Sir Robert Peel, 1780–1850 (I.B.Tauris)
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00_Peel_i-xii 11/2/10 11:37 Page i Richard A. Gaunt is Lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Nottingham and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He has edited the diaries of a major Ultra-Tory politician of the period, Unhappy Reactionary: The Diaries of the Fourth Duke of Newcastle under Lyne, and a book of contemporary texts concerning Benjamin Disraeli. He has contributed to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and is currently writing Conservative Politics in the Age of Reform: From Pitt the Younger to Sir Robert Peel, 1780–1850 (I.B.Tauris). 00_Peel_i-xii 11/2/10 11:37 Page ii Library Series List 00_Peel_i-xii 11/2/10 11:37 Page iii SIR ROBERT PEEL The Life and Legacy RICHARD A. GAUNT 00_Peel_i-xii 11/2/10 11:37 Page iv Published in 2010 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright © 2010 Richard A. Gaunt The right of Richard A. Gaunt to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Library of Victorian Studies: 2 ISBN: 978 1 84885 035 4 A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham from camera-ready copy, edited and supplied by 4word Ltd, Bristol 00_Peel_i-xii 11/2/10 11:37 Page v For Kevin 00_Peel_i-xii 11/2/10 11:37 Page vi 00_Peel_i-xii 11/2/10 11:37 Page vii CONTENTS List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgements xi 1. Sir Robert Peel in Historical Perspective 1 2. ‘Orange Peel’? Catholic Emancipation and Policy Towards Ireland 17 3. ‘Peel’s Act’: Robert Peel and Currency Reform 41 4. Mr Home Secretary Peel: An Illiberal ‘Liberal Tory’? 59 5. ‘The Founder of Modern Conservatism’? Peel and the Conservative Party 81 6. ‘Re-Peel’: Reform of the Tariff and Repeal of the Corn Laws 103 7. The Rise (and Fall) of Sir Robert Peel 131 8. Peel, Death and Posterity 143 Notes 161 Bibliography 203 Index 219 00_Peel_i-xii 11/2/10 11:37 Page viii 00_Peel_i-xii 11/2/10 11:37 Page ix ILLUSTRATIONS 1. ‘Black Monday; Or, The Opening Of St. Stephen’s Academy’. 6 2. ‘The Premier Navigator’. 9 3. ‘A Disturber Of The Public Peace’. 25 4. ‘The Man Wot Plays Several Instruments At Once’. 33 5. ‘The New St. Patrick; Or, Sir Robert Turning The Reptiles Out Of Ireland’. 39 6. ‘The Political “Robin” Driven By The Severity Of The Times To Seek For Grain’. 55 7. ‘Young Gulliver, And The Brobdignag Minister’. 84 8. ‘The Letter Of Introduction’. 96 9. ‘Peel’s Bane And Antidote’. 109 10. ‘The Agricultural Question Settled’. 115 11. ‘Papa Cobden Taking Master Robert A Free Trade Walk’. 120 12. ‘Peel’s Dirty Little Boy’. 136 All illustrations are reproduced from originals in the possession of Mr Nigel Morris. 00_Peel_i-xii 11/2/10 11:37 Page x 00_Peel_i-xii 11/2/10 11:37 Page xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My principal thanks must be to Dr Lester Crook, who first made me realise how much I wanted to write a book on Sir Robert Peel. I am also grateful to Lester’s colleagues at I.B.Tauris (especially Liz Friend-Smith) for their help and assistance with the production process. John Roost and all at 4Word prepared the text for the publishers with their usual efficiency and professionalism. I am grateful to all those who have helped me out during the process of researching and writing this book – not least Jack (gone but not forgotten) and Eli: ‘go well now’. I would also like to thank the University of Nottingham for granting me research leave during the academic session 2007–8 in which to complete the book. Of friends and colleagues at the University, Denise Amos, Alan Booth, Harry Cocks, Roshan Das Nair, Colin Heywood, Caroline Kelly, Jane McVeagh, Philip Riden, Haniel Riviere-Allen and Amanda Samuels deserve special mention. I am particularly grateful to John Beckett and Chris Wrigley for reading and commenting on the book for me. For access to material, I would like to thank Bruce Dolphin and Jon Parry. I am grateful to the anonymous referee who commended the project to the A.H.R.C. Research Leave Scheme and the academic reader who reviewed the text for I.B.Tauris. I am also grateful to Lord Briggs of Lewes for his kind interest in the project. The Tamworth-based Peel Society continue to ‘fly the flag’ on Peel’s behalf – my thanks to Norman, Mavis and David Biggs and Nigel and Jan Morris for their practical help and encouragement. I am particularly grateful