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The Liberal Unionists were a British political party which split away from the Liberals in 1886, and had effectively merged with the Conservatives by the turn of the century, the formal merger being completed in 1912. Their principal leaders were Lord Hartington and Joseph Chamberlain.
The reason for the split in the Liberals was the conversion of Gladstone to the cause of Irish Home Rule. The 1885 General Election had left Parnell's Irish Nationalists holding the balance of power, and had convinced Gladstone that the Irish wanted and deserved Home Rule. Some Liberals believed that Gladstone's Home Rule bill led to de facto independence for Ireland, and the dissolution of the United Kingdom, which they could not countenance. Seeing themselves as defenders of the Union of Britain and Ireland, they called themselves Liberal Unionists.
Most of the Liberal Unionists were drawn from the Whig faction of the party, including Hartington and George Goschen, and had been expected to split from the party (for reasons connected with economic and social policy) anyway. The surprise was that a small group of Radicals led by Chamberlain joined the breakaway. The National Liberal Foundation supported Gladstone, so the rebels formed their own organisations: the Committee for the Preservation of the Union, the National Radical Union, and later the Liberal Unionist Association.
The leading Liberal Unionists were invited to join the Conservative Lord Salisbury's government, but most initially sat on the back benches, leaving the way open for the reunion of the Liberal Party. Goschen was a notable exception, and became Chancellor of the ExchequerThe Chancellor of the Exchequer is the ancient title held by the British cabinet minister whose responsibilities are akin to the posts of Minister for Finance or Secretary of the Treasury in other jurisdictions. The third oldest major state office in Engl. Gladstone's second Home Rule bill in 1892Events January 1 Ellis Island begins accepting immigrants to the United States. January 14 Death of Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, second in line heir to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Next in line is his younger b hardened the division and in 1895Events January events January 5 Dreyfus Affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. February events February 14 First showing of Oscar Wilde's last play The Importance of Being Earnes the leading Liberal Unionists joined Salisbury's government. The resulting government was generally referred to as " UnionistThe word Unionist simply meaning one espousing a union, has a number of connotations, depending on context: Unionists are a group of people in Ireland and Scotland who wish their respective countries (and quite often both countries) to remain part of the", and the distinction between Conservatives and Liberal Unionists began to dissolve.
The Duke of Devonshire and other supporters of free tradeFree trade is an economic concept referring to the selling of products between countries without tariffs or other trade barriers. Free trade is the absence of artificial ( government-imposed) barriers to trade among individuals and firms in different nati left the Liberal Unionist Association in 19041904 is a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). Events January 7 The distress signal " CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by " SOS. February 7 A fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 in protest at Chamberlain's Tariff Reform campaign. Chamberlain himself was crippled by a stroke in 1906. The Liberal Unionist Association merged with the Conservatives to form the Conservative and Unionist Party (the modern Conservative Party) in 1912.
