West End Place, Dalry

Image: © Ian Dodds Taken: 24 Aug 2023

The buildings on the North side of the road appear unaltered - save for a bit of tinkering with back porches - from at least the 1870s. A bed and breakfast (or 'guest house' to give it its official title) is now based at Number 10. This house is shown on an 1890s Ordnance Survey map as being the 'Liberal Unionist Club'. This political party only lasted for around 25 years but was quite important in the history of British, UK and Irish politics. To briefly and generally summarise: In the mid 1880s William Gladstone, leader of the Liberals - who were then sitting in opposition to a Conservative government - declared, unexpectedly, his support for Irish home rule, i.e. independence. This caused the Irish nationalist politicians, who at that time were supporting the government, to switch sides, bringing Conservative rule to an end. However, some in the Liberal Party were opposed to Irish home rule and founded a new party, the Liberal Unionists, who voted against all Gladstone's Irish proposals and subsequently brought his government down. (It seems that the recent 'unprecedented' turmoil in UK politics isn't actually that unprecedented after all!) They then sat in opposition to the re-elected Conservatives with their former colleagues in a very odd setup as they continued to vote alongside the Conservative government. Over the following years, in which governments alternated between the Liberals and Conservatives, the Liberal Unionists became ever more closely aligned with the Conservatives, at one point forming a coalition government; they finally merged in 1912. This is why the official name of the Conservatives is still the Conservative and Unionist Party. The Scottish branch of the Liberal Unionists became the Unionist Party, but were Conservatives in all but name; they even provided two Conservative prime ministers, most recently Alec Douglas-Home in the 1960s. Shortly after his one year in office came to an end they then became what they still are today: the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.

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