The Long Eighteenth Century

by Frank O'Gorman

  Britain at the end of the long eighteenth century was no perfect state, no perfect society. There were many imperfections and many targets for criticism. (Indeed, these seem to have excited some historians almost as much as they infuriated contemporaries.5) Inequalities were increasing: many people lived on the edge of poverty and some even on the brink of destitution. Relations between the social orders, outwardly ordered, were rarely close. The governing classes were always liable to panic at the first sign of threat, the first hint of disorder. This was in many ways an uneasy society. The rather exaggerated sense of British patriotism which streamed through all levels of British society has to be treated as much as a response to insecurity as a mark of healthy and well-founded pride.

  Yet if it is legitimate for the historian to criticize through analysis, it must be equally legitimate to mark some of the features of the more civilized order that was emerging. The treatment of religious minorities, not least Protestant Dissenters and Roman Catholics, was infinitely more tolerant and more humane than it had been in the late seventeenth century. Furthermore, the Church of England scarcely enjoyed the political and legal dominance exercised by its counterparts throughout most of Europe. Furthermore, the fiscal-military state in Britain, at least, did not threaten constitutional liberties because the balance of power between Executive and Legislature by 1832 had removed any prospect of a government pursuing autocratic power or even policies unacceptable to the rural and urban elites represented in Parliament. Indeed, a more flexible, more representative and more responsive political system had been fashioned since the Glorious Revolution. This had shown itself capable of being used by the reform groups and humanitarian campaigners, such as that of the Abolitionists, which had become such an inescapable feature of the life of Britain throughout the long eighteenth century. If such campaigns had been pushed into the political background during the war years after 1793, they acted a forceful and aggressive part after 1815. As the legislation of 1828–32 demonstrated, reform could be achieved, and when it came it could come quickly. That an ‘Age of Reform’ was at hand in 1832 could not be denied. How it would emerge, how quickly, how thoroughly and with what consequence could not in 1832 be envisaged. In that ‘Age of Reform’, however, the long eighteenth century would, at last, expire.

  Notes

  1.C. Kidd, ‘Integration: Patriotism and Nationalism’, in H. Dickinson (ed.), A Companion to Eighteenth Century, Britain (2006), p. 376.

  2.W. Prest, Albion Ascendant: English History 1660–1815 (1998), p. 316.

  3.J. C. D. Clark, English Society, 1688–1832 (1985), p. 65.

  4.D. C. Coleman, The Economy of England 1450–1750 (1977).

  5.Especially Roy Porter, whose otherwise vivid and valuable volume, English Society in the Eighteenth Century (1982), is vitiated by his detestation of practically everything and everyone in authority.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  GENERAL

  Since the first edition of this book appeared a number of excellent general surveys have appeared, of which the best is W. J. Prest, Albion Ascendant: English History 1660-1815 (1998) in the Short Oxford History of the Modern World series. Also of great value is Paul Monod’s Imperial Island: Britain and its Empire, 1660-1837 (2009), a valuable survey of its subject. Happily the new Oxford History of England series now includes three volumes relevant to this period: J. Hoppit, A Land of Liberty: England 1689-1727 (2000); P. Langford, A Polite and Commercial People: England 1727-83 (1989) and B. Hilton, A Mad, Bad and Dangerous People: England, 1783-1846 (2008). Useful, earlier volumes which deal with particular periods are J. R. Jones, Country and Court: England 1658–1714 (1978), W. A. Speck, Stability and Strife: England 1714–60 (1977), I. R. Christie, Wars and Revolutions: Britain 1760–1815 (1982), and N. Gash, Aristocracy and People: Britain 1815–1865 (1979). All four of these volumes were published by Edward Arnold in the New History of England series. A general survey of value is G. Williams and J. Ramsden, Ruling Britain: A Political History of England (1990). On the economic aspects of the period, Martin Daunton’s Progress and Poverty: an Economic and Social History of Britain, 1700-1850 (1995) contains masterly, relevant and authoritative discussions. John Rule has two excellent volumes on the economic and social history of the period which are still of considerable relevance: Vital Century: England’s Developing Economy, 1714–1815 (1992) and Albion’s People: English Society, 1714–1815 (1992). Geoffrey Holmes’ magisterial statements on so many aspects of the period still command attention: G. Holmes, The Making of a Great Power: Late Stuart and Early Georgian Britain, 1660–1792 (1993), G. Holmes and D. Szechi, The Age of Oligarchy: Pre-Industrial Britain, 1722–1783 (1993), as does E. Evans, The Forging of the Modern State: Early Industrial Britain, 1783–1870 (1983), all published by Longman. Harry Dickinson’s disarmingly entitled Companion to Eighteenth Century Britain (2002) contains thirty-eight important essays summarizing recent research and opinions on almost all aspects of the period. The new Dictionary of National Biography contains hundreds of relevant biographies.

