ISSUE EIGHT

The magazine for Durham University History alumni 2018

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This year, Durham goes global! The History Department’s position as the locus of international networks has featured in previous issues, but the theme has come to the fore with this year’s articles. Our authors use Durham as a base to explore international phenomena, and to reflect on themes which are globally relevant. The History Department has always enabled vibrant exchanges, with historians travelling as far as Africa, North America and China for their research, and new students making the reverse trip to study at Durham University. Symeon captures a snapshot of this dynamic, intellectual, global network.

This issue of Symeon features a range by over 150 years. On the far side of Movement and change are also evident of articles which demonstrate Durham’s this historical narrative, Ellen Paterson within Symeon’s editorial board, which place in a global community. Justin updates us about the successful year of has an entirely changed team of editors Willis’ piece on the moral economy talks and travels in the History Society. after the retirement of Mark Bennett, of elections in Africa, rising from Abigail Steed demonstrates the complex Caitlin Phillips and Alanna Freedman- his role in the ‘Impact of Elections’ conversations around the subject of Manke. Thank you for your amazing work project, demonstrates the ways in martyrdom in the case of the Anglo- and clear handover instructions! The which relationships are formed between Saxon Saint Ælfheah. On the hundredth new editorial team consists of Kathleen officials and local communities in anniversary of female suffrage, Henry Reynolds, Antonia Perna, Rhiannon recently formed democracies. Michael Miller and Ciara Stewart demonstrate Snaith, Grace Stephenson and Ryan Aspin describes the relationship between the significance of female petitions in Wicklund. Additionally, Sarah Davies Britain and the wider world through the an article originally published online in has taken the reins of the head of the case study of Parliamentary involvement The Conversation. Department and member of the Symeon with the ‘Bulgarian Horrors’ of 1876. editorial board. Clarissa Cahill, Durham Cathedral’s Our two alumni features strike a balance Marketing and Communications between international travel and building Our alumni community also demonstrates Officer, reflects on how the Cathedral’s a life in the North East. In ‘History Durham’s global impact, as you emerge digitization projects and new exhibitions Graduates: Where are they now?’, we from your graduation ceremonies ready to make history accessible to both the local reached out to Reetta Humalajoki, Ben take up positions across Britain and the and international communities. Pope and Lindsay Varner, all former world. We would love to hear where your postgraduate contributors to Symeon, history degree has taken you! Please get Our interest in local history remains about the path of their post-graduation in touch using the contact details on the vibrant alongside these international lives in Finland, America and Germany. penultimate page. projects. Adrian Green reveals a longer David Dougan provides a longer history history of education through the subject of the ways in which his Durham degree And, as always, we hope you enjoy this of ‘New College’, an Oliver Cromwell- has influenced his career and passions year’s Symeon! inspired initiative that predates the in English journalism, arts and history in establishment of Durham University the North East.

SYMEON BOARD OF EDITORS:

KATHLEEN REYNOLDS ANTONIA PERNA RHIANNON SNAITH GRACE STEPHENSON RYAN WICKLUND

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CONTENTS

The First Durham University 06

History Society 10

Revolting to the Consciousness of Englishmen, or Coffee-House Babble? The Parliamentary response to the 1876 ‘Bulgarian Horrors’ 14

Recent Graduates—Where are they now? 18

Department News 22

How 17,000 Petitions Helped Deliver Votes for Women 26

Alumni Reflections: Durham and beyond 30

Creating a Martyr: The case of Saint Ælfheah 34

Old Stories, New Technologies: Bringing Durham Cathedral to life in a digital age 38

The Moral Economy of Elections in Africa 42

Contact Us 46

FRONT COVER: This issue’s bookshelf belongs to David Minto, Assistant Professor of Modern British History. He studies histories of gender and sexuality in transnational perspectives, and his upcoming book is titled An Intimate Atlantic: The special relationship of transnational homophile activism. 06 SYMEON • Issue eight

THE FIRST DURHAM UNIVERSITY

Durham University was founded in 1832 by Bishop Van Mildert. This High Church initiative was intended to promote education in the North of England as a direct challenge to the evangelical Low Church movement active in the industrial communities of the Great North Coal Field.

ADRIAN GREEN

Adrian Green is an Associate Professor in the Department of History. His research concerns the social and economic history and archaeology of the period 1450-1750, with his main interests focusing on housing in Britain and its colonies. 07

whereby ‘scholars shall be accustomed Paris—the leading university of late and encouraged to propose to medieval Europe. questions’. Stipends for fellows were established, with a librarian In European context, the lack of a ‘learned in languages’. Exhibitions university in the North of England was were provided for poor scholars, with a glaring anomaly. Scotland like many students drawn from schools across European countries had established northern England. Under Statute several universities in the Middle 12, ‘Oath of the Elected’, Fellows Ages, but England focused on Oxford were required to ‘renounce all of and Cambridge, with the Inns of Popery, Socinianism, Arminianism Court for legal training in London. A & Superstition’. Socinianism university for the North was repeatedly presumably refers to Quakerism, proposed, and Durham was a favoured while Arminianism was the theology site with its tradition of scholarship Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the pursued by Archbishop Laud during and learning under ecclesiastical Commonwealth from 1653-1658. Charles I’s reign. Arminianism rejected patronage. Durham Priory was linked Calvin’s emphasis on predestination, to Oxford, particularly Durham College, Bishop Van Mildert gave Durham and the conflict between High Church and Oxford might have created an Castle, with its episcopal library and Arminianism and Calvinist Puritanism outpost at Durham. The nearest furnishings, to form the core of a new was central to the conflict over these proposals came to fruition was university. ‘Castle’ became University authority and worship in the Civil Wars. in the context of the Dissolution of College. This, however, was the second Puritan New College initially focused the monasteries under Henry VIII, attempt to found a university at on training in the learned languages when Thomas Cromwell supported Durham. One hundred and eighty years of Latin, Greek and Hebrew. This was establishing a university at Durham earlier, ‘New College’ had been created in effect a foundation programme, in the 1530s. The idea was revived in under Oliver Cromwell. The foundation equipping students with the skills the 1640s, as soon as the cathedral of a new university in the North of necessary for seventeenth-century buildings became vacant. Given England in the 1650s made use of scholarship. Further faculties of Law that the bishop’s palace was also the cathedral complex left vacant by and Physic were intended to be added vacated, Durham Castle would have the Civil Wars. The Dean and Chapter once the College was fully founded made a logical second college for of Durham Cathedral was abolished as a university. The university at the university. However, in 1660, the following Parliament’s victory over Durham thus envisaged a full range of bishops and cathedrals were restored Charles I. The first university at Faculties in Theology, Philosophy, Law with the monarchy, and the Dean and Durham was a Puritan initiative. It and Medicine. Its independence from Chapter of Durham Cathedral along was in many ways a mirror-image of Oxford and Cambridge is indicated with the Bishopric of Durham returned the 1830s foundation—providing a by planned links to the University of to occupy their historic architecture. university for the North of England that would equip clergy, scholars and gentlemen with learning, but with a Puritan rather than a High Church agenda.

Proposed as a site for a new university as soon as the cathedral became vacant in the mid-1640s, the college was not established until after the civil wars ended. Famously, Scots prisoners from the Battle of Dunbar were marched to Durham to spend the winter of 1650-1 in the Cathedral. New College was established from 1653, and remained active until the Restoration in 1660. Statutes were drawn up in 1657, which survive in Durham Cathedral Library Hunter MS.47. These detail safeguards against maladministration, and set out a regimen of college life for scholars Detail of the document drawn up by Oliver Cromwell in 1657 to formally establish an and fellows. Methods of teaching institution of higher learning in Durham. © Durham Cathedral. involved lectures, and ‘disputations’ 08 SYMEON • Issue eight

Intelligencer of Europe’, who from his house in Westminster tirelessly promoted learning and a ‘Great Instauration’ (or rebirth) of knowledge across England through his energetic correspondence. Hartlib was directly funded by Parliament in the 1640s, and had support at Oxford University. The ‘Hartlib Circle’ of leading intellectuals is documented in their energetic correspondence, collected in Ephemerides, which is our best source for Durham College. In 1655, Hartlib noted that ‘The fore-said College is related to the Northerne Counties the schools being to supply the college’. Endowed with ‘1,000 acres belonging to it’, ‘Durham College is already of £400 yearly revenue and £400 The Galilee Chapel might have functioned as a university court. more in reversion.’ Nevertheless, ‘A Draught of new reformed statutes is most desired to avoid Errors in the Nevertheless, between 1653 and the Library remained in its medieval foundation’, while ‘The buildings are 1659, the cathedral buildings and position on the east side of the cloister very much decayed and yet were by Mr gardens were converted to educational and what is now the Dean and Chapter Tongs industry very much advanced’. purposes. We can only speculate on Library created in the 1680s was still The patrons of this new university how the cathedral might have been the Refectory. New College would thus for the North—’Lord Lambert is his used. It presumably resembled the have taken over the existing Library great friends besides the Gentlemen university churches in Oxford and (preserving its books and manuscripts), of the Northerne Gentry Sir William Cambridge, and the use of churches by with the Refectory served by the great Strickland, my Lord Ayres, Colonel universities elsewhere in seventeenth- Kitchen. The Monk’s Dormitory would Lilburne etc.’—were all leading figures century Europe, particularly in the presumably have been partitioned in Cromwell’s North of England. Netherlands. At Durham, the immense into sleeping and study quarters for cathedral building would have been scholars. Tutors, meanwhile, would Hartlib noted the appointment of sub-divided. With the choir most have been lavishly provided with the Fellows and Masters at Durham likely retained as a place of worship, clergy’s housing in the close, while the College in 1657. ‘One Sprig is a the rest of the building would have Deanery naturally became the Master’s fellow of Durham College, excellent been available for different purposes. Lodge. for drawing and painting and ver Teaching spaces in the Chapel of Nine Optical also’. ‘Mr Vaughan another Altars and Transepts seem likely, while Israel Tonge (1621-1680) was Fellow undertaking in two years to fit the great nave of the cathedral would the leading figure in establishing schollars for University for Latin and surely have served as a public space New College. Best described as Hebrew. Mr Vaughan Didactica Linguae for lectures as well as matriculation an educationalist, Tonge came to Latinae’. ‘Hinton the Master of it an and graduation ceremonies. The Durham from Oxford—where he had Indesputable scholar, Also a Fellow Galilee Chapel at the west end of the been a schoolmaster in the 1640s as of Magdalene College, a Universal Cathedral might have functioned as well as a university fellow. Although Scholar—one of the Professors or a university court—just as university himself a Protestant, Tonge was Fellows.’ Robert Wood wrote to Hartlib courts sat in the principal parish interested in applying Jesuit teaching (3 March 1657) with the news that: churches (both dedicated to St Mary) methods, and developing pictorial ‘I heare which I am glad of that the in Oxford and Cambridge. New College teaching. Fanatically anti-Catholic, Colleg at Durham goes on (tho but not only acquired the cathedral itself, Tonge later alleged the ‘Popish Plot’ slowly) and that I had the honour but also the buildings around the to kill Charles II (and probably went to bee proposed for a mathematical cloisters and close. Samuel Hartlib’s mad as a result of his belief in this Professor’. Hartlib’s correspondence correspondence refers to ‘one of conspiracy theory). During the 1650s, also records experiments in agricultural the Auncientest of 8 hundred years as an ardent educationalist, Tonge improvement, noting in September building most of which bee under- was in correspondence with Samuel 1658 ‘the growing of a new type of ground’, presumably relating to the Hartlib (c.1600-1662). Educated oats, called groats, at Durham College’ under crofts. It is easy to imagine how at the University of Konigsberg and and in July 1659, ‘the growing of the cloister ranges would have been Cambridge, Hartlib was a German- raspberries’. used by New College, especially since British polymath—’the Great 09

