Gladstonian reforms

Question 1

Describe his goals in Ireland

Answer 1

G said that his ‘mission’ was ‘to pacify Ireland’. The disestablishment of the Irish Church was the main issue in the 1868 election and G set out to work on the Irish Church and land reforms in 1869-70

Question 2

What did G and his ministers agree that they must provide in terms of government?

Answer 2

He and his ministers also agreed that they must provide efficient government and give value for money

Question 3

What kind of state did G want?

Answer 3

G wanted a minimalist state – a government that did only what was necessary and spent as little as possible

Question 4

What was his ministry not there to do?

Answer 4

His ministry was not there to introduce lots of radical social or constitutional reforms

Question 5

What did G come to believe in during his formative years as a politician?

Answer 5

From the 1840s to the 1860s, G had come to believe in a lot more freedom and equal rights for people with different religious beliefs

Question 6

Why can it be said that G did not undergo much change in terms of his political views?

Answer 6

However, in many ways his ideas were much the same as when he was C minister in Peel’s government

Question 7

How can G be seen as similar to the Cs?

Answer 7

Like the Cs, he still did his best to preserve…

The monarchy – Q Vic came to loathe him, but he did his best to strengthen the position of the royal family

The landowning aristocracy – he still thought they should have a big role in government, and gave Whig aristocrats had jobs in his ministries; G later described himself as an ‘out an out inequalitarian’

The CoE – He was a dedicated member. He believed passionately in its teachings and thought that it must remain as the established church

Question 8

What were many of his reforms designed to do?

Answer 8

Many of his reforms were designed to strengthen these institutions by dealing with justified criticisms.

Question 9

Explain G’s attitude towards reform

Answer 9

For G, the UK’s way of government after the Second Reform Act was largely good. However, he later decided that more change was necessary, but only small scale alterations compared to 1867

Question 10

How does Colin Matthews describe this attitude?

Answer 10

‘G saw his government not as the new dawn of thorough going liberalism emancipated by democracy, but as the setting of the sun at the end of the day of the building of the mid 19th century edifice’

Question 11

Why is it difficult to find out what public pressures the government felt at this time?

Answer 11

Obviously public expectations varied

Question 12

What did the nonconformists expect?

Answer 12

Some Nonconformists had high hopes of what G would do to improve their position and reduce the privileges of the CoE. The record number of Nonconformists backbench L MPs put their views forward in parliament.

Question 13

Why were working class expectations of government at this time different to what we might expect today?

Answer 13

Looking back from now we might have expected the new working class voters to want extensive social reform. The 1868 public expected much less of this. Instead local and voluntary organisations dealt with issues such as education, help for the poor, sewerage and general public health. Workers were probably more likely to complain about paying rates for these than any lack of provision

Question 14

Why did the extended franchise make things harder for the government to deliver?

Answer 14

There were now more voters with very varied beliefs, making it harder to please them all

Question 15

Why did the extension of the franchise make party organisation more important?

Answer 15

Party organisation mattered more now that there were more people to persuade

Question 16

Why was it difficult for G to please both his party and the electorate?

Answer 16

The Nonconformists who dominated the party often wanted different things from most of the voters

Question 17

Why was it hard for government’s to survive at this time?

Answer 17

Any government had to maintain the support of the commons and get its bills through the commons and the lords

Question 18

Describe the education received by upper and upper middle class boys

Answer 18

Upper and upper middle class boys would go the public schools. Parents paid fees and the school was also paid for by endowments. They were often inefficient, with criticism of the lack of science teaching, but there was some reform

Question 19

Describe the education received by middle class boys

Answer 19

Middle class boys went to grammar schools. Parents usually paid fees, also paid for with endowments (property or funds to provide a regular and permanent income). Many criticisms that the endowments were wasted. Local parents resented boarders from families outside the neighbourhood

Question 20

Describe the education received by middle and upper class girls

Answer 20

Upper and middle class girls were taught by governesses at home, and after 1850, a few girls grammar schools began to crop up. Parents paid governess or school fees. There were too few opportunities for girls to receive a good education

Question 21

Describe the education received by working class boys and girls

Answer 21

Working class boys and girls went to elementary schools, which taught reading, writing and arithmetic. They were mainly run for religious reasons and most were Anglican. Many were run by religious societies, but some were founded by local landowners. Parents usually paid a few pence a week in fees. After 1833, the schools began to receive government grants. After 1862, these grants began to be based on test results. Teaching was generally limited and very boring, intended for children who would do physical work. Many children either attended irregularly or not at all

Question 22

Why was the 1869 Endowed Schools Act necessary?

