Progressive, noun

Forms:
Also with small initials.
Origin:
An element in the names of the parties or movements.
historical
1. A member of the Progressive Party of the Cape, which was formed in the late 1890s and became the Union Party in 1908. Also attributive, of the party or its members. See also Unionist.
1898 A. Milner in C. Headlam Milner Papers (1931) I. 277A solid ‘Progressive’ Opposition of 38 or 39 would make the tenure of a Bond Ministry an extremely precarious one.
1898 P.A. Molteno Sel. from Correspondence (1981) 67He is no real progressive, and all Garrett’s talk is merely so much chaff to catch and use the progressives now that the Bond refuses to be used any more by Rhodes.
1904 G. Sprigg in Cape Times 4 Dec.A considerable number of those who call themselves Progressives hampered us very much in the passage of that Bill.
1936 Cambridge Hist. of Brit. Empire 616At the general election which followed early in 1904 the Progressives, under the leadership of Dr Jameson, were returned to power.
1983 C. Saunders Hist. Dict. 140In the 1898 election there were for the first time two well-defined parties, with colony-wide constituency organizations, opposing each other. After the election the Progressives formed the opposition, led by Sir Gordon Sprigg.
2. Usually in the plural : Collectively, the members of the Progressive Association of the Transvaal, a political party representing the interests of the wealthier English-speaking residents of the Transvaal before Union.
1909 F. Cana S. Afr. from Great Trek to Union 229The intention of the Government to grant the Transvaal a Constitution was announced in Parliament on the 21st of July, and was followed by a great political activity among the Boers and the Progressives.
1909 R.H. Brand Union of S. Afr. 120The Progressives in the Cape and the Transvaal are the British parties.
1982 R. De Villiers in Cape Times 13 Apr. 8The Unionist Party, an amalgamation formed in 1910 and led by Jameson of the Transvaal Progressives, the Cape Unionists and the Orange River Constitutional Party.
3.
a. in the phrase Progressive Group, that group of United Party members of Parliament who broke away and formed the Progressive Party in 1959.
1961 H. Oppenheimer in A. Hocking Oppenheimer & Son (1973) 359After careful consideration of the issues involved..I find myself in general sympathy with the Progressive Group.
1971 Progress May 5There had been talk of a split for a long time; the Press had even coined the term the ‘Progressive Group’ of the United Party.
b. Prog.
1977 Daily Dispatch 5 Oct. 1All he is doing, in effect, is making the Progressives the official opposition — and spending R2 million of the taxpayers money in doing so.
1991 A. Van Wyk Birth of New Afrikaner 110The very shape of things makes me see a vision of myself in a vast crowd...former Nats and Saps, Progressives, DPs and perhaps a few CPs too; former haters of blacks, Afrikaner hairy-backs, Boer-Haters, British-haters, lovers of blacks.
A member of the Progressive Party of the Cape, which was formed in the late 1890s and became the Union Party in 1908. Also attributive, of the party or its members.
Usually in the plural :Collectively, the members of the Progressive Association of the Transvaal, a political party representing the interests of the wealthier English-speaking residents of the Transvaal before Union.
in the phrase Progressive Group,that group of United Party members of Parliament who broke away and formed the Progressive Party in 1959.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

18981991