Summer daze - Churchill at Watnall - 2,000 people attend Watnall Hall's political picnic

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The divisive politics of Ireland came to the sleepy, summer-dazed village of Watnall in July 1887. On a near-tropical Thursday afternoon, over 2,000 people arrived for the Nottingham Conservative's annual "picnic" in the grounds of Watnall Hall. At the time, the whole of Ireland was still part of Great Britain and the patriotic local Conservatives wanted it to stay that way. A bandstand had been specially set up for the cast of local worthies to hold forth on the iniquities of the new Home Rule for Ireland bill³ and other hot topics of the day, including a perceived insult to Nottingham from Queen Victoria herself. 

Lancelot Rolleston
in 1888
The rally had been in the planning stages since April when Lord Randolph Churchill, Winston's father and recent Chancellor of the Exchequer, had stayed at Watnall Hall... "Arrangements are being made under the auspices of a committee of the Southern Division Conservative Club to hold a combined Unionist, Conservative, and Primrose League picnic and demonstration in July next... Mr. L. Rolleston has given his consent for the use of Watnall Park, and Mr. Smith Wright¹ [local MP], is using his influence to secure the attendance of the leaders of both the Unionist and Conservative parties to speak at a political meeting." 

Lord Randolph Churchill,
Winston's father
Rolleston had known Churchill since their University days together at Oxford. It was probably their shared love of hunting that brought them together. He was keen to get into national politics and emulate his father, Colonel Rolleston, who had been MP for South Notts. The previous year he'd unsuccessfully stood as MP for Mansfield. 
Churchill was a radical, populist right-winger, a Boris Johnson of his time, who eventually died of suspected syphilis at the age of 45 picked up from a dalliance with a chambermaid. He opposed Irish Home Rule and for a time looked like a potential prime minister until he tactically resigned as Chancellor over a budget dispute. It back-fired and the Prime Minister chose not to support him. It proved to be one of the great blunders in British political history. He was still popular with the public though and was in Nottingham in 1887 trying to rekindle his political career. Thousands of people lined the streets when he arrived at Nottingham Station and he gave a stirring speech at the Albert Hall. But with his health failing he quit politics, never quite fulfilling his potential.

The satirical Punch magazine likens Churchill to a spoilt clown after he
resigned from the Cabinet and as Chancellor of the Exchequer 

The Nottingham Evening Post from Friday 22nd July 1887 takes up the story of the picnic and what happened that steamy summer day...

Conservative picnic at Watnall

"Under an almost tropical sun and amidst very pleasant surroundings, the Conservatives and Unionists of the Southern Division of Nottingham, to the number of just over 2,000, held their second annual picnic in the grounds adjoining Watnall Hall, Notts., on Thursday afternoon.

Although in point of numbers the reunion was not upon such an extensive scale as that which was held at Lowdham last year, the success of the gathering, both from a party and social point of view, cannot be gainsaid. A large number of the picnic party, though not the majority, proceeded from Nottingham to Watnall by brakes [small horse-drawn carriage], starting shortly before two o'clock. The drive was hot and the roads dusty, but the shortness of the journey made it less trying than otherwise would have been the case for cattle and passengers, and Watuall was reached about three o'clock without mishap.

Dusty roads - the old road outside Watnall Hall

Horse-drawn brake on the dusty pre-tarmac road outside Watnall Hall

About five o'clock a large gathering around the band stand was presided over by Mr. Henry Smith Wright, M.P., who was accompanied upon the platform by Mrs. Smith Wright, Miss Alice Smith Wright. Dr. Tindal Robertson, M.P., Colonel Eyre, M.P., Mr. Lancelot Rolleston, J.P., Mr. F. Wright, J.P., Mrs. Rolleston, Mr. J. Pettifor, J.P., Mr. W. A. Blain, J.P., Councillor Wootton (president of the Southern Division Conservative Council), Councillor Brittle, Councillor Bentley, Councillor Farrands, Mr. J. R. Forman, Mr. Geo. Marah, &c.

The Question of Irish Home Rule

Col. EYRE, who was received with loud applause, said that before he read the resolution which he had been asked to propose, he wished to congratulate them on the day, which seemed to help them to celebrate their Jubilee. The resolution was as follows:-

"That this meeting of Unionists expresses its entire confidence in the Irish policy of her Majesty's Government, and trusts that while crime and disorder may meet their just deserts through the agency of the Crimes Act, yet that the remedial legislation now introduced into the House of Commons may be found beneficial and a means of removing such of the discontent and disloyalty existing in Ireland."

No one bothered about "political correctness" in 1887

Mr. Councillor BRITTLE seconded the motion. The resolution was carried with one dissentient. Dr. TINDAL ROBERTSON, M.P., moved the following resolution:-

"That this meeting thoroughly appreciates the patriotic and valuable assistance which the Marquis of Hartington, the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, and the Liberal and Radical Unionists generally have so loyally rendered to the Government, and hopes that the alliance thus formed may continue and grow in strength, and be the means of preserving the unity of Great Britain and Ireland, and scattering confusion amongst the Separatists, with whom the integrity of the empire is considered of so little worth". The resolution was carried amid applause. 

Conservative's feared that Gladstone's Irish Home Rule Bill
would foreshadow the break up of Great Britain 

Mr. LANCELOT ROLLESTON, who received a hearty cheer, said that he was suffering from an affection of the throat and had been ordered by his medical man not to make a political speech. He thanked them for the hearty vote accorded to himself and Mrs. Rolleston. (Cheers.) 

