LiberalHistoryToday

#OTD 1870: The Education Act ("Forster's Education Act", named after W E Forster) receives Royal Assent and becomes law, the first attempt by a British government to provide some level of universal elementary education.

#OTD 1884: Writing in The Times in the wake of the House of Lords' rejection of Gladstone's Franchise Bill, John Bright suggests sweeping alterations and limitations to the powers of the second chamber.

#OTD 1879: Birth of Margaret Wintringham, Liberal MP for Louth 1921-24 and the first woman Liberal to be elected to the House of Commons.

#OTD 1945: Following a poor general election result, the 12 Liberal MPs select Clement Davies, MP for Montgomeryshire, as Chairman of the Parliamentary Party. He was later recognised formally as leader of the Liberal Party.

#OTD 1872: The Licensing Act becomes law. Mainly the work of Liberal Home Secretary, Henry Bruce, the Act restricted closing times, among other measures.

#OTD 1856: Birth of Richard Burdon Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane, Liberal MP for Haddingtonshire 1885-1911, later in life a Labour peer. He is perhaps best remembered for his reforms as Secretary of State for War.

#OTD 1911: Prime Minister H.H. Asquith is howled down by Unionist MPs in the House of Commons. Asquith who was attempting to outline the government's response to the House of Lords amendments to the Parliament Bill stood at the despatch box for 30 minutes before giving up.

#OTD 1833: Birth of Spencer Compton Cavendish, the Marquess of Hartington, a 'violently moderate' individual and leader of three political parties, Liberal (1875-1880), Liberal Unionists (1886-1903) and the Unionist Party in the Lords (1902-03).

#OTD 1908: Death of William Randel Cremer, pacifist, Liberal MP, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on international arbitration.

#OTD 1911: Prime Minister H H Asquith makes it known to Conservative leaders Lansdowne and Balfour that he has obtained the King's agreement to create enough Liberal peers to pass the Parliament Bill through the Lords.

#OTD 1872: The Ballot Act receives Royal Assent requiring local and parliamentary elections to be held by secret ballot. Liberals generally support the act but some famous voices, including those of Lord John Russell and J S Mill, oppose the idea.

#OTD 2004: The Liberal Democrats win the Leicester South by-election with 34.9% of the vote from Labour. Local councillor Parmjit Singh Gill is returned to Westminster.

#OTD 2005: Mark Hunter holds the seat of Cheadle in Greater Manchester for the Liberal Democrats in a by-election caused by the sad death of Patsy Calton from cancer.

#OTD 1962: After a combative campaign, Liberal candidate David Bond wins second place in the Leicester North East by-election, despite no Liberal having contested the seat since 1945.

#OTD 1818: Birth of William Edward Forster, Liberal MP. Key legislative accomplishments include the foundations of universal schooling and the secret ballot, he attained notoriety as "Buckshot Forster" for his coercive policies as Chief Secretary for Ireland.

#OTD 1765: George Grenville is forced to resign as Prime Minister.

#OTD 1901: The Liberal Party meets at the Reform Club. With the party divided over the Second Boer War, Henry Campbell-Bannerman wins a unanimous vote of confidence, forcing pro-war Liberal Imperialist MPs like Asquith and Grey to commit themselves publicly to his leadership.

#OTD 1976: David Steel is elected leader of the Liberal Party beating John Pardoe and at the age of 38, becomes one of the youngest political leaders in British history.

#OTD 1916: David Lloyd George becomes Secretary of State for War.

#OTD 1865: The Lord Chancellor in Palmerston's Liberal government, Richard Bethell, Baron Westbury resigns amidst suspicions, never proven, that he manipulated various low-level appointments within the legal system.

#OTD 1985: Richard Livsey narrowly wins the Brecon and Radnor by-election for the Liberal SDP Alliance.

#OTD 1917: Death of Dadabhai Naoroji, known as the "Grand Old Man of India", who served as Liberal MP for Finsbury Central and three time President of the Indian National Congress, known for his highly influential "wealth drain" critique of colonial rule.

#OTD 2006: Liberal Democrat candidate Ben Abbotts increases the party's share of the vote at the Bromley and Chislehurst by-election by 17.5% to finish just 633 votes behind the victorious Conservative, the party jumping from third place at the previous general election.

#OTD 1936: Birth of Robert Maclennan, last leader of the SDP who led the party in the merger negotiations with the Liberal Party. He later served President of the Liberal Democrats 1994-98.

#OTD 1850: Lord Palmerston delivers his 'Civis Romanus Sum' speech to the House of Commons.

One week to go! Liberals, Europe and the people - Liberal Democrat History Group discussion meeting, 6.00pm, 30 June, with @robertsaunders.bsky.social, @morganj0nes.bsky.social and @nickalito.bsky.social
- mailchi.mp/e87f8af44d0f...

#OTD 1836: Death of James Mill, classical economist and confidante of David Ricardo and Utilitarian Jeremy Bentham. Mill was a key philosopher in the field of liberal thought and was the father of John Stuart Mill.

#OTD 1979: Former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe, together with his three co-defendants, is acquitted at the Old Bailey of the charges of attempted murder and conspiracy to murder.

#OTD 1895: The Liberal government suffers a surprise defeat on a motion to reduce the Secretary of State for War's salary by £100. In what was described by Asquith as 'a snap vote in a thin House on a side issue' the opposition was victorious by 132 votes to 125.

#OTD 2021: The Liberal Democrats win the Chesham & Amersham by-election from the Conservatives. Sarah Green is the first Liberal (Democrat) MP elected in Buckinghamshire since Lady Vera Terrington in 1923.