Irish Home Rule and the Cheshire connection
A by-election that threatened to bring down the British Government

A General Election is on the horizon and the character assassination and vitriol has already begun in earnest. But then, British elections have always been littered with controversy and one of the most acrimonious encounters occurred in Cheshire, in the 1880s.

It was a by-election and it held electors spellbound, almost brought down the British government and opened up the Mother of all Feuds - Ireland.

At the centre of it all was the self-made industrialist John Tomlinson Brunner who at Northwich, along with Dr. Ludwig Mond, had created the great chemical works of Brunner Mond, one of the forerunners of I.C.I.

Successful and bored with business, Brunner turned his attention, and his considerable wealth, to politics and became the Liberal candidate for the Northwich constituency. He was a declared Radical, vowed to disestablish the Church, reform the laws of landed property, abolish school fees and fight for Irish Home Rule.

And so Britain went to the polls in 1885 with Brunner pitted against a local salt baron, William Henry Verdin who championed the Conservative cause.

In those day there was little or no control of the Press and no niceties of balanced and fair reporting; the newspapers vehemently argued and expounded their support, or otherwise, for the candidates.

The Northwich Chronicle, a devout Liberal newspaper of its time, lamented that Verdin chose to fill his speeches with "nothing but remarks on Mr Brunner's personal character, his trade relations, his theological convictions, and other matters equally foreign to the issue before the constituency".
As the level of campaign descended, Verdin accused Brunner of exploiting slave labour at his chemical works, of being half-foreign (his father was Swiss) and his partner nothing more, or less, than a German-Jew.

Verdin also complained that his own brother, Robert Verdin, had stood against Brunner for the Liberal candidature, but voting had been rigged by the presence of Brunner's henchmen who had filled the hall.

For his part, Brunner avoided direct personal attacks, although he managed to put in the political boot by attacking the salt manufacturers, of whom Verdin was one of the largest, for their wild brine pumping which was having a catastrophic effect on Northwich.

The Northwich constituency, including the urban town itself, surrounding villages and parts of Winsford and Runcorn, was therefore immersed in bitter conflict as Election Day approached, Tuesday December 1, 1885.

What occurred in the precincts of the ancient salt town thrust Northwich politics into the national headlines ... and not for the last time either!

As the Manchester Guardian scornfully observed the following morning, "the disreputable classes of Northwich seemed determined to keep up their notoriety for rough play during election times".
"Rough play" was something of an understatement for as the polls closed Northwich descended into a state of mayhem.

Windows at the Conservative offices were smashed, fighting broke out in Witton Street and Market Street and the police were called to make a truncheon charge which left several men and two officers seriously injured. One group of rioters on the town bridge threatened to throw a brass band into the river, and stones and bricks were flying in all directions.

"Shortly after 7pm," reported The Times, "the Riot Act was read", and a telegram was dispatched to the Adjutant of Cheshire Castle to call out the military. Just how it all started and who was to blame remained a matter of conjecture, but the Northwich Chronicle, as the Liberal newspaper, left little doubt - it was petty tyranny orchestrated by the Conservatives:

"It is to be regretted that the present political contest should be disgraced by such disturbances," reported the Chronicle.

"At Northwich tradesmen put up their shutters as evening approached, and when this was done the 'fun' began by an ill-tempered Tory official ferociously assaulting a member of the opposing party.

"Mr Kay, a county magistrate and prominent Tory, next read the Riot Act, kindly following it up by preparing to drench the mob by means of the local fire-engines. The Liberal candidate, however, appealed to the good sense of the community and Mr Kay's liquid remedy was not applied. The order for the military from Chester was also countermanded.

"Mr Kay is a true Tory. The Riot Act, the water hose, and the military fitly represent the impatience and coercive character of Tory policy."

Amidst all the chaos counting of the votes continued under heavy police guard at the Leicester Street Sessions House and shortly after lam Brunner was declared the victor, with 5,023 votes to Verdin's 3,995.

Verdin preposterously complained that the disturbances had affected the result and refused to shake Brunner's hand, but as the Chronicle delighted, "...very few Tories were to be seen after the result became known"!

With the Christmas recess, Brunner did not take his seat at Westminster until January, 1886, with the Conservatives still in office and holding on to a small majority. On January 27, the Government was defeated on a relatively minor issue and Lord Salisbury tendered his resignation. Within a week William Gladstone, his intention to press for Irish Home Rule by this time an open secret, had formed his third and shortest-lived Liberal ministry.

It lasted only until June when another election was called and Northwich found itself plunged into a second Brunner-Verdin campaign, only this time the Verdin interest was to be served by Robert Verdin, the elder of the two brothers who had failed to win the Liberal candidature from Brunner in the previous year.

