Editing History of Scotland (section)

===Party politics===
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 (UK)|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.<ref name="Devine&Finlay1996pp64-5">{{Cite book |title=Scotland in the Twentieth Century |date=1996 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=0-748-60751-X |editor-last=Devine |editor-first=Tom M. |editor-link=Tom Devine |pages=64–65 |ol=742852M |editor-last2=Finlay |editor-first2=Richard J. |editor-link2=Richard J. Finlay}}</ref> The English-educated Scottish peer [[Lord Aberdeen]] (1784–1860) led a coalition government from 1852 to 1855, but in general very few Scots held office in the government.<ref>M. Oaten, ''Coalition: the Politics and Personalities of Coalition Government from 1850'' (Harriman House, 2007), pp. 37–40.</ref> 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.<ref>F. Requejo and K-J Nagel, ''Federalism Beyond Federations: Asymmetry and Processes of Re-symmetrization in Europe'' (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2011), p. 39.</ref> He appointed the [[Charles Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond|Duke of Richmond]], a wealthy landowner who was both Chancellor of Aberdeen University and Lord Lieutenant of Banff.<ref>J. G. Kellas, "Unionists as nationalists", in W. Lockley, ed., ''Anglo-Scottish Relations from 1900 to Devolution and Beyond'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 52.</ref> Towards the end of the century Prime Ministers of Scottish descent included the Tory, [[Peelite]] and Liberal [[William Gladstone]], who held the office four times between 1868 and 1894.<ref name="Quinault2007">R. Quinault, "Scots on Top? Tartan Power at Westminster 1707–2007", ''History Today'', 2007 57(7): 30–36. {{ISSN|0018-2753}} Fulltext: [[EBSCO Information Services|Ebsco]].</ref> The first Scottish Liberal to become prime minister was [[the Earl of Rosebery]], from 1894 to 1895, like Aberdeen before him a product of the English education system.<ref>K. Kumar, ''The Making of English National Identity'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 183.</ref> 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.<ref name=Devine&Finlay1996pp64-5/> The growing importance of the working classes was marked by [[Keir Hardie]]'s success in the [[1888 Mid Lanarkshire by-election]], leading to the foundation of the [[Scottish Labour Party (1888)|Scottish Labour Party]], which was absorbed into the [[Independent Labour Party]] in 1895, with Hardie as its first leader.<ref>D. Howell, ''British Workers and the Independent Labour Party, 1888–1906'' (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984), p. 144.</ref>