Page "History of Scotland" Paragraph 104

The Scottish Reform Act 1832 increased the number of Scottish MPs and significantly widened the franchise to include more of the middle classes.

From this point until the end of the century, the Whigs and ( after 1859 ) their successors the Liberal Party, managed to gain a majority of the Westminster Parliamentary seats for Scotland, although these were often outnumbered by the much larger number of English and Welsh Conservatives.

The English-educated Scottish peer Lord Aberdeen ( 1784 – 1860 ) led a coalition government from 1852-5, but in general very few Scots held office in the government.

From the mid-century there were increasing calls for Home Rule for Scotland and when the Conservative Lord Salisbury became prime minister in 1885 he responded to pressure by reviving the post of Secretary of State for Scotland, which had been in abeyance since 1746.

He appointed the Duke of Richmond, a wealthy landowner who was both Chancellor of Aberdeen University and Lord Lieutenant of Banff.

Towards the end of the century Prime Ministers of Scottish descent included the Tory, Peelite and Liberal William E. Gladstone, who held the office four times between 1868 and 1894.

The first Scottish Liberal to become prime minister was the Earl of Rosebery, from 1894 – 95, like Aberdeen before him a product of the English education system.

In the later 19th century the issue of Irish Home Rule led to a split among the Liberals, with a minority breaking away to form the Liberal Unionists in 1886.

The growing importance of the working classes was marked by Keir Hardie's success in the Mid Lanarkshire by-election, 1888, leading to the foundation of the Scottish Labour Party, which was absorbed into the Independent Labour Party in 1895, with Hardie as its first leader.