National Liberal Federation

[3] At the establishment of the NLF, Chamberlain was elected its president (1877–80), Harris its chairman (1877–82), Schnadhorst its salaried secretary (1877–93), and John Skirrow Wright, another Birmingham activist, its treasurer (1877–1880).

Here it endorsed the extension of the Factory Acts, the introduction of universal male suffrage, an end to plural voting and the reform of the House of Lords.

It changed its name to the LCA in 1874 and re-modelled its structure and purpose to become the "central medium of communication with and between the Party throughout the whole kingdom in aid of and in connection with local organization".

It put local Liberal Associations in touch with potential candidates and made grants of money to help with elections.

However, in 1887 the NLF and LCA collaborated in the establishment of the new Liberal Publications Department, and these three organisations subsequently worked closely together at the administrative heart of the party.

It was active in promoting the Free Trade campaign after 1903 and through the work of Robert Hudson helped put in place a number of local pacts with the newly founded Labour Representation Committee.

[12] They, together with secretary Robert Hudson, remained staunch supporters of H. H. Asquith[13] and as a result Lloyd George had to keep his own National Liberal organisation in place between 1918 and 1922.