ABSTRACT
The son of a wealthy ironworks owner and MP for Bradford, Gathorne Hardy (1814–1906) attended Shrewsbury School and then went up to Oriel College, Oxford, in 1833. After a successful career in the law, he was elected Conservative MP for Leominster in 1856. Retiring from the law, he thereafter devoted himself to Conservative politics. A staunch defender of the Established Church, he was a devout life-long High Churchman. An enthusiast for field sports, he was also a determined defender of property rights and law and order. In Derby’s 1858–1859 government he served as Under-Secretary of the Home Office. In opposition after 1859, he established a formidable reputation as a combative and effective speaker, contributing to the withdrawal of Russell’s Reform bill in 1860 and opposing the exemption of Nonconformists from Church rates in 1862. He expressed the views of Conservative backbenchers with a trenchant directness that endeared him to many in the party. In 1865, he defeated Gladstone on becoming MP for Oxford University.
In July 1866, Hardy became President of the Poor Law Board in Derby’s third government. On Spencer Walpole’s resignation as Home Secretary in May 1867, Hardy succeeded him. Unenthusiastic about all aspects of the Conservatives’ Reform proposals, nonetheless, Hardy accepted that party loyalty required him to support Disraeli in the Commons. During Commons debate of the government’s Reform bill, Hardy further enhanced his reputation as one of the best and most passionate speakers the party possessed. On the passing of the Reform Act for England and Wales, he privately noted that, if the gentry played their part, they would be accepted as leaders by the newly enfranchised. If they did not, then disastrously all would be left to the demagogues.
When Derby stepped down as prime minister, for reasons of ill health, in February 1868, to be succeeded by Disraeli, Hardy doubted the ability of the Conservative government to survive for long. In March, Gladstone introduced three resolutions in the Commons calling for the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, its gradual disendowment, and the placing of the Crown’s interest in the Church temporalities at the disposal of parliament. Conservative MPs received Hardy’s statement opposing the resolutions on 31 March, though hastily prepared, with great enthusiasm. Their prolonged cheers were lasting and the spirits of the party rallied. Derby immediately wrote privately to Hardy praising the great force and ability with which he placed the whole question of the Irish Church on its proper footing. The National Union of Conservative and Constitutional Associations quickly published a copy of the speech.
