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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2016
By the beginning of 1880 the sitting parliament was entering its seventh session and a general election was expected before the year ended. Opinion varied on exactly when the government would dissolve. Some liberals believed that the dissolution would come in the spring after the budget had been presented, others thought it would take place in the summer following the completion of the parliamentary session, a few people even felt that the government might wait out its mandate and not dissolve until the end of the year, or the beginning of 1881. The dissolution ultimately came as a surprise on 8 March only a month after parliament had met and before any serious business had been transacted.
1 Granville to Gladstone, 12 Nov 1879, Ramm, A. (ed.), The political correspondence of Lord Granville and Mr Gladstone, 1816–1886 (London, 1962), 1, 104 Google Scholar; Brand to Grey, 28 Oct. 1879 (H. B. W. Brand papers, c/o Clerk of the House of Lords Library, folio 196).
2 Blake, R., Disraeli (London, 1969), p. 704.Google Scholar
3 Smith, Paul, Disraelian conservatism and social reform (London, 1969), p. 310.Google Scholar
4 The vote in Sheffield was S. D. Waddy—14,062; Stuart Wortley —13,584; a liberal majority of 478.
5 The figures before the election were: 42 conservatives and 22 liberals; afterwards they were: 34 conservatives and 30 liberals (The Times, 3 Nov. 1879).
6 Rathbone, Eleanor, William Rathbone: a memoir (London, 1905, pp 296–7.Google Scholar
7 Gardiner, A.G., The life of Sir William Harcourt (London, 1923). 1, 356.Google Scholar
8 Sanderson to Derby, 4 Nov. 1879 (Derby papers, Liverpool Public Library, file 920, no. 27).
9 Derby to Col. Richard Steble, 30 Sept. 1879 (ibid., file 920, no. 30).
10 The Times, 19 Jan. 1880.
11 Spectator, 17 Jan. 1880, p. 65; 24 Jan., p. 100.
12 The Times, 2 Feb. 1880; Spectator, 17 Jan. 1880, pp 65, 97, Liverpool Echo, 30 Jan. 1880.
13 The Times, 23 Jan. 1880.
14 Rathbone, , William Rathbone, p. 296.Google Scholar
15 Hartington to Derby, 22 Jan. 1880 (Derby papers, file 920, no. 30).
16 Daily Courier, 24 Jan. 1880.
17 The Irish attempt to pressure the liberals by using Sullivan as a stalking horse is treated in detail in Brady, L.W, ‘T P. O’Connor and Liverpool politics, 1880–1929’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of Liverpool, l969), pp 51–4.Google Scholar
18 Liverpool Echo, 28 Jan. 1880.
19 This was Rathbone’s view and it confirmed his optimism about the final outcome of the election. Rathbone to Harcourt, 26 Jan. 1880 (Sir William Harcourt papers, Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, box 11).
20 The Times, 28 Jan. 1880.
21 Derby to Hartington, 23 Jan. 1880 (Devonshire papers, Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, no. 340, folio 880).
22 Forster to Hartington, 23 Jan. 1880, ibid., folio 885.
23 Hartington to Harcourt, 27 Jan. 1880 (Harcourt papers, box A), Hartington to Granville, 27 Jan. 1880 (Granville papers, P.R.O. 30/29/27A).
24 Harcourt to Derby, 26 Jan. 1880 (Derby papers, file 920, no. 30).
25 Liverpool Weekly Albion, 31 Jan. 1880.
26 Daily Courier, 29 Jan. 1880.
27 Standard, 2 Feb. 1880.
28 Daily News, 3 Feb. 1880.
29 Liverpool Echo, 29 Jan. 1880.
30 The Times, 29 Jan. 1880.
31 Ramsay to Derby, 29 Jan. 1880 (Derby papers, file 920, no. 27).
32 Liverpool Echo, 2 Feb. 1880.
33 Hartington to Granville, 30 Jan. 1880 (Granville papers, P.R.O. 30/29/27A).
34 Ramsay to Hartington, 30 Jan. 1880 (Devonshire papers, no. 340, folio 898).
35 Marquess of Ripon’s diary, 3 Feb. 1880 (Ripon papers, B.M. Add. MS 43643).
36 Rathbone to Hartington, 4 Feb. 1880 (Devonshire papers, no. 340, folio 870).
37 The Times, 4 Feb. 1880.
38 Ibid.
39 Reported in the Catholic Times and Catholic Opinion (Liverpool), 30 Jan. 1880.
40 Lord Sandon’s major addresses can be found in The Times, 27 Jan., 2 Feb. (two speeches), 4, 5 Feb. 1880.
41 Ibid., 7 Feb. 1880.
42 See for example, Samuel Morley to George Howell, 13 Feb. 1880 (Howell papers, Bishopgate’s Institute, London, folder 21), Ripon diary, 7 Feb. 1880 (Ripon papers, B.M., Add. MS 43643), Mundella to Robert Leader, early Feb. 1880 (Mundella-Leader correspondence, Sheffield University Library).
43 See ‘English elections and home rule’ in Saturday Review, 4 Feb. 1880, p. 198; Pall Mall Gazette, 7 Feb. 1880, p. 513.
44 The Times, 7 Feb. 1880.
45 Ibid., 9 Feb. 1880.
46 Spectator, 14 Feb. 1880, pp 196–7.
47 Truth, vii, 12 Feb. 1880, p. 198.
48 Gladstone to Granville, io Feb. 1880 (Gladstone-Granville correspondence, i, 112).
49 Steble to Derby, 9 Feb. 1880 (Derby papers, file 920, no. 30).
50 The Times, 22 Apr. 1880,
51 Ibid., 12 Apr. 1880.