‘A distant and whiggish country’: The Conservative Party and Scottish elections, 1832–47

Gary Hutchison

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract / Description of output

    This article examines the role of the Scottish Conservative party in shaping the underlying culture of Scottish politics in the 1830s and 1840s, utilizing numerous collections of private papers, newspapers, memoirs and legal texts. It focuses on the party’s experiences of electioneering rituals, and its innovative electoral registration activities. It then examines the effects of its creation of illegitimate ‘fictitious’ votes, and of its diverse methods for influencing electors. In doing so, it puts ‘party’ at the heart of a notably distinctive and fast-evolving Scottish political culture, and challenges assumptions that this culture was overwhelmingly whiggish in character and inspiration.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)333-352
    Number of pages19
    JournalHistorical Research
    Volume93
    Issue number260
    Early online date29 Apr 2020
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - May 2020

    Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

    • Conservative Party
    • politics
    • elections
    • 19th century
    • scotland

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