Working class political integration and the Conservative Party : a study of class relations and party political development in the North-West, 1800-1870

Walsh, D

Abstract

The thesis is primarily concerned with the investigation of
inter-related themes. Firstly, it sets out to examine the
changing nature and role of the Conservative party in the decades
immediately following the 1832 Reform Act up until the advent of
householder franchise and the Second Reform Act of 1867. The main
contention is that political parties after the First Reform Act
began to display many of the features and functions which
political scientists of our own age see as the essential traits of
ndern party structures. One key area in which the Conservative
party revealed these traits of ITodernity was in the way the party
in the localities began to integrate sections of the industrial
working class into the party structure, a phenomenon which had
not occurred before 1832. This leads us on to our second central
theme, namely the description of the political developiient of the
vrking class of the North-West region with specific reference as
to why some sections of the industrial working class began to
support and join the Conservative party after 1832.
The thesis is divided into two sections. The first is concerned
with the changing nature of Conservatism and vrking class
developaent, and the second with a series of coiarative case
studies. These examine developents in three different types of
urban centres of the North-West region. We look firstly at the
county and market towns, secondly at an industrial borough with an
established working class electorate, and finally we examine those
boroughs created by the Act of 1832. The thesis ends with a
chapter which aims to provide a concluding analysis.

Citation

Walsh, D. Working class political integration and the Conservative Party : a study of class relations and party political development in the North-West, 1800-1870. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Aug 18, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 18, 2011
• Award Date: Jan 1, 1991