James Richard Thursfield

“ In the spring of 1885, when the Crimes Act was about to expire, acute differences arose in the cabinet both as to its renewal and as to the general Irish policy of the party. Spencer with the support of the whig element in the cabinet desired that certain provisions in the old Coercion Act should be renewed, and he suggested that a new land purchase bill should accompany the new Coercion Act. The radical leaders, Mr. Chamberlain and Sir Charles Dilke [q. v. Suppl. II] , dissented, unless Spencer accepted in place of the land bill a large measure of local government. ”

“ There was early promise of a lucrative practice, but on Forster's appointment as chief secretary for Ireland in the second Gladstone administration in 1880, Arnold-Forster, his adopted son, became his private secretary, and he shared Forster's labours, anxieties, and incessant perils through the next two years. ”

“ The government had already decided to appoint a small committee to advise on the reconstruction of the machinery of the war office. One of Arnold- Forster's first administrative acts was to appoint Viscount Esher, Sir John Fisher, and Sir George Sydenham Clarke as the sole members of this committee, whose report resulted in the constitution, on a new and established footing, of the committee of imperial defence, and in the reconstruction of the hierarchy of the war office more or less on the model of the board of admiralty. ”

“ On the overthrow of Gladstone's government in 1874 Spencer left Ireland with a reputation for combining a firm with a conciliatory temper.
During the next six years, while his party was in opposition, he for the most part occupied himself privately. He had become lord-lieutenant of Northamptonshire (11 Aug. 1872) , and was always attentive to county business. When Gladstone formed his second administration in 1880 Spencer joined the liberal cabinet as lord president of the council. The office constituted its occupant the chief of the education department. ”

“ Chamberlain's promulgation of the policy of tariff reform led to a reconstruction of Mr. Balfour's ministry [see Cavendish, Spencer Compton, eighth Duke of Devonshire, Suppl. II; Ritchie, Charles Thomson, first Baron Ritchie of Dundee; Suppl. II] . Arnold-Forster, an ardent supporter of tariff reform, now entered the cabinet as secretary of state for war in succession to Mr. St. John Brodrick, now Viscount Midleton, who became secretary of state for India. ”

“ By virtue of his office and by reason of what Lord Morley in his 'Life of Gladstone' called his 'unrivalled mastery of the intricate details' of the whole question of redistribution, he took charge of the redistribution bill and conducted it through the House of Commons with exceptional skill. On 18 Jan. 1884 Dilke, Lord Granville, and Lord Northbrook met General Gordon with Lord Hartington and Lord Wolseley at the war office and they decided on behalf of the cabinet to send Gordon to the Soudan. ”

“ MARJORIBANKS, EDWARD, second Baron Tweedmouth (1849–1909) , politician, born in London on 8 July 1849, was eldest son in a family of four sons and two daughters of Sir Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks, first baronet, a very capable man of business and a collector of works of art, who sat in parliament as liberal member for Berwick-on-Tweed from 1853 to 1868 and subsequently from 1874 to 1881; having been created a baronet on 25 July 1866, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Tweedmouth (12 Oct. 1881) . ”

“ A grave crisis had arisen in Ireland, where at the instigation of the Land League disorder had raged for more than two years and coercive measures failed in their purpose. Gladstone and his government were now seeking some accommodation with the revolutionary leaders. But the Irish viceroy, Lord Cowper [q. v. Suppl. II] , and the Irish secretary, W. E. Forster [q. v.] , deprecated any reversal of policy, and both resigned. Spencer became viceroy, retaining his seat in the cabinet, and Lord Frederick Cavendish [q. v.] joined him as chief secretary. ”

“ In 1884, on the foundation of the Imperial Federation League with Forster for its president, he became it secretary, and thenceforward enthusiastically advocated a closer union of empire, actively supporting the efforts Mr. Joseph Chamberlain in that direction and ultimately accepting his policy of tariff reform and colonial preference. ”

“ But Gladstone's high opinion of Spencer was not affected by such differences. On 2 March 1894, after Gladstone had forwarded his resignation to Queen Victoria, he remarked that should the queen consult him as to the selection of his successor he should advise her to send for Spencer. But his advice was not asked, and the queen chose Lord Rosebery, under whom Spencer agreed to continue at the admiralty. He steadily pursued his previous policy until Lord Rosebery's government fell in 1895. ”

“ In 1885 the Gladstone ministry, externally weakened by the miscarriages of its Egyptian policy, and discredited by its failure to rescue Gordon, was also distracted almost to dissolution by internal dissensions arising out of its Irish policy. New bills for a partial renewal of the expiring Coercion Act, for land purchase and for local government in Ireland were before the cabinet early in 1885. Dilke and Mr. Chamberlain recommended a central administrative board, and resisted the other proposals without effect. On 19 May Gladstone announced in the House of Commons a land purchase bill. ”

