Joseph Chamberlain and the Birmingham Town Council, 1865–1880

Abstract

Of all the mayoralties within modern British municipal history, none is more celebrated than that of Joseph Chamberlain at Birmingham from 1873 until 1876, often considered to have set a new model for the role and duties of local government. Associated with the changes being made to the physical environment of the town, there were profound changes in the make-up of Birmingham’s town council and the balance there between Chamberlain’s allies and sympathizers and his opponents. Using methods taken from social network analysis, the approach here investigates the roll-call records of the Birmingham town council. This not only enables the discovery of networks of voting, but also shows the wider identity on council of those individuals comprising these networks and how they were changing over the period.