College 930 was one of the sites of the New College. Photo by Durham World Heritage Site.

Although Durham College was ‘I understand that there is an the lying harlot, which pleaded successfully established, with the intention of erecting a univer- before Solomon, was mother appointment of tutors and instruction of at least some students in languages sity in Durham, and that some to the living child. I confess I and horticulture, it had not in fact hopeful progress is made in was always much affected with been founded as a university before its order thereunto, which I cannot their fears, who suspect that closure. It was in effect a foundation but congratulate; for I listen this convenience for the North college, awaiting its creation as a university. Regrettably, the actual not to their objection, Alleging would be a mischief for the university foundation had not been it monstrous for one face to South, and this new one in pro- enacted before Oliver Cromwell’s have three eyes (one land three cess of time prove detrimental death in 1658. Cromwell’s support universities); seeing I would to the old universities. Nor were appears to have been crucial, and the project subsequently foundered, not wish that, Argus-like, it had an these jealousies, when moved, least due to the opposition of vested hundred in it. Would all men removed in any serious consid- interests at Oxford and Cambridge, were Moses-minded, “that all eration, not being well satisfied and alternative political and religious the people of God might proph- of the intentions and design of agendas. The church historian Thomas Fuller (1608-1661), wrote a lament esy;” the rather because I am some prime persons undertak- for this university for the North in The sure that ignorance is no more ing the same. But, since this Worthies of England (1662). the mother of devotion, than freshman college lived not to be matriculated, much less (not lasting seven years) graduat- ed, God in his wisdom seeing the contrary fitter; the worst I should have wished this new spring (if continuing) was pure water, pious and orthodox pro- fessors, to have principled and elemented the members therein with learning and religion.’

Disagreements over religion obscured the greater need for a university that served the North of England, especially at a time when Durham was at the heart of an economically vibrant region. Northern England led the world in the Industrial Revolution, but remained without a university. The

College 704 was one of the sites of New College. Photo by Durham World Heritage Site. first university at Durham was to have been a university for, not merely in, the North. 10 SYMEON • Issue eight

HISTORY SOCIETY

The History Society has had an incredibly successful and busy academic year, continuing to hold numerous talks, trips and events for its members. We have most definitely lived up to our reputation as one of Durham University’s most active academic societies, and it has been a pleasure to serve as President for this year.

ELLEN PATERSON

Ellen Paterson is a third-year undergraduate in the History Department from Trevelyan College. She is interested in sixteenth-century British political history. 11

This year’s History Society Exec at Hadrian’s Wall.

In both Michaelmas and Epiphany here at Durham. We enjoyed great a amazing conference. Our members terms, we invited numerous levels of turnout at these throughout really engaged with the papers— academics from various universities to the year, helping to expose students indeed, many interesting questions deliver talks on their current research. to a range of cutting-edge research. were posited by students throughout These talks were as fascinating the day. as they were varied. From outside In February, we ran our annual History Durham we heard papers ranging Society conference. This year’s The History Society has also from Manchester University’s Thomas theme was ‘the History of Sex’, an continued to run fantastic trips Tunstall Allcock on Lyndon Johnson’s exciting research topic which gave this term, taking both history and Cold War policy, to Jim Sharpe from our conference co-ordinators the non-history students alike to areas York University discussing the social opportunity to invite speakers with of historical importance in the North crisis in 1590s Elizabethan England. research interests spanning numerous East. In November, we ran a trip Furthermore, we also had talks geographical areas and time periods. to Hadrian’s Wall, accompanied by from our own department: Eleanor Numerous papers were delivered John-Henry Clay, who gave talks Barraclough, Kevin Waite and Richard ranging from Jeremy Goldberg on the on the history of the wall and the Huzzey all delivered papers on their complexity of sex in medieval Europe, Roman settlement. Despite the research, talks which complemented to Laura Tisdall on lesbianism in freezing weather, the trip was a great numerous undergraduate modules twentieth-century Britain. This was success, attended by both historians 12 SYMEON • Issue eight

and classicists. As well as walking in November. The ball sold out had been sold. The event was such a along the wall itself, we were able to completely in a weekend, a first for success that we held a repeat at the visit the Vindolanda Fort and Roman the Society, and was certainly an end of the month. Additionally, at the Army Museum. In February, we ran amazing event. Over the course of the end of the year we are hoping to run a a joint trip to Lindisfarne Priory with evening, we ate a five-course meal dissertation ‘open mic’ style event, in the Theology Society. We were lucky in historical style, accompanied by which third-year students can present enough to be accompanied by Eleanor Tudor songs and entertainments. This on their dissertations to second-years. Barraclough, who despite the early proved to be a wonderful evening as We hope this will be of great help start of six o’ clock and torrential rain always, and we had the opportunity to those students who will begin the and wind, kept us all entertained with to explore the beautiful and historical process of choosing a dissertation stories of the first Viking raid there in grounds of Lumley Castle. Whilst this topic over the summer. 793. Not only were we able to explore was undoubtedly our biggest social the ruins and museum, but we also event of the academic year, our social On behalf of all the exec, I would all thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity secretaries have continued to organize like to say a massive thank you to to sample some Lindisfarne Mead. great history-themed socials and pub the History Department, who have Despite bad weather present as a quizzes for our members. continued to assist us with all of recurring theme on all of our trips, these activities throughout the year. they have continued to be thoroughly The Society has also worked closely This has certainly been a busy year for enjoyable. with the History Department this year the History Society, and I hope that to run events directly beneficial for the following executive committee Perhaps the highlight of our social students. In October, we held a book continues to maintain our reputation calendar this year was the History sale where students could sell their as the university’s most active Society Winter Ball, an Elizabethan old course books at affordable prices. academic society. banquet hosted at Lumley Castle Within half an hour all of the books

Vice President of the History Society defending the wall. 13

Lindisfarne Priory. 14 SYMEON • Issue eight

Revolting to the Consciousness of Englishmen, or Coffee-House Babble?

THE PARLIAMENTARY RESPONSE TO THE 1876 ‘BULGARIAN HORRORS’

MICHAEL ASPIN

Michael Aspin is a taught MA History student from St Chad’s College. He is particularly interested in late nineteenth-century British foreign and imperial policy, and his dissertation will examine whether foreign policy played a role in the 1874 and 1880 general elections.

Dedicated to Joanne Elizabeth Aspin (1971–2011) 15

The response to the 1876 and early 1877, and this article will ‘Bulgarian Horrors’ is one of examine the Parliamentary response to the Bulgarian Horrors. It will argue the most intriguing episodes that the question over whether to in nineteenth-century British intervene was a delicate one (in spite political history. The Ottoman of the noise and passion within the government—which controlled wider atrocitarian outrage) and an issue that transcended conventional Bulgaria—faced an uprising, party-political divisions, even though, and decided to employ ultimately, the desired intervention of irregular Bashi-Bazouk the atrocitarians never materialized. mercenaries to brutally Liberal titans like Gladstone found themselves on the same side as Tory suppress the rebellion. Scores grandees like the Duke of Argyll in of innocent men, women and calling for an intervention; the Liberal children were killed, and the leadership found itself sharing the Victorian public was moved government’s reluctance to be drawn into a wider conflict in Southeast by graphic despatches from Europe. Broadly speaking, two main the Daily News: ‘The Bashi- groups emerged: interventionists and Bazouks violate women, burn imperialists, with the latter group houses, destroy churches, being reluctant to intervene in order to ‘maintain the Empire of England’, cut into mince meat little The Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, a strategy that might have been infamously denounced the initial news children, and crucify and endangered had Britain chosen to reports of atrocities as ‘coffee-house roast priests’.1 intervene.5 Disraeli felt threatened babble’, and sought to preserve Britain’s by the prospect of a ‘Kremlin on the imperial interests. These massacres would later be Bosphorus’, and Russian control of called the ‘Bulgarian Horrors’ by the region—a genuine possibility if Image courtesy of the New York Public William Gladstone.2 Soon after these the Ottoman Empire were weakened— Library Digital Collections. reports were printed, a nationwide would potentially threaten British atrocitarian campaign emerged, access to India.6 which called for Prime Minister of Exeter called upon Disraeli to ‘stop Benjamin Disraeli’s government to Throughout the summer of 1876, this wickedness’.8 One might have intervene against the Ottoman Empire when the public became increasingly expected Parliament to echo such to put an end to (and prevent further) aware of the atrocities that had emotive and passionate language. atrocities. The Economist spoke of transpired, the popular agitation This, however, was not the case. MPs an ‘irresistible wave of public feeling grew more intense. We should not and peers divided quite markedly ... [of] boiling anger and indignation’ underestimate the extent to which over an appropriate response to the that would only be satisfied with public opinion was outraged at the atrocities. a military incursion into Ottoman news. The historian E.A. Freeman Europe.3 This is striking, for Britain accused Disraeli of allying Britain Disraeli was initially very sceptical was seen as a ‘more or less candid with a ‘foul despotism with whose of the first despatches from Bulgaria friend’ and ally of Constantinople.4 deeds of unutterable wrong heaven that emerged in the columns of the The Conservative government would and earth are ringing’.7 Atrocitarian Daily News. Responding to a question have to argue over whether to resist pressure also came from senior from Liberal MP W.E. Forster, the the popular agitation or give succour Church of England clergymen. The Prime Minister stated that ‘we have to the atrocitarians by launching an Archbishop of York said that the no information in our possession’.9 intervention. Similar debates were Ottoman Sultan had feet ‘planted in By the middle of July, Disraeli was held in Parliament in late 1876 corruption and blood’, and the Bishop under no doubt that ‘proceedings of

