British History 1815-1914 (Short Oxford History of the Modern World)

612 Pages·2007·4.61 MB·English

by  Bill Purdue

The Short Oxford History of the Modern World
General Editor:
J. M. Roberts
The Short Oxford History ofthe Modern World
General Editor:J.M.Roberts
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Conrad Russell
The Old European Order 1600–1800
Second Edition
William Doyle
The Limits ofLiberty:American History 1607–1992
Maldwyn A.Jones
The British Empire 1558–1995
Second Edition
T.O.Lloyd
Modern India:The Origins ofan Asian Democracy
Judith M.Brown
Barricades and Borders:Europe 1800–1914
Third Edition
Robert Gildea
Rebellions and Revolutions:China from the 1800s to 2000
Second Edition
Jack Gray
British History 1815–1914
Second Edition
Norman McCord and Bill Purdue
The European Dynastic States 1494–1660
Richard Bonney
Empire,Welfare State,Europe:History ofthe United Kingdom 1906–2001
Fifth Edition
T.O.Lloyd
Endurance and Endeavour:Russian History 1812–2001
Fifth Edition
J.N.Westwood
British History
1815–1914
Second edition
Norman McCord
and
Bill Purdue
1
3
Great Clarendon Street,Oxford OX26DP
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Preface
The period covered by this book has probably attracted more attention from hist-
orians than any other. This is scarcely surprising, for in a variety of historical
aspects those decades were of cardinal importance.They brought the develop-
ment ofone ofthe world’s greatest empires and the evolution ofthe world’s first
great industrial society,and they still offer to the student the engrossing spec-
tacle ofa decentralized rural society facing enormous and unprecedented pres-
sures of economic and social change coupled with accelerating population
growth—and facing those difficulties with notably little internal conflict and
bloodshed. In the development of government and administration too, those
decades were ofcrucial importance in the transformation ofBritain from a little-
governed nation to a modern State equipped with large and expanding agencies
ofofficial activity.
This period also remains a focus ofargument and disagreement among histo-
rians, partly because of its imagined close relevance to our own society. The
assumption of close connection has led to the frequent use of nineteenth- and
early-twentieth-century history as a convenient source of ammunition with
which to fight our own political and ideological controversies.
The synthesis offered here cannot be complete,for the volume of writing on
the economic,social,and political history ofthis period is too great for any one
volume to cover it in its entirety.Inevitably,much of the account relies on the
published work of many writers. In some cases, as for example, to Professor
Norman Gash,Dr Boyd Hilton,Dr E.H.Hunt,and Dr David Philips,the debt is
a considerable one.We hope that our borrowings have been adequately acknowl-
edged in the notes and apologize if in any instances we have inadvertently
omitted to ensure so.
The terminal date for the first edition ofthis book,published in 1991,was set
at1906and we are grateful to Oxford University Press for extending the coverage
of the volume to 1914.We consider this a more appropriate termination which
enables us to take British history up to the brink ofthe First World War.We have
also endeavoured in this revised edition to take account of at least some of the
many works on different aspects ofthe period published in the last fifteen years.
The new end date has necessarily involved changes to the organization of the
later sections of the book which is now divided into four main chronological
parts, roughly 1815–30, 1830–50, 1850–80, and 1880–1914. Within each the first
chapter offers a succinct political narrative,the second a discussion ofdevelop-
ments in government and administration, and a third surveys economic and
social developments.An argument could readily be advanced for reversing this
vi Preface
sequence,but it seems likely that many potential readers would find the initial
provision of a political narrative useful. The significance of the expansion of
both central and local government during these years seemed to warrant a sep-
arate consideration.A short Biographical Appendix gives briefnotes on some of
the principal individuals mentioned.
Norman McCord reaffirms his gratitude to the then staffofNewcastle Central
Library,especially Mr Frank Manders,for the provision offacilities while he was
writing the first edition,and for the help and encouragement he then received
from the General Editor of the series,Professor J.M.Roberts.Bill Purdue gives
his thanks to the Open University for the periods ofstudy leave which facilitated
his work on the present volume. We are both grateful to the staff of Oxford
University Press for the scrupulous care with which the text has been handled
bythem.
N.Mc
University ofNewcastle upon Tyne
A.W.P
Open University
October 2006
Contents
List of tables xv
Introduction 1
PART I
1 Political developments, 1815–1830 9
The Liverpool government 9
Ministerial changes 12
Government and Opposition 14
Government and monarchy 16
Government and party 17
Law and order 18
Spa Fields 22
Peterloo 24
The Six Acts 27
The Cato Street conspiracy 28
The Queen Caroline affair 29
Economic policy 32
The 1815 Corn Law 33
Cheap government 34
Foreign policy 36
Catholic emancipation 39
Law reform 41
Repeal of the Combination Laws 42
Some Liverpool initiatives 42
Banking reforms 43
Years of Tory decline 44
Religion and reform 46
The Metropolitan Police 50
The fall of the Tories 51
2 Government and administration, c.1815–1830 53
The monarchy 54
Ministers of the Crown 56
The Cabinet 57
The Prime Minister 57
Central administration 58
viii Contents
The Civil Service 59
The armed forces 61
Law and order 62
The high courts 63
The Empire 64
Parliament 67
The House of Lords 69
The House of Commons 70
The parliamentary boroughs 71
Electoral influence 73
Local government 74
The counties 75
The municipal boroughs 77
Improvement commissions 78
The Poor Law 79
3 Economy and society, c.1815–1830 85
Population 85
National identity 89
Economic growth 92
Agriculture 93
Trade and consumption 95
Industry 96
An industrial revolution? 97
Transport and communications 98
Supply and distribution 99
Science and technology 100
The royal family 101
The aristocracy 103
The universities 104
The landed interest 105
Aristocratic patronage 107
Problems of definition 110
The gentry 111
Social class 112
The ‘middle class’ 112
Urban oligarchies 115
The ‘working class’ 116
Rural conditions 120
Trade unions 121
Friendly societies 122
Popular discontent 124
Contents ix
The standard of living 126
Poverty 127
Philanthropy 128
Religion 131
Women 137
Sport and recreation 140
PART II
4 Political developments, 1830–1852 145
Law and order 146
The genesis of parliamentary reform 147
Reform crisis, 1831–1832 149
The Great Reform Act 153
The reformed parliament 156
Peel’s first ministry 159
Decline of the Whigs 161
Queen Victoria 162
Chartism and the Anti-Corn Law League 163
The Anti-Corn Law League 169
The fall of the Whigs 170
Peel’s second ministry 173
Conservative discontent 178
Ireland 179
The repeal of the Corn Laws 181
The fall of Peel 184
Russell’s first ministry 187
Derby’s first ministry 188
Foreign policy 189
5 Government and administration, c.1830–1850 192
Taxation 192
The Civil Service 193
Government and social problems 194
Government and education 195
Provision for the mentally ill 196
The penny post 197
Legislation 197
Banking 200
Companies 202
Factory Acts 203
The new Poor Law 206
Information gathering 211