The Confederacy was a society within the
British
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* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
that enthusiastically promoted
Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually served as a leading imperialist in coalition with the C ...
's campaign for
tariff reform
The Tariff Reform League (TRL) was a protectionist British pressure group formed in 1903 to protest against what they considered to be unfair foreign imports and to advocate Imperial Preference to protect British industry from foreign competitio ...
. A founder of the society,
Henry Page Croft
Henry Page Croft, 1st Baron Croft (22 June 1881 – 7 December 1947) was a decorated British soldier and Conservative Party politician.
Early life and family
He was born at Fanhams Hall in Ware, Hertfordshire, England. He was the son of Ric ...
, later wrote, "It was started by three or four of us who held the view that nothing was worth fighting for except Chamberlain's battle, and we determined to do our best to drive the enemies of tariff reform out of the Conservative Party".
It was a
secret society, according to Croft, "to appear much more important than we in fact were. Our idea was to endeavour to get large numbers of young men drawn from the aristocracy and country gentlemen who would devote themselves to the cause and fight constituencies wherever and whenever they were required". At its height, it numbered around 50 members, with 30 entering Parliament, 9 gaining office and 4 becoming Cabinet ministers. Sir
Arthur Steel-Maitland
Sir Arthur Herbert Drummond Ramsay Steel-Maitland, 1st Baronet (5 July 1876 – 30 March 1935) was a British Conservative politician. He was the first Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1911 to 1916 and held junior office from 1915 to 191 ...
was a member.
Edward Goulding was closely connected with the Confederacy.
Its first meetings were held at
Fanhams Hall
Fanhams Hall is an 18th-century Queen Anne House-style country house in Wareside, Hertfordshire in the south east of England. It is a Grade II* listed building which is now operating as a hotel.
Built in the early 18th century, it was subseque ...
. The organisational skills of
Thomas Comyn Platt
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* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
and others ensured the Confederacy received national attention in the press and elsewhere.
[Croft, p. 43.]
References
{{reflist
Sources
*Alan Sykes, ‘The Confederacy and the Purge of the Unionist Free Traders, 1906-10’, ''Historical Journal'', xviii, 2 (1975), pp. 349–366.
*L. Witherell, ''Rebel on the Right: Henry Page Croft and the Crisis of British Conservatism, 1903–1914'' (1997).
History of the Conservative Party (UK)
Secret societies in the United Kingdom
Conservative political advocacy groups in the United Kingdom
Conservative Party (UK) factions