Gladstonian Liberalism and Environment Protection, 1865-76

• Published in: The English historical review Vol. 128; no. 531; p. 292
• Main Author: Roberts, MJD
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford Publishing Limited (England) 01.04.2013
• Subjects: Environmental protection; Land development; Liberalism; Political leadership; Political parties; Victorian period; England
• ISSN: 0013-8266; 1477-4534
• DOI: 10.1093/ehr/ces337

Historians have, in recent times, produced a considerable literature attempting to interpret the motives of Victorian pioneers of concern for the preservation of 'natural' environments and to evaluate the cultural implications of the attitudes, which they aimed to promote. Yet no systematic study so far exists of the earliest and most politically effective Victorian movement for environmental protection--the campaign for the protection from commercial development of common lands around London (and ultimately across England) begun in 1865. Here, Roberts provides that study by investigating the origins, patterns of recruitment, strategy, tactics, rhetoric and public impact of the key mobilizing organization of campaigners--the Commons Preservation Society. Particular attention is paid to the period in office of the first Gladstone administration (1868-74), as it was during this period that open-space campaigners achieved the rare success of transforming the issue into a subject requiring sustained 'high political' attention. By uncovering the carefully co-ordinated and tactically sophisticated campaign plan of the Liberal MPs who performed the core tasks of parliamentary and public persuasion, the conclusion is reached that the campaign was primarily triggered and driven as a response to 'the coming of democracy' in 1867, its ideological and electoral credentials as a genuinely 'Liberal' cause generated major tensions with a retrenchment-focused party leadership over the course of the first Gladstone government and its manner of resolution gives unequivocal evidence of attempted adaptation to urban modernity rather than of a longing to restore a traditional or idealized past.