ABSTRACT
The increase of Radical influence was best evidenced in the new direction given to Irish administration by Lord Mulgrave as Lord Lieutenant, Lord Morpeth as Irish Secretary, and Drummond as Irish Under-Secretary. One important element in the political situation was the complete electoral dominance Radicalism had been able to establish in the metropolitan area since 1832. Of this Radicalism represented by such “Ultras” as De Lacy Evans, Whittle Harvey, and Duncombe, Wakley, junior member for Finsbury, may be taken as a specially interesting leader. Other Radical causes also received notable recruitment in the 1835 Parliament. Despite the abundance of Radical energy available, the Session of 1836 was to prove disappointingly unfruitful of Radical measures. The two most Radical pieces of Government legislation which the Lords admitted to the Statute Book during the Session of 1836 were the Bill for Dissenters’ Marriages and that for the establishment of Civil Registration of Births, Marriages, and Deaths.