1. ‘The Atrocities in Bulgaria’, Daily News, 25 July 1876, in A.W. Ward and G.P. Gooch (eds), The Cambridge 7. ‘The Debate on Bulgaria’, Daily News, 13 July 1876, p. 5. History of British Foreign Policy, 1783–1919: Volume III: p. 6. 1866–1919 (Cambridge, 1923), p. 93. 2. See William Ewart Gladstone, Bulgarian Horrors and the 8. Quoted in R.W. Seton-Watson, Disraeli, Gladstone and Question of the East (London, 1876). 5. Benjamin Disraeli, Hansard [HC], vol. 231, 11 August the Eastern Question: A Study in Diplomacy and Party 1876, col. 1146. Politics (London, 1935), p. 83. 3. ‘The Turkish Atrocities’, The Economist, 12 August 1876, p. 943. 6. Gary J. Bass, Freedom’s Battle: The Origins of 9. Hansard [HC], vol. 230, 26 June 1876, col. 425. Humanitarian Intervention (United States, 2008), p. 287. 4. W.H. Dawson, ‘Forward Policy and Reaction, 1874–1885’ 16 SYMEON • Issue eight

speeches before he was elevated to Such morally charged language the Lords as Earl of Beaconsfield, stands in stark contrast to the stated that ‘what our duty is at this Prime Minister’s own thoughts on critical moment is to maintain the the Bulgarian atrocities. Disraeli Empire of England’.20 It is clear that denounced the reports of the he had no intention of sending in massacres as mere ‘coffee-house troops to fight against the Ottomans. babble’, and whilst this may appear Disraeli was eloquently backed grossly insensitive, the Prime up by Conservative John Torr, who Minister was not alone in sharing spoke directly to the atrocitarian these sentiments.15 William Forsyth, campaigners when he attacked ‘men a Liberal MP, moved a moderate of the highest position’ for seeming amendment that called for ‘good to ‘forget their responsibilities and and impartial government [in the their calmer judgement, and to listen Ottoman Empire] irrespective of only to the cry for vengeance’.21 race or creed’.16 Nevertheless, it Conservative views on the most was withdrawn without being put appropriate response to the atrocities to a vote. This relatively minor were therefore divided. condemnatory motion itself indicates that a fully-fledged incursion into Strange political alliances also reveal W.E. Forster lambasted Disraeli’s lacklustre the Ottoman Empire was a long way themselves when one considers response to the initial reports of the from being debated in Parliament, the contributions of the ‘icon’ of atrocities.10 notwithstanding the passionate the atrocitarian campaign, William moralistic language of certain Gladstone, who coined the term members. The pro-intervention ‘Bulgarian Horrors’.22 In August an atrocious character’ had taken atrocitarians were far from 1876, he wrote a famous pamphlet place, but he still hoped that the commanding complete support in the in which he called for the ‘extinction’ initial reports were exaggerated.11 Commons. of the Turks ‘bag and baggage’ from This response was regarded as Southeast Europe via a military lacklustre by a variety of Liberal What is more intriguing, however, intervention.23 In Parliament, MPs. Anthony Mundella, MP for is how atrocitarian sentiments however, his response was more Sheffield, lambasted the government transcended the conventional party- limited. Rather than calling for an for failing to remonstrate with the political divides at Westminster. armed intervention to expel the Turks Ottoman government. He noted that The Conservative Marquess of Bath from Southeast Europe, he merely the newspapers enthused about the argued that every Church ‘would stated the need for getting rid of the presence of the ‘magnificent’ British unite in protesting against the power ‘difficulties of local administration by fleet in the region but contained no of England’ being used to support a Power which is wholly incompetent information whatsoever about whether a ‘blood-stained and savage rule’.17 to conduct it’.24 This is far removed Disraeli had formally condemned Likewise, the Tory Duke of Argyll, who from the powerful rhetoric of his the Ottomans for perpetrating the was incredibly active in organizing pamphlet and public rally addresses. atrocities.12 Mundella warned that atrocitarian protests, spoke at length More than 10,000 atrocitarian the entire episode was ‘a disgrace to in condemnation of the Ottomans, sympathizers, desperate for an armed humanity’ and one that ‘will form one and frequently implored Disraeli intervention to put an end to further of the bloodiest pages in history’.13 to do more.18 He argued that the massacres, endured pouring rain He implored the government to conscience of the country awoke to in Blackheath to hear Gladstone do more. Forster was even more the ‘deplorable and horrible results’ denounce Disraeli and propose an scathing: he argued that ‘it is of the policy of supporting Turkey.19 intervention in the name of common revolting to the consciousness of There is a marked contrast here with humanity.25 His muted Parliamentary Englishmen that we should … support the official government position. response is curious. Perhaps he the Power which has perpetrated Disraeli, in one of his final Commons realized that the MPs in the House these atrocities’.14

10. Copyright disclaimer: This eBook is for the use of anyone 14. ibid., col. 1183. 20. Hansard [HC], vol. 231, 11 August 1876, col. at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You 1146–47. 15. Hansard [HC], vol. 231, 31 July 1876, col. 203. may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of 21. ibid., vol. 232, 8 February 1877, col. 67. the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or 16. ibid., col. 156. online at www.gutenberg.net. 22. Davide Rodogno, Against Massacre: Humanitarian 17. Hansard [HL], vol. 231, 31 July 1876, col. 107. Interventions in the Ottoman Empire, 1815-1914 11. ibid., 10 July 1876, col. 1181. 18. On the Duke of Argyll’s activism, see Seton-Watson, (Princeton, 2012), p. 152. 12. ibid., col. 1185. Eastern Question, p. 87. 23. W.E. Gladstone, Bulgarian Horrors, p. 31. 13. ibid. 19. Hansard [HL], vol. 232, 20 February 1877, col. 649. 24. Hansard [HC], Vol. 231, 31 July 1876, col. 160. 17

ferociously as the noisiest sub-section of the atrocitarians. Britain remained neutral in the ensuing Russo-Turkish War, but the desired intervention never transpired.

The passion and ferocity of the atrocitarian campaigners was not matched in the Parliamentary response to the Bulgarian Horrors. Although there were emotive contributions from MPs and peers from both parties, they failed to stir up Parliament in favour of military action, and it is intriguing that conventional party loyalties broke down. Conservative peers spoke out against Disraeli’s imperialistic preferences; the Liberal whips and leadership voted against Gladstone’s (relatively limited) motions. Gladstone’s mighty oratory and pamphlet rhetoric did not replicate themselves in his Commons contributions, and he was still defeated.

The debate over the Bulgarian Horrors proves that foreign affairs can create strange bedfellows in the British Parliamentary system, a trend that has a rich history and one that continues to this day. In 2013, thirty-one Conservative MPs sided with Labour to defeat David Cameron’s motion authorizing military intervention in Syria to put an end to President Assad’s deployment of chemical weapons.28 Indeed, the international response to Assad’s most recent use of chemical Gladstone’s Parliamentary speeches were mild in comparison with his mighty pamphlet rhetoric. weapons just this year shows that Wikipedia. humanitarian intervention continues to be a highly contentious issue. of Commons were much less even one that mentioned the Clearly, today’s political parties can sympathetic towards an intervention, ‘protection of British interests’, which be just as easily divided as they were and this reluctance was proven in ought to have courted the support over a century ago in the wake of the 26 May 1877 when Gladstone attempted of imperialist MPs. Gladstone did terrible atrocities in Bulgaria. to move motions to condemn the not even propose an intervention— Ottomans. All five were defeated, he merely called for money for the Royal Navy fleet in the area—and was still defeated. Most striking,

25. ‘Mr Gladstone on the Bulgarian Atrocities,’ Northern however, is the fact that Gladstone’s Echo, 11 September 1876, p. 3. own Liberal whips pleaded with

26. Hansard [HC], Vol. 234, 8 May 1877, col. 501. the government not to give him any Commons debating time!27 This is 27. M. Swartz, The Politics of British Foreign Policy in the Era of Disraeli and Gladstone (Hong Kong, 1985), indeed a most curious alliance, and p. 58. it indicates that Parliament did not 28. Hansard [HC], Vol. 566, 29 August 2013, col. 1,552. support an armed intervention as 18 SYMEON • Issue eight

RECENT GRADUATES WHERE ARE THEY NOW? 19

Speaking about the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Comission at Historians Without Borders Finland.

