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The realignment of British politics during the early decades of the twentieth century is a complex subject that should be considered in the context of developments both in London and in the provinces. This study of the correspondence of Sir Francis and Lady Acland of Killerton brings together a unique collection of written sources from the period ranging from the administrative world of high politics to constituency electioneering in Cornwall and Devon.

From the perspective of Westminster the letters offer fresh insight into the changing fortunes of Liberalism. The prominent if neglected contribution of both Francis and Eleanor to Liberal party politics ensured that their correspondence covered such topics as the pre-war campaign for female suffrage, key events of the First World War and the party divisions that followed the fall of Asquith.

Dr Tregidga's study also challenges the assumption that the South West of Britain was a political backwater in this Age of Alignment. It investigates the remarkable rise and fall of Labour in industrial Cornwall, where Francis Acland was MP for Camborne, during the immediate post-war period, along with the tensions generated in rural Devon by Lloyd George's Land campaign in the mid-1920s. Notions of family tradition, territorial politics and constituency representation are also considered in relation to the competing influences of Killerton, Camborne and Westminster.

Dr Tregidga is the Assistant Director of the Institute of Cornish Studies, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus at Tremough. He is also the Director of the Cornish Audio Visual Archive, author of The Liberal Party in South West Britain since 1918: Political Decline, Dormancy and Rebirth (2000) and co-author of Mebyon Kernow and Cornish Nationalism (2003).

Cover illustration: Killerton 1930, with Sir Francis Acland 14th Baronet (centre), Lady Eleanor Acland (right) and sons Cuthbert, Richard and Geoffrey (left to righ, front row) with other relations and dog, Vicky. (reproduced by permission of the National Trust)

Last updated: 19 May 2006 - Brian Randell, on behalf of the Society