  CHAPTER 1. BRITAIN IN THE LATER SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

  This period is reasonably well covered in a many of the volumes listed above, especially the second chapter of Hoppitt (2000). Other essential texts include M. Daunton (1995) and Holmes (1993). A number of older surveys are still useful: J. R. Jones, Country and Court: England 1658–1714 (1993); J. Sharpe, Early Modern England: A Social History 1550–1760 (1987); C. Hill, Reformation to Industrial Revolution: A Social and Economic History of Britain 1530–1780 (1991); K. Wrightson, English Society, 1580–1680 (1982); R. W. Malcolmson, Life and Labour in England, 1700–1780 (1981); R. Brown, Society and Economy in Modern Britain, 1700–1850 (1991); and the same author’s Church and State in Modern Britain, 1700–1850 (1991).

  Place

  The Penguin Atlas of British and Irish History (2001) is a useful starting point. T. Smout, Nature Contested: Environmental History in Scotland and Northern England since 1600 (2000) is a significant approach, one shared by I. Simmons, An Environmental History of Great Britain (2001). H. Kearney, The British Isles: A State of Four Nations (1989) provides an interesting narrative of British history turning on this theme. Useful specialized works on particular aspects of this period include D. Eastwood, Government and Community in the English Provinces: 1700-1870 (1997); D. Cressy, Bonfires and Bells: National Memory and the Protestant Calendar in Elizabethan and Stuart England (1989); B. A. Holderness, Pre-Industrial England: Economy and Society, 1500–1750 (1976); L. Stone, ed., An Imperial State of War: Britain from 1689 to 1815 (1994); D. Howell, The Rural Poor in Eighteenth Century Wales (2000); D. Rollison, The Local Origins of Modern Society: Gloucestershire, 1500-1800 (1992). Helen M. Jewell’s The North-South Divide (1994) deserves more attention than it has received.

  Belief

  The most important modern works are J. Gregory, Restoration, Reformation and Reform: 1660-1828, Archbishops of Canterbury and their Diocese (2000); W. Gibson, The Church of England, 1688-1832, Unity and Accord (2001); M. Mullett, ed., English Catholicism, 1680-1830 (2006); J. C. D. Clark, English Society, 1688-1832: Ideology, Social Structure and Political Practice during the Ancien Regime (2000). Politics and Religion are considered in J. Miller, Popery and Politics in England, 1660-1688 (1973), S. Pincus, Protestantism and Patriotism: Ideologies and the Making of English Foreign Policy 1650-1668 (1996) and W. Jacob, Lay Piety and Religion in the Early Eighteenth Century (1996). Older studies, however, should not be overlooked: N. Sykes, From Sheldon to Secker: Aspects of English Church History, 1660–1768 (1958); J. H. Pruett, The Parish Clergy under the Later Stuarts: The Leicestershire Experience (1978); R. O’Day and F. Heal, eds, Princes and Paupers in the English Church, 1500–1800 (1981); T. Harris, P. Seaward and M. Goldie, The Politics of Religion in Restoration England (1990); J. Spurr, The Restoration Church of England (1991); J. Scott, Algernon Sidney and the Restoration Crisis, 1677–83 (1991); and E. G. Rupp, Religion in England, 1688–1791 (1986).