REETTA a monograph. As one of the examiners But I did not edit my thesis. Not HUMALAJOKI put it when I expressed surprise at because I assumed that ‘no corrections’ received her their verdict: “It was very clearly a meant it was perfect. Instead it turns PhD in 2016 out that while working five part- PhD thesis.” As it turns out, that is and is now an time jobs, I simply had no energy, enough to pass a viva. Academy of motivation or intellectual capacity left Finland Postdoctoral The months following my viva were over to do so. Researcher at the John difficult. I worked part-time in non- Today, I am an Academy of Finland Morton Centre for North American academic jobs while I applied for 30+ Postdoctoral Fellow at the John Morton Studies at the University of Turku. lectureships, postdocs, and short-term Center for North American Studies at fellowships. I was lucky to be offered My PhD viva was on 01 April 2016. the University of Turku. I moved back seminar teaching at Durham and at When the examiners said I had passed to Finland last September after ten Newcastle. I taught for a widening with no corrections, I thought it might years living in Durham, and I have participation charity and was briefly be an April Fool’s joke. I spent the until August 2020 to work on that a Visiting Early Career Researcher at following weekend suspended in disbe- postdoc project. Leaving Durham, the Northumbria. I had an article accepted lief. My thesis examined the language Department of History and especially by the Western Historical Quarterly. surrounding the Cold War era US policy my supervisor, Gabriella Treglia, was I shaped plans for a new project, termination, which aimed to remove incredibly challenging. My confidence moving forward from mid-twentieth the special legal status of American took a hit in the process, despite all century American Indian policy to Indian tribes, under the guise of mak- my apparent success. But I am getting examine the development of national ing Indigenous people ‘full Americans’. used to a new research environment Indigenous organizations in the United The policy was an unequivocal disaster, and a new team. Alongside that, I States and Canada in the same period. resulting in tribes becoming further have had expressions of interest from I very slowly pieced together a book impoverished and losing thousands of a publisher regarding the monograph proposal. Eventually I managed to gain acres in land. I had spent the weeks from my thesis. In the two years since a short-term postdoc fellowship from leading up to my viva reading through my viva, I have learned that a PhD is by the Eccles Centre for North American my thesis identifying all the areas in no means a guarantee of a successful Studies at the British Library, allowing which it was lacking. I went in to my academic career. But it does teach you me to do the extra research for the viva ready to pitch all the changes I valuable lessons about yourself, your book. would make in turning the thesis into limits, and the work you are able to put in to achieve your goals. 20 SYMEON • Issue eight

Houses along the River Neckar at Tübingen.

BEN POPE between two elites with very similar commercialized. In particular, the received his PhD ways of exploiting those less powerful global ubiquity of English today can in 2016 and is than themselves. But (of course) they blind us to how much lies beyond its now a participant saw much more: the fascination of reach, and with so many options to in the ‘Teach the processes by which two groups of chose between we forget to ask which @ Tübingen’ people with much in common came options are not on the table. programme in to see themselves as fundamental Germany. opposites, together with the sheer It is still harder to envisage what variety and otherness of the medieval might be whilst there is concern for After many years as a PhD student society to which this subject opens the security of what we have. For me and teaching assistant in Durham doors. personally, this year is a brief pause (during which time I was also one of in the protracted professional and the editors of the first three issues A positive experience, then, but economic precarity which almost of Symeon) I now find myself in sadly not one that we could have had universally characterizes the efforts of Tübingen, Germany. Tübingen’s anywhere in the United Kingdom recently-qualified scholars to continue castle-turned-university, picturesque because of a lack of relevant their careers. But this respite is no riverside and small-town charm are all English-language scholarly literature. insulation from the more general very reminiscent of Durham, and there Beyond the political lives of kings fear that opportunities are closing all are strong historic links between the and emperors, large tracts of German around us, and that in an education two universities. But it is the different history before Napoleon (if not system which does nothing to mitigate perspectives provided by teaching in Bismarck) are almost inaccessible to the wasteful inequalities of wider Tübingen which are on my mind. the English-speaking reader. And if society we will soon be obliged not Germany contains so much human only to take stock of what we still In the winter semester I had the life of which the Anglophone world lack, but also of what we have lost. opportunity to run a module based barely hears, how much is eluding The tranquility of Tübingen’s scenic on my research on the increasingly us elsewhere? This is no crisis of riverside is certainly an apt image antagonistic and mutually exclusive language learning or of intellectual of the deep fulfilment of learning identities of wealthy townspeople ambition. It is merely a salutary and teaching, but it also masks and rural nobles in late medieval reminder that we are, collectively, not the frenetic struggle to attain and Germany. I was afraid that students nearly as wise as we suppose, and preserve learning which is perpetually would see this subject in just one of that the opportunity to learn is still underway beneath the surface. its facets: a rather unedifying quarrel rationed even as it is increasingly 21

Dedication of Mt Tabor AME Zion Church on Cumberland County’s Register of Historic Places (October, 2017).

LINDSAY HOUPT- time Project Director for a pilot program family’s story led residents to come VARNER called ‘Community Heart & Soul’. While forward with their memories of the received her not focusing on seventeenth century church and has ignited a discussion PhD in 2015 communities, this position allowed me on how the community and the public and is now to continue my interest in community history field has treated African the Community development and interactions, while American historical sites. The growing Outreach Director also sharing and promoting the threat to historic resources, highlighted for Cumberland Co. humanities to a wider audience. Heart in the past two years, led the County Historical Society in Pennsylvania, USA. & Soul is supported by a grant from the Historical Society to adopt preservation Pennsylvania Humanities Council (PHC) education as a priority in their strategic Upon completing my PhD in 2015, I and uses community-based story-telling plan, and in January 2018, I was returned to the United States with the to inform revitalization efforts. In 2017 hired to direct the new Community hope of starting my academic career. and 2018, the grant was renewed Outreach Department. This role has I quickly received part-time teaching to complete the four-phase process launched me into the field of historic at a private college in Pennsylvania, that includes in-depth community preservation, community planning, but the pay was horrible and it was an involvement and action on issues and fundraising. While I continue hour drive to my office. By the end of arising from the project. The project to work as an internship supervisor 2015, I began thinking more about endeavors to create an atmosphere and adjunct history professor, I find my time and experiences in Durham to where nonprofits, businesses, local the most rewarding part of my job is broaden my employment opportunities. governments, and academic institutions educating the wider community on the My mind kept going to my three years’ come together to better understand and importance of history and preservation, work at the Durham World Heritage Site serve the whole community through and working with residents to uncover Visitor’s Center. At the time it was a humanities-based engagement. how history impacts their sense of fun and much needed distraction from place in the County. The humanities the stress of the PhD. Looking back, A thread of this project is highlighting are continuously questioned, devalued, my experience at the Visitor Center, history and heritage in the region, and regarded as a luxury that are along with my graduate work, provided and to spur communities to act and frequently on the fiscal chopping me the skills for my current role as the save their historic resources. In Spring block in our society. Working daily to Community Outreach Director for a 2016, I interviewed two residents highlight the value of the humanities, county historical society. whose family story led us to uncover and particularly our cultural resources, a c.1870 log cabin, African American has been an unexpected but rewarding Along with part-time teaching, in church and adjoining cemetery. Their career path. January 2016 I was hired as the full- 22 SYMEON • Issue eight

DEPARTMENT NEWS

THIS YEAR HAS BEEN VERY EVENTFUL, AND WE HAVE LOTS OF NEWS TO REPORT.

In December we said goodbye to Jo Fox, who new permanent colleagues, who will has been seconded to be the Director of the consolidate our strengths in the history Institute of Historical Research in London. Jo is of Britain, Europe, Africa, East Asia and an inspirational teacher, scholar and colleague, the United States. We are excited that who has had an enormous impact on Durham the Department is becoming increasingly since her appointment in 1999. She has blazed global in its outlook: staff and students the trail for women in the Department and in the are studying the history of China, historical profession more broadly. She was our Romania and Sudan alongside that of first female professor and Head of Department Britain and France. and she is now the IHR’s first female Director. Jo has done a great deal to promote gender equality Internationalization is now a high in the Department, and we will be building on priority for both the university and the her work in the coming years. Not surprisingly, department. As a department, we are her leaving party in Prior’s Hall was packed! keen to increase our connections with It was particularly good to see so many retired institutions abroad, as we believe both colleagues there, including Alan Heesom, Michael staff and students benefit from the Prestwich, Howell Harris and Robin Frame. opportunities for cultural and intellectual exchange these links provide. We do In the last edition of Symeon, we reported that not yet know what Brexit will mean for the Department would be expanding by 75% over the future of the Erasmus exchange the next decade. We are now in the process of programme, but for the moment, some hiring a large number of new staff. By the time History students spend part of their you read this, we hope to have appointed seven degree studying abroad under the 23

the recent exhibition ‘Illuminating Colour’ at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland. In her role as a trustee of the Science Museum, Ludmilla Jordanova has been forging links between the Department and ‘Locomotion’ in Shildon, the world’s first railway town, while Tom Stammers co-curated the exhibition ‘The Allure of Napoleon’ at the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle. We hope to strengthen such links in future. As Durham University expands, it is even more important that we act as a bridge between the university and the local community.

It is always a pleasure to report the recent achievements of our staff and students. Our colleagues continue to enjoy success in attracting external funding for their research. In the last issue of Symeon, Richard Gameson discussed his work on the pigments used by British medieval illuminators and we are delighted that he has now Jo Fox and Sarah Davies at Jo’s leaving party. been awarded funding by the AHRC to take this project forward. Richard Huzzey and Henry Miller have also received AHRC funding for their Erasmus scheme: this year, for the the Department hosted two PKU work on petitions and petitioning, first time, two undergraduates have PhD students. It is clear that both while Len Scales was awarded spent a year at Uppsala University sides gain a great deal from such a Leverhulme Fellowship for his in Sweden. Other students continue exchanges. important and wide-ranging project to venture beyond Europe to study in ‘The Kaiser Myth: Medieval Emperors Australia, the US and other parts of Just as important as these global and German Memory, CE 900-2000’. the world. connections are our links with the local region. As several articles Some notable publications which International connections are vital for in this edition of Symeon reveal, have appeared this year include our research. Many colleagues already many staff, students and former Christian Liddy’s Contesting the City: have informal links with universities students are engaged in research Politics and Citizenship in English overseas, but we are now seeking to on the rich history of Durham city Towns 1250-1530, Lara Douds’ develop more formal arrangements. and the wider North-East region. In Inside Lenin’s Government, Ludmilla A new exchange with the Huntington her article, Clarissa Cahill, a recent Jordanova’s Physicians and their Library, California will begin in 2018- graduate, writes passionately about Images, Jennifer Luff’s ‘Covert and 19. Christian Liddy, Nicole Reinhardt the importance of communicating Overt Operations: Interwar Political and Len Scales recently visited the this history to the public. It is Policing in the United States and History Department at the University worth noting that the Department the United Kingdom’ (American of Münster, North Rheine-Westphalia, is actively involved in various forms Historical Review) and the second Germany to discuss opportunities of public engagement, particularly volume of National Prayers: Special for research collaboration. Our collaborations with local museums. Worship since the Reformation edited association with Peking University Giles Gasper’s AHRC-funded project by Philip Williamson, Alasdair Raffe, (PKU) continues to grow: this year ‘The Ordered Universe’ inspired Stephen Taylor and Natalie Mears. 24 SYMEON • Issue eight

Eleanor Barraclough and her students on their special subject trip to Iceland.

