Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman becomes Prime Minister

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Birmingham Newman University), Louise McDonald (Birmingham Newman University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Domains

Changes of government, elections and reigns

Dates

Date of occurrence 1905-12-05-1908-04-07

Places

United Kingdom (Location)

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, who had been knighted earlier in the decade, became leader of the Liberal Party in 1899. He was unable to wrest the advantage away from the Conservatives at the so-called 'Khaki Election' of 1900, but became Prime Minister after Arthur Balfour's retirement in 1905, and won a landslide for the Liberals (their last ever) the following year. As Prime Minister, he was a strong advocate of free trade, but was also a determined social reformer, passing bills to protect trade unions from liability for damages incurred through strikes, and to enable local councils to supply free school meals to children from poor families. He also supported Irish Home Rule, and oversaw the return of independence to the Transvaal and Orange Free State, the issue of contention in the…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

132 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman becomes Prime Minister". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 August 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1871, accessed 18 April 2024.]

Save this article