Durham E-Theses The Development of Modern Propaganda in Britain, 1854-1902 MELLER, PAUL,JONATHAN How to cite: MELLER, PAUL,JONATHAN (2010) The Development of Modern Propaganda in Britain, 1854-1902, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/246/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Abstract: PhD thesis, University of Durham 2010 The Development of Modern Propaganda in Britain, 1854-1902 Paul Meller There has been a general historiographical concentration on the twentieth century in terms of modern propaganda, much due to the impact of the First World War. However, it is the premise of this thesis that while the First World War was a propagandistic watershed, the sixty years preceding it were of equal importance in terms of the formation of modern propaganda in Britain. The aim of this thesis then is to address this gap by considering the nature, meaning and operation of propaganda in this period. In order to accomplish this, this thesis creates a set of criteria for identifying and distinguishing „modern‟ propaganda, before demonstrating that what is generally conceived as modern, and characteristic of the twentieth century, in fact existed or was developing in the latter half of the nineteenth century. This is achieved firstly by conducting a survey of the etymology and theory of propaganda in this period in order to demonstrate how contemporaries understood that phenomenon; secondly, by analysing the Crimean War as the progenitor of the development of a modern form of propaganda; thirdly, by considering how the vast political, social, economic and technological changes that took place in the period 1854-1902 created an environment in which modern propaganda not only could emerge, but had to; and fourthly, by examining the Boer War as the zenith of this process and an example of a modern propagandistic environment. It will be argued that modern propaganda not only developed and existed in this period, but its study can open up a dialogue between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in terms of propaganda and thereby contribute to debates that still occupy historians of propaganda today, particularly the place of propaganda in democracy. If historians are to understand the propagandistic upheavals of the twentieth century, they must first look to where such propaganda came from, why it developed and what form these developments took in a world untainted by the memory of a World War. The Development of Modern Propaganda in Britain, 1854-1902 Paul Jonathan Meller Thesis submitted for the degree of Ph.D. University of Durham, Department of History 2010 CONTENTS 1 List of Abbreviations 2 Introduction 22 Chapter 1: The Etymology and Theory of Propaganda in Nineteenth Century Britain 57 Chapter 2: Press, Politics and Public Opinion: The Crimean War as a British Propagandistic Precedent 101 Chapter 3: Propaganda Between the Wars: Transitions 1856-1899 141 Chapter 4: The Boer War: An Exercise in Modern Propaganda 202 Conclusions 210 Sources and Bibliography Declaration I declare that no portion of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree in this or any other university. Paul Meller At the discretion of the librarian of the University of Durham, this thesis may (i) be made available to bona fide scholars; (ii) be photocopied for consultation outside Durham so long as that copy attributes the work to the author and includes the notice of copyright. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Dedication For my parents, for always giving me the opportunity to do more, and without whose love, patience and support I would never have got this far. Acknowledgments I would like to take this opportunity to thank my supervisor, Dr Jo Fox for the hard work, support and patience which has played such a large part in helping me to accomplish this PhD. I would also like to thank my secondary supervisor, Dr David Craig for his advice throughout the course of my studies. I would also like to thank the archivists at Durham University, the National Archives, the British Library, Birmingham University, the Bodleian Library, Southampton University, Cumbria County Record Office, Worcestershire County Record Office, the News International Archive, the National Media Museum, Reuters International and the Royal Mail Archive whose guidance and expertise assisted a great deal with my research. Finally, I would like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council for making this PhD possible through their funding. 1 List of Abbreviations BL British Library Manuscript Collections, London BLMC Bodleian Library Manuscript Collections, Oxford BUSC Birmingham University Special Collections, Birmingham CCROA Cumbria County Record Office Archive, Kendal DUL Durham University Library, Durham DUSC Durham University Special Collections, Durham NA National Archives, London NIA News International Archive, London NMM National Media Museum, Bradford PP Parliamentary Papers RIA Reuters International Archive, London RMA Royal Mail Archive, London SUSC Southampton University Special Collections, Southampton 2 Introduction The manufacture of public opinion remained long in its infancy but it has made extra- ordinary strides of late years... Since public opinion has become the motive power by which ministries are sustained and overthrown; since legislation answers to it as the electric bell answers to the pressure of a button; it is important to mark how this dominant force may be created, influenced, or directed.1 Blanchard Jerrold, 1883. Although debates raged in nineteenth century Britain as to the beneficial or malignant nature of public opinion, by the time Blanchard Jerrold wrote his article it had long been recognised as the „motive power‟ in British politics. However, as the electorate burgeoned, the question that detained many theorists was how, and whether, such mass opinion should be controlled. With this came the unsettling idea that groups and individuals, inside and outside Parliament, may wish to, and be able to, manipulate that opinion for their own benefit, and it was this issue that Jerrold tackled directly in his article. Jerrold was, however, far from an aberration, and phrases like the „manufacture of public opinion‟ in fact appear frequently in the works of theorists, journalists and other authors in late nineteenth century Britain. The infamous critic of the Boer War2, J.A. Hobson, wrote of „the modern manufacture of public opinion‟,3 whilst Graham Wallas feared „the manipulation of the popular impulse‟ and the existence of „manufactured opinion‟.4 Apart from marking an important new strand of debate in theoretical circles, these arguments were also the more obvious manifestations of a growing recognition of and reaction to the adoption of modern forms of propaganda in Britain. The fact that such a debate was taking place and that propaganda was becoming a phenomenon, and indeed a word, which was generally understood, should not come as a surprise to historians. Terence Qualter has argued that „modern mass propaganda came into existence as a major political force because of the emergence in the nineteenth century industrial state of a peculiar combination of circumstances‟, involving vast social, political and technological developments, all of which provided the ideal environment in which a modern form of propaganda became not only possible but necessary.5 The raft of education acts between 1870 and 1902 meant that, by the outbreak of the Boer War, an entire generation of Britons had grown up under a system of compulsory education. This newly literate public was then satiated by the concurrent rise of a cheap mass press, which had itself been facilitated by the erosion of the „taxes on knowledge‟. During this period, this 1 Blanchard Jerrold, „On the Manufacture of Public Opinion‟, The Nineteenth Century: A Monthly Review (January-June, 1883), p.1081. Blanchard Jerrold was a journalist and playwright (1826-1884) and the son of Douglas Jerrold (1803-57), also a journalist and early contributor to Punch. 2 Throughout this essay this will be the designated term for the war fought between Britain, the Transvaal and Orange Free State 1899-1902 as, although latterly called the Anglo-Boer war or Second South African War, the Boer War was the contemporary terminology. 3 J.A. Hobson, The Psychology of Jingoism (London, 1901), p. 130. 4 Graham Wallas, Human Nature in Politics (London, 1908), pp. 66, 85. 5 Terence H. Qualter, Propaganda and Psychological Warfare (New York, 1962), p. 32. 3 new medium was joined by the illustrated journals, photography, music halls, modernised forms of art and caricature, advertising and commercial ephemera and eventually the cinema, providing a far wider range of tools for the propagandist. Technological developments were found in the expansion of railroads, steamships, cabled and, by 1896, wireless telegraphy, all of which increased the mobility of both people and information around the world. Finally, three reform acts led to an increase in the electorate to nearly two thirds of the adult male population, including for the first time coal miners and agricultural labourers.