Eleanor Barraclough has received a Finally, it is good to note that the has received the Gibson Prize for 2018 University Award for Excellence Department continues to perform the best dissertation on a topic in Learning and Teaching. Eleanor’s very well in the league tables—we in local history. We know that the commitment to her students was have just been ranked second in graduate prospects for Durham demonstrated recently when she took the 2019 Complete University History students are excellent and a group of them to Iceland as part Guide—and to attract outstanding we wish all our students graduating of their special subject on Medieval undergraduates who are a joy to this year the very best for their future. Iceland. If you are a regular Radio teach. Every year we celebrate their We hope they will stay in touch as we 3 or 4 listener, you may have heard exceptional achievements through always enjoy hearing from our alumni Eleanor talking on air about subjects the award of prizes. This year Thomas and welcoming back any who are ranging from climate change in King has received the Edward Allen visiting Durham. Svalbard (‘Costing the Earth’) to Prize for the best performance in the the history of the Vikings on the first year, Charlie Steer-Stephenson SARAH DAVIES, Isle of Lewis (‘Open Country’). For has received the Alumni Prize for Head of the History Department her most recent Radio 3 ‘Sunday the best performance in the second Feature’ documentary on the history year, Bethany Holden has received of immortality in the far north, she the Thompson Prize for the best went ice bathing in Norway with a performance in the final year, man who cryogenically froze his own Bethany Brewer has received the grandfather! Dissertation Prize, and Rhys Jones 25

The History Department on the steps of Durham Castle. 26 SYMEON • Issue eight

How 17,000 Petitions Helped Deliver Votes for Women

This article first appeared in at www.theconversation.com/how-17-000-petitions-helped-deliver-votes-for-women-91093

HENRY MILLER

Henry Miller is Senior Research Fellow at Durham University and project co-ordinator of the Rethinking Petitions, Parliament and People project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust and based in Durham’s Department of History.

CIARA STEWART

Ciara Stewart is a second-year PhD student in the History Department of Durham. She is writing her thesis on nineteenth-century Irish women’s movements and their use of petitions. She is also working alongside Dr Richard Huzzey and Dr Henry Miller on the Petitions, Parliament and People project. 27

NUWSS procession on 13 June 1908. LSE Library.

In the 50 years before women gained the vote in 1918, almost 17,000 petitions for women’s suffrage were sent to the House of Commons, containing over 3.3m signatures. Other petitions were sent to the House of Lords, the king, and the prime minister. 28 SYMEON • Issue eight

in the movement for the abolition of slavery, for example. So when suffrage bills were debated in parliament in the 1870s and 1880s, the National Society for Women’s Suffrage encouraged petitions in support.

The architect of the movement’s petitioning strategy was the Manchester feminist Lydia Becker. In Ireland, the Dublin Women’s Suffrage Association, led by Anna Haslam, orchestrated petitioning activity.

Petitions were a good way of raising public awareness, getting media coverage and keeping suffrage on the political agenda. For example, in the 1890s, campaigners organized a ‘special appeal’ for the vote, signed by 257,000 women. This was one of the largest petitions of the 19th century. The appeal was displayed to MPs in a special exhibition in May 1896.

At the January 1910 general election, suffragists organised petitions from male voters in many constituencies. This was an attempt to use petitions to hold an unofficial referendum on women’s suffrage. During the 1913 ‘pilgrimage’, which saw women gradually descend on London after starting from different locations, pilgrims sent petitions along their way. Emmeline Pankhurst is arrested in London. Wikipedia.

Most people know about the famous As the right to vote was linked to PATIENCE AND RESULTS examples of suffragette activity, property, the petition claimed that The groups fighting for women’s such as window breaking and propertied women had a right to the suffrage did not, however, see eye street demonstrations. By contrast, franchise. Though a limited demand to eye on the role petitions should petitions show a different side of the that did not include married women play. Suffragette leaders Emmeline campaign: the patient, behind the (who could not own property at this and Christabel Pankhurst believed scenes activity that helped deliver time), the petition provided a rallying that petitioning a parliament of men votes for women. point for a new movement. was a waste of time. The failure of traditional constitutional tactics The suffrage campaign was, itself, While women (and the majority of showed that new, militant methods of founded by a petition signed by over men) could not vote at this time, campaigning were necessary. 1,500 women, including leading all British subjects had the right to activists Barbara Bodichon and Emily petition. Petitioning was one of the But suffragettes never entirely Davies. This was presented to the few political rights women possessed abandoned petitioning. In May 1914 House of Commons by the liberal and had proved an effective strategy Emmeline Pankhurst was arrested on philosopher John Stuart Mill on 7 in earlier campaigns. Women had her way to presenting a petition to June 1866. been active both as petitioners and the king, generating one of the iconic canvassers who collected signatures suffrage images. 29

Men fought for the cause too. LSE Library.

At a time when women were excluded and became a way to organize and But as the history of suffrage from parliament and voting, petitions mobilize a broad, diverse, popular petitioning shows us, focusing were a way to directly engage coalition for women’s suffrage. on the lack of immediate results with male politicians. For Irish Petitions came from all over the UK misses the point of petitioning. The suffragists, petitioning allowed them and from different types of people, majority of petitions throughout to challenge the British Parliament such as women university students history have been unsuccessful. as well as supporting the wider in 1902, or women farmers in 1883. Petitioning has remained a popular campaign. Women asserted their Getting people to sign petitions was form of political activity because right to citizenship through petitions, a first step to recruiting them as of the numerous advantages it has, while petitioning demonstrated their active members of the movement. even if authorities reject or ignore capacity for political participation. Suffragists preferred to work at a the demands of petitioners. Petitions local level, gradually spreading their keep a topic on the political agenda Many of the petitions called for message through the process of even when politicians would rather the right to vote to be extended to gathering signatures. avoid the issue. Petitioning raises women on the same terms ‘as it is, or public awareness and attracts media may be’ given to men. But suffrage coverage. Petitions identify support petitions addressed other issues and channel it behind a national too. For example, the 1902 petition THE MODERN PETITION campaign, and can act as a first step signed by women undergraduates for further activity on an issue. argued that the vote was the only These days, e-petitioning has way to ensure the equal educational emerged as a popular form of political The suffrage movement also suggests status of women. engagement. Critics complain that that petitioning is most effective the lack of impact of e-petitions when it is embedded within, rather In response to anti-suffragist claims shows that they are pointless. than divorced from, other forms of that women didn’t want the vote, Others have argued that e-petitions political activity, such as such as petitions showed that there was in encourage a lazy, disengaged public meetings, demonstrations, fact popular support for suffrage. clicktivism in the place of real, active or elections. They came from men and women political engagement. 30 SYMEON • Issue eight

ALUMNI REFLECTIONS: Durham and beyond

DAVID DOUGAN

David Dougan was an undergraduate at Durham University 1959- 62 and was a member of St Cuthbert’s Society. He now lectures on English history and art history. 31

Although my first Durham Shipbuilding, published by Allen and Within two years, I was approached degree was in Politics and Unwin in 1968. By now, of course, I by the fledging television company had left Durham University where I in that part of the country, Tyne Economics (under Professor was an undergraduate from 1959- Tees Television, asking if I would Morris Jones and Reader in 1962 and was working in radio and be interested in joining them as Economics Edward Allen) it television. This narrative in itself is industrial and political correspondent did contain a large element of an interesting case study in seizing but also as a documentary maker. opportunities and not knowing Again, I think you can imagine what history. I remember that Allen exactly how one thing might lead on my response was. And so it came in particular was passionate to another. While at Durham, I was about that I presented numerous about industrial development Editor of the Palatinate as well as programmes about the history of in this country and especially President of the Students’ Union. the region, telling its story from The editor of the Newcastle Journal early tribes right through the Tudor about the role of James Watt contacted me to ask whether I would and Stuart period but particularly and Matthew Boulton. My be willing to write a series of articles concentrating on the nineteenth second degree, my MA, was about the profiles of the various century and the rise of industry. firmly set in history, recording colleges—their history, their culture, their character. They must have gone History, as you might say, was and analysing the rise and down reasonably well because, just becoming a major pre-occupation decline of the shipbuilding before I was due to graduate and not and a bread-winner. Books ran industry in the North East. having any firm idea of my future, he parallel to the work in television. contacted me again to ask if I would I was commissioned to write the be interested in joining the staff of official history of the Shipwrights’ In turn this led on to my first this important regional paper. I was Trade Union and I also published a book, The History of North East delighted to do so. biography of one of the greatest of the

