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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 11h

#OTD 1960 1/4 - Death of Ernest Darwin Simon, 1st Baron Simon of Wythenshawe, Liberal MP for Manchester Withington 1923-24 and 1929-31. A leading member of the Manchester Liberals between the wars, Simon first rose to prominence as a Manchester City councillor (1912-25).

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

#OTD 1891 1/3 - In a speech to the National Liberal Federation annual conference in Newcastle, William Ewart Gladstone supports the programme adopted by the Federation. The 'Newcastle Programme' retained support for Irish home rule as its central plank...

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

#OTD 1904 1/3 - Death of William Vernon Harcourt. First elected Liberal MP for Oxford in 1868, Harcourt later represented Derby and finally West Monmouthshire. Harcourt started his ministerial career in 1873 when he was appointed Solicitor General.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

#OTD 1805 1/3 - Birth at Leith of Sidney Smith (1805-1881). Smith was a solicitor of radical instincts who in 1839 through Richard Cobden became a lecturer for the Anti-Corn Law League, soon becoming one of their most popular speakers.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

#OTD 1956 Liberal leader Clement Davies steps down, stating: 'It is time that the tiller was placed in the hands of a younger man. Fortunately, I can step down knowing that there is a worthy successor waiting - one who has fully earned his master's certificate.' Jo Grimond takes over in November.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

#OTD 1932 1/2 - Sir Herbert Samuel and Sir Archibald Sinclair resign from the National Government in protest at the protectionist schemes proposed at the Ottawa Conference. The resignations, along with eight junior ministers, completed the split with the Liberal Nationals under...

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

#OTD 1842 1/3 - The marriage takes place of Peter Alfred Taylor and Clementia Doughty, a remarkable, radical couple who became engaged in all the main political debates of the day. Taylor was wealthy through the family firm, Courtaulds and sat as an advanced Liberal for Leicester from 1862-1884.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

#OTD 1963 1/3 - Death of Goronwy Owen, Liberal MP for Caernarvonshire 1923-45. Born in Aberystwyth in 1881, Owen worked as a teacher before serving on the Western Front in the First World War. Elected to the House of Commons in 1923, he briefly served as Liberal Chief Whip 1931-32 and as a whip...

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

#OTD 1970 1/2 - The Liberal Party assembly at Eastbourne passes by 348 votes to 236 a Young Liberal amendment, moved by Tony Greaves, to a motion on party strategy and tactics calling for a dual approach to politics, acting both inside and outside the institutions of the...cont'd

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

#OTH 1896 1/2 - William Ewart Gladstone delivers his last major public speech at Hengler's Circus, Liverpool. In a speech lasting an hour and twenty minutes, he denounced the Turkish atrocities in Armenia and called on the Government to take action.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

#OTD 1937 1/3 - Death in Edinburgh of (Jessie) Chrystal Macmillan (1872-1937), barrister, pacifist and campaigner for women's suffrage who retained her allegiance to the Liberal Party. She stood for election to Parliament just once, at Edinburgh North in the 1935 GE, ...cont'd

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

#OTD 1916 1/3 - Liberal candidate Sir Charles Seely wins the Mansfield by-election with a majority of 3,141 votes over his independent opponent Dr Arthur Turnbull of Glasgow. Turnbull was a lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps and Secretary of an organisation called...cont'd

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

#OTD 1882 1/4 -Birth of Sir Arthur Comyns Carr, barrister and Liberal MP for Islington East 1923-24. During a distinguished legal career Arthur Comyns Carr was involved in many high-profile cases, including cross-examining independent MP Horatio Bottomley which led to... cont'd

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

#OTD 1981 1/2 - Amid ringing cheers at the party conference in Llandudno and against the background of the surge in support for the newly formed SDP and its Alliance with the Liberal Party, David Steel tells delegates in a phrase which would come back to haunt him...

