Business, Liberalism and Dissent in Norwich 1900–19301

Abstract

In much of the literature on the decline of the Liberal party, there is an implicit assumption that the bulk of the party's middle-elass support, and in particular its business support, had defected to the Conservatives by the early 1920s.2 This literature also assumes that only two real issues separated the middle-elass in the pre-war period - religion and free trade.3 Thus, when the war brought an end to free trade and quickened the decline of organized religion in Britain, the middle class united in a property-owning, anti-socialist alliance under Conservative leadership.4 This article will challenge some of these assumptions by showing that significant sections of the Norwich business and dissenting communities continued to support Liberalism right down to 1930, and that chapel culture, in particular, was of considerable importance in maintaining the Liberal party after 1919.s