Answer 22

The act was needed due to criticisms that grammar school endowments were being wasted

Question 23

What did the act do?

Answer 23

The act meant that Commissioners went round the country ensuring the money drawn from endowments was used well

Question 24

What was the act meant to ensure?

Answer 24

Meant the ensure that grammar schools provided good quality academic teaching for the middle class

Question 25

Explain the motivations behind the 1870 Forster’s Education Act

Answer 25

It was needed because the Second Reform Act had enfranchised more working class men, making it necessary to educate them. As Robert Lowe, G’s chancellor had put it, politicians must get their ‘future masters to learn their letters’. There was growing concern about foreign industrial competition, and a better educated workforce might help Britain become more competitive. People were worried that the German education system was better than the British one. They were concerned that many children had no opportunity to attend school at all. If they built more schools, children would be taught useful skills and there would be a strong emphasis on Christian morals. Young people would be better able to find jobs, less likely to ask for poor relief and less likely to commit crimes

Question 26

Describe the changes the act made to education

Answer 26

Religious societies and wealthy individuals would continue to run their own voluntary schools. Where there were no elementary schools ratepayers would elect school boards. These school boards could levy local taxes to build schools. They could charge school fees, but also had to the power to pay the fees of poor children for their schools or voluntary schools. They could compel attendance for children between 5-13. Religious teachings at school boards could not be based on the Bible or the ideas of any particular denomination

Question 27

What did the 1872 Public Health Act do?

Answer 27

Mandates that every area of the country had to have a council or board for public health which had to appoint a Medical Officer of Health

Question 28

Explain the background behind the 1872 Licensing Act

Answer 28

Pubs were an important meeting place in Victorian England, but there was a strong temperance movement, mainly supported by the noncomformists. Temperance organisations had strong support among L’s and campaigned for the ‘Permissive Bill’ to allow local votes about closing pubs and drink shops

Question 29

What was the act designed to act as?

Answer 29

The Act was a compromise that limited pub opening hours

Question 30

Why can the Licensing Act be seen as a deciding factor in the Ls losing in 1874 and what is the counter to this view?

Answer 30

When the Ls were losing MPs in the 1874 election, G told a colleague that they had been ‘swept away, literally, by a torrent of beer and gin’, but recent historians emphasise how responses to the acts varied

Question 31

What did C spokesman Sir Henry Selwin Ibbetson say about the bill?

Answer 31

hailed the bill during its second reading. However, he also regretted that the Bill had not gone far enough to lay down a rule limiting the number of pubs in proportion to the population of a town or district. He dreaded that the question would become a source of agitation during an election campaign, so wished the act had settled this

Question 32

What was the response to the act from workers and what was the reason for this response?

Answer 32

There were angry public protests from workers, especially given the fact that rules did not apply to clubs, which often tended to have wealthy members

Question 33

What did ‘The Economist’ say about the act at the time?

Answer 33

An editorial in ‘The Economist’ in Dec 1873 may well have exaggerated the effects of the act, but it apparently came from a well informed journalist: ‘No ministry, however strong, and however pressed from the outside by fanatical agitators, would willingly provoke an opposition so formidable as that with which the publican interest threatens every administration that dares to meddle in the traffic of strong drinks. It turns elections and shakes administrations

Question 34

Explain the reasoning behind the abolition of religious texts for teachers at Oxford and Cambridge

Answer 34

Although G did not actually like the bill, he thought it necessary in face of criticism of the fact that noncomformists were not allowed to teach there

Question 35

What did this decision allow?

Answer 35

Allowed nonconformists to teach along with Anglican

Question 36

Describe the thought behind the 1872 Ballot Act

Answer 36

There had been much discussion about introducing the secret ballot in the mid 19th century. There was a small majority in favour of the idea in the commons in 1848 and 1859. Later, threats and bribes increased when more workers voted in the boroughs after the 1867 Reform Act, and many politicans who had opposed the secret ballot changed their minds after the 1868 election. This was another reform G had previously opposed, but then changed his mind

Question 37

Describe the process of passing the act

Answer 37

A bill for the ballot had failed in 1871, but G put one forward in 1872 and successfully fought opposition from the lords

Question 38

Why was the act important?

