E. Cobham Brewer 18101897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Liberal Unionists.
Those Whigs and Radicals who united, in 1886, with Lord Salisbury and the Conservative party to oppose Home Rule for Ireland. Mr. Gladstone had brought in a Bill to give the Irish Home Rule. Lord Hartington was chief of the Whigs, and Mr. Chamberlain chief of the Radicals, who seceded from Mr. Gladstones party.