Introducing “Front Page Debate,” a political discussion programme for Tyne Tees Television. 32 SYMEON • Issue eight

industrial entrepreneurs, Lord William and specifically in the North. I also Armstrong. But perhaps the book that took a fourth degree, this time from gave me greatest satisfaction was the the Open University, which enabled history of the Jarrow March of 1936. I me to talk about art history and interviewed the few living participants especially the Renaissance, a period of that famous event and heard at first that I love. hand their side of the story. They were particularly anxious to stress that I felt able to lecture on the full tramp their march from Jarrow to London of English history from Celtic times, was not in pursuit of benefits but as through the Middle Ages and then a desperate cry for work. They had no the Tudors and Stuarts up to the intention of being a burden upon the nineteenth century and the work of state but wanted to contribute once William Ewart Gladstone, one of my again to its success as they had done heroes. So here I am now, lecturing before the depression of the 1930s. every week on English history or art history to about 30 people at At about this time, I made a big a time. These mature members of career change, leaving journalism the community are keen to regain for a new development in arts knowledge lost since school days. administration. This might be Perhaps I should not say this but the regarded as a reckless thing to do—I number of my peers who say to me sometimes felt that way myself! ‘oh, if only history had been taught But it did give me an opportunity like this at my school.’ to play a part in one of the great success stories in this country—the In my retirement, I have also taken growth and flowering of arts of all up the pen again (quaint term) and kinds, opening up opportunities for produced a study called To Return thousands of creative people and a King about the Restoration of seeing their work presented in new the monarchy in 1660. I have also theatres, concert halls and exhibition produced a commentary on Samuel galleries. And becoming one of our Pepys’ great diaries which I called major export industries too! Reading the Diaries. My most recent study has been on the role of Oliver For a while, history had to take a Cromwell as the Lord Protector 1653- back seat—I was too concerned 8 and how he compares as a ruler with the present. But when I retired with his predecessor Charles I and his I joined the University of the Third successor Charles II. Age, a volunteer-led organization of retired and semi-retired members All in all, I can say that history has who are united by an interest in been one of the great fascinations continued learning, and quickly took of my life and I have never tired of up lecturing on history. By now I reading or lecturing about it. The had a PhD to my name with a long more you know, the more you realize dissertation (120,000 words) on the how little you really know. That is history of arts policy in this country what keeps us coming back for more. 33

David’s historical publications. 34 SYMEON • Issue eight

CREATING A MARTYR: The case of Saint Ælfheah

ABIGAIL STEED ABOVE: Ælfheah’s capture and death, from St Alphege’s church, Canterbury. Abigail Steed is a third-year PhD student Photo by Eleanor Parker. in the History Department. Her thesis looks at ideas about vengeance in Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman society, and she is also interested in the Medieval Cult of Saints. 35

Controversy arose in the 1070s, when concluded that because Ælfheah died Ælfheah’s martyrdom was questioned for so great a love of justice, it was by Lanfranc, the new Norman not unfitting for him to be numbered archbishop of Canterbury. Lanfranc’s among the martyrs, and compared him doubts were symptomatic of broad with the early martyr John the Baptist. changes within the English church in According to Eadmer, Lanfranc was the years after 1066, as new Norman impressed by the subtlety of Anselm’s officials sought to acquaint themselves argument and became convinced that with the unfamiliar saints of their Ælfheah deserved the title of martyr.5 conquered nation. Relics were tested by fire to determine their veracity, cults What remained was to provide that lacked written documentation Ælfheah’s cult with proper were provided with edifying texts, and documentation, so Lanfranc the Normans realized the potential commissioned the English monk Osbern of fostering the support of native to write a history of the saint’s life saints to bolster their own legitimacy and passion to be read and sung in and authority, with the result that church. As mentioned above, Osbern’s Saint Ælfheah (or Alphage) of Canterbury. they enthusiastically adopted most sources were scarce. Ostensibly he Anglo-Saxon cults.4 The case of Saint obtained the bulk of his material Ælfheah is a rare example within this from eyewitness accounts which Saint Ælfheah is one of the atmosphere of a recorded debate over became orally circulating legend, though even with the likelihood that more obscure and controversial the quality of an Anglo-Saxon saint’s sanctity rather than just the reality this is to some extent true, his work Anglo-Saxon saints. As is or condition of their relics, and, as undoubtedly contains a large element common with medieval saints, such, of a saint’s cult that was briefly of hagiographical fabrication, designed little is known about his life. jeopardized. to cement Ælfheah’s status as a saint and a martyr and quell any doubts Our richest source is an imaginative Lanfranc’s opinion was seemingly in that respect.6 To that end, Osbern hagiography written in the 1080s by essential to securing the future created a standard hagiographical the monk Osbern of Canterbury.1 Prior continuation of Ælfheah’s cult, and for portrait of a pious child who went on to to this, there is only scant information Ælfheah’s devotees, veneration of the become a monk of exemplary character, from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which saint momentarily hung in the balance. was appointed to the bishopric of records that he became bishop of Details of the way that Lanfranc was Winchester and then archbishopric of Winchester in 984, was involved in persuaded of Ælfheah’s sanctity come Canterbury through divine inspiration, peace negotiations with viking invaders from another, later source, the Life of followed by accounts of various in the 990s, and was Archbishop of St Anselm, about Lanfranc’s successor miracles and adulation of his generosity Canterbury from 1006 to 1012, when as archbishop of Canterbury, written by and promotion of peace.7 The influence he was captured and brutally killed the monk Eadmer in the early twelfth of Anselm’s argument can be seen in by Danish raiders who pelted him to century. Lanfranc and Anselm had lived Osbern’s stress on Ælfheah’s continual death with bones, reportedly because together at the monastery of Bec in attempts to convert the Danes to he refused to allow a ransom to be Normandy, and when Lanfranc became Christianity, and selflessness in refusing paid for his release.2 Ælfheah was archbishop they remained intellectual to be ransomed.8 immediately considered to be a martyr, correspondents. Eadmer records a his body was carried to London and conversation said to have taken place Osbern’s invention lies in the way that buried in St Paul’s cathedral, and in between Lanfranc and Anselm in he structures Ælfheah’s entire life 1023 King Cnut granted leave for his 1079, when the latter was on a visit as a trajectory towards martyrdom. body to be translated to Canterbury, to Canterbury, about whether Ælfheah Throughout the text, Ælfheah himself where he became venerated as a major could truly be considered a martyr. seems to anticipate his fate, making local saint.3 After a speech comprising several repeated comments on how a man great leaps of theological logic, Anselm who is willing to lose his life is more

1. On the dating of Osbern’s work, see Jay Rubenstein, ‘The 3. Ibid. 1023 (C, D, E). 6. Osbern’s Life of Alphege, ed. Frances Shaw (London, Life and Writings of Osbern of Canterbury’, in Richarf 2009), pp. 25-26. Rubenstein, ‘The Life and Writings of Eales and Richard Sharpe (eds.) Canterbury and the 4. On Norman adoption of Anglo-Saxon cults, see Susan J. Osbern’, p 36. Norman Conquest: Churches, Saints and Scholars 1066- Ridyard, ‘Condigna Veneratio: Post-Conquest Attitudes 1109 (London, 1995), p. 35. to the Saints of the Anglo-Saxons’, in R. Allen Brown 7. Osbern’s Life of Alphege, pp. 30-48. (ed.) Anglo-Norman Studies 9: Proceedings of the Battle 2. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, ed. Michael Swanton Conference (Woodbridge, 1986), pp. 179-206. 8. Ibid. pp. 52-53. Rubenstein, ‘The Life and Writings of (London, 2000), entries for 984(A), 993/991(A), 994(E) Osbern’, p. 37. 1006(A,E), 1012(E). 5. The Life of Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, by Eadmer, ed. and trans. R.W. Southern (London, 1962), pp. 50-54. 36 SYMEON • Issue eight

praiseworthy than a man who seeks direct comparison to Christ carrying status was unusually precarious, and to save it, and how he would consider the cross to his own execution, and at Osbern’s text was among the earliest himself blessed to die like Christ’s the moment of death aligns Ælfheah in this tradition of writing.13 Affirming martyrs.9 He is confident of his sinless with the first martyr Stephen, who Ælfheah’s status and associating him state and anticipates eternal life. When also refused to plunder church funds with his predecessor as archbishop, St in prison, he resists the Devil who and was stoned to death.11 This is a Dunstan, gave Canterbury Cathedral a attempts to trick him into escaping, significant deviation from the Anglo- pair of archbishop saints, a martyr and refuses to allow any ransom to be paid Saxon Chronicle account, written before a confessor, which was advantageous for him, has a vision of his predecessor 1023, which gives a less deliberately in its developing rivalry with the St Dunstan welcoming him to heaven, malicious version of events in which other major church at Canterbury, and Osbern compares him to the early Ælfheah’s murder arose out of the St Augustine’s Abbey.14 Associating martyr Lawrence who also protected the Danes’ spontaneous, drunken anger at Ælfheah with St Stephen and Christ treasures of the church.10 his refusal to allow any money to be gave resonance and spiritual weight granted for him.12 to Osbern’s text through rhetoric The passage recounting Ælfheah’s death designed to combat any hesitancy about is where the true scale of Osbern’s This difference between the early Ælfheah’s martyrdom. By depicting invention can be detected, because it is and later source opens up the a contested martyr in the model of the one moment that can be compared question of what Osbern was trying the incontestable first martyr, Osbern with an earlier source. Osbern portrays to achieve. Beyond the theological imbued Ælfheah’s death with historical Ælfheah’s martyrdom as a malevolent considerations over Ælfheah’s status, precedent and spiritual significance. and deliberately orchestrated plot, there were broader benefits to be had instigated by the Devil but orchestrated for Canterbury with the continuation What emerges from study of by the Danes, arising from the Danish of his cult, which Lanfranc must the controversy and subsequent leaders’ fear for their own position in the have realized. At every major English solidification of Ælfheah’s status as face of Ælfheah’s growing reputation for cathedral, the Normans adopted its a martyr saint is that there appears holiness, even among their own men, patron saint and began producing to have been a change in how easily during his time in prison. In the lead-up new hagiographical documentation someone came to be considered a to Ælfheah’s death, Osbern creates a to shore up their cults. Ælfheah’s martyr over the eleventh century. In 1012, the Anglo-Saxons apparently had no hesitation in interpreting his death as a martyrdom, even without any elaborate tale building up to it. Ælfheah might be considered to sit within a tradition of Anglo-Saxon royal martyr saints, including Edmund, a ninth- century Anglo-Saxon king who was also killed by viking invaders for refusing to share wealth with them, and refusing to damage his reputation by either acquiescing or fleeing.15 The difference with Ælfheah after 1066 was that Edmund’s cult was better documented much earlier. The controversy over Ælfheah should be set against a general trend from the later eleventh century of greater scrutiny of evidence for sanctity with regard to both texts and relics. This means that Osbern’s fabrication of Ælfheah’s life and death is less important than what the content and

The siege of Canterbury and the capture of Ælfheah, in a 12th-century window from Canterbury style of the text reveals about what a Cathedral. Photo by Eleanor Parker. martyr saint was expected to look like in the later eleventh century.

