Liberalism+in+Wales

__**Wales and Parliamentary Reform - The Liberals in Wales[[image:olchfahistoryrevision/welsh_flag.png width="244" height="166" align="right"]]**__
David Lloyd George claimed that the general election of 1868 had "awakened the spirit of the mountains. The power of the landloards was shattered"

The Liberals had a number of groups supporting them, and among those groups were the Non-Conformists. This was one of the keys to Liberalism's Welsh appeal; while there were many people who were not Non-Conformist, either through Anglicanism or not attending a place of worship regularly, Non-Conformism was a powerful force in Wales.

**__Pre 1832 to 1832__**
 * Wales was under represented before the 1832 Reform Act.
 * The Reform Act of 1832 meant that Wales gained 5 MPs (the numbers increased from 27 to 32) and 1 in 5 males had the vote.
 * However the Reform Act didn't really bring about any major change in Welsh parliamentary representation. As voting was a public act, landlords could avenge themselves on tenants who defied their wishes.

**__1832-1868__**
 * Wales became increasingly politisized e.g. the Chartism movement grew - Newport Rising
 * Many of the Welsh were able to read and write which led to a growth in newspapers and periodicals where issues such as free trade were discussed
 * In 1844, The Liberation Society was formed. It aimed to dissestablish the Church of England. By the 1860, it had extensive support in Wales but as nonconformity was far stronger in Waled than in England, support grew for the notion that Wales should become independent all together. This was an early example of a situation being very different in Wales to in England.
 * At this point, Wales' population stood at 1.3 million and 4.4% of them could vote.
 * The bulk of the Welsh genrtry were Tories and until the 1860s, this was reflected in the party allegiance of the Welsh MPs. However, in 1865, Wales retained a non-Tory majority, although most of the Liberals elected bellonged to the Whigs rather than the radical wings of the party.

**__The Religious Census of 1857__**
 * 32% were Church of Wales
 * 21% Methodists
 * 20% Congregationalist
 * 13% Baptists

**__1867 Reform Act__**
 * The vote was given to all male heads of households in borough seats - 9.1% had the vote.
 * This increased the electorate in places such as Merthyr, a constituency which was given a 2nd MP.
 * There were 60,000 new voters in Wales.

**__General Election 1868__**
 * 10 Conservative MPs were elected compared to 23 Liberals.
 * The election was followed by widespread evictions (people didn't vote as their landlords/employers had told them to). This was a major factor in the passage of the Ballot Act 1872.

**__Liberal Hegemony__**
 * The election of 1868 marked the beginning of a Liberal hegemony which would last until the Liberals were overwhelmed by the Labour Party in the 1920s.
 * The Welsh preference for the Liberals can be in part explained by the party's traditional sympathy for nonconformists, the Welsh industrialists support for free trade and the sympathy for Welsh aspirations shown by Gladstone.

__**This section can be tied into essays about.........**__
 * Parliamentary reform
 * Impact of reform
 * Reform Act 1867
 * Reasons for the passing of the Secret Ballot Act 1872