ABSTRACT
Votes for women was not the only major issue concerning representation which provoked high controversy in the Edwardian age. A reformist Liberal government quickly came into conflict with the House of Lords [4; 6; 18]. The Lords contained an inbuilt Conservative majority throughout the nineteenth century but this had increased substantially after the Irish Home Rule conflict caused so many Whig peers to join the 'Conservative and Unionist Party'. On the Irish issue, home rulers in the Lords could be outvoted by at least ten to one.