  Gender


  Useful introductory treatments to this subject include: T. Hitchcock, English Sexualities, 1700-1800 (1997); A. Vickery, The Gentleman’s Daughter: women’s lives in Georgian England (1998); H. Barker and E. Chalus, eds, Gender in the Eighteenth Century: Roles, Representations and Responsibilities (1997); R. B. Shoemaker, Gender in English Society, 1650-1850 (1998); K. Honeyman, Gender and Industrialization in England, 1700-1870 (2000); A. Fletcher, Gender, Sex and Subordination in England, 1500-1800 (1995);

  On the situation and experiences of working women see S. Mendleson and P. Crawford, Women in Early Modern England, 1550-1750 (1998); P. Sharpe, Adapting to Capitalism: Working Women in the English Economy 1700-1850 (1996). See also the same author’s Women’s Work: the English Experience, 1650-1914 (1998).

  Texts on marriage include A. Erickson, Women and Property in Early Modern England (1993) and R. Houlbrooke, The English Family, 1450–1700 (1984); R. B. Outhwaite, Marriage and Society: Studies in the Social History of Marriage (1981); L. Charles and L. Duffin, eds, Women and Work in Pre-Industrial England (1985); P. Mack, Visionary Women: Ecstatic Prophecy in Seventeenth Century England (1993). In spite of many criticisms, Lawrence Stone’s, The Family, Sex and Marriage in England, 1500–1800 (1979) will deservedly attract many readers. On the raising of children, see A. Pollock, Children: Parent and Child Relations from 1500-1900 (1983).

  Useful ideas and some conclusions may be culled from The Ashgate Research Companion to Women and Gender in Early Modern England, eds. A. Poska, J. Couchman and K. McIver (2013).

  Society

  J. Hoppitt’s Land of Liberty (2000) is a good place to start. See also C. Rose, England in the 1690s (1999). Most recent publications on this subject deal with particular groups and classes in society. Of the available general surveys D. Hay and N. Rogers, Eighteenth Century English Society (1997) offers a stimulating introduction to the subject. With its greater range, R. Price, British Society, 1680-1880 (1999) provides longer term insights. Older surveys retain considerable value, including K. Wrightson, English Society, 1580-1680 (1982) and R. Porter, English Society in the Eighteenth Century (1982), vitiated largely by the author’s prejudiced view of his subject. A more balanced treatment may be found in J. Sharpe, Early Modern England: A Social History, 1550-1760 (1987). There is an interesting introduction to A. J. Fletcher and J. Stevenson, eds, Order and Disorder in Early Modern England (1985).

  Much recent work on this topic has concentrated on particular sections of society but only a few titles can be mentioned in the space available: J. V. Beckett, The Aristocracy in England, 1660–1914 (1986); C. Estabrook, Urbane and Rustic England: Cultural Ties and Social Spheres in the Provinces, 1660-1780 (1997); M. Hunt, The Middling Sort: Commerce, Gender and the Family in England, 1680-1780 (1996); H. R. French, The Middle Sort of People in Provincial England, 1600-1750 (2007); P. Roebuck, Yorkshire Baronets, 1640–1760 (1980); P. Earle, The Making of the English Middle Class: Business, Society and Family Life, 1660–1730 (1989); J. Barry, The Middling Sort of People (1993); K. Snell, Annals of the Labouring Poor: Social Change in Agrarian England, 1660–1900 (1985).

