972 Arnold Morley

Constituency  :  Nottingham 1880-85, Nottingham  East  1885-95

We  now  look  at  the  Liberal  victors  at  by-elections  during  the  1880-85  parliament. Gladstone's   second  ministry  was  not  a  great  reforming  one  like  his  first. A  number  of  unconnected factors  conspired  to prevent  this. There  was  the  interminable  Charles  Bradlaugh  saga  eating  up  Parliamentary  time, the  declining  situation  in  Ireland  despite  the  Land  Act  of  1881  and  the  obstructionist  tactics  of  Parnell  and  the  problems  of  empire  leading  to  the  controversial  occupation  of  Egypt  and  the  disaster  in  the  Sudan. Lastly , Gladstone  himself  was  reluctant  to  let  the  new  Radicalism  of  Chamberlain  and  his  ilk  lead  government  policy. The  one  major  domestic  achievement   was  the  Third  Reform  Act  of  1884 which  made  these  the  last  MPs  elected  under  the  1867  franchise.

Arnold  came  in  for  Nottingham  following  the  death  of  the  unfortunate  John  Wright.

Arnold   was  the  son  of  Samuel  Morley, now MP  for  Bristol  but  formerly  for  Nottingham.  He  was  a  barrister. At  one  time  he  was  proprietor  of  the  Daily  News  but  sold  out  to  Labouchere. He  was  very  wealthy.

In  1882  Arnold  was  in  charge  of  a  report  to  Parliament  into  a  colliery  disaster.

Arnold  was  Gladstone's  chief  whip  in  1886  and  continued  as  the  Liberal  whip  during  the  opposition  years.  In  1891  he  arranged  for  two  Liberal  MPs  to   buy  peerages  from  Glasdstone .In  1892  he  was  appointed  Postmaster  General.

Arnold  was  defeated  in  1895.

He  died  in  1916  aged  66.