The CHAIRMAN, who was received with cheers, expressed the great pleasure it gave him to see so many of his supporters in the Southern Division of Nottingham. (Cheers.) He wished to congratulate them upon the Bill which had just been brought forward for its second reading in the House of Lords by the Earl of Winchilsea, and that was the Gardens Compensation Bill² (hear, hear) which was one which they had all taken great interest in. He felt sure that it would go through triumphantly, and come into effect on the 1st January next. 

The Nottingham Jubilee Question

He wished next to allude to what he believed was now known as the Nottingham Jubilee question. The local Radical paper had tried to make out that Nottingham had been insulted by the Government of the present day, and that all sorts of things had happened owing to his (Mr. Smith Wright's) fault. If they would kindly take the trouble to read a letter which he had written to the newspapers they would find that in the first instance he knew nothing whatever about the address to the Queen from the Corporation of Nottingham being presented. He thought that address would have gone to her Majesty through Sir Henry Ponsonby, and at all events, the matter had nothing to do with politics. 

He never heard anything else about the matter until it was too late to do anything in it until the 24th of June. At that time he learned, after communicating with the Town Clerk, that Sir Henry Ponsonby had delegated his authority to select the towns who were to have the honour of personally presenting their addresses to the Queen, to the Home Secretary. He was of opinion that when the Town Clerk and the Corporation knew what had happened, and were aware there was any doubt about Nottingham having the right to present the address, they might have asked him to speak to the Home Secretary about it. (Hear, hear.) But they never said one single word about it until it was too late. He assured them that no insult was intended either by the Home Secretary, or by anyone else towards Nottingham. There was a great pressure put upon the Queen, the names of 12 or 13 towns were accepted to personally present addresses, and Nottingham, was left out, although he (Mr. Smith Wright) thought Nottingham ought to be one of the first towns in England to be accepted. 

Councillor WOOTTON proposed a cordial vote of thanks to Mr. Rolleston and Mrs. Rolleston, and referring to the alleged insult to Nottingham said that a Jubilee Committee was formed by the Town Council for the purpose of carrying out the Jubilee demonstration in Nottingham, and they did their work extremely well. and to the credit of the people of the town. Mr. E. DENHAN seconded the resolution, which was carried amid great cheering.

He would not detain them any longer, and would call upon the member for the Gainsborough Division of Lincolnshire to address them. Before doing that, however, he should like to mention that Mr. Lawrance, M.P., had sent a letter expressing his regret that he was unable to be present that day, as he had received a telegram telling him that it was absolutely necessary for him to be in town that day. (Cheers.) He again thanked them for the very cordial reception which they had accorded him. (Hear, hear.)

The meeting then terminated, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith Wright returned to town shortly afterwards."


Notes and sources

1 - Henry Smith Wright possibly lived at Watnall Hall as a young man. His father Ichabod Charles Wright rented the hall from 1855. https://watnallhall.blogspot.com/2024/02/who-else-has-lived-at-watnall-hall.html

Henry Smith Wright (27 June 1839 – 19 March 1910) was an English barrister, banker and Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1895. Wright was born at Quarndon, Derbyshire the third son of Ichabod Charles Wright of Watnall Hall, Nottinghamshire. He was educated at Brighton College and admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge on 29 January 1858. He was a scholar in 1861[1] and also that year rowed in the winning First Trinity Boat Club coxed four which won the Stewards' Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta.[2] He was admitted at the Inner Temple on 20 August 1862 and called to the bar on 30 April 1866. Wright was a member of his father's banking firm in Nottingham from 1867 to 1878. With his father he published a selection of psalms in verse.[3] He translated the Iliad, I-IV into English hexameters,[4] and the Aeneid, I-VI into blank verse. Wright stood unsuccessfully for Nottingham South in 1885 [5] but was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for South Nottingham at the 1886 general election. He held the seat until he stood down in 1895. Wright lived at Mapperley Hall, Nottinghamshire[7] and died at the age of 70. Wright married Mary Jane Cartledge, only daughter of William Cartledge, of Woodthorpe in 1865. He married secondly in 1869, Josephine Henrietta Wright, his first cousin, daughter of the Rev. John Adolphus Wright, rector of Ickham, Kent, and had four sons and one daughter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Smith_Wright

2 - The Gardens Compensation Bill was possibly was one of the more bucolic of Parliament's bills that year but important to Nottingham nonetheless as it had a great deal of land still used by market gardeners. The bill concerned "Allotments and Cottage Gardens Compensation. A Bill [as Amended in Committee] to Provide Compensation to the Occupiers of Allotments and Cottage Gardens for Crops Left in the Ground at the End of Their Tenancies"

3 - The "Irish Home Rule" bill or more precisely the "Government of Ireland Bill 1886" was the precursor to what eventually led to the partition of Ireland into the Republic in the south and Northern Ireland in the north. 

Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, creating a devolved government for the six northeastern counties. As was intended by unionists and their supporters in Westminster, Northern Ireland had a unionist majority, who wanted to remain in the United Kingdom;[20] they were generally the Protestant descendants of colonists from Britain. Meanwhile, the majority in Southern Ireland (which became the Irish Free State in 1922), and a significant minority in Northern Ireland, were Irish nationalists (generally Catholics) who wanted a united independent Ireland.[21] Today, the former generally see themselves as British and the latter generally see themselves as Irish, while a Northern Irish or Ulster identity is claimed by a significant minority from all backgrounds.

Sources - Notts Evening Post, Lisa Fitzgerald; Picture credits - Creative Commons and permission.

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