ABSTRACT
Lord Rosebery’s Liberal government fell unexpectedly in the summer of 1895 after a chance vote. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the War Minister who a decade later was to be Prime Minister, had been censured, unjustly as it turned out, for not having procured enough of the new smokeless cordite for the army. Lord Salisbury, the incoming Prime Minister, decided that in forming his third administration he needed the support of the Liberal Unionists. Consequently Joseph Chamberlain joined his Cabinet as Colonial Secretary while the Duke of Devonshire (formerly Lord Hartington) became Lord President of the Council.