  Economy

  There has been a continuing flow of scholarly work on this topic. The works by Daunton, Beckett and Rule, listed above, are of the first importance for the economy life of Britain. Three other works are of the first importance: R. C. Allen, The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective (2009), J. Mokyr, The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain (2009) and M. Berg, The Age of Manufactures, 1700-1820: Industry, Innovation and Work in Britain (1994). Other recent texts include E. Kerridge, The Agricultural Revolution (2013); M. Overton, Agricultural Revolution in England, 1500-1850 (2000); R. Hoyle, ed., The Farmer in England, 1650-1800 (2013). There is an interesting discussion of economic possibilities in R. Price, British Society, 1680-1880: Dynamism, Containment and Change. See also D. Howell, The Rural Poor in Eighteenth Century Wales (2000) and K. Wrightson, Earthly Necessities, c.One (2000); Standard, older textbooks include G. E. Mingay, The Gentry, (1976); D. C. Coleman, The Economy of England, 1450–1750 (1977), B. A. Holderness, Pre-Industrial England: Economy and Society, 1500–1750 (1976), W. E. Minchinton, ed., The Growth of English Overseas Trade in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (1969); C. Wilson, England’s Apprenticeship, 1603–1763 (1984) and B. Coward, The Stuart Age: A History of England, 1603–1714 (1980).

  Politics

  Authoritative introductions to politics will be found in some of the works mentioned above, not least those by Prest, Hoppitt, Jones and Speck, but especially that by Holmes. Something of the seventeenth-century political background may be found in T. Harris, Politics under the Later Stuarts, Party Conflict in a Divided Society, 1660-1715 (1993) and D. Underdown, Revel, Riot and Rebellion: Popular Politics and Culture in England, 1603-60 (1985). The extent of the political nation is discussed in J. Peacey, Politicians and Pamphleteers: Propaganda during the Civil Wars and Interregnum (2004) and J. A. Downie, To Settle the Succession of the State Literature and Politics, 1678-1750 (1994). Particular themes are pursued in P. D. Halliday, Dismembering the Body Politic: Partisan Politics in England’s Towns, 1650-1730 (1998); T. Harris, Politics under the later Stuarts: Party Conflict in a Divided Society, 1660-1715 (1993). Some older works may with profit still be studied: J. R. Western, The English Militia in the Eighteenth Century: The Story of a Political Issue, 1660-1802 (1965); G. N. Clark, The Later Stuarts, 1660-1714 (1955); B. Kemp: King and Commons, 1660-1832 (1957); J. H. Plumb, The Growth of Political Stability in England, 1675-1725 (1967). On the philosophical aspects of the age see J. N. Figgis, The Divine Rights of Kings (1965), an old classic, and, more recently J. Goldsworthy, The Sovereignty of Parliament: History and Philosophy (1999).

  CHAPTER 2. THE GLORIOUS REVOLUTION IN BRITAIN 1688–1714

  The Glorious Revolution in England, 1688–1689

  Valuable accounts of the Revolution will be found in certain of the titles listed above, notably in those by Prest, Hoppitt and Holmes. More detailed studies include, S. Pincus, 1688: the First Modern Revolution (2009), The tricentenary of the revolution elicited a number of studies, including E. Cruickshanks, ed., By Force or Default (1989), J. Israel, ed., The Anglo-Dutch Moment (1991) and R. Beddard, ed., The Revolutions of 1688 (1991).

  Older studies of the Glorious Revolution include W. A. Speck’s Reluctant Revolutionaries: Englishmen and the Revolution of 1688 (1988) – which has stood the test of time better than most; J. R. Jones, The Revolution of 1688 in England (1972); J. R. Western, Monarchy and Revolution: The English State in the 1680s (1972); L. Schwoerer, The Declaration of Rights, 1689 (1981); J. Miller, The Seeds of Liberty: 1688 and the Shaping of Modern Britain (1990). Such studies supersede G. M. Trevelyan’s The English Revolution 1688-89 (1938).

