The ‘Contest for Dominion’: Political Conflict and the Decline of the Lowther ‘Interest’ in Whitehaven, 1820–1900

Abstract

CONSIDERABLE HISTORICAL INTEREST has recently been shown in the decline of the political influence exercised by aristocratic landowners in nineteenth-century towns.! David Cannadine, in particular, has tried to throw more light on what he calls 'the shift in the balance of power in the towns from those who owned and managed urban estates to those who lived on them'. Cannadine has suggested that during the course of the nineteenth century, the political role of the aristocracy in the towns changed from one of 'feudal Lord' to that of 'figurehead'. In short, by the end of the century the aristocratic magnates had retreated to a position of 'ceremonial and decorative importance' in civic affairs while the reins of urban political power had been seized by middle-class politicians and civic leaders. Cannadine's ideas regarding the direction of change in urban centres which were subject to aristocratic influence are both perceptive and stimulating. As he points out, however, more research is still needed into the dynamics of this process in particular communities. Only through such research can we gain a clearer perspective on the complex interaction of family activity, social change, and party politics that lay behind such a profound social transition. 2