Reminiscences of Rotherham
by G. Gummer, J.P.
« « prevA MAN AFTER MY OWN HEART
In the following year the Right Hon. W. R. Forster, M.P. addressed a similar gathering in the Drill Hall. At this meeting Earl Fitzwilliam, grandfather of the present Earl. said of Mr. Forster: 'He is a man after my own heart' - a phrase which met with great applause and afterwards became familiar throughout South Yorkshire. Coming after the attitude taken up by the Earl at a previous meeting, when he supported the Conservatives, this declaration was welcome, an indication that the speaker was still loyal to the Liberal cause.POLITICS IN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS
The tendency which for some time had been growing, to use political considerations as a factor in the decision of local municipal questions, became most apparent in 1879. During a municipal contest in the West Ward, between Mr. Geo. Neill and Mr. Charles Kenyon, it was noticed nearly all Geo. Neill’s supporters and workers were Conservatives. Not only did they do their work in a manner which showed strong political bias, but they did not scruple to misrepresent Charles Kenyon’s political creed. Hitherto, the Liberal Association had strictly limited its operations to general politics, and no attention had been paid to the political side of local affars. It was bound, after this election, boldly to unfurl the yellow flag in all municipal elections.FRANCHISE BILL
The House of Lords having rejected the Franchise Bill which had passed through the Commons unanimously with the exception of one vote, a protest meeting was deemed desirable, and this was held in the College Yard, by a strange coincidence when the opinion of the huge crowd was asked, the chairman announced the resolution condemning the action of the Lords to be carried unanimously with the exception of one vote, and, whatever one’s opinions were on this question, the courage displayed by Mr. A. P. Hirst, a well-known town councillor in giving this vote and thus standing alone, was to be admired.AN ACROSTIC
About this period acrostics were very popular, and in view of the parlous state of the Liberal party to-day the following may be of interest:G is the genius that governs the nation;
L are the Lords that require education;
A is the animus raised by the great;
D are the donkeys who fear for the State;
S is the standard that Liberals raise;
T are the Tories who howl in dispraise;
O is the opposition wanting a head;
N is the nation, not driven but led;
E is old England, shouting for joy - Stick to the Government, Gladstone, my boy
A LOVING CUP
After the return of the Hon. H. W. Fitzwilliam and Mr. W. H. Leatham to Parliament for the South-West Riding, Mr. Milnes Gaskell, chairman of the Liberal Executive for the West Riding, presented the local association with a Doulton ware loving cup, in commemoration of the election of 1880, when, for the first time in its history, the West Riding of Yorkshire returned six Liberals to represent them in Parliament. The names of these six Liberals were, Fitz william, Leatham, Cavendish, Wilson, Ramsden, and Fairburn. I have often wondered what became of this tasteful memorial of an important epoch in our political history. Can anyone give the information?REDISTRIBUTION
When in 1884 Rotherham became the head quarters of a Parliamentary division, the Liberal Association was galvanised into renewed life. A candidate had to be obtained and the district organised. Along with my friend, David Winter, I spent most evenings and every Saturday afternoon for over six months, visiting the villages and outer districts, making preparations for the fray inevitable on the dissolution of Parliament. Several names of likely candidates were before us. Mr. Samuel Plimsoll, the seamans friend, a popular idol and a distant relative of Dr. Falding’s, who occasionally visited the Doctor at the College; Mr. Milnes Gaskell. of Wakefield, chairman of the West Riding Executive Committee; Mr. Phipson Beale, a barrister at law, nephew of Mr. Samuel Beale, at one time proprietor of ParkGate Iron Works, were prominent men we were asked to consider. next »
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