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Read the stories of the women who shaped Liberalism and the party in our new publication, Women for Liberty. Launch meeting at Liberal Democrat conference, 1pm 19 September. Available from our online shop (liberalhistory.org.uk/product/wome...) and our exhibition stand at conference.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

#OTD 1987 1/2 - Following a disappointing result in the 1987 General Election, the Liberal Party conference meeting in Harrogate voted by 998 votes to 21 in favour of a merger with the Social Democratic Party and elected a 17-person team to begin negotiations with the SDP.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

#OTD 1861 The Post Office Savings Bank is established by Lord Palmerston's Liberal government to provide the working class with a safe means of savings. Its acceptance and success was one of the indicators which led to a widening of the franchise in the Second Reform Act.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

New Journal of Liberal History available now. Includes articles on Liberal Democrats' 2026 local and devolved elections (by John Curtice), a tribute to Jim Wallace, 1832 Boundaries, the Marquess of Crewe and Beth Butler's experience of being a Liberal agent in the 1960s. mailchi.mp/daf2521480e2...

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

#OTD 1909 1/3 -Death of Edward Marjoribanks, 2nd Baron Tweedmouth, Liberal MP for Berwickshire 1880-94. Tweedmouth first held office in Gladstone's short lived third government. In 1892 he was appointed Liberal Chief Whip and in 1894 new Prime Minister Lord Rosebery appointed him Lord Privy Seal...

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

#OTD 1881 1/5 - Birth of Roderick Kedward, Wesleyan minister and Liberal MP for Bermondsey West 1923-24 and Ashford 1929-31. Trained at Richmond College, Roderick Kedward became a Minister in 1903, serving in Hull where he fought his first election for the Liberals in 1918...

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

#OTD 1806 1/3 - Death of Charles James Fox, Whig MP, orator, radical thinker and possessor of one of the most colourful and dissolute private lives of all politicians. Fox was Foreign Secretary at the time of his death and had held that post twice before, albeit very briefly.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

#OTD 1982 1/3 - Happy birthday to Layla Moran (@laylamoran.bsky.social), Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon since 2017. Born in Hampstead, she contested Battersea in 2010 and stood in the 2012 London Assembly elections.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

#OTD 1900 1/2 - Death of William White (1820-1900), a bookseller and publisher in Birmingham. White's interest in moral and social improvements led him through the Society of Friends to Liberal politics and in 1873 he was elected a councillor in St Mary's Ward. In 1875, he became...

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

#OTD 1954 Happy birthday to Lorely Burt, Liberal Democrat MP for Solihull 2005-15. From 1998 to 2003 she was a Councillor on Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. In 2005, she gained Solihull from the Conservatives (maj. 279). In 2015, she was created Baroness Burt of Solihull.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#OTD 1876: 1/2 - Following the publication of his pamphlet, The Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East, three days earlier, in which he had called for the Turks to be driven from the Balkans 'bag and baggage', Mr Gladstone speaks at a rally in Blackheath,

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

New Journal of Liberal History just published. Includes articles on the General Strike and the Liberal Party, Michael Meadowcroft, the Manchester Liberal Union and the South African War and the Lib-Lab Pact. mailchi.mp/1dc4e4b8c20d...

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Reposted by LiberalHistoryToday

Victorian Commons @victoriancommons.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Born #OnThisDay 1799 Joseph Pease, Liberal MP for Durham South 1832-41, and the first Quaker to sit in the Commons. This post looks at the difficulties he encountered in taking his seat at Westminster. victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2023/10/23/q...

victoriancommons.wordpress.com

Quakers in the Commons: Joseph Pease and the right to affirm

Taking their seat in the Commons can be a nervous moment for new MPs, but for the Quaker Joseph Pease in 1833, tensions were heightened because he feared that his refusal to take oaths would preven…

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

One week to go! History Group meeting on Liberals and Trade Unions: The General Strike of 1926, with Anne Perkins, Dr Alastair Reid and Dr David Yates. Chair: Sarah Olney MP. 6.00pm Monday 29 June, National Liberal Club and online. mailchi.mp/0e08e35a85cf...

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

#OTD 1983: David Owen is elected leader of the SDP.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Reminder! History Group meeting on Liberals and Trade Unions: The General Strike of 1926, with Anne Perkins Dr Alastair Reid and Dr David Yates. Chair: Sarah Olney MP. 6.00pm Monday 29 June. mailchi.mp/53030885f580...

