Land Tenure Reform Association

The context of the formation of the Association was the aftermath of the Reform Act 1867. While the franchise had been extended, the Reform League that had pushed for the extension then collapsed as a political force. In parallel, Mill and Edmond Beales set up the Association to promote further reform and change. Besides modifications to land law, they proposed also to encourage co-operative agriculture and smallholders.{{cite book|author=James Vernon|title=Politics and the People: A Study in English Political Culture, 1815–1867|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wc5OHqnMrscC&pg=PA316|date=2 September 1993|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-42090-7|page=316}}

Following a launch of a programme by Mill in July 1870, and organisational work in which Thomas Hare and Jacob Bright were involved, the Association held its first public meeting in 1871.{{cite book|title=Nationalization in British Politics: The Historical Background|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJ-aAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA72|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-0197-6|page=72 note 25}}{{cite book|author=Richard Reeves|title=John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JQlYBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1876|date=9 February 2015|publisher=Atlantic Books, Limited|isbn=978-1-78239-713-7|pages=1876 note 36}} A key plank of the Association's programme was taxation of the unearned increment.{{cite book|author=Samuel Hollander|title=John Stuart Mill: Political Economist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A-CiCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA272|date=13 March 2015|publisher=World Scientific|isbn=978-981-4663-99-1|page=272}} Mill's advocacy of this measure presaged more radical proposals of the 1880s.{{cite book|author=Donald Read|title=The Age of Urban Democracy: England 1868–1914|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-23XAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA292|date=17 June 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-89591-6|page=292}} His views influenced Arthur Arnold, president of the Free Land League in 1885.{{cite ODNB|id=30454|first=Jonathan|last=Spain|title=Arnold, Sir (Robert) Arthur}}

In July 1870 The Economist argued that the LTRA's emphasis on freeing up trade in land in fact would work against the expansion of peasant proprietors, since the wealthy would pay high prices for land.F. M. L. Thompson, "Land and Politics in England in the Nineteenth Century", Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Vol. 15 (1965), pp. 23–44, at p. 40. Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal Historical Society. {{doi|10.2307/3678815}}. {{JSTOR|3678815}}. Agricultural labour's interests were represented at meetings of the LTRA by Joseph Arch.Humphrey Southall, "Agitate! Agitate! Organize! Political Travellers and the Construction of a National Politics, 1839–1880", Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers Vol. 21, No. 1 (1996), pp. 177–193, at p. 184. Published by: Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). {{doi|10.2307/622932}}. {{JSTOR|622932}}.

On Mill's death on 1873, the Association's effective role came to an end. Mill had handed over to Alfred Russel Wallace. It was in the early 1880s that Wallace's writings led to the formation of the Land Nationalisation Society.{{cite book|author=Trish Ferguson|title=Thomas Hardy's Legal Fictions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F4ylBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA147|year=2013|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-7324-7|page=147}}{{cite ODNB|id=36700|first=Charles H.|last=Smith|title=Wallace, Alfred Russel}} The Association itself closed down in 1876.{{cite book|author=Margot C. Finn|title=After Chartism: Class and Nation in English Radical Politics 1848–1874|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W8f9cvs9DuoC&pg=PA301|year=2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-52598-5|page=301}} Land reform was a more important issue at the 1885 general election than at any previous time, or subsequently.David Nicholls, "The New Liberalism: After Chartism?", Social History Vol. 21, No. 3 (Oct., 1996), pp. 330–342, at p. 334. Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. {{JSTOR|4286364}}.

Besides Mill, the LTRA had other economists as members: John E. Cairnes, Cliffe Leslie and Thorold Rogers.Bernard Newton, "The Impact of Henry George on British Economists, I: The First Phase of Response, 1879–82; Leslie, Wicksteed and Hobson". The American Journal of Economics and Sociology 30.2 (1971): 179–186, at p. 182. {{JSTOR|3485386}}. English Members of Parliament (MPs) joined in numbers, but Irish MPs did not support the LTRA.Frederick Augustus Maxse, The French Press and Ireland: five letters on the Irish question addressed to La Justice, 1888, at p. 39, LSE Selected Pamphlets, {{JSTOR|60216679}}. Maxse described as "trusted Radicals and working class politicians" the group of supporters Edmond Beales, Charles Dilke, George Jacob Holyoake, Lloyd Jones, Benjamin Lucraft, Edward Miall, Walter Morrison, George Odger, Peter Alfred Taylor and John Weston.Frederick Augustus Maxse, The Causes of Social Revolt: a lecture delivered in London, Portsmouth, Bradford, Nottingham, Derby, and Greenwich (1872), p. 32. Bristol Selected Pamphlets. {{JSTOR|60243276}}.

The LTRA initially grew out of the Radical Club, and Dilke acted as its secretary in its early life.{{cite book|author=David Nicholls|title=The Lost Prime Minister: A Life of Sir Charles Dilke|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xee1m8EYQwMC&pg=PA43|year=1995|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-85285-125-5|pages=43–4}} Henry Fawcett worked with Dilke and others in 1869 to set up an organisation, in response to Mill's call to action.{{cite book|author=Paul Readman|title=Land and Nation in England: Patriotism, National Identity, and the Politics of Land, 1880–1914|year=2008|publisher=Boydell Press|isbn=978-0-86193-297-9|page=14}} Other members were Frederic Harrison, John Morley and Alfred Russel Wallace.

There were supporters in common of the First International (IWMA) and the LTRA, such as Joseph Lane the socialist and William Randal Cremer, as well as Lucraft and Odger.{{cite book|author=William Morris|title=The Collected Letters of William Morris, Volume II, Part A: 1881–1884|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qggABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA302|date=14 July 2014|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-5867-5|page=302 note 7}}{{cite book|author=G. D. H. Cole|author-link=G. D. H. Cole|title=A Short History of the British Working Class Movement: 1848–1900|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LLjcMXCaySgC&pg=PA143|date=18 October 2001|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-26565-2|page=143}} Mill's advocacy of taxing the "unearned increment" won the support of Robert Applegarth, an IWMA delegate.{{cite book|title=Nationalization in British Politics: The Historical Background|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJ-aAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA51|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-0197-6|page=51}} George Howell of the Trades Union Congress worked for the LTRA as a financial agent.{{cite book|author=A. T. Lane|title=Biographical Dictionary of European Labor Leaders|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VlR8YCE8lkQC&pg=PA430|date=December 1995|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-26456-6|page=430}}

{{Reflist}}

Category:Land reform

Category:1870 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:1876 disestablishments in the United Kingdom