A COMPANION TO NINETEENTH- CENTURY BRITAIN Edited by Chris Williams A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Britain A COMPANION TO NINETEENTH- CENTURY BRITAIN Edited by Chris Williams © 2004 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 108, Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton South, Melbourne, Victoria 3053, Australia The right of Chris Williams to be identified as the Author of the Editorial Material in this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. First published 2004 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A companion to nineteenth-century Britain / edited by Chris Williams. p. cm. – (Blackwell companions to British history) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-631-22579-X (alk. paper) 1. Great Britain – History – 19th century – Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Great Britain – Civilization – 19th century – Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Williams, Chris, 1963– II. Title. III. Series. DA530.C76 2004 941.081 – dc22 2003021511 A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. Set in 10 on 12 pt Galliard by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by TJ International For further information on Blackwell Publishing, visit our website: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO BRITISH HISTORY Published in association with The Historical Association This series provides sophisticated and authoritative overviews of the scholarship that has shaped our current understanding of British history. Each volume comprises up to forty concise essays written by individual scholars within their area of specialization. The aim of each contribution is to synthesize the current state of scholarship from a variety of historical perspectives and to provide a statement on where the field is heading. The essays are written in a clear, provocative and lively manner, designed for an international audience of scholars, students and general readers. The Blackwell Companions to British History is a cornerstone of Blackwell’s overarching Companions to History series, covering European, American and World History. Published A Companion to Roman Britain Edited by Malcolm Todd A Companion to Britain in the Later Middle Ages Edited by S. H. Rigby A Companion to Tudor Britain Edited by Robert Tittler and Norman Jones A Companion to Stuart Britain Edited by Barry Coward A Companion to Eighteenth-Century Britain Edited by H. T. Dickinson A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Britain Edited by Chris Williams A Companion to Early Twentieth-Century Britain Edited by Chris Wrigley In preparation A Companion to Britain in the Early Middle Ages Edited by Pauline Stafford A Companion to Contemporary Britain Edited by Paul Addison and Harriet Jones The Historical Association is the voice for history. Since 1906 it has been bringing together people who share an interest in, and love for the past. It aims to further the study of teaching of history at all levels. Membership is open to everyone: teacher and student, amateur and professional. Membership offers a range of journals, activities and other benefits. Full details are available from The Historical Association, 59a Kennington Park Road, London SE11 4JH, [email protected], www.history.org.uk. Other Blackwell History Companions include: BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO HISTORY Published A Companion to Western Historical Thought Edited by Lloyd Kramer and Sarah Maza A Companion to Gender History Edited by Teresa A. Meade and Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO EUROPEAN HISTORY Published A Companion to the Worlds of the Renaissance Edited by Guido Ruggiero A Companion to the Reformation World Edited by R. Po-chia Hsia In preparation A Companion to Europe Since 1945 Edited by Klaus Larres A Companion to Europe 1900–1945 Edited by Gordon Martel BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO AMERICAN HISTORY Published A Companion to the American Revolution Edited by Jack P. Greene and J. R. Pole A Companion to 19th-Century America Edited by William L. Barney A Companion to the American South Edited by John B. Boles A Companion to American Indian History Edited by Philip J. Deloria and Neal Salisbury A Companion to American Women’s History Edited by Nancy A. Hewitt A Companion to Post-1945 America Edited by Jean-Christophe Agnew and Roy Rosenzweig A Companion to the Vietnam War Edited by Marilyn B. Young and Robert Buzzanco A Companion to Colonial America Edited by Daniel Vickers A Companion to American Foreign Relations Edited by Robert D. Schulzinger A Companion to 20th-Century America Edited by Stephen J. Whitfield A Companion to the American West Edited by William Deverell BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO WORLD HISTORY In preparation A