A Magnificent Fungus on the Political Tree: The Growth of University Representation in the United Kingdom, 1832–1950

Abstract

Abstract Following the unceremonious defeat of Gladstone’s 1893 Home Rule Bill in the House of Lords, a Liberal government proposed replacing the Conservative-dominated hereditary chamber with a new ‘Upper House’ composed of one representative from each county of the United Kingdom and one from each university. While the equal representation of territory in a bicameral legislature’s upper chamber was an established model, combining this with representation of universities was novel. Universities had returned members to the House of Commons since 1603, but the new scheme would have extended universities’ parliamentary strength in several respects. Assuming no change in the Commons, university members would sit in both houses of Parliament, and whereas only some universities were represented in the Commons in 1894, all would be given seats in the new Upper House. University MPs were returned to the Commons in a variety of configurations (three two-member constituencies, one with a single MP, and two joint constituencies with shared MPs), but all universities would receive equal representation in the reformed second chamber. Moreover, compared to the nine university MPs then part of the 658-seat Commons, the twelve Upper House university representatives would have had greater relative weight in a chamber otherwise composed of representatives from each of the 118 counties of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.