Working class political integration and the Conservative Party : a study of class relations and party political development in the North-West, 1800-1870

The thesis is primarily concerned with the investigation ofinter-related themes. Firstly, it sets out to examine thechanging nature and role of the Conservative party in the decadesimmediately following the 1832 Reform Act up until the advent ofhouseholder franchise and the Second Reform Act of 1867. The maincontention is that political parties after the First Reform Actbegan to display many of the features and functions whichpolitical scientists of our own age see as the essential traits ofndern party structures. One key area in which the Conservativeparty revealed these traits of ITodernity was in the way the partyin the localities began to integrate sections of the industrialworking class into the party structure, a phenomenon which hadnot occurred before 1832. This leads us on to our second centraltheme, namely the description of the political developiient of thevrking class of the North-West region with specific reference asto why some sections of the industrial working class began tosupport and join the Conservative party after 1832.The thesis is divided into two sections. The first is concernedwith the changing nature of Conservatism and vrking classdevelopaent, and the second with a series of coiarative casestudies. These examine developents in three different types ofurban centres of the North-West region. We look firstly at thecounty and market towns, secondly at an industrial borough with anestablished working class electorate, and finally we examine thoseboroughs created by the Act of 1832. The thesis ends with achapter which aims to provide a concluding analysis