Home > Peelite

The Peelites were a breakaway faction of the British Conservative Party, and existed from 1846 to 1859. They were called "Peelites" because they were initially led by Sir Robert Peel, who was the British Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader in 1846.

The Peelites were characterised by commitment to Free Trade and a managerial, almost technocratic, approach to government. Though they sought to maintain the principles of the Conservative Party, Peelites disagreed with the major wing of that party, the Tory landed interest, on issues of trade; in particular, the issue of whether agricultural prices should be artificially kept high by tariffs.

In 1845, facing a serious famine in Ireland, Peel sought to lower food prices by repealing the Corn Laws. He was able to carry the repeal vote in the House of Commons, but only at the price of splitting the Conservative Party; a split which led to the fall of Peel's government in June 1846, and its replacement by a Whig government led by Lord John Russell.

The leading members of the Peelite faction that developed after the 1846 split of the Conservative Party were:

• Sir Robert Peel
• Sir James Graham
• 4th Earl of Aberdeen
• William Gladstone
• Sidney Herbert
• Edward Cardwell
• Lord Lincoln (later 5th Duke of Newcastle)Henry Pelham Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme, 12th Earl of Lincoln (also known as Henry Pelham Clinton-Hope ( 22 May 1811 18 October 1864) was a British politician, who eventually rose to the position of Secretary of State for War and the
• Sir John YoungJohn Young, 1st Baron Lisgar ( August 31, 1807 October 6, 1876) was the second Governor General of Canada. Born in Bombay, India, Young sat as a member of Parliament in the British House of Commons between 1831 and 1835. He married the 14-year-old Lady Ad

After Peel's death in 1850Events January 4 The first American ice-skating club is formed ( Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). January 29 Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the United States Congress February 28 University of Utah opens in Salt Lake City, Utah March 7 United, the Peelite faction was led by Lord Aberdeen, who became the only Peelite prime minister in 1852Events January 14 President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte proclaims a new constitution for the French Second Republic. January 17 United Kingdom recognizes independence of the Transvaal Devil's Island penal colony opens February 11 First British public toilet by forming a government in coalition with the Liberals. The government fell in 1855Events Births January 5 King Camp Gillette, inventor († 1932) January 21 John Moses Browning, inventor († 1926) January 28 William Seward Burroughs, inventor of the calculator († 1898) March 13 Percival Lowell, astronomer († 19 as a result of the unpopularity of the Crimean WarThe Crimean War lasted from 1854 to 1856. It was fought between Russia and an alliance of the United Kingdom, France, and the Ottoman Empire, joined somewhat tardily by Piedmont-Sardinia. The majority of the conflict took place around the Crimean peninsul.

After the fall of the Aberdeen government, the Peelite faction slowly disintegrated, with the final blow being the acceptance by several leading Peelites (including Gladstone, Cardwell, and Newcastle) of cabinet posts in the Liberal administration of Lord PalmerstonHenry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston ( October 20, 1784 October 18, 1865) was a British Prime Minister and Liberal politician. He was in government office almost continually from 1807 till his death in 1865. Early Life and Career Henry John Temple w in 1859. Many Peelites went on to join the Liberal Party, though some also returned to the Conservatives.

As a result of losing much of the Peelite faction and its sympathizers, the Conservative Party would not be able to form another majority government for a generation, until after the 1874 general election.