ABSTRACT
The increase in partisan tension on the Council was not primarily a reaction to local issues or even national issues, such as temperance and education, which had important local implications. In 1867, the National Union of Conservative and Constitutional Associations was formed, and in Liverpool the Working Men’s Constitutional Association got under way. The formal Orange structure, with organised lodges and leadership, was probably confined to Liverpool where most of the Irish lived; but Orange sentiments were held by very many people throughout South Lancashire. The Liverpool Working Men’s Conservative Association was certainly active in the 1868 election in Liverpool and the out-townships, and was to be even more significant in the future, in both national and local politics. The position of Nonconformity in Liverpool was unlike that in any city in both size and composition.
