President of the Liberal Party

This is a list of people who served as president of the British Liberal Party. The Liberal Party merged into the Liberal Democrats in 1988.

The post was established in 1877 as president of the National Liberal Federation. In 1936, this body was replaced by the Liberal Party Organisation, which survived until 1988.[1]

Presidents

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President of the National Liberal Federation

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Augustine Birrell, 1902–06
J. M. Robertson, 1920–23
From To Name
1877 1881 Joseph Chamberlain
1881 1881 Jesse Collings
1881 1883 Henry Fell Pease
1883 1890 James Kitson
1890 1902 Robert Spence Watson
1902 1906 Augustine Birrell
1906 1908 Arthur Dyke Acland
1908 1911 William Angus
1911 1919 John Brunner
1919 1920 George Lunn
1920 1923 John M. Robertson
1923 1926 Donald Maclean
1926 1927 John Alfred Spender
1927 1930 Charles Hobhouse
1930 1933 Arthur Brampton
1933 1936 Ramsay Muir

President of the Liberal Party Organisation

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Violet Bonham-Carter 1945–47
Adrian Slade 1987–88
From To Name
1936 1943 James Meston
1943 1945 Position vacant
1945 1947 Violet Bonham-Carter
1947 1948 Isaac Foot
1948 1949 Elliott Dodds
1949 1950 Andrew McFadyean
1950 1952 Philip Fothergill
1952 1953 Ronald Walker
1953 1954 Lawrence Robson
1954 1955 Henry Graham White
1955 1955 Philip Rea
1955 1957 Leonard Behrens
1957 1958 Nathaniel Micklem
1958 1959 Arthur Comyns Carr
1959 1960 Harold Glanville
1960 1961 Andrew Hunter Arbuthnot Murray
1961 1962 Edwin Malindine
1962 1963 Felix Brunner
1963 1964 David Rees-Williams
1964 1965 Roger Fulford
1965 1966 Nancy Seear
1966 1967 Michael Eden
1967 1968 Donald Wade
1968 1969 Desmond Banks
1969 1970 Timothy Beaumont
1970 1971 Inga-Stina Robson
1971 1972 Stephen Terrell
1972 1973 Trevor Jones
1973 1974 Rhys Lloyd
1974 1975 Arthur Holt
1975 1976 Margaret Wingfield
1976 1977 Basil Goldstone
1977 1978 Gruffydd Evans
1978 1979 Michael Steed
1979 1980 Joyce Rose
1980 1981 Richard Holme
1981 1982 Viv Bingham
1982 1983 John Griffiths
1983 1984 Geoff Tordoff
1984 1985 Alan Watson
1985 1986 David Penhaligon
1986 1987 Des Wilson
1987 1988 Adrian Slade

In 1988, Michael Meadowcroft was president-elect of the Liberal Party for the 1988–89 year; but the Liberal Party merger with the Social Democratic Party went ahead before he could take up office.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Peter Barberis et al, Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations, p.315
  2. ^ Mark Smulian, 'Michael Meadowcroft', Dictionary of Liberal Biography (London: Politico's, 1999), p. 256