to Nigel Morris, who provided the illustrations for the book from originals in his collection. I have been pleased to meet three of the most distinguished of Peel scholars and biographers – Norman Gash, Boyd Hilton and Douglas Hurd – at different times and in different settings. Whilst my portrait of Peel differs from theirs, in important respects, their contributions (individually and collectively) have been essential in helping shape what follows. Any errors or inaccuracies are, of course, entirely my own. I am grateful to the custodians, archivists and keepers of manuscript collections listed in the bibliography for their help and assistance during my research. Dr Dorothy Johnston (Nottingham University Manuscripts Department), Professor Chris Woolgar (University of Southampton, Hartley Library), Mark Dorrington (Nottinghamshire Archives) and the staff of Sheffield Archives and the Record Offices of Durham, 00_Peel_i-xii 11/2/10 11:37 Page xii xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Flintshire, Glamorgan and Northamptonshire merit special thanks. I am particularly grateful to the owners of privately held collections for permission to consult and quote from them: in particular, the Trustees, Chatsworth House Settlement (by permission of the Duke of Devonshire), the Harrowby Manuscripts Trust (by kind permission of the Earl of Harrowby), Lord Kenyon, Lord Mansfield and the Trustees of the Broadlands Trust. Michael Bosson of Sandon Hall, Staffordshire and Andrew Peppitt of Chatsworth House, Derbyshire were particularly helpful in my research in the Harrowby and Devonshire Collections. Dr Joan D’Arcy first introduced me to the ‘Age of Peel’. Half a lifetime later, I am still pleased to call her a friend. Helen Redhead also nurtured my youthful interest in history and has continued to take an interest in my subsequent teaching and academic career. Of friends and acquaintances who encouraged me during the writing-up process, Janice Avery, Peter Hatter (who took the author photograph: www.peterhatter.com), and Peter Hildebrand are due my thanks. As always, my family provided the bedrock of emotional support – and so much more – which was essential to the completion of this book. Of individual family members who have not previously received specific mention, John and Julie Gaunt and Shirley MacKenzie deserve their due. My mother Margaret and elder brother Patrick contributed more than they realise to the whole process of writing and research. The book is dedicated to Kevin Powell, without whose friendship, support and encouragement it would not have been completed. Richard A. Gaunt 01_Peel_001-016 11/2/10 11:29 Page 1 1 SIR ROBERT PEEL IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land… Yet if you should forget me for a while And afterwards remember, do not grieve: For if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad. Christina Rossetti (1830–94). *** Sir Robert Peel was born on 5 February 1788 at Chamber Hall, near Bury, in Lancashire and died on Tuesday 2 July 1850 at 4 Whitehall Gardens, London, after a fall from his horse on Constitution Hill three days earlier. The contours of Peel’s public life thus took him from the heartlands of industrial Lancashire to the centre of metropolitan London, from the crucible of the Industrial Revolution to the nucleus of political power. Peel was one of the most prominent political figures in nineteenth- century Britain. He was also one of the most controversial. In a parliamentary career extending over forty years (1809–50), he served – successively – as Under-Secretary of State for War and Colonies (1810–12), Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1812–18), Home Secretary (1822–7, 1828–30), Leader of the House of Commons (1828–30), Chancellor of the Exchequer (1834–5) and Prime Minister (1834–5, 1841–6). His historical reputation largely derives from the legislative achievements of his period in office and from being the first acknowledged leader of the Conservative Party (1834–46). As Home Secretary, Peel is remembered for the ‘liberalisation’ and consolidation of the criminal code, for statutes relating to magistrates, prisons and juries and, pre-eminently, as the founder of the Metropolitan Police Force in 1829. Indeed, this body still defines itself (as ‘Bobbies’ and ‘Peelers’) 01_Peel_001-016 11/2/10 11:29 Page 2 2 SIR ROBERT PEEL by reference to his name.