9. Ibid. pp. 57-59. 13. R.W. Southern, Saint Anselm and His Biographer, A 15. The Life of St Edmund was first recorded by the monk Study of Monastic Life and Thought 1059-c.1130 Abbo of Fleury between 985 and 987, while he was 10. Ibid. pp. 64-74. (Cambridge, 1963), p. 250. visiting the monastery of Ramsey. It is printed in Three 11. Ibid. pp. 74-77. Lives of English Saints, ed. Michael Winterbottom 14. Ibid. pp. 266-67. (Toronto, 1972). 12. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, 1012(E). 37

Ælfheah on the Chichele tomb in Canterbury Cathedral. Photo by Eleanor Parker. 38 SYMEON • Issue eight

OLD STORIES, NEW TECHNOLOGIES: Bringing Durham Cathedral to life in a digital age

CLARISSA CAHILL

Clarissa Cahill has recently completed a BA in English and History, and an MA in Early Modern History, at Durham University. She is now Durham Cathedral’s Marketing and Communications Officer, responsible for publicizing the Cathedral, its community, and its events. In doing so, Clarissa utilizes everything from social media to the national press, bringing Durham Cathedral’s stories to a global audience. 39

Throughout my undergraduate and Master’s degrees at Durham, I always felt an immense and enthralling connection to the individuals I studied.

The most memorable part of my Masters research was visiting the National Archives to access, first-hand, genuine voices of Elizabethan widows-at-law and their legal advisors. The personal voices and stories present within these pages intrigued me, and with access to a wealth of high quality sources and research, I gained a new appreciation of the experiences of men and women of the early modern period; their squabbles, concerns, and everyday lives were not as alien to my own experience as I had first assumed. I discovered distinct parallels between the communication revolution of the period, triggered by the development of Durham Cathedral during the Lumiere Festival 2018. the printing press, and the way social media has abruptly reshaped how we communicate today. and accessible to everyone. In particular, and the innovations of the future. It was Durham Cathedral’s embrace of new immensely exciting to begin a role at However, many of the most interesting technologies enables us to draw out Durham Cathedral, where I was tasked personal stories and enticing secrets and revitalize our peculiar local history with engaging with the Cathedral’s present in this type of historical source in new ways. There are few places that 750,000 visitors a year, and connecting remain unknown to the general public, marry the ancient and the cutting edge with its global digital audience of forgotten in miles of archival shelving. so effectively as Durham. During the last followers. In this article I will share with Here, though, the innovations of the Lumiere festival a moon containing a you some recent projects I’ve worked present are bringing us closer to the myriad of faces was projected onto the on at the Cathedral, which illustrate stories and people of the past. The side of the Norman castle which has my personal passion, and one of the digitization of archives has made stalwartly guarded Durham for centuries. Cathedral’s core objectives: encouraging genealogical research increasingly engagement with Durham’s rich tapestry accessible to the public. This is just Following the conclusion of my studies, of vivid, entertaining, and awe-inspiring one example of how technological I was eager to find a career which would history. innovation, from virtual reality to allow me to draw upon my interest in blogging, has made history more tangible both the neglected stories of the past,

DURHAM CATHEDRAL’S ACCESSIBLE TREASURES

The experience of studying history is often intangible, but the treasures of medieval Durham offer an unmissable opportunity to walk amongst priceless artefacts and irreplaceable buildings, to gain fascinating insights into more than one thousand years of local history. Exhibition projects such as the Cathedral’s Open Treasure exhibition experience and digitization projects such as Durham Priory Library Recreated bring curious minds closer to these great treasures and the stories they have to tell. While these tales often feature Replica of Durham Cathedral’s sanctuary knocker; the original is on display in the Open saints and monarchs, they also include Treasures exhibit. intimate instances of daily life. 40 SYMEON • Issue eight

[and] the top of ye cover from end to end [...] most fine carved worke cutt owte with Dragons and other beasts’.1

The destroyed glories of the medieval shrine are physically lost, but a new project in partnership with the University of York now enables visitors to reimagine the familiar spaces of the Cathedral as they may once have appeared. Based partly on The Rites of Durham’s vivid testimony, the project has created a 3D reconstruction of how the shrine of St Cuthbert would have looked before its destruction at the Reformation. This visualization enables a glimpse into the Cathedral’s history that is tangible and accessible for wider audiences, and also demonstrates the potential of technology to breathe colour into historical sources.

St Cuthbert’s pectoral cross. The Durham Priory Library Recreated project similarly aims to preserve and make accessible the Cathedral’s history, St Cuthbert’s Pectoral Cross is a VISUALIZING MEDIEVAL in this case through digitizing the most stunning tribute to Anglo-Saxon DURHAM CATHEDRAL: complete monastic library collection in metalworking, made of gold, garnets, MANUSCRIPT SOURCES AND the UK.2 Digitization is an important and rare materials from as far away as TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION academic tool, but also a fascinating the Mediterranean. In addition to its opportunity for wider audiences to leaf splendid appearance, the cross also has The Rites of Durham, a detailed and through the most significant and valuable an intimate, humanizing connection nostalgic recollection of life at Durham books in the Cathedral’s collections, to the legendary St Cuthbert. When Priory before the Dissolution, contains including the eighth-century Durham it was discovered with St Cuthbert’s fascinating details about the Cathedral’s Gospels. Like St Cuthbert’s Pectoral body by Victorian antiquarians, the lost past. The highly jeweled and ‘lively’ Cross, scribbles in the margins and cross had tell-tale signs of wear which shrine to St Cuthbert in the Feretory dirty page corners are both testaments suggested that it had been worn by was destroyed at the hands of Henry to the personal and intimate history of Cuthbert during his lifetime. The cross VIII’s commissioners, but through these tomes. Such details bring to life combines functionality with decorative this fascinating account we can gaze images of monks, hunched over, studying opulence; the twelve garnets in each through sixteenth-century eyes at the in the Cathedral Cloisters, or by the arm of the cross could have functioned shrine’s stunning ornamentation. The light of the Monks’ Dormitory windows. as a bejeweled calendar, counted off Rites of Durham describes the shrine They transform these books from purely by Cuthbert’s fingers like a rosary. It in meticulous detail: the shrine’s academic resources into diaries of the is easy to imagine Cuthbert’s fiddling cover is adorned with an image of ‘our lives of the monks of Durham Priory, five fingers causing the break to the bottom Savior sittinge on a Rainebowe to geive hundred years ago. arm of the cross, which has been Judgement very lively to the behoulders repaired several times. The marks of age, and use, that we see throughout the most precious objects in the Cathedral’s collections give these objects personality. Scribbles in books and wear on an object personally worn by the North’s greatest Saint reconnect us with the people themselves, in addition to their legends.

1. Rites of Durham: A DESCRIPTION OR Brief Declaration OF ALL THE ANCIENT MONUMENTS, RITES, & CUSTOMS BELONGING OR BEING WITHIN THE MONASTICAL CHURCH OF DURHAM BEFORE THE SUPPRESSION. (ANDREWS & CO., DURHAM, 1903). http://archive.org/stream/ritesofdurhambei00cathrich/ ritesofdurhambei00cathrich_djvu.txt

2. Browse the collection of digitized books online at 3D reconstruction of the shrine of Saint Cuthbert. © Durham Cathedral. www.durhampriory.ac.uk 41

Durham Cathedral from a new angle. Credit Nick Martin.

Durham Cathedral has also been involved metres above ground, or of Scottish I’ve found it is the appeal to personal in the England’s Historic Cities app, soldiers imprisoned in the Cathedral by memory and shared community history which uses augmented reality to transport Oliver Cromwell, the genuine humanity of that provokes the strongest engagement users through time and unveil the these tales is always striking. from our visitors. hidden stories of the Cathedral and its characters. Visitors can now explore areas Of course, it is not only its past that The continuing popularity of the Miners’ of the Cathedral usually off limits to the brings Durham to life; events such as the Gala is, for me, an example of how we public, such as the Chapter House and Durham Miners’ Gala are testament to the can easily form personal connections Refectory Library, in 360 degrees on their enduring strength of the local community. to the past when that history is living, smartphones. This year’s Gala is especially poignant colourful and accessible. Harnessing in marking 25 years since the closure the communicative power of new Drone footage, another recent innovation, of the last County Durham colliery. Our technologies is essential in providing an has made an immense visual difference new temporary exhibition this summer, accessible avenue by which people can to the way the Cathedral is experienced. Miners: Pitmen, Pride and Prayer, reveals find their own connections to recent, Drones are more than just a trendy a wide-range of local stories, and its use or distant, history. Ultimately, it is this gimmick. Seeing up close the intricately of photographic archives and personal journey to find new ways of fascinating carved stonework, grotesques, and artefacts on loan from local families, will people with their heritage that is statues that adorn the Cathedral’s exterior allow visitors to connect directly with simultaneously my greatest passion face is an experience in itself, and it is a community memories of mining heritage. and challenge. way of offering—quite literally —a fresh perspective on our heritage. As such, I was very excited to organize interior and exterior drone filming of the Cathedral for recent documentaries that reached national and international audiences, including the recent Channel 5 series ‘Britain’s Great Cathedrals with Tony Robinson’.

A STORY TO REMEMBER

Despite this range of new technology, storytelling remains at the heart of what I enjoy most about my role. Whether it’s telling the story of our stonemasons Distributing rations during the 1921 strike at the Dean and Chapter Colliery, Ferryhill. painstakingly restoring stonework sixty Image courtesy of Beamish: the Living Museum of the North. 42 SYMEON • Issue eight

THE MORAL ECONOMY OF ELECTIONS IN AFRICA

JUSTIN WILLIS

Justin Willis is a Professor in the History Department. His current research is primarily concerned with the history of elections, and he is working with colleagues from Warwick and Oxford on a major ESRC-funded project, ‘The impact of elections: voting, political behaviour and democracy in sub-Saharan Africa’.

