed future strikes by making it illegal to 'molest' or 'obstruct' other workers

Question 68

What were some of Peel's penal reforms of 1824?

Answer 68

Removal of death penalty for many minor offences, Gaol Acts to regulate and standardise jails, separation of prisoners by sex, female wardens for female prisoners

Question 69

What was a result of Peel's penal reforms of 1824?

Answer 69

More efficient system because of more convictions for lesser crimes (due to juries being less reluctant to convict after removal of death penalty)

Question 70

When was Liverpool's Catholic Emancipation bill defeated in the Lords?

Answer 70

1825

Question 71

When did Liverpool inform King George IV that there was a 'increasing spirit in favour of Roman Catholics'?

Answer 71

1821

Question 72

Which rotten borough lost both seats in 1819 and where were they reassigned to?

Answer 72

Grampound, reassigned to Yorkshire with a population of 20,000

Question 73

Which cabinet minister supported the repeal of the Combination Acts?

Answer 73

Huskisson