“ Next year Dilke made a second tour round the world, now visiting China and Japan, and thenceforth for many years he spent much leisure at a modest villa which he purchased near Toulon. At the same time during his second parliament (1874-80) he greatly improved his position. He became an effective speaker, and won the ear of the House of Commons (Lucy's Diary of Parliament, 1874-80, pp. 307-10) . His radicalism lost nothing of its strength on shedding its republican features. He made an annual attack on unreformed corporations. ”

“ To the cause of Greece he proved himself a warm friend. At the general election of April 1880, Dilke for the third time headed the poll at Chelsea with 12,408 votes, carrying the second liberal candidate (Mr. J. B. Firth) in with him with 12,040 votes.
Before Gladstone returned to power in 1880, Dilke was an acknowledged leader of the radical section of his party. Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, M.P. for Birmingham since June 1876, was his chief colleague. Gladstone, however, was very slowly persuaded of the importance of the radical leaders. ”

“ In 1869, on the death of his father, Dilke succeeded to the baronetcy and also to the then lucrative proprietorship of the 'Athenæum' and of 'Notes and Queries'—the former purchased and edited by his grandfather and the latter established by him in 1849—and to a part proprietorship of the 'Gardeners' Chronicle.' He always took an active interest in the conduct of the 'Athenæum' and frequently contributed to its columns, though except during the occasional absence of the responsible editor he never edited it himself. ”

“ Donald Crawford, liberal M. P. for Lanark, filed a petition for divorce against his wife on the ground of her alleged adultery with Dilke. Mrs. Crawford was a sister of the wife of Dilke's only brother Ashton, and with her family he was on intimate terms. On the announcement of the charge, Dilke denied its truth in an open letter to the liberal association of Chelsea. The association accepted his disclaimer. He stood for the constituency — now a single member division — at the general election in Dec. 1885 and was returned by 4291 votes against 4116 cast for the conservative candidate. ”

“ In 1892 Dilke returned to public life as member of parliament for the Forest of Dean. The electors had convinced themselves of his innocence. He beat his conservative opponent after a contest by a large majority. He represented that constituency till his death, fighting the elections of 1900 and Jan. and Dec. 1910, but being returned without a contest in 1895 and 1906. Henceforth a private member, he did not speak frequently in the House of Commons. ”

“ Crawford acknowledged that she had committed adultery with a man not mentioned in her original confession, but withdrew none of her former charges against Dilke, and added odious details which were regarded by believers in Dilke's innocence to be inventions directed solely to prejudice. Dilke absolutely denied all the accusations. ”

“ He died suddenly at his London residence in South Kensington on 12 March 1909, and was buried at Wroughton, Wiltshire, the parish in which his father-in-law lived. In 1884 Arnold-Forster married Mary, eldest daughter of Mervyn Herbert Nevil Story-Maskelyne [q. v. Suppl. II] . She survived him with four sons.
With the shadow of death long hanging over him, no man, as Mr. Balfour remarked after his death, was 'more absolutely absorbed in a great and unselfish desire to carry out his own public duty.' His speeches in parliament were models of lucid exposition. ”

“ In 1868 the first general election took place under the Reform Act of the previous year. Dilke was selected by the radical party in the newly constituted borough of Chelsea, to which two members were allotted, as one of its two candidates. His colleague was Sir Henry Hoare, and their opponents were (Sir) William H. Russell [q. v. Suppl. II] and C. J. Freake. Dilke headed the poll on 17 Nov. with 7374 votes, Hoare receiving 7183, and Russell only 4177. ”

“ Sir William Harcourt, then chancellor of the exchequer, professing to represent the opinion of the sea lords, asserted that in their opinion as well as his own the existing condition of things in respect to the navy was satisfactory. ”

“ Although he hospitably entertained his friends, he continued to be little seen in society. In Oct. 1904 the death of his wife gravely disabled him, and he prefixed a touching memoir to a work of hers, 'The Book of the Spiritual Life,' which appeared in 1905. In 1906 he served as chairman of the select committee on the income tax and drafted its report, some of the recommendations of which were subsequently embodied in legislation. ”

“ Coleridge formed a high opinion of his abilities, but he made little further progress at the bar, and deserted law for politics. His political and family connections were strong in Berwickshire, where his father had purchased considerable estates. ”

“ The orphaned children were at once adopted by their father's eldest sister, Jane Martha, and her husband, William Edward Forster [q. v.] , who had no children of their own. Perfect confid- ence and affection marked for life the rela- tions between foster-parents and adopted children. ”