Jeremy Thorpe later 1950s Thorpe juggled his legal and television work with his political duties in North Devon, where he worked tirelessly to build up support. From September 1956 the Liberal Party was led by Jo Grimond, a more up-to-date figure than his elderly predecessor Davies, and more in tune with the ideas of Thorpe and the Radical Reform Group. After an uncertain beginning—the Liberals lost one of their six seats to Labour in a February 1957 by-election—Grimond's leadership began to produce results. The party polled well in a series of by-elections during 1957 and 1958, culminating in a victory at Torrington
Jeremy Thorpe House of Commons in 1453–54, notwithstanding the unlikelihood of any link between these figures, and lack of proof to corroborate a link with Jeremy Thorpe's own family. The more recent Thorpe ancestors were Irish, stemming from the elder of two brothers, according to family tradition soldiers under Cromwell during the combat in Ireland. Both were rewarded with land, the younger branch – of County Carlow – prospering in Dublin as High Sheriffs and Lord Mayors, but the elder losing its land and becoming tenant farmers and tradesmen. Jeremy Thorpe's great-grandfather, William Thorpe, was a Dublin policeman who, having been a