  Revisionist views are stimulatingly set out in J. C. D. Clark, English Society, 1688–1832 (1985). On the Atlantic background, see O. Stanwood, ‘The Protestant Moment: Anti-Popery, the Revolution of 1688-89 and the Making of an Anglo-American Empire’, Journal of British Studies, 46(3) (July 2007), pp. 481–508. The best introduction to the intellectual and ideological background to this period is H. T. Dickinson, Liberty and Property: Political Ideology in Eighteenth Century Britain (1979).

  Crown and Parliament, 1689–1714

  Many of the titles in the last section are relevant here, not least those by Prest, Hoppitt and Holmes (The Making of a Great Power). Particular studies of specific themes and events of the 1689–1714 period include K. Sharpe, Rebranding Rule: The Restoration and Revolution Monarchy, 1660-1714 (2013); T. Claydon, William III and the Godly Revolution (1996).

  On Anne’s reign Geoffrey Holmes’ British Politics in the Age of Anne (1987) remains fundamental. The best biography of Queen Anne is E. Gregg, Queen Anne, 2nd edn (2001). See also D. Green, Queen Anne (1970), C. Rose, England in the 1690s (1999). On the court of Queen Anne see R. O. Bucholz, The Augustan Court. Queen Anne and the Decline of Court Culture (1993). A. Somerset, The Politics of Passion (2012
); A. Williams, Poetry and the Creation of a Whig Literary Culture (2005) and C. C. Orr, ed., Queenship in Britain, 1660-1837 (2002).

  The vital economic themes of the period are dealt with in C. McGrath and C. Fauske, eds, Money, Power and Print: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Financial Revolution in the British Isles (2008) and C. Carey and C. Finlay, eds, The Empire of Credit: The Financial Revolution in the British World, 1688-1815 (2011). Older works of enduring value include P. G. M. Dickson, The Financial Revolution in England: A Study in the Development of Public Credit, 1688–1756 (1967) and H. Roseveare, The Treasury (1969). Two memorable works on religious aspects of the period are G. V. Bennett, The Tory Crisis in Church and State: The Career of Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester (1975); G. Holmes, The Trial of Dr Sacheverell (1973). More recent works on Sacheverell are noteworthy. See B. Cowan, ed., The State Trial of Dr. Sacheverell (2012); M. Knights, ed., Faction Displayed: Reconsidering the Impeachment of Dr. Sacheverell (2012).

  On the role of Parliament, see J. Goldsworthy, The Sovereignty of Parliament: History and Philosophy (1999), J. A. Gunn, Beyond Liberty and Property: The Process of Self-Recognition in Eighteenth Century Thought (1987). P. D. G. Thomas, The House of Commons in the Eighteenth Century (1971). J. R. Jones, ed., Liberty Secured: Britain before and after 1688 (1992) has some excellent essays on political and other aspects of the period.

  Politics and Parties, 1689–1714

  The literature on party is of exceptional quality, not least the items listed above by Prest and Hoppitt but, above all, Holmes. See also his G. Holmes, British Politics in the Reign of Anne, rev. edn (1987) and G. Holmes, ed., Britain after the Glorious Revolution, 1689–1714 (1969). A further selection would also include T. Harris, Politics under the Later Stuarts: Party Conflict in a Divided Society, 1660-1715 (1993); J. Plumb, The Growth of Political Stability in England, 1675–1725 (1967), especially chapter 5; W. A. Speck, Tory and Whig: The Struggle in the Constituencies, 1701–15 (1970); J. P. Kenyon, Revolution Principles: The Politics of Party, 1689–1720 (1977); C. Jones, ed., Britain in the First Age of Party: Essays Presented to Geoffrey Holmes (1987); G. S. de Krey, A Fractured Society: The Politics of London in the First Age of Party, 1688–1715 (1985); H. Horwitz, Parliament, Policy and Politics in the Reign of William III (1977). The religious aspects of the period are discussed in Kenyon (above), G. V. Bennett, The Tory Crisis in Church and State, 1688-1730 (1975) and J. C. D. Clark, English Society, 1688-1832.