RIGHT: Voting in Kisumu, Kenya. August 2017. 43

Voters queuing in Kisumu, Kenya. August 2017.

The iconic image of the the ‘Impact of elections’ project has successfully created new nation-states. African election is the queue: followed the history of elections in Ghana, So elections with adult suffrage became Kenya and Uganda over the last sixty an obligatory feature of the end of empire the line of patient voters years. Using a combination of interviews, in Africa. waiting in the hot sun has archive work, opinion surveys and become a journalistic cliché. behavioural experiments, the research A generation of African nationalist team—from Durham, Warwick and Oxford politicians welcomed these performances Yet if you ask—in Africa, or elsewhere in —have tried to answer those questions. of nationhood. They had reason to do the world—about the quality of African so: educated men, many of whom had elections, you will likely receive a gloomy The idea that popular support is a been employed by the colonial state, they reply. Elections, you will be told, are no source of legitimate authority is by no had the skills and experience to thrive in more than ethnic censuses; or they are means novel in Africa. But the specific electoral processes that favoured literacy, repeatedly stolen by ruling parties; or mechanism of the election by secret knowledge of the colonizers’ language they are bought by crooked politicians ballot—with its attendant paraphernalia and familiarity with bureaucracy. Yet who use office to amass wealth, and then of lists, rubber stamps, boxes and they had fears, as well as ambitions. turn that wealth back into elected office forms—was a late-colonial innovation. People expected much of independence: again. In the early 1990s the ‘second As British and French colonial rulers ‘development’ was the dream of all, and liberation’ swept the continent, with sought a new legitimacy after 1945, many assumed that prosperity lay just multi-party politics returning to many they experimented with elections on a around the corner. Once colonial rulers countries. Ageing despots (at least, some qualified franchise, hoping to recruit a were gone, how would Africa’s new rulers of them) were thrown out of office by the new cohort of elite African allies: only persuade people to work, or pay taxes? popular will. But recent years have seen those with a certain level of education, Late-colonial election campaigns gave the rise of what scholars call ‘electoral or wealth, would be allowed to vote. nationalists the opportunity to assert state authoritarianism’; incumbent presidents The plan misfired—as did most of the authority, and demand that the public keep winning elections, again and again. schemes of late colonialism. African behave well. The registering, queuing politicians were not ready to accept a role and counting were a reminder that How can we explain that apparent as imperial subordinates, and colonial independence would bring obligations, paradox: why do people turn out in subjects demanded the fundamental as well as rights: ‘You must be peaceful such numbers to vote if they think the equality of adult suffrage. Pressed by and law-abiding citizens to expect a contest will not be free and fair? Why is international and economic realities that good return’, one politician warned his it that African elections seem so often to made empire unsustainable, and fearing supporters. disappoint? Perhaps most importantly, that the states that they had created why have some countries apparently would crumble as they left, both British So it was that Ghana, Kenya and bucked the trend: such as Ghana, where and French suddenly saw elections in Uganda—like almost all former British power has regularly changed hands a new light: ‘operation elections’ would and French colonial territories in Africa— in competitive elections over the last become national events, turning restive became independent with constitutions two decades? With funding from the colonial subjects into citizens, and based on multi-party electoral politics. Economic and Social Research Council, proving to the world that colonialism had That did not last. Africa’s new rulers were 44 SYMEON • Issue eight

Identifying a voter in Kisumu, Kenya. August 2017.

all enthusiasts for popular participation The pattern recurred again in Ghana be generous with gifts, as well as with —in theory, at least. But they all feared at the end of the 1970s. Meanwhile in promises. More than half of sitting that the public, disappointed by the Uganda, after Amin had been chased out members lost their seats in most of realities of independence, would turn of power by an invading Tanzanian army, these one-party elections. The powerful against them. They expressed that fear Obote came back to power in elections could, and did, cheat: every set of in terms of the dangers of tribalism, or marked by some flagrant abuses of elections saw instances of intimidation, sectarianism, or the possibility that voters process. These repeated, unsuccessful, and straightforward theft or stuffing would be ‘bribed’ by unscrupulous rivals. attempts to achieve electoral legitimacy of ballot boxes in a few places. But A period of experimentation followed, as are significant: a reminder that Kenya’s elections also saw a great deal rulers sought to keep the bureaucratic both international expectations and of very real competition for votes in most ‘national exercise’ of elections, with its bureaucratic self-regard made the constituencies. disciplinary effects, while ensuring that managed performance of adult suffrage they could not lose. In Ghana, Kwame seem highly desirable for politicians The generosity with which candidates Nkrumah created a one-party state— and civil servants. To hold elections was wooed the voters might look like vote- endorsed by a rigged referendum in an inherently virtuous display of state buying. But the biggest spenders did which turnout was partly coerced—but capacity. not always win, and voters took from all then feared to hold an election, even candidates. There was a moral aspect with only one party. When Nkrumah was In Kenya, by contrast, regular elections to this: the generosity of candidates overthrown in a coup, Uganda’s Milton have been held since independence. in sharing their wealth was a public Obote drew the conclusion that elections Up until 1992 these were effectively display of virtue by an aspiring patron to must be held—but spent so long single-party polls, and the presidential potential clients, an acknowledgement devising an elaborate electoral system to candidate of the ruling party was returned of the proper claims of those clients. ensure his own victory that he too was unopposed. But there was vigorous Campaign generosity was the price of overthrown by Idi Amin, the commander competition at a local level. President participation, not a guarantee of success, of the army, before the ballot could be Jomo Kenyatta encouraged Kenya’s voters and voters inspected candidates in other held. Ghana’s coup-makers handed to see their members of parliament as ways, too. Had the incumbent brought power back to a civilian government, delegates sent to government to obtain development projects to the constituency: chosen in an election which was carefully the benefits of development; and told new roads, clinics, piped water? Did the managed to keep supporters of Nkrumah them that if they were dissatisfied, this candidate have a reputation or generosity from regaining power; but then that was the fault not of government but to individuals in time of need: paying government too was overthrown by the of their elected representative. Voters hospital fees, donating to the cost of military, apparently unmourned by a learned to make explicit demands of funerals, finding jobs or scholarships public disappointed by its failure to bring the candidates— and to expect that for young people from their area? Voters the prosperity for which many had hoped. during campaigns, the candidates would wanted people who were known locally, 45

Supporter of New Patriotic Party in Cape Coast, TOP: Counting votes in Cape Coast, Ghana. December 2016. Ghana. November 2016. BOTTOM: Voting in Kwale, Kenya. March 2013. preferably people with whom they shared to voters—visible in the brief earlier through the electoral politics of the ties of kinship or ethnicity—ties that experiments with competitive elections 1950s and 1960s. Since 1992, when could again be used to make moral sense in both Ghana and Uganda—has now Ghana began what was self-consciously of claims. Elections in Kenya were—and become entrenched in those countries, called its ‘experiment’ with multi- are—a display of state capacity, and as it is in Kenya. Elections have become partyism, that system has come into its they have been manipulated by the very expensive affairs for candidates; own, enabling competitive national, as powerful. But there is a moral economy those who win come to office with debts well as local politics. Ghana’s politics are of elections; behaviour and possibilities that they must repay. That encourages also full of patron-client relationships; are constrained not simply by law but them to use office to recoup their costs, but—unlike Uganda—these do not all by ideas of virtue that shape popular as well as channelling resources to lead back to the incumbent president, expectation and demands. their constituents. This changing moral and—unlike Kenya—they are not always economy helps us to understand the rooted in ethnicity. The precise shape of that moral economy liveliness of elections: voters feel that, at has changed over time, across our study a local level at least, they have a choice Our research suggests that behind countries. The return of multi-party to make. that difference, there are significant elections—in Ghana and Kenya in similarities—and continuities—in the 1992, in Uganda in 2006—has had a Choice may be limited. In Uganda, moral economy of elections in the three powerful effect. So too has the growth President Yoweri Museveni has been countries. Elections flatter politicians’ of a complex international architecture in office for more than 30 years, and and civil servants’ sense of their status; of electoral support and scrutiny, with keeps on winning elections. He uses and they list and catalogue the public multiple organizations vying to advise state resources to reward those loyal to in a way that affirms state power. At the and observe. Outright theft of votes at the him; like Jomo Kenyatta in the 1960s same time they allow voters to make polling station is now uncommon; popular and 1970s, he encourages voters to demands for ‘development’, in the many opinion as well as international norms are blame their members of parliament, material meanings of that word. Those against this. Flagrant intimidation is also not him, if they are unhappy with the demands may be largely unmet, but less common than it was, though still far government. In Kenya, meanwhile, the opportunity to assert them as moral from unknown. Elections have become multi-party presidential elections have expectations drives popular participation. increasingly high-tech, and some aspects come to be surrounded by complex ethnic African elections are often problematic: of them have become increasingly public: coalition-building and incumbency is a vulnerable to malpractice, costly, in Ghana and Uganda, the casting and great asset: the sitting president has the encouraging parochial patronage politics. counting of ballots is done in the open means to reward supporters and create But they are not mere shams, or ethnic air. Local-level competition has increased, a winning alliance. Only in Ghana has censuses; and they are certainly not and the expectation that candidates will power changed hands repeatedly. There, without their own morality. show their virtue as patrons by generosity a distinctive two-party system emerged 46 SYMEON • Issue eight

Contact Us

We hope you have enjoyed the eighth issue of Symeon. We would like to include more about you, as alumni, in subsequent issues, so please do get in touch and let us know what you are doing now. Whether you have a job related to history and the skills you learned during your study or you moved on to something entirely different, we would love to hear from you! We would also be delighted to hear your thoughts on Symeon. Please let us know any subject areas you would like us to cover in future editions. Perhaps you would even like to consider contributing an article? We’d be interested to have your thoughts.

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