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

#OTD 1837: Birth of Sophia Fry, founder of the Women's Liberal Federation.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

#OTD 1809: Death of Thomas Paine, author of Rights of Man.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

#OTD 1859: Whigs, Peelites and Radicals meet together in the afternoon at Willis' Rooms in King Street, to discuss how to overthrow Lord Derby's minority Conservative government. The date is often taken as the formation of the Liberal Party.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

#OTD 1904: A great free trade rally is held at Alexandra Palace to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Richard Cobden. The speakers include Campbell-Bannerman, Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, still nominally a Conservative.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

We are very sorry to hear the news of the death of Michael Meadowcroft on 1 June - author, activist, Liberal MP 1983-87, member of the Journal of Liberal History Editorial Board, a thoughtful and generous Liberal. We'll carry a full obituary in the summer issue of the Journal.

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

We are very sad to hear that Michael Meadowcroft, Liberal MP for Leeds West (1983-1987) has died. Michael was an influential thinker and famously opposed the merger with the SDP. In an interview for our Oral History project, he described his libertarian philosophy and independent personality. 👇

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Speaker meeting on Liberals and Trade Unions: The General Strike of 1926 - 6.00pm, Monday 29 June, National Liberal Club; NLC meeting - Gladstone & Ireland - a search for peace and justice - 6.45pm, Friday 5 June. mailchi.mp/816b71df1980...

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

#OTD 1762: The Duke of Newcastle submits his resignation as Prime Minister to King George III ending his second ministry.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

#OTD 1941: Birth of Menzies "Ming" Campbell, leader of the Liberal Democrats 2006-07, Liberal and Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife from 1987 to 2015, and life peer as Baron Campbell of Pittenweem.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

#OTD 1929: Death of Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl Rosebery, Liberal statesman and writer, Prime Minister 1894-95.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

#OTD 1867: John Stuart Mill speaks in Parliament in favour of female suffrage: 'taxation and representation should be co-extensive. Do not women pay taxes?'

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

#OTD 1898: Death of William Ewart Gladstone, four times Liberal Prime Minister, at age 89. He passed away in the morning with nine members of his family and three doctors surrounding his bed, at his estate Hawarden Castle.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

#OTD 1872: Birth of Bertrand Russell, philosopher, writer and mathematician. He was grandson of Liberal Prime Minister Lord John Russell and godson of John Stuart Mill. Russell described himself as a liberal, socialist and pacifist.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

#OTD 2010: A Special Conference in Birmingham approves the coalition agreement with the Conservatives paving the way for the Coalition Government.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

#OTD 1730: Birth of Charles Watson Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Whig statesman and Prime Minister 1765-66 and 1782.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

#OTD 1976: Following the resignation of Jeremy Thorpe on 9th May, Jo Grimond succeeds him as temporary leader of the Liberal Party. Grimond had previously led the party between 5th November 1956 and 17th January 1967.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

New Journal of Liberal History published; meeting on 'Liberals and Trade Unions: The General Strike of 1926' on 29 June; meeting on 'Lloyd George - does it take a dynamic force to succeed in a challenging world?' on 12 May: mailchi.mp/bf3d2c189f24...

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

#OTD 1940: Churchill forms his all party coalition government, including several Liberals, with Liberal leader Sir Archibald Sinclair becoming Secretary of State for Air.

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LiberalHistoryToday @libhistorytoday.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

#OTD 2000: Liberal Democrat Sandra Gidley seizes the Hampshire seat of Romsey from the Conservatives. Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy hails the result as 'a victory of the politics of hope over the politics of fear'.

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Cymdeithas Lloyd George/The Lloyd George Society @lloydgeorgesociety.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Lloyd George Society Sponsored Event - Lloyd George at the Fleet Street Festival of Words. @damiancollins.bsky.social & Richard Rhys OBrien in conversation. Tuesday 12th May 2026, 5pm to 6pm at Temple Church, London, EC4Y 7BB Tickets & Info: fleetstreetquarter.co.uk/festival-of-...

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