Companion to the History of the Middle East Edited by Youssef M. Choueiri Contents List of Maps, Diagrams and Tables x Contributors xi Introduction 1 Chris Williams Part IBritain and the World 15 1. Britain and the World Economy 17 Anthony Howe 2. Britain and the European Balance of Power 34 John R. Davis 3. Britain and Empire 53 Douglas M. Peers 4. The Armed Forces 79 Edward M. Spiers Part II Politics and Government 93 5. The Monarchy and the House of Lords: The ‘Dignified’ Parts of the Constitution 95 William M. Kuhn 6. The State 110 Philip Harling 7. Political Leadership and Political Parties, 1800–46 125 Michael J. Turner 8. Political Leadership and Political Parties, 1846–1900 140 Michael J. Turner viii contents 9. Parliamentary Reform and the Electorate 156 Michael S. Smith 10. Politics and Gender 174 Sarah Richardson 11. Political Thought 189 Gregory Claeys Part III Economy and Society 203 12. Agriculture and Rural Society 205 Michael Winstanley 13. Industry and Transport 223 William J. Ashworth 14. Urbanization 238 Simon Gunn 15. The Family 253 Shani D’Cruze 16. Migration and Settlement 273 Ian Whyte 17. Standard of Living, Quality of Life 287 Jane Humphries 18. Class and the Classes 305 Martin Hewitt 19. Economic Thought 321 Noel Thompson Part IV Society and Culture 335 20. Religion 337 Mark A. Smith 21. Literacy, Learning and Education 353 Philip Gardner 22. The Press and the Printed Word 369 Aled Jones 23. Crime, Policing and Punishment 381 Heather Shore 24. Popular Leisure and Sport 396 Andy Croll 25. Health and Medicine 412 Keir Waddington contents ix 26. Sexuality 430 Lesley A. Hall 27. The Arts 443 Patricia Pulham 28. The Sciences 457 Iwan Rhys Morus Part VThe United Kingdom 471 29. Politics in Ireland 473 Christine Kinealy 30. Economy and Society in Ireland 489 Christine Kinealy 31. Scotland 504 E. W. McFarland 32. Wales 521 Matthew Cragoe 33. British Identities 534 Chris Williams Bibliography of Secondary Sources 553 Index 591 Maps, Diagrams and Tables Map 1 The counties of England and Wales in the nineteenth century xv Map 2 The counties of Scotland in the nineteenth century xvi Map 3 The counties and provinces of Ireland in the nineteenth century xvii Figure 1.1 ‘Invisibles’ and trade in Britain’s balance of payments, 1800–1900 24 Figure 1.2 Geographical distribution of capital exports from Britain, 1865–1900 27 Table 1.1 British exports: percentage share by destination, 1860s–1890s 25 Table 17.1 Estimates of growth of National Product 290 Table 17.2 Real earnings 1770–1882 293 Table 17.3 Indicators of living standards in Industrial Revolution Britain and composite indices 300 Contributors William J. Ashworth is Senior Lecturer in Shani D’Cruze is Reader in Gender and the School of History at the University of Women’s History, Crewe and Alsager Liverpool. He is the author of Customs and Faculty, Manchester Metropolitan Univer- Excise: Trade, Production and Consumption sity, and is co-editor of Gender and History. in England 1640–1845 (2003). She lectures in cultural and gender history Gregory Claeys is Professor of the History and the history of crime. Main publications of Political Thought at Royal Holloway, include Crimes of Outrage: Sex, Violence University of London. His current research and Victorian Working Women (1998) and focuses on British utopianism, c.1700– Everyday Violence in Britain, 1850–1950: 1950. Gender and Class (edited, 2000). She is Matthew Cragoe is Reader in Modern presently working on a monograph which British History at the University of explores gender and cultural constructions Hertfordshire. His publications include An of criminality between 1918 and 1965. She Anglican Aristocracy: The Moral Economy also maintains an interest in gender and the of the Landed Estate in Carmarthenshire, history of the family since the eighteenth 1832–95 (1996) and (with Nigel Aston) century and in the twentieth-century Anticlericalism in Britain 1500–1900 history of middle-class culture, leisure and (2000). performance. Andy Croll is Principal Lecturer in History Philip Gardner is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Glamorgan. Author of of Education at the Faculty of Education of Civilizing the Urban: Popular Culture, the University of Cambridge and a Fellow Class and the Urban Experience, Merthyr of St Edmund’s College. He has written c.1870–1914 (2000), his research interests widely on nineteenth- and twentieth- focus on various aspects of British urban century educational history and is the history. author of the prize-winning The Lost John R. Davis is Reader in Modern Elementary Schools of Victorian England European History and Head of History at (1984). His latest book, Becoming Teachers: Kingston University. His research concerns Texts and Testimonies 1907–50 (2003), is nineteenth-century British and German co-authored with Peter Cunningham.