Answer 38

It was important in allowing men to vote freely

Question 39

What was the case for open voting at this time?

Answer 39

Men cast votes not only for themselves but for the whole community. The people should know how electors voted on their behalf. Voting is a public duty so should be done publicly. There was an idea that a man should not be ashamed of his vote – it was unmanly to have to sneak into a ballot box

Question 40

What was the case for the secret ballot at this time?

Answer 40

Electors could be threatened by employers, landlords or TUs to vote in a certain way. Public voting encouraged bribery. The atmosphere around the hustings where men voted was often riotous or drunken. This was not the right setting for someone to carry out their serious public duty

Question 41

What was the effect of the act?

Answer 41

Secret balloting was now to be used in all elections

Question 42

Describe the impact it had

Answer 42

Elections quietened down, but some bribery continued. People were still willing to pay others for their votes even though they could not check up on them. Employers and landowners could no longer threaten workers or tenants. Threats from landlords had apparently been most important in Ireland, where the home rule party benefitted massively in the 1874 election. Many tenants and empoyees seemed happy to still follow the wishes of their landlords and employers

Question 43

Describe the context behind 1871 TU reform

Answer 43

TUs did not have any status in law courts to protect their funds. There was also concern that they could intimidate other workers into joining strikes. A royal commission reported on TU reform in 1869, and the government prepared a new law for 1871. This contained different measures, some that the TUs wanted, and some that they didn’t. They therefore got the proposed bill but split in two…

Question 44

What did the 1871 TU Act do?

Answer 44

This what they wanted. It gave them status in law courts to protect their funds

Question 45

What did the 1871 Criminal Law Amendment Act do?

Answer 45

What they didn’t want. Stopped peaceful picketing

Question 46

What motivated the introduction of competitive exams for the civil service in 1871?

Answer 46

The Trevelyan-Northcote report recommended the move in 1853. In line with G’s support of efficiency and meritocracy

Question 47

Describe the impact that the introduction of the exams had

Answer 47

Exams were introduced for all civil servants who administered government departments apart from the foreign office, as it was argued that more personal qualities were needed for diplomacy, and the Foreign Secretary was opposed to change. The exams were designed for people with university or public school education, and G believed they would ‘strengthen and multiply between the ties between the higher classes and the possession of administrative power’ Clerks who did the routine paperwork were recruited separately

Question 48

Why were the 1869-72 army reforms necessary?

Answer 48

Britain had a small army compared with continental countries, but it was vital to defend the different parts of the empire. There increasing doubts about army efficiency. The Crimean War (1854-6) had shown serious faults in getting supplies to troops, and some officers had made tactical mistakes. The Austro Prussian (1866) and Franco Prussian (1870) wars had shown the efficiency of the Prussian army that now served the new German Empire. After the Franco Prussian War, many were anxious about the state of the British army and expected the government to act. Ordinary recruits tended to come from poor families, as richer men were put off by the living conditions and subservience assoicated with the army. Officers bought their positions rather than being promoted on the basis of skill and experience. The reforms intended to produce more efficient officers and a better type of recruit

Question 49

What did G say in support of the reforms?

Answer 49

G advocated for the reforms in the commons in 1871: ‘The officers are the brains of the army. I hold that without the very best system for our officers all other improvements must be looked upon as dust in the balance. The idea is to have the very best men and the very best officers

Question 50

Describe the reforms that were made

Answer 50

Men could enlist for a shorter time than previously, with 6 years full time in the army and then 6 in the reserves. Regiments were linked with different regions of the country to help with local recruiting. Administration of the War Office was improved. The Commander-in-Chief was formally placed under the Secretary for War, the Cabinet Minister in charge of the economy. Officers could no longer buy their commissions

Question 51

What were commissions?

Answer 51

Commissions were positions in the armed forces of or above the rank of lieutenant

Question 52

Why can it be argued that these reforms did not have that much of an impact?

Answer 52

Historians studying the late 19th century army have found little change to the type of people being recruited or officers appointed. Officers still largely came from the upper classes, and they were promoted due to length of service rather than merit. The army fought many successful colonial wars, but defeats in the Boer War showed that a lot of important defects remained

Question 53

What did the 1873 Judicature Act do?

Answer 53

This remodelled the law courts to get a more efficient and economical system