With Irish Home Rule the greatest single issue, Brunner stood with the backing of the local party as a Gladstonian Liberal ... to him the only authentic Liberalism. The Irish, he affirmed, were being denied through social prejudice and the opposition came from the swells, the men of great rank, of great inheritance who....... are galled to the quick by the idea that thy shall be governed by men of the people".

The Liberals were bitterly divided and Gladstone's party opponents set themselves in opposition as Liberal Unionists, supported in many key constituencies by the Conservatives. Robert Verdin took the platform, therefore, as a Liberal Unionist, supported by the Duke of Westminster who had thrown his enormous influence in Cheshire behind the cause to oust Gladstone.

This time the Northwich election was less about personalities and more about policies and on July 13, Verdin wreaked his revenge in defeating Brunner by 458 votes in a greatly reduced poll.
Brunner was out of Parliament after only seven months and with the Conservatives enjoying a healthy majority, it could be anything up to seven years before another election was called.
To console himself Brunner set off on an eight-month tour of the Dominions and within three weeks of his homecoming he was back electioneering, Robert Verdin, the Member for Northwich, having died of a heart attack.

The seat for which they had fought the previous year now stood vacant and The Times showed its Conservative favour by accusing Brunner of knowing his opponent's fatal condition, and timing his return to Cheshire accordingly.

Brunner denied the allegations and prepared again to fight the Liberal Unionists in a two-way contest against the Duke of Westminster's son, Lord Henry Grosvenor who claimed to represent the "true Liberal Party".

The Northwich contest was set for August 1 887 and it turned out to be one of those mid-term by-elections that, nowadays, seem to leave governments quaking and opposition parties clamouring for power.

Brunner again stood on the Gladstone ticket and attacked Lord Grosvenor, and the Duke, for their social privilege and narrow class interest, but of far more important political interest was the dominating issue of Irish Home Rule. Not a single contest since the 1886 General Election had presented such a clear-cut choice between the opposing policies of coercion and conciliation, and none apparently were seen to be more representative of English society as a whole than the Northwich constituency.

The country looked on with mounting interest - for Gladstone and Brunner defeat was intolerable; for the Liberal Unionists it would be a disaster and lead to a breakup of the Empire. Reports of the Northwich contest appeared daily in the press and politicians flocked to the constituency in a frantic attempt to influence votes.

Never had a by-election caused such a sensation and, long before the days of opinion polls, analysts pored over the outcome. It was going to be a close-run affair they considered, either way!
Polling took place on August 13, a Saturday, but it was not until the Monday that counting got underway and shortly after noon, John Brunner was duly returned as the Member for Northwich. He had won a commanding majority of 1,1 29 votes.

The news spread throughout the country and across to Ireland like the proverbial wildfire. Within an hour, the result was posted in the windows of newspaper offices all along Fleet Street and an "enormous crowd gathered to cheer itself hoarse at the magnificent success of the Home Rule candidate".

Westminster was buzzing with the news, and in Ireland, "... all Dublin had been thrown in ecstasy by the Northwich election," reported the Manchester Guardian, as the streets of the city rang with the cry of victory. Even the New York newspapers, mindful of the city's Irish immigrant population, gave full coverage to the news from Northwich.

"it is indeed difficult to overstate the sensation which the election has produced in London," commented the Guardian which saw the result as a strong condemnation of Lord Salisbury and his policies "...the effect upon the moral position of the Government is considered disastrous and it is expected that Lord Salisbury will inform the Queen that he cannot satisfactorily carry on government unless reinforced by the Liberal Unionist leaders".

The Yorkshire Post for one saw things differently and castigated the electors: "The stupid ingratitude of the Northwich people will not discourage Her Majesty's Ministers from prosecuting to its proper end their beneficent work".

The contest had not been fought with the acrimony of Brunner's first victory, in 1885, but there was still bitterness and the Morning Post complained that some Unionist electors had been deterred by intimidation from casting their votes. Brunner was furious and denounced the allegation as "simply a Tory lie".

But perhaps the Scarborough Evening News best summed it all up by delighting that "...all the Duke's horses and all the Duke's men have not been able to place Lord Henry Grosvenor at the head of the poll for the Northwich division".

The repercussions rumbled on as they always do in politics and as the euphoria of Brunner's election victory gave away to bloodshed in Ireland, Lord Salisbury survived with his government until 1892 .

Brunner went on to represent Northwich for a further twenty two years, being made a Baronet in 1 895 and a Privy Counsellor in 1906, but later refusing a Peerage. He died in 1919, just three years before the creation of the Irish Free State...leaving Britain with its bloody Ulster legacy!

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